The things Heechul hates the most is wasting time talking gibberish and not straight to the point but here she is with Siwon on her right and the loud Kangin with his wife, Leeteuk, opposite them. Kangin is busy explaining what he would do to his company, another expansion plan of course, and Heechul really can’t bother with it. She wants to talk about Sehun and Jongdae but she has to suppress the feelings of just blurting it out because well, it’s kind of rude and she doesn’t want to shock Leeteuk.

Heechul laughs politely at whatever it is they are laughing about and takes a sip of her tea. She looks at the pale Leeteuk.

“Are you feeling okay? You look pale, Teuk ah”

Leeteuk shakes her head, dismissing everybody’s eyes on her. “I am fine, don’t worry about it. By the way, I think Jongdae will come too today”

“Ah, Jongdae is kind of busy trying to take responsibility of the Grand H. She is probably still at the company, trying to understand how it all works.”

Leeteuk looks worried about it and Heechul tries her best at showing a sad face. She glares at the coughing Siwon next to her and nudges him hard. Siwon straighten his posture again, trying so hard not to laugh because he knows even if Jongdae’s at the hotel she is currently sleeping at the suite room and left all the work to Kris, the general manager. She didn’t survive even an hour at his father’s office, telling the other that she won’t be working if the curtain’s not pink. That girl is trying so hard to avoid her now responsibility. But she is cooperative enough to come to the Grand H this morning and smiling proudly like she actually knows what she is getting into.

He looks at Heechul and gives her his best poker face.

“Yeah, Jongdae is trying so hard to study, it kind of sadden me seeing girl that young has to bear a big burden like this.”

Kangin moves forward a bit, looking concerned, whether it’s fake or not, nobody really cares right now.

“Is there anything I can help you with, Noona?”

Heechul gives him a tight smile, shaking her head. If she calculates right, she’ll get Kangin where she wants.

“Don’t mind it, Kangin ah. It might be difficult for Jongdae, but it is her responsibility and Han geng really wants her to take care of it so there’s nothing she can do, beside Siwon is here to help her study.” Heechul glances at Siwon and Siwon takes the cue to heave a sigh.

“I hate to say this but actually she is really going to have a hard time adjusting to the hotel. She is an education major and has no foundation about business, and I don’t think I can guide her every time.”

Heechul chokes. “You are right, Siwon. My daughter will have a hard time, what if the stockholders don’t like her? What will the Grand H become?” She then looks at Kangin and Leeteuk. “It’s really hard without Han Geng, if only Jongdae is a business major like your children, like Minseok.”

Kangin twitches hearing his daughter’s name is being said and Heechul realizes this but continues her talks.

“Minseok is so talented in this area, isn’t she?”

Leeteuk looks proud when Heechul said this but Kangin looks like want to scoff at her. He cuts Leeteuk when the woman wanted to talk, grabbing her hand.

“She is talented, but I don’t think it’s really is her passion. She doesn’t work at the company anymore now, choosing to do some volunteering on her own.”

Heechul nods her head. “That’s really nice of her to care for the others. What about telling her to come to our foundation? It always needs another hand to help, right Siwon?”

“Yes. We’ll be accepting her anytime”

Leeteuk smiles. “Thank you, I’ll tell her to come later. She is really interested in taking care children lately, maybe it’s because she’s already at the age to get married.”

“Really?” Heechul smiles widely, the topic is slowly to her liking. “If you want I can try finding someone suitable for her.”

Leetauk laughs, glancing at her husband lovingly. “Thank you, Chul ah, but Kangin here really wants Sehun to be married first because, you know, Sehun is the son and Kangin believes he needs to start his own family soon.”

Kangin nods, proud talking about his son. “Yeah, a girl can always live from her family but a son, they have to grow on their own.”

In other words, he needs to start his own business to expand their company. Heechul seems please with this new revelation. Siwon already warned her about Kangin’s personality, about his greed earlier. Someone like him is easy to handle, one of it, is presenting what he wants on silver plate for him to feast and like that he’ll be in her hand. She just needs to control him later on.

“That’s true. So have you found a match for him, then? He’s handsome and smart, it must be easy to find the one.”

