Jongin is standing idly behind the dining room’s entrance, peeking surreptitiously inside. There Hyejin is, bearing a pleasant smile on her face as she catches up with her grandson who is situated on her left side of the table. The sight of various dishes served in the lengthy table is making Jongin’s mouth water and stomach rumble with want.

He doesn’t want to announce his presence. Why? Simply because dining with Sehun bothers him a lot. It’s not like he hates the guy, no. It just feels so…alien to have Sehun there casually having supper on the table, something Jongin hadn’t witnessed for four straight years. The mere sight of him stirs his insides uncomfortably in more ways than one.

Jongin’s inward battle with himself ends at the single tap on his shoulder. In fright, Jongin swivels around, breathing in relief once he sees that it is only Mrs. Namjoo. His respite, however, has only passed by. He catches himself freezing as the older woman, quite in a loud voice, speaks,

“Oh, Jongin! There you are, Madam has been waiting for you.” Mrs. Namjoo beams, her wrinkles creasing in double. The sound of the servant’s voice snatches both Hyejin and Sehun’s attention and now, their eyes are centered to them. Jongin wants to shrink into naught. Way to sell me out, Mrs. Namjoo…

Since he’s already caught, there is no use in hiding. Jongin smiles at the elder caretaker and saunters his way to the dining table, keeping his eyes only on Hyejin. He can feel Sehun’s eyes boring holes on his face as he takes his seat across the other guy, to Hyejin’s right. Jongin’s seat is supposedly the one Sehun’s sitting on, but it’s not like he can kick him out of there too like what he did to him earlier in his room.

“Good evening grandma,” Jongin softly greets the old woman, kissing her on the cheek as per tradition. Hyejin smiled, pleased that Jongin still hasn’t lost his excellent manner. Once Jongin is comfortably settled in his chair, they begin to eat, the rhythmic clanking of their utensils filling the area.

“How is school?” Hyejin asks, watching Jongin stir his soup with his spoon. The boy looks up, instantly regretting it in doing so because he clashes eyes with Sehun’s. He cuts the contact right away before he can get lost in that abyss.

“It’s great, so far,” Jongin answers. School just began two weeks ago, but their teachers are already showering them with as much schoolwork as possible, and it’s not funny. So yeah, it’s nowhere near great, but Jongin said otherwise anyway.

“I was called by your principal a few days ago and he informed that you will be your school’s representative for the regionals?” Hyejin inquires with a hum. Jongin gives a nod.

“They offered me the position since last year actually, but I only agreed now.” Jongin provides.

“Why didn’t you agree to it last year?”

“I…um…” Jongin hesitates for a brief second. “I gave the chance to my other teammate.”

Though Hyejin isn’t at all surprised by all the kindness in the younger boy, she has to admit that she’s quite curious why Jongin had given up such a golden opportunity he’s been anticipating to claim for a long time now.

“She was a graduating student and one of the best in our team so I figured I should give her the offer since I could still participate in the next regionals anyway,” Jongin explains to give clearance, earning him an impressed smile from the elder. Jongin is a really selfless person.

“That’s wonderful to hear, Jongin. I’m sure your teammate is very grateful.” Jongin can only give a smile as he tries not to devour the food in his plate. He’s really hungry but with how Sehun stares at him, he can’t even drink his juice without feeling so self-conscious.

“So, Sehun,” Hyejin fills the silence with her voice once more. Said guy meets her eyes questioningly. “I thought you were going to finish your master’s degree overseas?”

“I was, but mom insisted I should finish it where dad had,” Sehun answers, his tone cool and detached. He recalls how his mother constantly nagged him to fly back to Korea and finalize his degree in the same university his father graduated from. He doesn’t know why she’s so keen with this issue. Sehun is a bit disinclined with her order but followed it, nonetheless.

“Your mother didn’t get the chance to graduate in, let alone enter Seoul University so she wants you to be the one to accomplish that feat for her.” Hyejin has a thoughtful look on her face as she sips her wine. Her expression lightens up a few moments later, as though a crucial memory reoccurs to her. She turns to her grandson. “By the way, your Aunt Dahae invited me to your cousin’s wedding. It’s on Wednesday but unfortunately, I have a very important meeting to attend. Thankfully, since you’re here now, you and Jongin can go and send my and your parents’ regards to them.”

