“One rule though: this fake relationship of ours stays within us.” Junmyeon turned his head, his eyes never leaving hers. She couldn’t keep it straight though, for God knows why, so she stared at the road in front of them instead.

“Good,” Chorong muttered and then she slowly raised her voice as she regained her composure, “I was worried you were going to spread it all-around campus.” He suddenly laughed at her statement.

What was so funny about that?

“I will. What I meant by that rule is that no one should know that it’s fake. Not even your friends or mine.” Panic surged inside Chorong’s whole body like a lightning. She couldn’t even form the right words and sentences to throw at him, and she could only yell, “What?!”

What he said afterwards rendered her almost speechless. “Let’s tell them we’ve been dating for a month.”

Her jaw dropped, “That doesn’t make any sense, Junmyeon! Didn’t you say this was just going to take one day?” He ignored her as he started the engine of his car again, gradually picking up speed and entered the wide road with the other cars. “Besides, we only met like…” Chorong started to count with her fingers, “three weeks ago?” She felt a pocket of air taken away from her. Her thoughts rambling inside her mind.

The car roared and he scoffed at her. His head focused on the road in front. “It was a secret. We pretended that we don’t know each other.” Junmyeon made quotation marks in the air with his right hand. “And if I only said ‘be my fake girlfriend,’ you wouldn’t even be here talking to me.”

“Of course, I’d be glad if that happened.” She sighed. “But Junmyeon, that’s not my only concern. It would damage my whole reputation!”

“Oh, you had one?” He countered, wearing that smirk again.

Chorong rolled her eyes, “A reputation as a wallflower.”

“Ah, if you’re worried about it because of your future career, I’ll handle it.” He said confidently, his chin raised up as he turned the steering wheel.

“But –”

He clicked his tongue. “No buts. Let’s go.”

“To where?” Chorong asked, confusion spread all over her face.

With a deep sigh, he simply said, “I’m taking you home.” And with that sentence alone, he shut her up completely. Chorong didn’t know what to say and if she did say something, it would be useless. Junmyeon would still force her to do what he says as if he’s a boss of hers. He’s a stubborn arrogant brat, that’s what he is – and she wouldn’t be able to change that.

Chorong quickly inserted her keys into the doorknob and even out in the hallway, she could hear that her best friend has some visitors. It was noisy… and that’s a good thing. The plan for today is to avoid Joohyun to focus on figuring out how to tell her about their fake relationship without her completely freaking out. She sighed, still holding onto the doorknob. The thought of her just saying the words “I have a boyfriend,” her best friend would immediately squeal like a fan girl.

With one last deep breath, she opened the door to find Joohyun, Seulgi and Minseok inside.

“Heol! The nerd is back!” He shouted, waving up the can of soda in his hand.

She faked a laugh and glared at him without a word, also quickly shutting the door behind her. “Why are you guys here?” Chorong questioned them as she was putting her shoes neatly on the rack in the hallway. “Is there something going on?”

“Nothing much. Just wanted to chill.” Seulgi said, shuffling through the channels on the television with the remote control in her hand and a bag of chips in the other. She then suddenly turned around the couch to face her and point at her. “And you! Why were you late?!”

Chorong was surprised and she didn’t know what to say yet. “Uh… I was reading in the library.”

“What? How come I didn’t see you there?” Minseok asked.

Wow, so much for an excuse. Now she couldn’t look at him in the eye.

“I’m practically invisible, Minseok.” She laughed, hoping that satisfies their curiosity. She asked another question to avoid herself becoming the topic, “where is Joohyun?”

“In the bathroom.” He said before taking a bottle of water on the fridge.

And as if on cue, her best friend showed up with a phone in her hand. “Yah! Chorongie!” She shouted and it looks like she’s confused as .

“Whatever that thing is Joohyun, hurry up! Let’s go get some ice cream.” Seulgi said while standing up from the couch. However, what she heard next stunned her completely: “Are you dating Junmyeon?” She dropped the bag of chips on the floor out of shock and scrambled to look at what was in the blonde girl’s cellphone.

Joohyun looked at the girl in question with fiery, curious eyes. “Chorong-ah! You have to explain something to us!” She left her phone with Seulgi to run towards her best friend before repeating the question, “Are you dating Junmyeon?!”

“What?!” Chorong stared at her in disbelief.

The blonde snatched her phone back from Seulgi and shoved it in her best friend’s face. “Look at the picture. It’s spread all over the internet.