Kangin laughs boisterously. “Nah, there’s not even one that he likes, he is picky.” No one offers the the deal I want.

Heechul nods, giving him her best concerned look. “Well, kids these days are picky, Jongdae too acts like that. Saying no to every guy her father and I find. She likes to play around, you know.”

They all laugh. Heechul grins at her tea, speaking absentmindedly but keeping her eyes alert. “Ah, it’s a pity, you know. Like this one guy, Kim Jonghyun, the Union Hotel owner’s son, HanGeng and I really like him and we even secure a deal out of it, but shame, Jongdae has another opinion about it”

Heechul can see Kangin perks hearing the word deal and she keeps her oblivious act and looks at Siwon, laughing lightly. “We almost signed a contract of merger, right Siwon?” Siwon laughs too, acting like he knows what she’s talking about. As far as he know, HanGeng and Heechul never even once telling Jongdae anything related to marriage, but he needs to play it cool for Kangin.

“We already plan changing our hotel name to United H” It sounds ridiculous but as long as it gathers interest from Kangin she’ll go for it. “We even decided the sums of stocks both of us will get from this wedding but it really never came true. Jongdae is really hard to please.”

Heechul starts laughing again as if this is a joke for her, it really is, but Kangin doesn’t need to know that. She looks at Kangin and she knows she already gets him on her boat.

“Noona” Kangin starts, he looks serious and both Heechul and Siwon are looking at him with a gleam in their eyes. “Why don’t we just try to arrange a meeting for our kids?” Leetauk gasps next to him and Kangin turns to her, caressing her shoulder. “I don’t mean to push them to each other, just see if they are probably comfortable with each other, you know, as a simple test” Kangin looks back at Heechul and she is wearing her serious thinking face.

“I mean, they are both picky and difficult to please and if nothing happen it’s not really a problem. Even if there is something between them, what about it? It wouldn’t hurt to be in laws, right?”

Kangin laughs loudly at his idea. He doesn’t know he’s actually walking to the path Heechul made for him. Heechul looks at Siwon and then Leeteuk.

“I don’t know, I don’t know if this is what Jongdae wants, beside they never really met before. It’s kind of surprised me” She looks at Leeteuk “Leeteuk must be surprised too”

“Yeah, honey, it’s so sudden” Leeteuk gazes at his husband and he replies it with a sunny smile, assuring his wife.

“It’s okay, it’s not like we are going to marry them off just like this. A simple meeting won’t hurt anybody right? But if they both don’t want to, we don’t have to push them. It’s all in the kids’ hand”

Kangin squeezes her shoulder and looks back at Heechul. “What say you, Noona?”

“A simple meeting won’t hurt” She smiles, offering her hand for Kangin to shake. The game is starting nicely like she wants it.

****

There’s nothing out of ordinary for Sehun’s father to suddenly calls him, telling him to get ready and they suddenly arrive at some funeral. It’s not weird at all, because he knows his father likes taking advantage of the vulnerability of people. But it surprises Sehun seeing his father in his apartment, lounging on his couch, moreover on Tuesday night. They are not in the relationship to visit each other on their house anymore, the only reason Sehun comes visiting his house is to meet his sick Mother and sometimes, his sister.

His father looks at him straight in the eyes and beams at him happily. Sehun never likes it when his father did that. He acts like they are close or something.

“Sehun, my son!”

Kangin motions for Sehun to come closer, but not offering him to sit. Sehun thinks bitterly that even in his own house, his father acts like he still owns it.

“What brings you here, Father?” He actually had to go meeting his best friend, Jongin, for he is just got back from his honey moon but it looks like he can’t make it tonight. Jongin must be upset.

Kangin scoffs hearing his son’s cold voice and leans back, holding a glass of wine.

“I think I’ve told you not to act like this in front of me”

Sehun keeps quite and Kangin breathes hard.

“I met Kim Heechul of Grand H this afternoon and I’ve arranged you a meeting with her daughter tomorrow night at that French restaurant you like so much.”

Sehun just stares at his dad. A meeting with someone’s daughter in not something odd for him, he’s done it several times but his dad always told him that she is not the one. He knows what that means, and this time around won’t be any different.

“I don’t like eating French.”