Jongin stiffens at the old woman’s words. The wedding is on Wednesday, two days from now, and he’s going to attend it together with Sehun?

At first, he thought he just misheard it, but then Sehun just has to open that mouth of his. “Where’s the wedding?”

“It will be on Jeju.”

Jongin tries not to choke on his food. A quizzical expression crosses his face as he glances up and meets Sehun’s eyes. The guy an eyebrow at him. Oh Jesus, don’t do that.

“They have already chosen our hotel branch in Jeju as the reception place so of course, you will be staying there. Since Jongin still has school and you have to fix your paperwork for S.U, you will just have an overnight stay and come back first thing in the morning.”

Flashes of him and Sehun going to Yeosu Island nearly five years back floods Jongin’s memory. Nothing great really happened that time and Jongin knows for certain that it won’t be any different this time either.

Jongin doesn’t really participate in any of Sehun and Hyejin’s conversations, opting to just listen and either nod or mumble his answer when occasionally asked. By the time dinner wraps up, Hyejin is ready to go. It’s getting late and the main Oh mansion is still a one-hour drive away from this place. Hyejin and Sehun have a word before she takes her leave, reminding them that she will be back again to check on them.

Jongin watches Hyejin’s car drive out of the gates and rev into the distance. Once the vehicle is nowhere in sight, Jongin turns around, intending to go straight to his room and crash on the soft comfort of his bed. He is about to do just that, but something gleaming catches his attention.

Is that…? Jongin carefully eyes Sehun’s hand. Particularly, his ring finger. A sudden realization washes over him and he stands there like a slack-jawed idiot, gawking at Sehun who is still looking out at the huge window. No way…

“I didn’t know you missed me that much,” Comes Sehun’s casual remark as he turns his head to Jongin’s direction. The upturned corner of his lips suggests that he has already noticed Jongin staring at him intensely.

“What?” Jongin sputters, taking a step back. Sehun crosses his arms, facing him fully and assessing him with those unnerving eyes of his. “I didn’t miss you, don’t be ridiculous...”

Sehun notices that aside from Jongin’s physical improvement, his extreme shyness, for the most part, has substantially diminished. He’s not really much of a stammering mess anymore. Nonetheless, losing his childlike traits doesn’t make him any less demure.

Jongin’s face stretches longer, irked with the knowing smirk that Sehun’s lips is displaying. He rubs his arm uncomfortably, eyes blinking a little bit fast for his liking. He decides to change the subject.

“Why are you wearing that ring?” Jongin points at the silver engagement band fitted snugly on Sehun’s finger. Sehun takes a glimpse at it.

“What’s wrong with wearing it?” Sehun raises a brow yet again.

What’s wrong? Well, if I remember clearly, you were too ashamed to wear it back then. Jongin doesn’t know what changed now and why he is wearing the very thing that represents their relationship—a forced one that he hates so much, at that.

Sehun looks at Jongin’s hands and sees that neither one is sporting the same ring he wears. “Where’s yours?”

Jongin blinks. “In my room…” He shifts uneasily on his feet.

“Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“Why would I wear it?”

Well, Sehun’s amused. Since when did this kid learn to talk like this? Four years seemed like a long span of time after all, for Jongin to undergo this kind of change.

“Because you’re engaged,” Sehun points out as a matter of fact. Jongin’s forehead creases.

“No one knows except us. There’s no need to,” Jongin bites his bottom lip. Sehun has to ing stop looking at him like that. It’s not helping, especially now that he’s trying hard to push away any unwanted feelings from rousing back to life. He needs to steel his nerves around Sehun from now on if he wants his plan to break this engagement to sail as smooth as possible. “You must be um…still a bit jetlagged so I’m…I’m going to bed. Uh—goodnight.”

Jongin rushes upstairs before he could lose his . Living with this kind of Sehun is going to be the death of him, and not even a whole day has passed yet since they reunited!

Why is Sehun even wearing that blasted thing? Didn’t he despise that ring, because it’s the biggest reminder that he’s tied down to someone he doesn’t like?

Jongin can feel the day’s exhaustion engulfing him after dropping down his mattress,. He turns his head to the left, vision falling on his white bunny plushie sitting harmlessly on top of his pillows, next to Wall-E. He grabs the stuffed toy and holds it above him, eyeing it grimly.

