Jongin spent the whole day in a slump. He had to stay away from Kyungsoo while they were at school as per her parent’s request. They still needed to find a way to see each other secretly because he didn’t know how long he could go without seeing her. But the sweet “I love you” messages that Kyungsoo sent him throughout the day made him smile knowing that his girlfriend was missing him too. However Jongin couldn’t smile happily because he kept recalling his encounter with Kris earlier in the morning, the image of his best friend with tears in his eyes plaguing his mind. He was unable to concentrate during any of his classes and even Taemin and Sehun couldn’t cheer him up during lunch. There was something missing, a gaping hole where his best friend once was. “Just forget about it Jongin. It’s not your problem anymore” he kept saying to himself over and over again. After school he decided to go to the studio and try out a new routine that he had been working on to try and get his mind of Kris. 

Jongin entered the studio after changing into a wifebeater and sweat pants. He stood in the centre of the room as a violin could be heard playing through the speakers. He began with a sharp plié and then spun his body around several times. He then spread his arms out as the music changed and words began to accompany the melancholy music playing (Love me again by G. Soul). As Jongin began to move his arms, losing himself in the dance, the music stopped abruptly. Jongin looked up to find the source of the disruption and saw Yixing standing next to the sound system, a look of concern plastered on her lovely face. They just stood there staring at each other for a few minutes, both knowing what needed to be said but not knowing how to phrase it without jeapordising their own friendship. Yixing was the first to break the silence after walking up to Jongin taking large strides towards him. “Jongin, I need you to forgive him” she said getting straight to the point. There was no point dodging the subject she thought. Instead of trying to downplay or sugar coat things, Yixing wanted to be honest and forthcoming so there was nothing hidden that may strain their friendship later on.

Jongin rolled his eyes “Yixing, you think I don’t want to….I just can’t. I can’t because every time I see him all I can see is them together and I want to punch him in the face.” Yixing sighed “Why? Why do you want to punch him Jongin? For not telling you his fiancés name? For not telling you it was Kyungsoo? Really Jongin? How can you be angry about that?!” “I’m not….It’s not what you think…” he broke off as he sat down on the floor. Yixing took a moment to calm down before taking a seat opposite Jongin. She silently gestured for him to continue “They looked soooo…good together Yixing. Didn’t they? They looked like the perfect couple. He’s rich and proper and perfect…everything that I’m not. Y’know I’ve never been jealous of him before, I always thought he was cool and I’ve always respected him but I’ve never envied his life…until that day. She looked like she belonged on his arm and what hurts the most is that even I think that she looks better with him….than me.” He said the last bit without looking her in the eye. Yixing was taken aback, she thought that Jongin was only angry that Kris hadn’t told him. She thought it was just the shock of everything that angered Jongin, never had she thought that Jongin was jealous.

“I’ve always known that Kris was better than me. I mean look at him. He is everything that I’m not. And honestly…I can’t work out why she chose me when she could have him” Jongin said whilst fiddling with the watch on his wrist.  “What happens when she realises that he is so much better than me? I know she loves me…but she should be with Kris. And I can’t help but think that every time I see him. I can’t forgive him for that Yixing, I just can’t.” Yixing had had enough by this point. She couldn’t believe that her strong, independent and insanely handsome friend could feel so insecure and she knew that she had to snap him out of it.

“Jongin, I need to get something off my chest. Kris and I…have known each other for longer than you think. We met in China. It was a cotillion that our parents had made us both attend against our will. I remember being sat there when he walked in and all the girls in the room turned to stare at him. He was so handsome and had such presence that he commanded all of the attention in the room. He sat down on the opposite side of the room and several girls approached him to try and flirt with him but he expressed no interest in any of them.” She paused for a moment while smiling, remembering one of her happiest memories of her boyfriend. “His eyes scanned the room and then he saw me and he didn’t take his eyes off me the entire time. His stare made me really uncomfortable because he was so handsome and I didn’t even know what to do with myself. He then had one of the server’s hand me a napkin that just said “DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE?” I remember looking at him and he just smiled at me. And I did. I left with him. I’ve never done anything like that before but there was something about him that I just couldn’t resist. He took me for a ride on his motorbike and it was the best night ever. But I remember thinking during the ride that he could have taken any girl with him but he chose me. Me! I couldn’t believe it but I realised that he chose me because he saw something in me that those other girls didn’t have and it doesn’t matter what it is, all that matters is he chose me. That’s all you need to remember. Kyungsoo was forced to be with Kris but she chose you Jongin. Just remember that.”

Jongin nodded acknowledging what his friend had said “So you met…before?” he asked looking confused. Yixing sighed again “Yes…we dated while we both lived in China. For 5 months. But I broke it off when I found out that….he had a fiance.” Jongin looked at her incredulously but before he got the chance to point out the hypocrisy, she continued “But then he followed me here…to win me back. And I forgave him Jongin. I forgave him because I love him and I knew that there was no way that he could love someone else and that he was only doing this because he had to. His parents forced him into it, threatening to take the company from him if he didn’t comply. When I realised that, I took him back and now we couldn’t be happier.” Jongin scoffed “I can’t believe he lied to me about that as well. Although I shouldn’t expect any less, he’s lied to me about everything else. Clearly he never saw us as friends anyway.” Jongin’s face began to redden as he spoke, anger evident on his tanned features. “No! That’s not why I told you that story Jongin. Listen to me. The only reason Kris never wanted to tell you about his fiancé is because he didn’t want to disappoint you. You mean the world to him Jongin. He sees you as a younger brother and he just wants to protect you and make you proud of him.”