Kangin laughs at him. “Is that the only thing you want to comment on?”

Sehun takes the wine on the table, it’s his favorite ones, he notes drily. “What is there for me to ask about now? I already understand what you want me to do.”

Kangin just stares at his stoic son. “Her name is Kim Jongdae and what’s important is she is the president of Grand H since of yesterday and that means she has around 65% of Grand H stock. The minority owners are some close friends of Han Geng. But I heard this morning that Choi Siwon got 10% of the shares from Han Geng, so that means Jongdae has 55% under her name.”

“So you want me to get you those stocks she has if the meeting success?”

Kangin stands up, walking to Sehun, looking at him directly, no more laughing, just business. “It doesn’t have to be everything, just enough for me to be one of the major shareholder. And I’m sure it will be a success because I can trust you, right son?”

Sehun really wants to punch this man for everything he’s gone thru but he can only nod. Kangin nods back at him. The old man then walks towards the door, he looks back at Sehun one last time.

“I don’t want this one to fail, Sehun, so I hope you will be on your best behavior tomorrow. One more thing, your mom already knew about this and she seems to like the idea as well, so I hope you to not cause her any disappointment.”

Sehun balls his fist, looking down to the floor. The anger in him is already too much and his father knows very well his weak point. He grabs his father’s glass and throws it to the closed door. He breathes heavily, trying to calm himself and decides that taking a bath will do well for him.

Sehun has his phone in his hand, contemplating to give Minseok a call, but he doesn’t want to hear that sad voice. He also can’t call his mom. The only people who will listen to him without pity right now are only Jongin and Zitao. His thumb is hovering on Zitao’s name but she might be on the plane right now. He already called Jongin earlier, but that best friend of his was not answering, perhaps busy with his wife. He looks at his contacts number for someone to call but he finds out he only has 10 contact. He laughs at himself. That’s right he doesn’t have any friends, so what? He finally gets up from his bed, walking to his desk and turns his laptop. Maybe he can search about this Kim Jongdae first until he feels sleepy.

*****

Jongdae is lying on her bed, music plays loudly and she’s lip-syncing to the lyrics. It’s a good thing her room is sound proof. Her pet, a cat named Dog, is sleeping on her stomach, Jongdae absentmindedly stokes his fur. Meanwhile Baekhyun is in front of her laptop, busy on facebook.

Baekhyun gasps loudly, attracting Jongdae’s attention. The slightly older girl then turns off her stereo and Jongdae frowns at her smiling face.

“You have to take a look at this”

“What is it?” She said while putting down Dog so she can sit. Baekhyun shows her what she saw earlier and sits next to her.

Jongdae looks at the fb page Baekhyun’s on and there it is a picture of their friend, Kyungsoo with auburn haired guy with nice lips and Oh Sehun, smiling. Jongdae’s mouth immediately goes wide that Baekhyun has to tap her chin to bring it back to normal.

“Is that?” Jongdae looks at Baekhyun and the older girl nods.

“That is Oh Sehun, your soon to be fiancé with our dearest friend Do Kyungsoo and her eloped husband, Kim Jongin.”

Jongdae nods and they both thinking  back how Kyungsoo’s parent went crazy after Kyungsoo ran away from home last month, they even report her missing to the police. They demanded Jongdae and Baekhyun to tell them where she was and for the first time both girls didn’t know where Kyungsoo was. That’s until the phone call a day after when Kyungsoo told them she just got married with a guy named Kim Jongin. Kyungsoo’s parent was in total rage that rumors said they disowned Kyungsoo.

“Well, she actually texted me earlier saying that we should met at Grand H”

“Why there? I don’t want to go there, Kris will make me work” Jongdae whines go back to lie on her back. Baekhyun rolls her eyes and goes back to her laptop, trying to find another picture of Oh Sehun.

“I don’t know, she said that she needs to say something and probably introduce us to her husband although I, of course, already know him.”

Jongdae kicks Baekhyun’s back and the older girl pulls on her leg making Jongdae whines more.

“Don’t act like you know it all, you used to copied my home works at high school”

“That was a long time ago and we never speak of it anymore! And it’s just I have a really good connection to know about everyone in our circle.”

