CHAPTER FIFTY

For the first time in his life, Mark sees a rich kid work. It wasn’t the typical office work, but actually work just like how normal working class people would do. Soojung does everything – from sweeping the floor to washing the dishes. She wasn’t that good and makes mistakes occasionally which was understandable since she has never done anything like that before, but she never complained in front of her friends.

 

Currently, both of he and Soojung were incharge of the reception desks, bowing and smiling brightly at the customers who enters and leaves the main door. Mark hated doing that. He doesn’t like to smile at strangers especially to those who doesn’t even smile back and would only do so whenever their boss passes by, in comparison to Soojung who had a big grin plastered in her face.

 

“You know, Mrs. Hong isn’t around. You can stop smiling.” He mumbles to her.

 

“It’s Miss Hong, Mark.” She corrects, finally putting up a poker face and massaging her cheeks. “Gosh, I never knew smiling was this tiring.”

 

“For a first timer, you’re quite good.” He tells her. “You sure it’s your first time working?”

 

“It is, I swear.” She laughs as she puts up her right hand to affirm. “Actually, whenever my friends back in California would get part-time jobs, I would get low-key jealous.”

 

As he continued to listen to Soojung’s story on how the minority of her grade in her former school were working in part-time jobs and she wasn’t, Mark’s eyes spot Jongin at the bar nearby the receptionist. His friends, Tao and Sehun, looked like they were talking to him about something, but he was paying no attention as he was looking at Soojung’s direction.

 

It was quite funny, Mark thought. When he passed by them at the table, he didn’t even bother to greet them back, unlike Tao and Sehun who greeted Soojung. But now, he’s looking at her as if he was desparate for her to look back at him. When Jongin realizes that Mark was looking at him looking at her, his eyes widens and quickly looks away, making him laugh.

 

“Hey, Mark Tuan! This isn’t funny!” Soojung’s voice ruins his thoughts. “Are you even listening to me?”

 

“Of course!” He lies.

 

“What am I talking about then?”

 

“Er… Something bout Cali?”

 

“What about California?”

 

When Mark failed to answer in 5 seconds, Soojung immediately hits the taller boy in his shoulder. Her punch wasn’t even that strong, but he reacts a little too exaggerating, holding up the area where she hit him, acting as if he got shot by a gun. This doesn’t stop her from scolding him for not listening at her when she was talking though. Thankfully, Sehun walks up to them, making Soojung turn her back at him to bow at her friend.

 

“Good afternoon, sir. What can I help you?” She flashes him a big smile, and Mark forces himself to do the same.

 

“Oh my god, Jung Soojung, can you stop that please? It’s so weird!” With his eyebrows furrowed, Sehun pleads. “And you don’t even normally smile at me like that!”

 

Before answering back, Soojung looks around to see if Hong Hyesung is in her sight. She then glances at the CCTV camera at the top part of a column not so far from them. “Listen you little , I’m working right now and you know that it’s my first job ever that’s why I would love to have great experience, so if you could just go away-”

 

“Aww! This is the Soojung that I wanted!” Sehun smiles in amusement on how quick she changed. Beside her, Mark was chuckling.

 

“Okay, but seriously though. What do you want, Oh Sehun?”

 

“Nothing, really. I just wanted to see you and say hi.” Her friend tells her, snatching the pen that she had on the table and started to doodle something in his left hand. “Oh, by the way… Jongin said that he misses you.” He then looks up at her to see her reaction with his usual poker face on, when on the inside he wanted to laugh really hard because Jongin didn’t really say that.

 

Soojung only had an eyebrow raised, not sure whether she should believe what the boy was telling her. “For real?”

 

“For real.”

 

“Well, tell him that I don’t care. He can off.” She tells him, putting her nose up high. She was still bitter that he had to pretend that he didn’t know her in front of her boss, and the fact that he was there to try and ruin her work.

 

“Okay, I will.” He smiles at her, and for some reason, it crept her out. Before leaving her, Sehun returns the pen that he ‘borrowed’ from her and reveals what he just draw: a bunch of hearts.

 

Not interested to what the two friends were talking about, Mark glances around the lobby and finds himself looking back at the bar, where Jongin was staring at Soojung once again.

