\\\\\

Binged eating served her stomach well. Stuffed, Namjoo crossed the street toward the mart in need of a change of clothes. She wanted to get rid of Choonhee’s classy outfit, exchange it for something street casual if she were to blend back into reality. Namjoo had already decided on donating Choonhee’s clothes to the first homeless woman she saw on the streets, and if there were none, well, she’d sell them one way or another.

That had been the plan and all had been well until Sehun from some world in hell she didn’t know of, spotted her. Namjoo had never wished so much before that she could have unrealistic magical powers in that moment and disappear forever.

Instead, she did what she could on do. Run.

It wasn’t a newfound skill for her. From all her years on the street getting into scuffles with thieves, she believed she’d leveled up from a weak runner who ran out of breath after a minute into someone who could run until she needed to stop. And right now that was the only thing she could do, because in God’s name she would never go back to being Choonhee.

Not her life. Not her business.

Carelessly shoving people out of the way Namjoo dashed through the aisles, barely knocking into carts and rowdy children. In less than five minutes she spotted the front doors and could hear Sehun’s voice fading behind her. A quick smile of victory swung over her face as she darted through the automatic doors and into the parking lot.

Namjoo shrieked upon the honking of a car, halting so abruptly that she literally flopped back onto her . Shocked, she froze on the ground as the driver stuck his head out of the window to give her a verbal beating. In the next moment hands slid through her arms and she was pulled up from the ground. A rush of what was going on hit her consciously and she started tugging away.

“Let go! Let go!” she screamed.

Passersby turned to stare but Sehun smiled and waved them off. Namjoo fought harder to escape, literally pulling herself away and excessively dug her nails into his hands to weaken his hold. A painful shout came from him. Readjusting his arms tighter around her he shifted her weight against him, lifting her feet off the ground. Namjoo found herself pathetically kicking her legs, yelping and struggling helplessly.

A few seconds later he abruptly dropped her onto her feet and her forehead barely knocked into the building. Angry at her failure of escape and how he determinedly chased her, she turned around to look at him with a huff.

“What the hell?!” she screamed. “What do you think you’re doing? Move it!”

Namjoo pushed him back, but only his shoulder swung back, his cold gaze locked onto her. Namjoo stubbornly stared back with the same heated expression.

After a second she started again, “You, I think you’re misunderstanding something right now. You’re going to think back later on about how much of a fool you’re being…”

Her lips tightened shut when he slammed his palm against the building, at the side of her head. Namjoo glanced out of the corner of her eye to see his arm barring her then looked back at him. Sehun, like always, didn’t look amused, but hell, what lie was she telling? He was being every bit of the idiot Hayoung was making him into.

If only he knew the truth…he’d let her go.

“Do you know how much trouble you’re in?” he asked. “And you’re out here…doing who knows what?!”

Namjoo glared up at him, restraining herself with all her pitiful might not to head- him.

“I’m doing what I always do. Why?” Namjoo tilted her head up, refusing to back down. Well, she wasn’t wrong. She was going to slide out of Choonhee’s skin and become herself again.

He narrowed his eyes, taking in every inch of her before scoffing. Namjoo’s brows twitched in bewilderment. He probably thought she was some joke. Oh, the frustration swelling up inside her chest.

“You,” she said again, “are making a very big mistake. Do you know that?”

“You’re crazy,” he muttered under his breath. “Whatever mistake it is, why don’t you say it when we get back?”

Stepping back he grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. The vexation growing in heights inside her body made her want to scream.

Again, she tried anchoring herself away from him. “Let go! I’m not going! Why aren’t you listening to me?! You’re making a very big mistake right now!”

Namjoo continued to cry out, even went on to stomping and jumping but couldn’t get him to release her. Even trying to get his grip off her hand with her free hand didn’t work to her heart’s content.

In the end she screamed, “Sehun!!”

Whatever it was she’d done, made him stop unexpectedly. Namjoo watched him turn to look at her and for a moment, with gentleness blanketed over his face. The expression stunned her and very momentarily, her mind blanked. Something about the depth of his eyes kept her prisoner to them. In that mere moment she didn’t think he was who she had thought he was.

The abrupt heart rendering moment abruptly ended when he continued to pull her along and she started tugging back furiously, like a dog being taken away from his favorite park. The beep of his car sounded as he unlocked it when they neared and Namjoo saw the sight of Choonhee’s manor looming in sight. The view of it made her heart leap millions of light years ahead and serious panic begin to fill her.

“This isn’t right,” Namjoo whined. “Let go! Let go! I’m not going back!”

Namjoo seized her chance of escape when he reached out to pull the door open, but the strength of his one arm was greater than she imagined. With one yank she nearly stumbled back and he had her pinned against the back door while working the passenger door open for her. Namjoo continued to struggle regardless of the stares they were receiving from the customers entering and leaving the lot.