Jongdae grunts. “Yeah, you have Chanyeol. When will you bring him to your Dad? I’m pretty sure he’ll go crazy about it.”

Baekhyun drops her laptop to Jongdae’s stomach not so gracefully making Jongdae lets out a shriek.

“You cannot speak a word about it to my Dad! I am going to let you meet him but no words about my Dad. It’s not the right time”

Jongdae sits and pulls on Baekhyun’s hair while she is pouting.

“Don’t worry, I am good at keeping my mouth shut. Now where were we earlier?” Jongdae scrolls on Kyungsoo’s page. “So, would you enlighten me with your knowledge about this guy who stole Kyungsoo from us? I didn’t think Kyungsoo’s ever introduce him to us. And more importantly why is there Oh Sehun in this picture?”

Baekhyun shakes her head and hits Jongdae. Jongdae really has no idea what’s going on in their circle and that is bad for business.

“You really should study a little bit about these people, you bum! These are important people, you know.” Baekhyun points at the auburn haired male holding Kyungsoo’s waist. “This is Kim Jongin, the heir of the biggest car showroom in S. Korea.”

Jongdae whistles. “Kyungsoo catches a good one”

Baekhyun rubs her head, Jongdae really knows nothing. “She does, but here comes the problem. Their parents hate each other”

Jongdae stares at her, not yet understand what she means. Baekhyun thinks she might get some headache tonight. “Everybody knows that Jongin’s parent and Kyungsoo’s hate each other. You really should pay attention to your surrounding when your Mom hold a party, not just standing next to the food table and get drunk!”

“You know I don’t like to mingle with those fakers, all they care is how much money we have.”

“I know that, but paying attention at some things like this will eventually bring you benefits in the future and more over, you won’t be struggling too much in Grand H. You need lots of connection, Jongdae. By the way, while we’re at it, do you even know who else own the shares at Grand H beside your family and my Dad?”

Baekhyun glares at her making Jongdae turns away from her accusing stare. Jongdae rarely feels guilty but this time Baekhyun’s right. Her father’s gone and now she has to take care of everything without knowing anything.

“You should really major in business at college, that way you can help me doing all of this”

Baekhyun flicks Jongdae’s head once again, glaring at her. “Don’t say like I am not helping you now, I am your unofficial Sensei so you better obey my words and listen well when I explained things to you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes soften and Jongdae smiles at her. She is really grateful Baekhyun’s at her side.

“Teach me your way, oh you great teacher and as a reward I’m going to buy one of your paintings”

Baekhyun just laughs and gets back to her laptop. She points back at Jongin’s picture.

“Rumor says that Jongin’s Dad had an affair with Kyungsoo’s Aunt, Jongin’s Dad denied of course, but everybody knows Jongin’s parent lives separately now. So, Jongin Mom eventually thinks that this mess about her relationship with her husband is caused by none other than Kyungsoo’s family, eventually they hate each other. But, another rumor said that it’s just a rivalry between designers that brings both Mother to hate each other, nobody knows the real reason actually, not even Kyungsoo and Jongin I guess. You know how people in our circle, so many secrets even within family.”

Jongdae nods, digesting the information she just got. She pays attention to the picture again, seeing the happy smile on both features, especially on Kyungsoo.

“It’s funny how the enemies end up together like this, it’s going to be hard for them.”

“At least they have each other. If Kyungsoo dares eloping with this guy it means she’s really in love. I am just a bit disappointed, Kyungsoo didn’t tell us sooner”

Jongdae nods, she then points at Sehun in the picture. “Then why is he there with them?”

Baekhyun shakes her head, having no idea too.

“Perhaps we can ask Kyungsoo tomorrow and maybe you can find out more about this soon to be husband of yours”

Baekhyun smiles cheekily and Jongdae throws a pillow at her face. There’s a knock on the door and Heechul walks in followed by a maid holding a tray with three cups on it. Both girl smile at them and Heechul takes a sit on the sofa, facing the bed. When the maid left, Heechul sips her chamomile tea first, motioning for the both girls to drink as well. Jongdae and Baekhyun move to sit on the couch too.