 

 

“Why did you suddenly go there?” Jongin asks immediately and a little too loud after seeing Sehun come back from talking to Soojung. He came back with a smug grin, and it was pissing him off. “Hey, answer me!”

 

It wasn’t until he sat down again when Sehun finally said a word. “I just wanted to say hi to our friend, unlike you who wouldn't even look her way. Is that bad?” Knowing him and his snarky little smile, Tao knew that his friend was lying but decided to just keep quiet. “Oh… by the way, Soojung told me that she misses you.”

 

Both of the boys notices and exchanged glances when they saw the sudden glow in Jongin’s eyes after what Sehun said. “Did she really?!”

 

“She really did, man.”

 

“Aye, I don’t believe you.” He leans back to his chair, shaking his head. “I know you, Oh Sehun. You always play games on me. You just want me to talk to her and forget that I'm here to annoy her.”

 

“I’m telling the truth!” He swears as he tried his best not to laugh or do anything that would make him think otherwise. “Look! She even drew some weird hearts on me to express how much she misses you!” Sehun puts up his left palm to reveal the hearts that he actually drew. He didn’t say it out loud, but Jongin thought it was quite cute. Everything that Soojung does was cute for him. Unfortunately he didn’t know that Sehun was just playing tricks on him.

 

“Just talk to her, dude.” Tao, who was sitting beside Sehun, convinces him. But Jongin was unsure if he should. He presses his lips together, looking back and forth to Tao and Sehun. Suddenly he stood up and rushed out of the bar, probably to talk to Soojung back at the receptionist table, and that’s when Tao turned to Sehun to finally ask him, “She didn’t really say that, did she?”

 

Between laughs, the cheeky Sehun responses, “I told Soojung that Jongin told me that he misses her, and now I just told him that she was the one who said that when in fact neither of them said it.” He then looks out the window to see Jongin finally standing in front of Soojung. “I really hope he does something stupid in front of her.”

 

“You’re such an evil, little bastard…” Tao mumbles, looking at the same direction as him. “…but at the same time, that was really clever of you.”

 

 

A few minutes after Sehun finally left her alone, it was Jongin’s turn to annoy her, except that this time he didn’t look like he was angry or bored as he approached her with a shy smile. It was the first time she sees him like that ever since they got in Jeju so she got a little weirded out by it. Nevertheless, she greets him as usual just like their other guests.

 

“Good afternoon, sir. What can I help you with?” She asks in the most polite way possible and even bows at him, but the boy doesn’t response. The only thing that he does was put one shoulder at the table so he could use it to rest his head with while he look at her with that stupid smile of his.

 

“Is he usually like this?” Mark mumbles in English, looking at him weirdly and she just sushes him.

 

“You can tell me, you know.” Jongin finally speaks up, his smile still on his face. “Don’t be shy.”

 

Confused, Soojung blinks innocently. “Uhm, what do you mean, sir?”

 

“You know! That thing…” He says, bitting his lip. She wasn’t very sure, but she thinks that his cheeks just turned a little red as he looked away from her. “The thing that you told Sehun.”

 

“The thing that I told Sehun? Wait, he didn’t actually told Jongin to off, did he?” She thought. But then she knows that if he did say that, he would be very mad and not like that.

 

“Okay, fine. You don’t have to tell me. I already know anyways.” He winks at her, making her awkwardly scratch the back of her neck. She already knows that Mark will about this once he leaves them. “I’ll tell you my response.”

 

She thought that he was going to leave already, but she thought wrong. Jongin grabs a piece of paper from the table and the same pen that Sehun used a while ago and started writing God knows what. She wanted to peek at it just to see what it was, but he was quick to finish it. He looks at her quickly, his lips curving into a smile again, and gives a small piece of the paper to her before running to the elevator.

 

‘I miss you too.’ The note read with matching drawings of hearts that reminded her of what Sehun doodled on his palm.

 

“Okay, what the ?”She says a little too loud after reading the paper he just gave her.

 

“Jung Soojung, your language.” Of course, Ms. Hong had to pass by just when she cursed. Soojung bows immediately, and luckily for her, the older lady looked too busy to scold her a little longer and just passed by the receptionist.