“What’s up with you, Hunnie?” Jongin pouts, gently poking the toy’s pink nose. He spontaneously purchased the plaything because it reminded him of Sehun; fluffy, white, and looking evil and all. He was missing the older guy so much back then after a month of his departure that he couldn’t resist buying the plushie on impulse, subsequently naming it after Sehun. He still can’t quite grasp the fact that Sehun is in the same house as him right now. “Why are you like that? What happened to the cold jerk I knew? Don’t be like that, it’s not funny!”

Sehun’s roguish personality now is so unlike him. What exactly happened while he was in New York?

Jongin can’t really say he dislikes this behavior because it’s far better than the old behavior Sehun used to have. But then again, it doesn’t mean he loves it, either. It’s making him nervous—it’s making him stutter again and forget his own name. Goddamn it.

“Please tell me you at least had a relationship back in America,” Jongin mumbles melancholy, pinching the bunny’s ear. The idea of Sehun going on dates with other girls, kissing them and telling them he loved them is making disappointment simmer in Jongin’s gut, but he wants it to be like that because it’ll make things easier for him. “Don’t make this difficult for me, Hunnie. I need to unlike you as soon as possible…”

Jongin stares at the bunny for a few moments, before releasing a dejected sigh. He places the plushie back beside Wall-E and settles down for the night, flicking off his bedside lamp’s switch. Darkness engulfs his entire room.

Just sleep, Jongin orders to himself, shutting his eyes tight. Only to open them wide again when Sehun’s attractive face pops into his mind. He scrubs his face in frustration, tossing and turning on his bed. Just. Sleep. Please. Oh my god.

Looks like it will be a painstakingly long night for him.

***

Jongin stares restlessly at his ceiling for a few minutes, trying to organize his muddled thoughts. He had an extremely strange dream about Sehun coming back home and eating dinner with him last night.

He almost laughs. The possibility of Sehun returning home the former evening is too farfetched and ridiculous.

After a quick shower, Jongin dresses himself up in his usual school uniform and rushes downstairs, having only thirty minutes in his bank to eat breakfast and go to school. He is about to bellow his routinely morning greeting to Mrs. Namjoo, but at the sight of Sehun sitting on the dining table and looking fresh out of the shower too, Jongin freezes on the spot.

Sehun’s mess of a raven hair yesterday is gelled up in an unruly yet attractive sort of way, and he’s wearing smart casual clothes, making him look ten times more dashing than before. And it’s making the wires in Jongin’s head short-circuit.

Wait—so it wasn’t a dream?! Jongin seems to forget that he is in a hurry. He gapes at Sehun, watching the older guy eat his breakfast. When Sehun’s eyes lift up to meet his, Jongin stops breathing. If he was the same fourteen-year-old Jongin, he might’ve dropped his bag out of shock and screamed bloody murder. And then cry too, perhaps.

But that was the past. This is the present. Everything has changed now. Instead of freaking out, Jongin calmly saunters his way towards the dining table and takes his usual seat, uttering a small, ‘good morning.’ to a poker-faced Sehun. Jongin does his best not to let his attention waver and focuses it all to his food, taking bite after bite and trying hard not to choke.

He’s terribly close to being late. The amount of uneasiness filling this room is drowning Jongin and he wonders for a second if Sehun is just as uncomfortable as he is. Probably not.

Downing his glass of orange juice, Jongin slings his backpack over his shoulder and hastily retreats to the living room to wear his school shoes. When he’s done, he practically flies towards the door. “I’ll be back before six!” He shouts, mostly to inform Mrs. Namjoo.

Jongin opens the mansion’s door and steps out, the fresh breeze of the morning caressing his skin. To his surprise though, instead of a white limousine and a grinning chauffeur greeting him, his eyes fall on a red Jaguar parked in front of him, engines purring softly with an unfamiliar (possibly new) valet standing patiently near the driver’s seat.

He barely comprehends the door opening behind him again before he catches a whiff of Sehun’s pleasant cologne. Jongin can’t control his heart from going wild. He looks back, seeing Sehun emerge out of the house, wearing his silver sunglasses in the process before brushing past him. Jongin speechlessly watches the valet open the car’s door for Sehun.

The car’s roof rolls up then, revealing Sehun who has his hand on the steering wheel. He tips down his sunglasses, arching a brow at Jongin. “Get in.”