“How’s the meeting?” Jongdae asked

“Drink first, I told the maid to make your favorite, jasmine for Baekhyun and honey lime tea with extra honey for Jongdae.”

Heechul gives them a look and both younger girls sigh, drink their tea. Heechul plays with her phone for a bit and then faces the curios girls, one more time.

“The meeting was a success, I dare say Kangin was so delighted for your meeting with Sehun tomorrow night. He told me he reserved a place at this French restaurant Sehun likes.”

Heechul smirks and both girls giggle.

“Looks like he cares about his son so much” Heechul laughs at Jongdae’s remark, confusing her.

“He cares about the money he will get from this marriage. I need to brief you about this man, Jongdae.” She said seriously. “He is a greedy man and you should understand that when you and Sehun got married he will eventually get at the very least 10% of your share for he will be your legs and hands at Grand H.”

“You speak like me marrying Sehun is a sure thing…” Jongdae laughs but Heechul keeps her straight face, Baekhyun too is not laughing.

“You will get married with Oh Sehun, Jongdae.”

Jongdae jerks from her seat, eyes wide.

“What? But, don’t you think it’s too fast? Only one candidate and he wins this easy?”

“I don’t think you understand what I just said, Jongdae.” Heechul grabs her daughter’s hand, making her flinch. “Kim Youngwoon is a greedy man, when I agreed for you meeting Sehun it’s been decided. He will sweet talk his stoic son to just agree, just like what I am doing to you right now.”

Heechul let go of Jongdae’s hand while her daughter’s still trying to understand the situation.

“If he’s a bad guy, why are you willingly give me to his son? Isn’t that a bit dangerous, what if he tell Sehun to take over the company? What are we going to do then?”

Heechul leans back, crossing her legs. “He is an easy target for us, he wants what we have and we’ll give him a taste of it. We just need to put a really tight reign around Sehun so he won’t dare trying anything. Siwon will also talk about this to Kris later, so he can always keep an eye on Sehun. Kangin is for me to handle, you just need to hold on his son.”

Jongdae shakes her head, still doesn’t think this a good idea.

“I still think it’s a bit risqué, Mom”

Jongdae gives Heechul an un sure look but her Mother just smiles at her, patting her shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright, trust me.”

Jongdae smile a little and Heechul looks at Baekhyun.

“Have you brief Jongdae about Sehun, Baekhyun?”

“I was going to but you suddenly come in” Baekhyun smiles sheepishly at the woman who raises her and Heechul scoffs, shaking her head before smiling lightly at Baekhyun. She then faces Jongdae.

“You want me to tell you about Sehun or you want Baekhyun to?”

Jongdae rubs her tired eyes. “You are here already” She motions at Heechul and the older woman just nods.

“Oh Sehun, he’s 23 and currently act as Kangin’s right hand man at his company. He has an older sister named Kim Minseok and a sick mother, Park Jungsu.”

“Sick?” Jongdae asked and Heechul shushes her.

“Yes, cancer. She holds a central position in their family, Kangin loves her so much that she would do anything for her, so both the children. The different thing is Kangin is not so much favors the kids. He treats Sehun as someone who could fulfill his desire, and treat Minseok worse. He doesn’t really care about his children, this is of course without his wife know nothing about. What I want to tell you is, Oh Sehun has so many layers on him and this marriage is a business deal, so you cannot drop your wariness about him. Keep your eyes and ears open.”

This is a warning and Jongdae knows this, but it feels so heavy thinking what behind this marriage. Jongdae stares at her lap, thinking how Baekhyun and she used to tell each other about their dream wedding. Fascinated with that white long wedding dress they saw on magazine or TV, hell, they even made their own wedding book plan that’s hidden somewhere in her closet.

Jongdae’s shocked at feeling a hand on hers, making her look up, seeing her beautiful mother, holding it carefully. She has that small smile that’s only reserved for her family to see. There is an assurance in those eyes and she can’t help but smiles back. Heechul then stands up.

“I’ll leave you girls now, have a nice sleep and don’t even think to be awake the whole night because you need to look the prettiest to meet Sehun tomorrow.” Heechul throws them a teasing smile and both Baekhyun and Jongdae laugh. The older woman waves and closes the door behind her, leaving Baakhyun and Jongdae to lament on Jongdae’s fate.