 

While she pushes Mark as he tried to peek at the paper, her eyes look for Jongin around the lobby for an explanation because she was really, really confused. But she couldn’t find him anymore and it wasn’t like she could just leave the receptionist to search for him. In the end, she just stares at the paper without realizing the small smile that she had for his tiny, cute gesture.

 

 

“Are you sure that you want to go and sneak at the pool?”

 

“Of course, Youngji! Don’t tell me that you’re changing your mind!”

 

“First of all, I never even actually agreed to your plan. Secondly, I thought you’re scared of Miss Hong? She’s going to get mad if she finds out!”

 

By the mention of their strict boss, Soojung rolls her eyes. She was really not scared of her and was just putting up an act whenever she’s around, even though she totally wants to talk back at her and defend herself. But she knows that she has to be careful and not say anything rude about her because she wanted to prove to everyone that she can work with everyone.

 

“That’s why it’s called sneaking out, my dear. We’re going to there without anyone knowing.” She promises, putting up her right hand. “I’ll be there tomorrow morning to clean anything that will let anyone know that we’ve been there!”

 

“Whatever. I need to take a shower first.” Youngji says as she heads to the bathroom that they shared, but it doesn’t stop Soojung from whining.

 

As Youngji left her alone, Soojung lazily gets into her bed to lay down. One of the reasons why she suggested working in that hotel to her friends is so that she could show them the infinity pool and have fun in it. But it seems like they were all too focused on working, or maybe it’s just Youngji though.

 

A little sad that her plan of skinny dipping at midnight has a chance of not happening, Soojung reaches for her phone that was on her night table. She had a few messages from her brother, others from her friends, but the one that caught her attention was a simple ‘I miss you’ message from Derek, making her smile. It has been long since she last called him.

 

She has actually wanted to talk to him about something, but just could find the right time to do since they live in different countries now. That night seems like the perfect time to call him, so she immediately dials his number and leaves the room to go to hallway, not wanting Youngji to hear anything even though she just heard her friend singing in the shower. After four rings, Derek picks up.

 

“Well, well, well… You’ve finally remembered that I exist.” Derek says in a serious tone, but then laughs shortly after. “What’s with the sudden call? Do you miss me now?”

 

Hearing what he just said, she couldn’t help but to roll her eyes and chuckle, “Don’t act as if I didn’t send you random emojis everyday, Derek.”

 

“Yeah, but they didn’t make any sense, love. No offense but what’s the point of sending me emojis? How can I even respond to those things?”

 

“It’s my way of showing you that you’re in mind, you idiot.”

 

Giving up on their little arguement, the boy just laughs. “I really missed hearing your voice, you know.”

 

“I missed hearing yours too.” She smiles weakly. She looks up at the stars by the window as she imagined him talking to her over the phone. “Anyways, how are you? Have you written some new songs recently?”

 

“In fact, I have. And it's about you.” He informs. “I haven't finished it yet though, but I promise you, you’ll be the first one to hear it.”

 

“Aw, really?” Touched, she couldn’t help but smiling widely by what he has said. “Wait, you won’t go all Taylor Swift on me, would you?”

 

“Of course not!” Derek laughs before continuing, “Don’t worry, I won’t even mention your name or anything that will make people think that it’s you I’m talking about. The song’s just about me thanking a girl for the memories and eventually letting her go for another man.” He explains. “Which reminds me… How are you and your fiancée? What’s his name again?”

 

“Oh… J-Jongin?”

 

“Yeah, him! We exchanged numbers back then but we never really talk.”

 

“H-Honestly, Derek…” For some reason, she was a little nervous to say it, but she says it anyways. “I called up to… talk about him.”

 

There was a long silence before he talked again. “Uh… what do you mean? I don’t know much about him, you know.”

 

"Remember back then when we first started dating and promised to tell each other if... we... started to... have feelings for another person?"

 

Chuckling a bit, Derek already knows what she was about to say, but pretends not to know just so she could say it herself. "What about it?"

 

"W-Well, it's just I've been thinking a lot lately and it caused me to become really, really confused and I think.. I think that I might have-" Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a door open and comes out Youngji in her robe with a worried expression. Surprised, Soojung almost dropped her phone but thankfully she didn't. She whispers something to her phone that Youngji didn't not understand as she was pretty sure it was in English and then proceeds to face her, "What are you doing, Youngji?! You scared me!"

