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Everything resumed again. Sehun was up before she even awoke. Going downstairs to find him already at the table and sharing a meal with her.

“I have to go somewhere early. Have the rest.” He said pushing the rest of the food toward her.

“Ok.” Then like usual he disappeared out the kitchen entrance and the front door closed, leaving her home alone.

Namjoo settled in front of the tv, relaxed, and then she made a cup of ginger tea. Twisting and turning the box in her hand, interested in the brand Sehun had chosen. Returning to the sofa she laid down, continued watching tv, and napped when she tired.

Sometime late afternoon she woke up to the sun hitting the window with full heat. Her face felt like it was burning. Getting up Namjoo drowsily rubbed her eyes. She smelled food coming from the kitchen. Walking to the entrance she peeked inside to find the cook busy in her place.

When she noticed her, Namjoo asked, “Is Sehun home?”

“Not yet. Do you want something to snack?”

Shaking her head Namjoo wheeled around, curious where he’d gone. Hearing her phone rang she dashed forward searching frantically for it on the couch. Discovering it behind a pillow she glanced at HUBBY on the screen.

Clearing , she answered monotonously, “Hello?”

“Come outside.”

“Why?”

“I’m hanging up.” The phone really clicked. Withdrawing the device from her ear she scoffed unable to believe him.

“We’ll see what you’re up to.” She mumbled tossing the phone down and stomped out the door. Crossing the yard and then through the manor, Namjoo shoved one of the double dome doors open.

If Sehun was going to pull her leg again she was prepared to bite back harder. Quickening her pace with determination Namjoo charged forward, slowing halfway down the stairs when it appeared Sehun was up to something else.

Several yards from his parked vehicle was another. A sleek red car. Fresh light pounced off the new painting and tinted windows, like sunlight hitting every rolling wave. Every inch of the car glinted magnificently. Standing near the trunk of the unidentified Sedan Sehun wore a proud grin.

Cautiously stopping on the last third step, Namjoo, heart pounding already guessing what was happening, played dumb. She should, she shouldn’t, but she should happily accept this.

“You showing off a new car?” She tried to sound disinterested.

Don’t let Sehun get you, she told herself, he shouldn’t excite you.

Dangling a key remote from his hand, he said, “It’s yours. I just picked it up.”

All her anticipation shot through. Her pretension failed miserably.

A car!

She just got her own car!

Giddily screaming joy, she leapt down the stairs throwing her arms around him. Namjoo actually hugged him much tighter than she would have consciously allowed herself to, but the happiness was too overpowering her self-control was just nada.

Her consciousness swam up to the fore when she felt his arms tighten around her. Pulling away she cleared trying not to be embarrassed. Namjoo hadn’t meant to give him an opening to be intimate.

“Can I look at the car?” Holding her palm out he dropped the key into her hand.

“I’ll show you the controls.” Getting into the passenger’s seat he taught her to start the car, where the heating and cooling systems were, the defrosting button, the car manual, where he’d tucked the insurance pamphlets and so on.

“Where’s your phone?”

“I didn’t bring it with me.”

“I guess that’s ok.” Sehun said. Touching some buttons on the screen, he said, “There’s a Bluetooth connection system you can connect your phone to, so there’s no need to be on the phone when driving. I’ll connect that for you next time.”

“Oh…” she breathed. He was going to call her when she went out whenever he could. She could already see it.

“I have something else for you.”

Namjoo waited as he dug into the pocket of his blazer. Studying him a little closer. Trying to equate one plus one, but then not quite allowing herself to find the answer. Questions began bombarding her one after another. It was that feeling again.

Sehun acting a little strange these days. Frequently out of his character zone. It was off that he wasn’t bloody heartbroken over a failed relationship or even meeting his ex who’d cheated again. There should have been some kind of confrontation yet nothing.

There was his constant teasing. None of which she could tell whether he really meant or not. There was that look in his eyes. Giving up his share of food for her.

Now a car.

Wasn’t that too grand a gesture?

Or was this going to be used as a collateral agreement?

Maybe she should start thinking twice about everything he was doing.

“Give me your hand.” Sehun said.

Namjoo did as told. A keyring landing in her hand. A couple keys dangled from it.

“This one’s for the manor.” He pointed to one. The other, “For our house.”

Sehun tenderly smiled when she looked up.

“Don’t lose them, ok?” he said.

“Why?” Namjoo wondered.

“Why what?” he asked.

“Well, I mean,” she affixed, “the sudden privilege.”

“It makes me feel bad,” Sehun explained, “that you’re home all day.”