Baekhyun gazes at her best friend’s conflicted face and then walks to Jongdae’s closet, looking for something that she knows Jongdae still saves. Jongdae looks at her and decides to moves to her bed, looking curiously at Baekhyun.

“Hmm…what are you looking for, Baek?”

Baekhyun doesn’t answer and just keeps looking. When she found it she lets out a happy grunt. She comes out of the closet victoriously holding an old pink binder. It has many decorations on the cover and Jongdae recognizes it almost immediately.

“How do you know I still have that book?” she exclaim when Baekhyun sits next to her, wiping the binder carelessly with a tissue and opens it.

“Because I still have mine, too” Baekhyun grins. “Now, lets start”

Baekhyun is busy reading the binder’s content, sometimes laughing, thinking how ridiculous they used to be when Jongdae closed it. Baekhyun looks at her questioningly and frowns.

“What?” Jongdae just frowns and turns away from her.

“I don’t think we need that book for this marriage.”

“Why not?” This time baekhyun’s voice gets higher a pitch, she almost sound annoyed. Jongdae crosses her arm , ignoring the moewing Dog which wants her attention.

“It’s not a real wedding, like my Mom said, this is a business deal, why does I have to do it like my dream wedding?”

Baekhyun glares at her friend, scaring Dog at her voice. “Yes, this is a deal but this is also a wedding that will last for your life. You and I both know this kind of arrangement already, it’s difficult to marry someone we really love, Kyungsoo needed to elope to do that.” She grits her teeth. “But we still need to create our own happiness, Jongdae, if you are going to be bitter about this marriage, are you sure you can hold it for the rest of your life?”

“You talk like I’m going to marry him for the rest of my life.” Jongdae scoffs and Baekhyun grabs her shoulder forcefully. The older girl glares, making Jongdae flinches.

“You are. You do realize you cannot even think about divorce, right? In our society that’s totally a bad omen and more over, if you even dare to get one, that Oh Sehun guy will have 10% of Grand H share and it’s about time he will be against you. It’s a deal that binds for life, Jongdae”

Jongdae can’t help but sobs hearing that. The reality just struck to her, she is going to be on this deal for the rest of her life and it’s just too much. She sobs louder to Baekhyun’s shoulder and the older girl just sits there calming her. After a while, Jongdae’s cry reduces to chokes sobs and Baekhyun wipes her face, smiling.

“Don’t burden your self thinking about the deal, like I said we need to find our own happiness even in this tight reign around us. We need to enjoy every single thing we can, even if it’s the smallest thing. So, with this book” Baekhyun offers the binder to Jongdae. “We will made your dream wedding comes true and you are going to enjoy it, okay?”

Jongdae takes the binder from Baekhyun and gives her a determined smile. If she’s going to live her life with this Oh Sehun guy, she will make sure she is happy and her happiness start with creating this wedding that she dreamt of since kid.  She hugs Baekhyun tights and murmurs a small thanks for her. After letting her go, Jongdae can see the worry in her friend’s eyes. Jongdae squeezes her hand.

“If you are worried about Chanyeol, I don’t think you need to, when you decide to bring him home, I know it’s not going to be easy, but I also know your Dad. He will eventually like him. I like him although I never meet him. From your story, I know he’s a good guy. Your Dad just needs some time to accept that his daughter is bringing a guy home.”

Jongdae smirks and Baekhyun slaps her lightly.

“What are you talking about? I am not thinking about that, but thanks anyway.” Baekhyun smiles.

“Yeah, you should thank me later but really, I really want to meet this Chanyeol.”

“Lets just think about Sehun first and after that I’ll bring you to Chanyeol”

Jongdae then opens the binder, her fingers caressing the old page, remembering the old days.

“Alright, lets get this done, then.” She stares at Baekhyun. “You do realize you are my maid of honor, right?”

Baekhyun rolls her eyes, as if that is an obvious thing and Jongdae just laughs. She is determined to enjoy this to the fullest.

---

More characters to reveal! Meet the complicated Kaisoo couple in the next chapter and also the y fox Zitao!!

Tell me what you guys think.
D