 

"I was just worried because you suddenly disappeared. But that doesn't matter now. Who are you talking to?" The latter asked, this time displaying a judging expression.

 

"N-No one!" She answers, hiding her phone behind her. Since this doesn't stop her from being suspicious, Soojung threatens to fire her as soon as they arrive back in Seoul, in which she replies by smiling cheekily and throwing her a peace sign before entering their room. 

 

 

After her little talk with Derek, Soojung decided to take a quick shower after Youngji before heading to sneak to the pool with her. However, her plan was ruined upon seeing her friend sleeping comfortably on her bed when she got out of the shower and no matter how hard she tries to wake her up, Youngji would just groan and push her away, though it made her somewhat glad, knowing that she won't ask who she was just talking to. But she didn’t want to just sleep that night, not when she has already put on a bikini under her shorts and oversized shirt.

 

Jinri might not want to see her that time nor can she swim, but her best friend was always down with her crazy antics. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t swim with her, she just wanted to be with someone that night under the bright stars. She knows that she still must be a little ‘mad’ because she didn’t tell her about her plans to Jeju but that doesn’t matter to her. She knows if she shows up to her door with a goofy smile, she’ll forget about it... hopefully.

 

Just when she was about to lift her hand and knock on her door though, she hears a faint of giggles coming from Jinri and Chanyeol mumbling something she didn’t understand. Her lips pressed together, she looks down as she changed her mind. She does want to see Jinri, but she didn’t want to be the third wheel between her best friend and her boyfriend either.

 

Back at the elevator, she debated whether she better go back to her room, but her fingers 'unintentionally' presses the rooftop. When the door opened, she pretend to be surprised and took a peak of the pool, but she just couldn’t contain her desire to jump on it so she went running towards, quietly and carefully, to the pool side. When she got there, the lights were off which was reasonable as there weren’t anyone in the pool. She didn’t want to open the lights as she knows if she did, she’ll attract attention and might get caught. With a cheeky smile, she checks the water by dipping her hand into it. It was cold, but she didn’t care.

 

“A little swim wouldn’t hurt me, right?” She mumbles to herself, still smiling. She s her shorts, letting it fall into her feet, and was midway on removing her shirt until she hears footsteps. Thinking that it was her boss, Soojung freezes on her place.

 

“Well, look who's here. I had a feeling you'd eventually break the rules around here.”

 

Of course, Kim Jongin would be there as well.

 

“You can’t skinny dip alone, you know.”

 

After hearing his voice, Soojung internally panics. She was embarrassed that she got caught like that, but she, as usual, wouldn’t let him know that so quickly puts her shorts on again before turning her head to look at him with a poker face on. She caught him looking away awkwardly when their eyes meet as he scratched the back of his neck.

 

“What are you- How do you even know that I’m here, Kim Jongin?” She asks him, her eyebrow rose.

 

“Okay, first of all, it’s not like that I even want to see you here in the first place. Tao’s my roommate, and he's getting scolded the out of him by his father over the phone and I don’t want to hear him say ‘baoqian!’ repeatedly anymore... whatever that means.” He tells her, copying his Chinese's friend's accent as he sat at the nearest chair. “Also, did you just… not call me sir? Not that I want you to do that though.”

 

She, herself, didn’t realize what she has done until he pointed it out. “Well, I’m not wearing my uniform anyways, plus my boss is not around. I can call you by your name or even insult you so be nice to me.”

 

“Nice. I really miss seeing you mad.” He teased, causing her to roll her eyes.

 

An awkward silence filled the room after, with Soojung standing in front of him, her hands on her hips as she waited for him to go. But the boy doesn’t seem to get it as he just kept on putting up a goofy smile.

 

“Are you not going to go back to your room? Tao’s probably finished crying or something.”

 

“I just literally got here a few minutes ago and now you’re kicking me out?” He chuckles. “Technically, you’re still an employee and I’m a customer so you have no power to do that.”

 

“But I want to swim!”

 

“Swim then! I don’t care.”

 

“But seeing you here is kind of-”

 

“Hold up, did you just say that you want to swim?” Finally standing up, he walks closer to her right near at the edge of the pool. “You… can swim now?”