Again, she shouldn’t have, but her heart softened, melted, whatever. In case it showed on her face, she went with, “I had no idea you are so generous. Aren’t you afraid I’m going to run off?”

Namjoo seriously expected him to reprimand her, scold her, or take her literally. Instead, she received a mere smile from him which was more telling than anything.

“We’re just going to have to play a game of trust, don’t we?” he asked.

Actually, hearing that was more off putting than ever. Namjoo was left struggling to read between the lines when he pushed the door open, “Dinner should be ready soon. Let’s go in.”

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Namjoo was bound to take his offer. He expected it when she said at the breakfast table the following morning, “I’m going to head out later.” She made sure to explain in detail, “I’m just going to have lunch with Moonbi.”

“Ok, but I’m going to call you in the afternoon.” Sehun said.

“Fine.”

Even hearing her cold answer made him happy.

He really did call around noon. Namjoo missed the first call, but answered on the second.

“You really called right at twelve on the dot,” Namjoo nitpicked.

“What are you doing?” he spun around in his chair so his back was to the desktop. Cozily leaning back into the leather, he closed his eyes imagining Namjoo beside him, and they were chatting like husband and wife about household affairs; what to have for dinner; how much electricity and water expenses cost, what to cut down on.

Namjoo might complain the pillow on his bed had gotten flat, she wanted a new one. Or the vacuum cleaner wasn’t working efficiently anymore. Perhaps something was wrong with the plumbing system and it needed to be looked at, he should call for a checkup.

“Nothing.” Namjoo replied.

“I thought you were having lunch with your friend?” he recalled.

“I am.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“No! Why would you?” Namjoo snapped.

He chuckled knowing she would react so. “I’m kidding. What would I say to her?”

“Not funny.” Namjoo commented.

“What are you eating though?” Sehun was curious. He wanted to know about every part of her day, what she was doing outside of his house, things she wanted to do in her individual time, and if she missed him. Because he couldn’t help thinking about her.

Did she know he looked forward to coming home at every start of the morning when he departed? That he anticipated lying with her in bed even though they weren’t cuddling yet. And then waking up to watch her sleeping figure before rising to start his day, get everything over with so he could return home to her.

She must not know. Not even halfway to guessing his feelings.

How was he supposed to reach out to her, so that Namjoo might feel the same way?

“Everything seafood you can imagine.” Namjoo cockily explained. “The food’s worth your hundred thousand dollars you gave me.”

Sehun widely grinned amused. He could see Namjoo’s head held high the entire time.

“Ok. Then eat everything you want to. I’ll see you at home.” Sehun smiled all throughout. Hanging up he spun around in his chair lightly breathing a laugh. Intentionally setting his phone down with his left hand so he could take a peek of his gold ring.

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“You really had to call just to say that.” Namjoo made a face and tapped her phone. Walking out from the corridor leading to the bathroom, she walked back to the booth Moonbi was at. The scent of fries and a burger assaulted her nose at once.

She was meeting Moonbi at a fast-food hotspot they frequented in the early mornings after work and before returning home to sleep. Splurge the few dollars out of the hundreds they’d made to fill their stomachs before repeating the day again.

“Who called you?” Moonbi wiped a napkin across her greasy mouth.

“Work.” Namjoo lied.

“If you’re back in the city, why don’t you go see mom for a bit?” Moonbi wondered.

“Uh…well, I’m just here this afternoon. If I see mom it’ll just make it hard on her.” Namjoo anxiously continued lying.

Carefully absorbing her words, Moonbi nodded. “I suppose you’re right. How long will you be gone again?”

“About that,” Namjoo nervously tried to estimate a number, “I’m not sure.”

Darn Sehun never gave her a timeline. She should nag at him when she saw him later. How long were they going to keep this up?

“So, you don’t even have a contract?” Moonbi frowned. “That’s not right. There’s no security for your employment. You can get fired at any time. Oh my gosh, what if your boss just abandons you? You’re sure this isn’t a scam?”

“Please, Moonbi. If anyone needs to overreact, that would be me.” She put a hand to her heart. “Trust me.”

“Your job is awfully suspicious,” Moonbi commented. “You haven’t told me much about what you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry.” Namjoo reiterated. “Like I said, I’m being taken care of.”

On the drive home, Namjoo sighed. Seemed like meeting Moonbi didn’t do anything but kept her nerves on edge. She couldn’t even freely be herself without lying.

Damn Sehun. He was getting her into his bad habit.

Looks like future trips would be solo from here on. Meeting Moonbi again any sooner would arouse suspicion. Again, damn Sehun.