She heaved a breath when he managed to slide an arm around her waist and push her into the passenger’s seat, her electrocution chair. As she gathered herself up Sehun moved quickly to pull the seatbelt around her body, clicking it in just when she fully sat up, turned the child lock on, and slammed the door shut in her face. A cry seethed through her teeth when she grabbed the door handle a split second too late to attempt another escape. And before she knew it, he was behind the wheel starting the engine.

Namjoo ferociously pulled the door handle again and again and turned to him when he began reversing out of the lot. With another desperate plea, she tried this time calmly, “Listen to me, if I go back there things are just going to become a bigger mess. I don’t think any of us needs to deal with all that trouble, right? If you stop the car and let me out, I’ll pretend we never saw each other. How about it?”

Sehun turned to glance at her with a smirk, “Nice try, Choonhee. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but if you think running away will solve your problems you’re wrong. So what is it? Do you finally realize why you shouldn’t get engaged to Kai?”

Namjoo’s brows drew together with a slight twitch. Again, she wanted to know so much about what it was they knew that she didn’t. She mentally wanted to scream to herself, because it shouldn’t matter to her anymore. Not if she had to give up her life to focus on Choonhee’s, because that just wasn’t fair.

“No. It’s far from that,” Namjoo told. “It’s…complicated.”

Sehun shot her another glance out of the corner of his eye. “So, you’re going to get engaged with him after all.”

“No!” Namjoo raised her voice.

The irritation of being unable to tell him anything made her insides explode, because telling him would screw her future up more than his. She didn’t want to go to explaining that she was a fraud and face jail time, which she obviously didn’t serve. In the first place, it was not her that had willingly taken on Choonhee’s identity but damn Hayoung that had placed her there!

“Why aren’t you listening to me!” Namjoo shouted.

“Then what are you going on about?” Sehun asked. “If it’s not about the engagement, what other problems do you have?”

Namjoo stared at him, totally flabbergasted. She couldn’t discern what his main concern was or why he even cared about the engagement. It had nothing to do with him. Nothing!

“Why do you care so much about the engagement?” Namjoo gave up and finally switched the main point of her frustration. “Why?”

Sehun’s expression became seriously, almost irritated. Then turning the wheel brushed her off, as if she was the one who had become annoying instead. “Forget it.”

Namjoo gasped in utter disbelief, confused about what just happened. She fell back against the seat when he braked and released his seatbelt. Namjoo’s heart literally leapt up to , panicking that she was finally back where she didn’t belong. Relief flushed through her when she saw the mall in front of her. Becoming taken aback with why they were even there she turned when Sehun pulled her door open.

“Come out,” he ordered.

“Huh?”

She listened to him sigh impatiently then leaned in to release her seatbelt. As Namjoo pressed herself back into the seat she got a good whiff of this masculine scent wafting off him. Growing embarrassingly shy she froze in her seat, listening to the seatbelt zip back into place.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Without waiting for her to reply he grabbed her arm to pull her out, closed the door, and they started toward the mall. She slowly followed him, suddenly feeling out of place in the large crowd around them. Everyone appeared giddy and in love with the products on display, friends meeting up, students skipping class to wait for their favorite band’s music to come on sale, and lovers walking arm in arm.

The lights were bright and although it was spacious, Namjoo felt like she was wadding through a pool of seaweed. Slowing in pace she browsed around, amazed by the golden lights glowing above and all the stores open for business. There was a fresh smell of new furniture and clothes breezing through the air along with mixtures of scented bath soap and coffee. It was both strange and alluring.

“What is with you?” she turned to see Sehun looking back, standing tall in the center of the hallway looking at her, his eyes narrowed like always and his lips in a firm line.

He wouldn’t know, no one would know that this was her first time in such a big shopping mall, because she’d never had the audacity to enter a place smelling like sweat and so it was the streets she stayed. She heard Sehun sigh again before he walked toward her and grabbing her hand, pulled her after him, this time gently.

As her concerns dissipated from mind she continued to peer around, amazed and awed, running her eyes over every detail passing by. So this was the world that Choonhee gave her. The brand name clothes, the lingerie, the home furniture, jewelry, and so much more were all so captivating. Her eyes ran around the people surrounding her dressed no worse or better than her. As her eyes jumped from one side to another she caught view of Sehun’s broad back and stared. It was then that she recalled his hand wrapped around hers like a glove.

What was with him acting this way toward her? This feeling, this aura she could feel from him was almost as if he really cared about her. Did he, after all, still have lingering feelings for her twin?

Then it hit her. Why had he come after her instead of Kai or Hayoung? Why him?