 

If his memory’s right, they were just seven years old when he pushed her to the pool. He was pretty sure that at that time, she couldn’t swim yet as she had this float on her. But when he pushed her to the cold water, it slips away from her, causing her to drown. Horrified and not knowing what to do, Jongin freezes in his place until Lee Donghae comes out of nowhere to save her. A few months later, he hears from Jinri that Soojung has developed a fear of water because of that.

 

“Yeah. Derek taught me how.” She tells her. “It doesn’t really make any sense for a California girl to not know how to swim so I had to listen to him even though I didn’t want to do it at first.”

 

“If I were him, I would have thrown you to the ocean.”

 

“I knew you would say that.”

 

Seeing how he was smiling cheekily, Soojung already knows, or at least has a clue on what was about to come out of his mouth. “So… does this mean I can push you off the pool again?”

 

She was right. He was going to ask that. But before he could even grab her to later drop her off the pool, she was quick to push him off. He was not expecting her to do that so it worked smoothly for Soojung. The next thing he knows, he was in the pool while still wearing his clothes.

 

“Take that, !” She smiles to herself after what she has done. She has finally got her revenge after eleven years.

 

She expected him to quickly glare at her or do something as terrible as what she has done but she notices that he was just floating in the water, his back facing her. It was taking him long to actually turn around, making her nervous. No matter how many times she calls his name, the boy just wouldn’t budge and it freaks her out. Not wasting any time, she dives into the pool, even forgetting that she was still wearing her clothes.

 

However, as soon as he hears her diving in, Jongin immediately turns his back to laugh. Soojung was already near him when he did though, surprising her. He was too busy laughing his off to even notice that she was getting teary eyed and was about to cry. He had expected her to curse him and even hit him, but she suddenly hugs him by wrapping her hands around his neck, much to his shock. It made him stop laughing.

 

“You idiot! Don’t even joke like that!” She shouts, her grip around his neck tightening. “You scared me!”

 

“H-Hey now.” Slowly breaking off their hug, he finally sees her looking like she was about to cry soon. “Are you crying-”

 

“No, stupid! I just dived in the ing pool! Of course my face’s going to be wet! Gosh!” Soojung turns away, not wanting him to look at her. Hearing her curse makes him smile. “Ugh, my clothes are all wet now because of you. I thought that I hurt you or something-”

 

“Well, you did break something-”

 

“What?! Are you hurt somewhere?!”

 

To stop her from freaking out, he takes out his phone from his pocket that was dripping wet when he lifted it from the water. “It's my phone, wifey. You broke it.” Upon seeing it, Soojung bites her lower lip. “Don’t worry. I’m not really mad.” He calmly tells her before throwing it on the floor. “The longest phone that I got. Got it for my birthday and now it’s useless. Oh well.”

 

She watches his phone fly and then back to him with his eyes wide open. She tried to scold him, but gives up immediately. She already knows how he was. He’d probably get a new one once he goes back to Seoul.

 

Suddenly, they hear footsteps coming closer. Panicking, Soojung looked at her fiancé with wide eyes. She was about to get out of the pool, in hopes that she could still have the time to hide somewhere the rooftop before whoever that person is arrives at the pool, but Jongin points downwards, signalling her to hide under the waters. 

 

"Don't worry, I got this." He whispers as he unbottons his shirt and throws it to the edge of the pool.

 

"What the are you doing?" She asks, looking confused at the half- Jongin in front of her.

 

"Just ing hide, Soojung! Do you want to get fired or what?" He tells her in an annoyed tone and pushes her head down the waters before she could even complain once again, just in time when an employee finally reached the pool, who was startled to see him in the darkness.

 

"Oh, I didn't know there was somebody here! I'm sorry sir." The young man apologized, smiling apologetically. "I was ordered to clean here, but I guess I can't since you're using the pool."

 

"Sorry 'bout that. It's just I enjoy late night skinny dipping, half- and all that." Jongin replies with a smile as Soojung watched him float at bottom of the pool. 

 

"Would you like something to drink, sir? There's usually a bartender..." The employee points at a bar nearby, "...but since the pool is not really occupied during this time of the day-"

 

"Oh, you don't have to. You can go now." He cuts him off, not wanting the employee to spend any more second in front of him. "I'm already having a great time without alcohol."

