The quiet atmosphere in the car somehow bothered Hayoung - the song that was playing on the radio didn't help her easing her feeling, at all. She hadn't explained to Jaehyuk yet, about the lunch earlier. When Jaehyuk drove her to the office after the lunch, he didn't ask her anything about that, and he only talked about he was tired. So, she didn't want to ruin the mood. But now, it made her wonder if he really didn't care about that, or anything. He was rational, but for her, it just made no sense that he didn't demand an explanation at all.

Hayoung turned to her right, looking at Jaehyuk who was driving. She really did what he told Sehun earlier - that if her mother asked who fetch her home, she would answer 'a friend'. She should be grateful that Jaehyuk didn't ask her many questions, but didn't he wonder why before this she would always refuse when he offered to take her home, but now suddenly she asked him to take her home. He accepted whatever she said, and that was what bothered her.

"You are not curious at all about who the guy was. The one that I had lunch with," she started the conversation, changing the radio station to her favorite one.

Jaehyuk turned to her with a smile on his face. "Why? He couldn't be your date set up by your parents, right?"

Hayoung bit her lower lip, he got that right but she didn't know how she should explain to him. She hadn't told him about her family and to tell the whole story, he needed to know their relationship was unknown to her family, and the reason why it was a discreet relationship.

"So, he's either the son of your parents' friend or maybe your friend," he continued before Hayoung could say anything. "Or maybe your relatives," the smile was still on his handsome face.

Hayoung faked a smile. She would explain everything to him, but not now. When she figured out how to tell him, she definitely would tell him everything. From A to Z, nothing would be left out. For now, let him thought that way first.

"You are so sure about this."

"Because I trust you."

The words that escaped from his lips made her to lift her turned her face from looking at him to the window. A slight of guilty triggered her feeling. She felt bad for not telling him the whole thing.

"Jaehyuk-ah," she called him, turning her face back to him. “I’m sorry,” her voice couldn’t sound more sincere than that.

“Why?” he chuckled.

“Just because,” she answered him shortly.

“Sleep. I’ll wake you up when we arrive at your home,” he told her, turning his face on her who was looking so tired. Probably she had lots of works to do at the office.

It was ten minutes later when Jaehyuk woke her up. Realizing the car was parked in front of her house, she knew they were already there. After thanking Jaehyuk, she went straight into her house. As usual, her mother was in the living room, looking at some news on the net through iPad. It wasn’t that late yet – it was after dinner time, so she expected that.

“You’re home?” her mother asked when she noticed her walking into the house.

Hayoung nodded.

“Who drove you home? Mr. Park is here,” she continued asking. Mr. Park was the chauffer for the family and he was the one who always drove Hayoung to the office and also sent her home when she didn’t drive by herself.

“A friend did,” she answered her. Before her mother opened again, she quickly told her mom something. “Mom, I have a favor,” she paused for a while; when her mother nodded as reply, she continued, “don’t do anything like today anymore. I mean Sehun is quite busy so I don’t want to disturb him. I’m busy too,” she gave her mother a sweet smile.

“Yes, I won’t anymore. By the way, that friend of yours, was it Sehun?” the voice tone changed.

“I don’t know. Good night, mom,” she replied as she climbed the stairs to her room.

-

Hayoung stared blankly at the girl who was sitting in front of her. This friend of her had been looking at her suspiciously since on their way to the restaurant, as if she did something wrong. Something must be bugging her – she was positive about that. If not, there was no way she would give her that kind of look. She won’t say anything until this friend of her asked. Well, if she really wanted to know, she would ask her later. She knew her so well.

The meal was already on the table but her friend’s eyes were still on her, somehow made her a bit uncomfortable. Maybe this time, she was wrong. Maybe this time, she needed to ask her what was wrong, what she wanted to know that she still couldn’t take her you-owe-me-an-explanation eyes off from her. But then again, she hadn’t done anything that needed to be explained, at least to her. As much as she remembered.

“Jung Soojung, is there something you want to know?” she couldn’t take it anymore so she just asked her. If she stayed in silence, this lunch probably won’t end. They would be sitting there until she opened her own mouth, looking at how her friend, Soojung kept herself silence.

“Oh Hayoung, you didn’t even tell me you’re going to marry Oh Sehun,” Soojung replied. It had been over a week and Hayoung didn’t say anything to her. If it wasn’t for her mother, then she guessed she wouldn’t know this until the end - the day when she would know about this, was the day when Hayoung became Oh Sehun’s wife.

“How did you know about this?” she put down the fork. Not that she didn’t want to tell Soojung about this, but if she could, she wanted to keep it herself. It was just a pretend and she wasn’t going to marry him anyway.

“Nah, that’s not important,” that wasn’t the answer that she wanted even though she already expected that from Hayoung. “What’s gone wrong during your date?” That was she wanted to know. She had been friend with Oh Hayoung since kindergarten so there was no secret between them. The idea for the previous dates was from her and it worked perfectly, but why suddenly her mother told her about the wedding, and that guy wasn’t Jaehyuk. Definitely something had gone wrong.

“He suggested a better way than yours,” she answered. Nothing had gone wrong; it was just the plan that had been changed. “He asked me to pretend for three months,” she continued and told her the whole story afterwards. Soojung was surprised, but she couldn’t do anything and admitted that his idea was way better than theirs.

“But sill, this is crazy. Just imagine if the parents won’t cancel the wedding,” Soojung sighed. Even though it was her friend’s problem, she was truly concern about her friend. “Does Jaehyuk know about this?” she continued. Somehow, looking at her friend’s expression, she didn’t feel good about that.

Hayoung shook her head. She didn’t plan on telling him anytime sooner. Maybe a bit later.

“Do you really love Jaehyuk?” Soojung looked straight into her friend’s eyes, finding the answer for her question, but she could find nothing.

“I like him,” she answered shortly before eating the salad. That was her true feeling; she liked him, he made her comfortable and the best thing about him was, he was so understanding. If other guys, they probably already made a fuss when they she having lunch with Sehun last Friday, but he wasn’t like that.

“You like him, not LOVE him yet you already talking about a marriage with him?” Soojung emphasized the word, and her voice sounded surprised.

“Love is a strong word,” she answered impassively.

“And marriage is not?” she shouted but still kept her voice low so they won’t be a disturbance at the restaurant. “You’re crazy,” she looked at her unbelievably. For a moment, she lost her words. This girl definitely had lost her mind already. Soojung sighed; she was sure Hayoung already had so many experiences in dating, yet she couldn’t even differentiate the huge difference between like and love.

“Let’s stop talking about this, shall we?”

“Ah, you’re crazy!” Soojung claimed in frustration.

Hayoung continued eating. She herself wasn’t sure either it was like or love, but as of now, there was only Jaehyuk. 

[171115] a not so girls talk chapter for you guys. do leave a comment of what do you think of this story :)  and also, thanks for those who subscribe and leave a comment on this story. I appreciate so much *give cookies to everyone*