Sehun’s car was at the front of the house when she drove up. Getting out of her car she tried peeking into his windows, see if he was inside waiting for her. Even if she couldn’t make out anything through the tinted screens Sehun would have opened the door. He didn’t, so she assumed he was already home.

Climbing the stairs, she hurried toward his stucco house. As expected, the front door was unlocked, meaning he was in. No one was in the kitchen, so Namjoo took the stairs. From the foot of the bedroom doorway, she spotted him standing over his desk. His tall figure just looming there.

“You’re already home?” Namjoo stepped in.

Stiffly pivoting around, Sehun held an item between his forefinger and thumb carefully. Cool glazed eyes landed on her. “What is this?”

Immediately grasping her left hand, Namjoo dashed forward. Anxiously laughing she plucked the wedding ring from his hand.

“It’s on. See, it’s on.” Namjoo wiggled her ringed finger in front of his face.

“Why’d you take it off?” he inquired upset.

“Because I met Moonbi!” Namjoo couldn’t help exclaiming unable to understand the height of his fit. “Am I supposed to wear a glove or something? She’s going to say something about it.”

Sehun huffed through his nostrils. “You could’ve made an excuse, you bought a fake from the market, something.”

“No one sells a fake that looks this huge!” Namjoo stuck her hand up into his face again. “Anyway, we have to talk.”

“About what?” he narrowly looked at her.

“About this,” she spread her arms out. “It’s almost been a month. When am I leaving?”

His lips compressed.

“Hello!” Namjoo let her voice climb up a notch. “So?”

She irritably watched his eyes fly over her shoulder and quickly assumed he was just dodging the topic; find some excuse to continue to drag this. Abruptly pulling her forward he tightly wrapped his arms around her causing her face to bump into his shoulder. Namjoo let out a muffled oompf!

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” A familiar voice.

Releasing her, Sehun assured, “No, it’s fine. What do you need?”

Namjoo turned to find Cleaner Jin in the doorway, head lowered embarrassed. Damn, had she heard anything?

“You’re being called to the manor for dinner.”

“All of a sudden?” Sehun frowned.

“Yes.”

“We’ll be right there.”

Once she was gone Namjoo rubbed her nose. “Seriously?!” she yelled at Sehun.

“If you weren’t so worked up, you would have heard her coming.” Sehun coldly said. Brushing by, he urged, “Come. Mom and dad are waiting. We should go see what’s up.”

“But we’re not done here!” Namjoo shouted after him.

Why was he getting away with this charade so many times?!

Grunting, Namjoo stomped after him. Out the front door Sehun extended his hand. In reply, Namjoo just stared at it like it was some alien object.

“Hold my hand.” Sehun directed.

“I don’t want to.” Namjoo pouted. “We have to talk first.”

He didn’t wait. Just grabbed her hand, twining his fingers through hers and strung her along.

“I’m not letting this go, you know,” Namjoo glanced at him. “You better keep that in mind.”

All Sehun did was give her a side glance. Maybe there was even a tad bit of a smirk. Namjoo couldn’t be sure because he turned away.

He was just so frustrating! The need to ruffle her hair bounced through her as they approached the dining room, where voices ricocheted.

There were guests tonight. Namjoo didn’t know there were people over. She peered up at Sehun’s expression to see if he knew, but he appeared uncertain as well.

“Who’s here?” Namjoo quietly asked as they approached.

“I’m not sure.” He answered.

Time to put on another act. Namjoo readied herself for this hurl when they passed through the opening arch into the dining room. Sehun’s parents were seated in their spots. Two guests tonight. A smiling couple or something, but when they twisted around revealing their faces Sehun halted altogether, bringing her to a stop with him.

Namjoo’s stare swept over the familiar woman to Hwayi back to the familiar woman. Then she felt Sehun’s fingers squeeze her hand.

“You’re here?” Madam Oh rose from her seat. Twining her hands uncomfortably, she gestured to the available seats, “Come sit.”

“Come,” Elder Oh urged, “I’ve the cooks prepare varieties of meat dishes for you.” The elder man eagerly smiled at her.

“I didn’t know about uncle’s health issues until last visit, so I promised I’d bring a friend.” Hwayi gleamed. “You know her, right, Sehun? Suh Jin. She minored in nutrition and health at Konkuk.”

Getting up, Jin pretentiously greeted them. “It’s nice to see each other again.”

***Oh boy....Act 1; Phase 2 is just beginning. Who is putting on what act now?

***before the questions pop up: Sehun's parents never met Jin. They just knew he had a gf. Remember he was going to introduce her to them when she graduated from abroad and then marry her?