 

Weirded out by the smile Jongin had when he mentioned his last sentence, the employee was a little suspicious by what he meant, but decided to just shrug it. After bowing, he proceeded to walk away and leaves the young heir alone. When he did, Jongin signals his fiancé that the coast is clear, making Soojung finally pop her head back. "I wasn't ready when you pushed me to hide!"

 

"Come on. Don't you think I deserve a 'thank you' at least? That guy could have seen you, and he could have told your boss and gotten you fired, but I helped you." He pouts, waiting for her to speak up. Knowing that he was right, Soojung sighs annoyingly before muttering a quick thank you, causing Jongin to get a little too happy. He even acted like he was touched and was about to hug her, only to be stopped when she glared at him.

 

"Don't you even dare, Jongin."

 

"What? Scared of my bare skin touching yours?" He teased while she just scoffs. She doesn't even dare to say anything to response because she's sure that he'll make another stupid comeback. Instead of doing so, she just starts walking towards to where the stairs were. She was glad that she didn't get caught by her senior, but she takes this a sign that she has stop what she was doing. However, just when she was about to reach the stairs, her foot get pulled by Jongin (she supposes), but when she turns around to confront him about it, she doesn't see anyone and realizes that he was swimming.

 

Popping in front of her, Jongin sighs, "You're really stupid."

 

"Excuse me?" Offended, Soojung frowns.

 

"I saved your from getting fired, and now you're leaving." He shakes his head. "Before heading back, why don't we race to show me how fast you are swimming? Or perhaps..." He smirks before continuing, "You're scared of losing against me?"

 

"Hah. I'm pretty sure I can beat you in a race." She tells him, the tone of determination was evident on her voice. As she swims away to the edge of the pool, Jongin smiles to himself in victory - he had Soojung mad, and at the same time, made her stay a little longer with him to accompany.

 

In the end, she ended up swimming with Jongin under the bright moonlight, and racing against one another more than once. He thought of swimming much slower to let her win, but then later realizes that she was actually a lot faster than him, which impressed him. Soojung, who wanted to leave after just one race, had forgetten her desire to go back to her room after spending some fun time with him. She couldn't contain her laughter when she pushes him down the water, and he'd pull her down as well. Even when the only light that was shining them was the moon, Jongin was in awe by how she looked so happy with that lovely smile of hers.

 

“Tired?” He asks her, swimming right next to her at the corner of the pool after a long time of goofing around with her. She just nodded. “Want me to walk you to your room?”

 

“Nah, I don’t want to sleep yet. I still want to admire the view.”

 

“You mean, me?”

 

“No, Jongin.” She chuckles and then gestures him to look at the direction where she was looking at: the night view of Jeju city. It was absolutely beautiful, breathtaking if she may add. Seoul was just as beautiful, but there was something about it that makes it different. “Is true that Luhan oppa owns a vintage car and has it parked somewhere in the hotel’s parking lot?”

 

“That's true.”

 

Soojung turns to him, smiling. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Jongin?”

 

“Let’s do it.”

 

 

Since it was Soojung using his car, there’s 50% chance that Luhan won’t get mad. Jongin also states that since he was his Luhan hyung’s favourite dongsaeng, there’s also a 50% chance that he won’t mind. Soojung wasn’t sure about him being his favourite, but as long as they don’t do anything stupid with his car, she was sure Luhan wouldn’t care that much.

 

Even though she was the first one to bring it up, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that she was a little unsure by the fact that they’re going to use his car without permission, but all that negative feelings fade away as soon as Jongin starts to drive. With the roof down and a 80s song playing in the radio, Soojung lets herself loose, putting her hands up as they drove around Jeju. She has never felt that relaxed before.

 

As usual, Jongin would glance at her occasionally without her even knowing while driving. A small smile would creep into his lips, seeing her enjoying herself. She always looks beautiful to him, but she shines the most when she was happy.

 

To cool down a bit, they decided to stop in a cliff and sit at the car's hood part to have a perfect view of Jeju and its beach. Under the bright and shining stars, they sat back to back in silence as they listened to the faint of music playing that came from the radio.

 

“Jongin?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Can I ask you something? Please promise me you’ll answer me.” Jongin lazily lets out a quiet and quick yes. Not sure how to ask him directly, it took her long to say it. “Remember… Remember when you kissed me when we we’re younger? Why did you do that?”