Namjoo slightly woke back up from her daze when a whiff of delicious food slapped her in the face. They were standing in a dim lighted restaurant with cozy music, a waitress greeting them at the door. Namjoo observed the tiny restaurant both lost and confused why they were there. Then they were led to a booth and given menus.

Before she could ask why they were there, Sehun held the menu up and asked, “You haven’t eaten, have you?”

Namjoo frowned then lied, “No.”

“Good. Then order something.”

Keeping her excitement at bay that she would be able to eat upgraded food this time around quickly began browsing through the menu, unaware of the tiny smile on his face.

After the waiter came to take their orders Sehun’s phone started ringing. She watched him glance at the screen before turning it off and placed it screen down onto the table. It suddenly came to her that today was Monday and it all but meant he should be at work. Vice CEO, the important position, she’d heard.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” she asked.

“You took a day off, why can’t I?”

Namjoo’s eyes fell flat on him, slightly irked. She had good reason, but she didn’t understand why he was there.

“Can I you a question?” she started.

He nodded and continued to sit there coolly with arms crossed.

Namjoo thought carefully about how to phrase the words so she wouldn’t look suspicious. “How long has it been since you’ve known Hayoung? Since I have? Or did you meet her after?”

He shot her a frown. “What are you talking about?”

Quickly saving herself she added, “Th…then…never mind. It was quite a dumb question, wasn’t it?”

Taking a sip from his cup of water he said, “You introduced her to me as your best friend. You don’t remember?”

“Ah! Of course I remember!” Namjoo raised her voice in exaggerated pretension and received another strange frown from Sehun.

“Then let me ask you,” he said and Namjoo gulped, having unexpected this.

What would he say? What would he want to know about Choonhee? Would it be something only Choonhee knew?

“Why did you really leave me?”

It was a blow to the head. Dumbfounded and stunned, Namjoo merely stared at Sehun sinking the entirety of his face into her mind. His expression was earnest. His eyes alone sat on her, like she was the only thing in the world. They told her he was waiting for her answer. It was important. He wanted to know.

Why now?

The breakup hadn’t mattered to Namjoo. She’d just taken it as a passing without question. Now that she knew Choonhee had initiated it, the picture to the puzzle appeared a bit different. It would give reason to Sehun to have lingering feelings left, but then why was he seeking answers so late? Why had Choonhee gotten together with him to breakup with him? Was there an intention why they had dated? Was there another intended reason to the breakup?

The headache it gave her along with the many possibilities. It was too complex an equation to solve. Where was the formula for it?

In the journal, Choonhee had written that Sehun didn’t understand her. That Kai had confessed to her and she would go to him. Was there something written along the lines she wasn’t seeing? Did they both like Choonhee, only Kai realized it later?

The suggestion popped new scenarios into her head and Namjoo furrowed her brow the longer she stared at Sehun. Who, then, had been the lover that got her sister pregnant?

Sehun?

Kai?

Namjoo moved back in her seat when the waiter arrived with their meal and they ate in utter silence. Even though Sehun didn’t press on, Namjoo couldn’t shake off the feeling that what he had asked was something he sincerely wanted to find out. And Namjoo helplessly, against her own will, became more curious about what it was Choonhee had done before her death.

Why had she made everything so complicated?

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Choonhee had never been the type to runaway. Her parents hadn’t bred her to be a child who ran from her problems. And this was so new about her that Sehun wasn’t really sure he’d known the real her, because he’d been so focused on using her to acclaim his goal.

She was different from who he used to know and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d put on a show with him. Was it why she didn’t see him as important enough, choosing Kai over him?

He never really dug for the answer before, but now it was really itching him. Suddenly, he wanted to know why Choonhee had let him go. Because her love for Kai was greater? No other reason seemed fathomable enough for why she dumped him.

Out of the blue, it felt unfair and unjust. Yet, as he waited for her to say something nervousness rocked him back and forth. What if her answer was yes? Sehun realized he didn’t want that. He wanted to hear the biggest lie of his life that it was because of some other reason she left him; that Kai had nothing to do with it.

But as he sat there, he couldn’t utter the words from his lips. Then they ate in silence and he wanted to know so much about what was running through her mind. Was she thinking about his question? Did she feel the slightest guilt for leaving him?

He wanted her to. He wanted her to feel so much guilt.

And still, the question stood.

Do you love him? Are you going to go through with the engagement?

He was so conflicted he wasn’t sure what he was even doing. He was late for the meetings scheduled for him, but he didn’t want to drop this moment with Choonhee for work when he had already chosen wealth over her. If it wasn’t now, he might not have the chance to be alone with her again.

Why did he have to start feeling this way toward her now?

Why now?! 

***hahah He so wants her but Namjoo is so confused. He thinks he's realizing his feelings too late but actually Namjoo isn't even Choonhee. The situation is amusing. 

***and if you notice, it's the first time she's said his name!