“It’s time to go, Nuna.” My head lifted and its own accord. I barely even registered Jimin standing in the doorway until he spoke again. “Nuna, you have to stop being like this.” I blinked a few times, everything coming into focus around me. When I took in the sight of my best and only friend wearing a dark blue suit, his obnoxiously orange hair done up all fancy, it finally hit me. Tonight was the night. It would be the first time since middle school that I would be meeting my future husband. The first and final marriage meeting before my wedding in two days. , how time flew when one was sulking alone in a dark corner of an unused study.

I heaved out a sigh, standing from the creaky chair I’d been occupying. My steps were slow and mechanical, so Jimin met me halfway, brushing dust off of the sleek black dress I’d been shoved into. Of course they wouldn’t let me just dress the way I deemed appropriate. They had to put me in this stupid thing. It was enough that I had to wear a suffocating dress on my wedding day, but now as well? I cringed to myself. “Can’t I go change really quick?” I tried to convince Jimin one last time, jutting out my bottom lip, but the boy shook his head.

“Nice try, Nuna. Abunim would actually kill me if you showed up in anything other than this dress.” Another sigh passed my lips and I lowered my head, giving a barely there nod. “Now come on, the car’s waiting downstairs.” He held out an arm for me, and I took it with shaking hands. Ever since we’d gotten back to Korea I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about Hoseok. Had he changed in all of these years? Was he still a horrible human that would make me want to break his nose and not care who saw?

As we approached the car, I was thankful to the phone in my purse blaring Got7 loudly. I let out a sigh of relief, fumbling for the device as I slid into the back seat of the sleek black car that pretty much matched my dress. “Hello?” Yah, you have to stop doing this. Calling when I need to hear your voice the most.” At my words, Jimin’s head snapped towards me. There was only one person who I still used English with, and he was halfway around the world. I shot him a glare before I turned away to face the window. ”I’m glad to hear from you Kookie, but you’ve gotta stop calling me like this. It’s not doing either of us any good. I’m getting married in a couple of days. Didn’t I tell you to take a chance on Miss Prissy Pants?” His reply was rushed, something crazy about Tara being constantly shoved up his and how he misses our movie nights. I shook my head even though the boy on the other line couldn’t see. From the corner of my eye I saw the look on Jimin’s face. My best friend knew how much I was still hurting from the separation of my secret lover of two months. Even though it had only been a short time Jungkook and I had come to care for each other greatly, and leaving him was the hardest thing I’d ever done. ”Kookie I have to go. I think you should just stop calling me for now..” My voice was shaking by the time I hung up, not caring to hear what else Jungkook had to say. This was hard enough, I didn’t need his words ringing through my head while meeting my future husband.

“Everything okay?” I gave Jimin a shaky smile, nodding slowly. “You know you can’t keep doing this to yourself, Nuna.” Sighing seemed to be my new thing, as one as escaped while I rubbed my temples.

“I know, Chim. I know. I’ve tried to tell him that, but he keeps calling at the exact moment I miss him the most or I’m feeling distressed. I try so hard to ignore the calls but I just can’t bring myself to do it.” I wanted to run my hands through my hair, but the stupid stylist had braided it, so that was impossible.

Jimin seemed to have a temporary solution for my problem, and he snatched the phone out of my hand, stuffing it into his own pocket before I could put it back in my purse. I wanted to protest, but I knew why he was doing it. “We’re here, let’s go, Nuna.” I gave a simple nod, trying to act like I was unaffected, but I was freaking out internally. I was minutes away from meeting the man I was being forced to spend the rest of my life with. A man who had tortured me relentlessly in middle school. A man who was not the man I wanted in my life.

Our door was opened for us, a black clad arm reaching out for me. I took the hand that was offered, stepping out of the vehicle. I took only a moment to smooth out the annoying dress before looking to Jimin for comfort. The male gave a bright grin and thumbs up, and I found myself smiling despite the situation. I was glad that my dad had agreed to give Jimin a position in the company, I would probably be lost without him. “Follow me, Miss. The guests are waiting.” With the words from our I gave a slight bow, following along behind with Jimin right next to me. I made sure our arms were touching, needing his comfort now more than ever.

