CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Oh my gosh! I’m late!!!” Jina gets up from her bed right away and rushes to the bathroom.

“Why didn’t I hear my alarm?!”

In just fifteen minutes, she finishes taking a bath and preparing for work. She reaches for her handbag and takes out her car keys then rushes to work.

As soon as she arrives at the office, she runs to the conference room where Mark is already discussing the company’s achievements for the third quarter. She bows to the other executives as apology for being late.

‘Oh no, I forgot my phone in my office!’ She looks around thinking maybe she could go back for a while but her father suddenly arrives and joins them. ‘Maybe later, then…’

After about three hours of discussing the company’s performance for the previous quarter, the meeting finally comes to an end.

“Do you want to eat somewhere? A restaurant around here, perhaps?” Mark runs to Jina.

“I…”

“Don’t tell me you have other plans?” he pouts. ‘Is it with that Jaebum guy again? I thought Jackie took care of him already…’

“No, no, no. I was just thinking of where we should eat!”

“Good! Where and what would you like to eat, then?” Mark holds his fiancée’s hand causing those who noticed to envy and admire them.

As much as she wanted to take her hand back, Jina couldn’t for she knew that it would only make her fiancé feel bad.

She longingly stares at her office door as they pass by. Somehow, she feels that something’s wrong but she couldn’t exactly point it out.

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“We’re heading to Azori Restaurant. Bring Jaebum along.”

As soon as she read Mark’s text message, Jackie thought of a plan to get Jaebum to come with her to Azori.

Realizing that she had no time to devise a perfect plan, she resorts to awkwardly call and ask him out for lunch.

“Are you busy?”

“Not really. Why?”

“There’s this restaurant that I’d like to visit. Would you like to come with me? It’ll be my treat!” Sensing that the man on the line is hesitating, Jackie continues, not giving him a chance to decline, “Please, please, please~? I have no one else to ask. Please?”

Jaebum sighs, “Alright. I’ll meet you there. Text me the details.”

“Okay! See you!”

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“Good afternoon, Ma’am, Sir! Table for two?” the waiter greets them as Jina and Mark enter the restaurant.

“Yes, please,” Mark answers.

Once seated, Jina kept herself occupied by checking the menu. Mark, on the other hand, scans the area for any signs of his girlfriend. When his eyes focused on the couple that had just entered, he immediately stands and calls the woman, “Jackie!”

He walks up to her and shakes hand with her. From her seat, Jina looks at the woman and realizes that she’s Jaebum’s supposed girlfriend. ‘He must be here, too, then…’ When she looks behind the brown-haired woman, Jina locks eyes with Jaebum. This doesn’t last, however, for the latter shifts his gaze elsewhere.

“Why don’t we all just sit together? That is if your friend here doesn’t mind.”

“I’m okay,” Jaebum answers nonchalantly. ‘So he doesn’t remember me? I guess that’s good.’

“Alright! My fiancée’s right over there,” Mark points at Jina who is sitting at the far end corner of the restaurant.

“Oh!” Jackie rushes to Jina and greets her, “So we meet again! I didn’t know you were Mark’s girlfriend. The world sure is small.”

“It’s nice to see you again. Please take a seat.”

Once everyone’s seated, Mark calls the waiter so they could place their orders.

“So… your name is?” He looks at Jaebum, pretending that this is the first time they’re meeting.

“Im Jaebum. Nice to meet you,” he bows.

“Oh, I remember what Jina told me! She confirmed that you two are indeed co-workers. But I think Mark mentioned that they both work for Kim Foods. I’m confused,” Jackie suddenly butts in.

Jaebum and Jina look at each other. They both know that them being co-workers is a lie.

“Well…” Jaebum starts as he thinks of a good excuse.

“You guys all know the cheesecake scandal, right? Well, we’re over it and we became good friends. I get tips from him about banking and similar stuff and well… we are such in good terms that we help each other and it’s really just a friendly endearment that we call each other. I know, it doesn’t make sense…” Jina answers awkwardly, laughing.

‘She seems to be good in telling lies…’ Jaebum tells himself but plays along anyway. “Yes, yes. That’s the story.”

“Oh...” Jackie and Mark say in unison, pretending to buy the other two’s excuse.

Jina looks at Jaebum to silently thank him for not telling them the truth but the latter avoids her gaze. ‘He’s being weird.’

Jackie is about to delve deeper into the matter in order to make the two feel more awkward but their talk is interrupted when Mark suddenly gets a call from work. As he excuses himself, his hand accidentally knocks over Jackie’s glass of orange juice. He apologizes and tries to help her clean her blouse but the latter motions that he continue with the call.

He mouths an apology to her and goes outside to take the call.

“Are you okay? I’ll help you clean your blouse,” Jina offers.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll be right back.”

Jackie leaves for the bathroom, leaving Jina and Jaebum behind. They awkwardly sit opposite each other, avoiding each other’s eyes.

Jina breaks their silence, “Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong? I think you’re avoiding me…”

“I think you left this at home.” Jaebum pulls out a Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone from his pocket and places it down at the table.

“Oh, I didn’t know you had my phone!” Jina grabs the gadget and quickly checks for calls and messages she missed.

As she busied herself with her phone, Jaebum looks at her, his eyes filled with disappointment. ‘I was actually silently wishing it wasn’t yours…’

A/N: First update of the year :) This was short and the next update will be too so I'll try to post it asap to make it up to you. Also, I have a new plot in mind and I'm thinking of casting both GOT7 and BTS. I'm still deciding whether to make it a long oneshot or a multi-chaptered story like this story. What's your suggestion? :) And if you have any suggestions of Korean names for OCs, I'd appreciate hearing from you ^^