 

Since they had their backs on one another, Soojung didn’t see the expression Jongin had when he heard her question. He thought it was quite weird of her to ask him that, but decided to answer anyways. “Of course I remember that. It was my first kiss as well, you know.” He glances at her direction before chuckling, “The reason is quite childish, honestly. I just remember hearing Jessica noona telling you that the only man that you have to kiss in your life is your husband and I thought it was funny. So I was like, ‘Hey, why not kiss Jung Soojung to ruin her life?’ but I guess I forgot that it was also my first kiss and it’s kind of-”

 

“Oh my god, I remember that! My sister did tell me that!” Surprised, she looks at him with her eyes wide open, eventually turning to his direction. “How crazy! Obviously, I 've kissed another boy but in the end, the person that I had my first kiss with is going to be my husband.” She had her jaw dropped, unable to process what he just admitted and it makes him laugh. “I bet you already knew that we were going to get engaged though. I bet your parents already told you before. My parents never tell me anything.”

 

“I didn’t. In fact, my mother told me last year hours before I left for Los Angeles with the boys. Maybe it’s destiny. Maybe we were meant to be or something.”

 

She looks at him with her eyebrow raised. She couldn’t believe those kind of cheesy words just came out of his mouths. “You believe in those things?”

 

Instead of giving an exact answer, Jongin just shrugs. Since he wanted to lean on something but couldn’t just lean in the glass, he decided to lay his head on her lap. “How beautiful.”

 

“Me?”

 

“No, I meant the stars.” He says blankly. “Can you please move you head a little?”

 

Annoyed, Soojung glares at him but does what he wants anyways. He grabs her wrist, putting it on his hair and even though he doesn’t say anything, she knew that he wanted her to play with his hair. He automatically closes his eyes as she started to play with it. “You’re lucky that you’re going to be my husband because if you weren’t, I would have pushed you off the car.”

 

“Can you imagine yourself getting married, or at least getting engaged to somebody else?” He asks her seriously, and somewhat the tone of his voice surprises her. “What if you got engaged to Tao, or Sehun, or worse, Kim Jinwoo whom you seem to like so much-”

 

“I don’t like Kim Jinwoo, you idiot!”

 

For the past months, she had already set in her mind that it was Jongin was the man that she was going to marry, the father of her future children, the one she's going to grow old with. His question was something that she never thought and it makes her wonder. What if she did get engaged with another man? What if it wasn’t Jongin she ends up with? Why does just thinking about it scares her?

 

“I don’t think I could, Soojung.” He mumbles, and it makes her look at him. “I don’t think I could marry anyone else but you. If we ever divorce one day, I don’t think I could remarry again. I don’t think I will ever enjoy being with another woman.”

 

Rolling her eyes by what he says, Soojung fights the urge to blush. "Don't lie to me, Jongin."

 

"I'm just simply stating the facts." He tells her, his voice very low. "I mean it, Jung Soojung. You're the only girl I'll ever marry."

 

Thank God he still had his eyes closed because what he said makes her heart flutter so much to the point that she felt her cheeks getting red. She didn’t even want to smile but she was smiling so much. She even forgets that she was supposed to play with his hair as she uses both of her palms to fan herself, but Jongin immediately groans so she had to use one hand instead.

 

"If I do marry somebody else, do me a favor and shoot me in the head. Or just kick me in the balls, you seem to enjoy on doing that to me-"

 

“Jongin, I have to tell you something.”

 

He peaks at her with an eye open, “You want me to move? Are your legs hurting?”

 

“No, no. That’s not it. Stay.” Her legs were indeed starting to feel numb, but she didn’t mind it. “So, uhm… Just an hour ago… I talked to Derek about something and I-”

 

Upon hearing her ex-boyfriend’s name, he immediately opens both his eyes, startling her as she was admiring his facial features. Because of this, she looks away while he sat back up. “Soojung, no.”

 

“No… what?”

 

“Don’t tell me the thing that you want to tell me.”

 

“What- Why?”

 

“Just because I don’t want to hear his name-”

 

“It’s not even about him, you idiot! And besides, you don’t even know what I’m going to talk about!”