“Sujae-ah! Look at you, my dear.” My father was the first to greet us, and Jimin and I both gave low bows. The man only chuckled before he rested one hand on my head, and clapped Jimin’s shoulder with the other. “You clean up well, Jimin-ah.” The boy beamed at my father’s compliment, and it took everything in me to keep my eyes from rolling. Little egotistical bastard. “I’d like to introduce Jung Byun Shin-ssi, and his son, Jung Hoseok.” My eyes found the pair at the exact moment the words were spoken, and I swear I had war flashbacks. He almost looked the exact same, except now he was taller. He still had the same spiky hair and smug look on his face, though it seemed to be tamed just a smidge.

I gave a complete ninety degree bow, my hands clenched tightly to my sides. “It’s very nice to meet you both.” Jimin gave the same greeting, though he seemed a bit more awkward with the whole thing. The only reason he was here was to be my moral support, well I guess there’s the small fact that he’s my assistant, now, as well.

“You’ve grown up quite a bit, Sujae-ssi.” My eyes moved back to the young man who had once again taken his seat at the table. I only gave a nod of acknowledgement before I took my own seat that Jimin pulled out for me before taking his own. My father remained standing, as well as Byunshin-ssi, and I knew exactly what this meant.

“Behave now, children. That means you, Jay-ah.” I cringed a bit at my father’s tone before he slapped Jimin’s shoulder again. “Take good care of them, Chim. Call me if anything goes wrong.” The last words were hushed, but I heard them all the same. I tried not to groan. Of course dad would think I’d this up somehow. Of course, he was probably right. I already wanted to plant my fist directly into Hoseok’s nose with just remembering all of the nasty things he’d done in school.

“So are you her guard dog? Or the leash holder? I hear our Sujae has quite the temper nowadays.” Jimin may have to call my father sooner than I’d expected.

“Excuse you?” I raised an eyebrow, glaring at the man across the table. “Well I see you haven’t changed a single bit. Still an arrogant prick. tch.” I crossed my arms over my chest, though I watched Jimin silently panic next to me.

I’d been expecting some witty comeback, or for him to storm out, but Hoseok actually smiled at me instead. “You’ve got some fire, now. I’m impressed. I hadn’t believed your father when he said you got into fights in New York.” I was momentarily stunned. Here he was, talking about my attitude like it was nothing, and he was grinning. I didn’t know how to handle it. “Our father’s ordered for us already, I hope that’s alright. I can always see if the cooks can cancel the order.” Without realizing it I shook my head.

“It’s fine. Appa knows what I like.” It was true. The night of my return to Korea he’d had a huge spread of all of my favorite Korean food waiting for me. I’d eaten like a woman starved, since I hadn’t seen some of the dishes since before I’d left home.

“So you just graduated, yes? Video Game Design if I remember correctly?” I gave a nod, though my eyebrow had raised again. “So will you be taking up a Designer spot in your father’s company, or will you be working higher up alongside him?” This one was just full of surprises.

“I’ll be a designer. Appa wants me to take business classes online after a while, if it’s what I really want, but I think he plans for you to take over in the long run.” Wait. What did I just say? Why the hell am I smiling? Get a hold of yourself, Jay!

Jimin looked as shocked as I felt. I needed to change the subject. “Ah, Appa probably didn’t explain much, and I’m not sure if you remember him since he was two years below me. This is Park Jimin. He’s been my best friend for years, and now he’s my personal assistant.” I hated putting Jimin on the spot like that, but I needed to take the attention away from myself. It was so strange. All of the hatred I’d felt for the man across from me was slowly melting away, and I was having...Fun. I mentally cringed at the thought. I wasn’t supposed to be happy about this. I was supposed to be miserable with Hoseok.

“I remember little Chim. Followed you around everywhere.” He chuckled, and Jimin’s entire face turned bright red.

“I didn’t follow her around.” His words were mumbled with pursed lips, and I had to hold back my snort. Hoseok, however, didn’t.

“Jimin-ah, please. If Sujae-ah went somewhere, you were right there behind her making sure everything was alright.” There was a teasing hint in his voice, but I knew that Jimin wasn’t taking the joke very well. The poor thing was squeezing his fists so hard his knuckles were white.

“He wouldn’t have had to follow me around if someone didn’t land me in the hospital every other week.” My sentence was simple and clipped, the anger and fire practically shooting out of my eyes. So much for calming down and just trying to enjoy this dinner. The table fell into a sickening silence, and I took an angry sip from the glass of water that had been provided for me. I needed to remind myself that I couldn’t let myself fall into any traps. He’d done horrible things to me in school, I couldn’t just forgive him so easily. Soon-to-be Husband or not, the guy was still a major dickwad.