 

“I have an idea on what it is… so just please don’t.” He pleads, looking directly to her eyes. “I’m honestly… loving how we are right now. Please, don’t do it. I don’t think I will like it.”

 

Frustrated because he doesn’t even know what she was going to talk about, she sighs and jumps back to her seat with her arms crossed. “Fine! Just treat me out for a slurpee then!”

 

“A slur-what?”

 

“Just drive me to the nearest 7-Eleven and buy me something, damn it.”

 

Confused by how she suddenly changed her attitude, Jongin had no choice but to follow. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

 

It was exactly 2AM when Soojung and Jongin arrived back in the hotel with the slurpees that she wanted. He has never tried those drinks before but surprisingly, he liked it. As usual, Soojung makes him try ‘commoner’ things and he always end up enjoying it.

 

Between the two, the first one to enter the lobby was Soojung, and Jongin followed shortly after. The first thing she notices that the couches were fully occupied and she realizes that it was her friends in their pyjamas using them: Chanyeol, Tao, Sehun and Jinri on the other side while Taehyung, Mark, Jackson and Youngji sat on the opposite side.

 

“You all are having a slumber party without me?!” She shouts in accusing tone.

 

After hearing her voice, her sleepy friends immediately stood up, with Jinri and Youngji running towards her direction to hug her. It surprises her and makes both her and Jongin confused, but she hugs them back anyways.

 

“How come nobody’s hugging me?” Jongin asks his friends in disappointment, putting his arms wide open in hopes that they’d come running and hug him just like what the girls did but the boy just stood there, trying their best to stay awake.

 

“Dude, they ing woke me up in the middle of the night thinking that you two got kidnapped or some sort of but there’s not even a scratch on your face!” Sehun sighs annoyingly. “You’re not even bleeding!”

 

“Why do you sound so mad that I’m okay?!”

 

“Wait, what?” Soojung looks at both Jinri and Youngji. Hearing what Sehun said doesn’t really help. “You guys… thought that we’re kidnapped?”

 

“I woke everybody up because I thought you really were kidnapped since your phone was in our room and I know you never leave your phone behind.” Youngji mumbles quietly in embarrassment.

 

“No , I was ready to call the cops for you.” Jinri tells her, and it makes Soojung laugh.

 

“You hear that Jongin? They care so much about me!” She nudges her fiancée, and then looks back at Jinri. “Does this mean that you love me again?”
 

“Sorry, I was just being petty. I never really stopped loving you.” Jinri tells her as she made a kissy face for her best friend. It makes Soojung so happy that she had to jump to her and hug her.

 

“Wow, so nobody’s really going to do that to me?” Jongin asks the boys once again as he pointed at the girls. His friends did walk towards him, but instead of hugging him just like how Soojung was doing to Jinri, the boys looked at his slurpee out of curiosity and even steals it from him so they could drink it.

author's note: 

because of how stressed i am, i have decided to write to calm myself. i guess i got a little into it as i have had to cut the chapter once again into two parts. i've been studying really hard for the past few weeks, in fact i'm working a lot compared to last year, and yet i'm failing all of my subjects and it's making me feel really hopeless and stupid. okay lmao why do i always rant when i talk to you guys. anyways, i wish that you all are having the opposite feeling that i have currently. i hope that you're doing great at school. study well, my lovlies.

since the story's gonna end soon, and though there will be a sequel, i've been wondering what kind of kaistal story should i write next. i've actually already have a lot of ideas. this story held a huge piece of my heart, but i also couldn't wait to show you guys what i have in store. the first one would be a slice of life/realistic story aka those kind of stories that you could relate into, not like this arrange marriage/heirs mess lol. i have thought of something and it's something that actually happened in my life and i'm not sure if i should actually publish in fear that the people around me might actually see it. then there's this fantasy theme. i've already have the characters and the plot in mind, and even though kaistal's not the main ones here, they kind of still are. there's also this royalty story in which jongin's a prince that i've actually started writing. i haven't finished it, but i've written like a thousand words or something. and last but not the least, a story where politics is involved. obviously, both kai and krystal are too young to be politicians so i'd be like this story where they're the children of those politicians.

i'm really, really excited to hear your opinions so i'm hoping that you could at least vote in this poll. thank you guys so much, and till we meet again on the next chapter.