“Jay.” Jimin finally spoke up, breaking the silence after a while. He cleared his throat when both Hoseok and I gave him confused look. “She goes by Jay, now. No one but her father has called her ‘Sujae’ since High School.” His voice had started out confident, but it slowly drifted off until he was mumbling in his lap. To reassure the kid I pat his knee a few times, trying to let him know that I appreciated the effort.

It seemed that Hoseok wanted to say something, but was cut off by Got7 screaming from Jimin’s pocket. My eyes went wide and Jimin visibly tensed. I whipped my head towards him, mentally panicking. ”What are you doing? I thought you turned it off!” Jimin only shook his head and fumbled for my phone in his pocket. The two of us completely ignored Hoseok, instead fighting over the device until I finally snatched it away. ”Yah! Kookie. What are you doing? I told you to stop calling me. This really isn’t a good time. Yes I’m still at the dinner you idiot! Seriously, hang up the phone and don’t call me. I can’t handle this right now.” I furiously hit the call end button and slammed the object onto the table. All I wanted to do was pull my hair out.

“Um...Is everything okay?” Hoseok finally spoke up, leaning towards us with a raised eyebrow. I heaved out a sigh and nodded, taking another large, angry gulp from my water.

“Everything’s fine.” My words were clipped, but could anyone blame me? I was beyond frustrated. Here I was, sitting at a table with a man I used to hate more than anything in the world, who I’m supposed to marry, and the boy I’d been seeing calls? ing Christ, man.

“Are you sure? You seem a little angry.” It caught me completely off guard, but he actually seemed...Worried? Maybe not worried. /Concerned/, possibly.

“Ne, Hoseok-ssi. It’s fine, really. Just a friend from NYU who can’t let go of the past.” I cringed a bit, and it was Jimin’s turn to pat my leg in an attempt to give me comfort.

Thankfully for us, the subject was changed as the food arrived. I could have cried I was so happy. A large bowl of the most fancy ddeokbokki I’d ever seen, along with Samgyupsal sizzling on a hot rock was set in front of me. Apparently I was visibly pleased, because I saw the corners of Hoseok’s mouth turn up a bit into a secret smile. I couldn’t help but return the gesture as I bowed and said my thanks for the food seconds before I dug into my meal. I honestly don’t know how I’d gotten by with the horrible imitation Korean food from the places around the school. Nothing compared to the real deal, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed it. “Easy, Nuna. You’ll choke if you keep it up.” I stopped with my chopsticks almost in my mouth, a slick piece of meat almost making its entrance. Oh yeah. I was supposed to be making a good impression. Oh well. I stuffed the meat into my mouth, followed by a scoopful with rice, and chewed happily with my cheeks bulged. “This is more like it, huh, Nuna?” As soon as I swallowed the food I let out a relieved sigh and nodded, going right back in for more. Hoseok’s eyebrow lifted slightly, and Jimin seemed to have gotten more courage since he took the lead for conversation. “There was a Korean place down the road from our campus. The food was...Okay so yeah the food was pretty bad, but we put up with it cause it still reminded us of home.” I confirmed the statement with a nod before I took a large gulp of my water.

“Is there anything else you want? We can always add something to the bill.” I shook my head, waving my hand in the air.

“Oh no, I’m fine with this.” I tried to assure him, giving a slight bow of my head. “This is more than enough, really.” He agreed with a gentle nod of his own before we all returned to the food in front of us.

The table grew silent, since all of us were focusing on the food, rather than each other. It wasn’t until Jimin excused himself to the restroom that Hoseok spoke up. “I wanted to apologize. I was a complete in school. I really don’t have any excuses. I was just a kid caught up in the fantasy that Namjoon had laid out for me. I honestly apologize for all I’ve done to you in the past.” I couldn’t help myself. My mouth was slightly open and my eyes were wide. It was no surprise that I was shocked by the confession. I was honestly speechless for a moment, and I had no idea how I even properly formed a sentence.

“It’s in the past, Hoseok-ssi. But thank you for your apology, I honestly appreciate it.” I found myself smiling as I bowed my head, trying to make things a little less awkward.

After Jimin returned everything went quite smoothly. There was even some laughter as we finished off our meal. Much to our surprise, Hoseok brought us to the car, and left with just a bow. We’d expected something else, or that he’d try to cheese his way into spending more time with me. The pair of us honestly just blinked at each other before we climbed into the car and made our way home.

And there's chapter one for you, kids! Just for reference, everything in bold is spoken in English.

Jay <3