Jongin had trouble digesting those words, the anger on his face dissolving being replaced by a look of disbelief. Yixing took his silence as an opportunity to continue “Jongin, you have no idea how much you mean to him. You think he’s better than you but trust me he has always seen you as being better than him. Your innocence, kindness and caring nature are the things he admires most about you. He’s told me so many times that he wishes he was as sociable as you are and how he wishes he could express himself like you do. You make him feel insecure as well! So he didn’t want to tell you that he was going through with the fake engagement because he knew that you wouldn’t approve and he didn’t want to risk upsetting you and letting you down. So he hid it. It was a mistake but he never meant to hurt you. You have to believe me. So any insecurity you have about Kris being better than you, trust me he doesn’t feel that way. And just because they look good together it doesn’t mean that you and Kyungsoo don’t look better together. Please Jongin, I forgave him. It was hard but I did it. I’m begging you to forgive him. I can’t see him like this. He needs you Jongin, he can’t disappoint you. You’re the only brother he has.” Jongin looked up at her detecting the sincerity in her eyes “I’ll fix it.” That was all he said but that was enough to ease her mind. “Thank you” she replied before standing up and heading towards the door.

“Oh and Jongin, I know it’s too soon but please try and think of the benefits of having them engaged to each other. Because we know that they love us, there is no way that they will leave us to be with each other. Besides it means we can work together to try and stop it from happening. We need to come up with a game plan of how to get them out of this so please for the love of God get your head out of your .” She waved at him  before turning around and leaving. Jongin took a deep breath before standing up and grabbing his phone from his bag. He typed out a message:

To: Kreeeease

We need to talk. Meet me at the park outside my house in an hour.

Jongin then packed up his things and left the studio to head home.

Kris had just finished basketball practice, drenched from head to toe in sweat. It was the only time during the whole day that he had managed to stop thinking about Jongin and how cold the younger had been toward him. Jongin was right, exercise was the best thing to get his mind off the issues plaguing him. He headed into the locker room and pulled out his phone to see if he had any messages from Yixing and was shocked when he saw a message from Jongin instead. He read it and immediately darted to the showers, he only had 20 minutes to get to Jongin’s place and he wouldn’t make it at this rate. He ran to the car and told the driver to step on it not wanting to be late and give Jongin an excuse to leave.

When he arrived Jongin was sitting on the kiddie swings mindlessly swaying backwards and forwards as he stared at the sky. Kris approached him hesitantly and took the swing next to him. “Thanks for inviting me…I really appreciate it.” Jongin nodded before turning to look at Kris “I want to forgive you…but I don’t know if I can trust you. You keep so many secrets Kris and it feels like our friendship is only one sided sometimes.” Kris shook his head violently “No way Jongin. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You are my best friend and I’m sorry if I ever made you think that you aren’t.” Jongin smiled weakly at him and Kris was grateful that he was at least willing to hear him out. Kris knew that it wouldn’t be easy to earn Jongin’s trust but to save his friendship, he would have to be honest with him.

“Jong…you’re right. I haven’t been honest with you about so many things. But please give me a chance to explain” he asked pleadingly. “If this is about you and Yixing dating back in China…then I already know. She told me earlier.” Kris looked at Jongin unsure of how to respond “Yes…I did hide that from you. But you have to know that I didn’t do it to hurt you. I just…” Jongin noticed that Kris was drowning and tried to help him “I know you didn’t do it to hurt me. But lies like that do hurt even if you don’t mean for them to.” Kris looked down to his feet feeling like a scolded child “You’re right Jong. I don’t know why I’m like this, why I try to solve everything on my own. I guess I just feel like I don’t want to drag anyone into the that I have to go through.” He paused and looked at Jongin. His best friend was staring at the sky and Kris followed his line of sight and saw that the stars were beautifully vivid that night. The scenery looked absolutely ethereal and for the first time in forever Kris felt like his problems were miniscule against the vastness of the beauty in front of his eyes.

“I’m sorry Jong…” he began. “I should have told you everything, about the engagement, about Xing, all of it. But I just wasn’t thinking. All I thought about was the end goal. I was so fixated on getting the company and what it would mean for the future that I never stopped to think that I could be hurting all of you in the process.” Jongin finally turned to look at Kris with genuine curiosity in his eyes “Why do you want the company so badly anyway? You only ever have bad memories of that place and the way your Dad treats you is awful. Why? What’s so special that you would do all of THIS just to get the company?” Kris sighed exasperated as he shook his head “I need it Jongin. For our future…How do I explain it? If I can get my hands on the company, everything will be better.” Jongin looked at him perplexed and slightly perturbed “What makes you think that?” Kris ruffled his hair trying to find the words to explain it all to his best friend. “Do you remember…Zhoumi hyung?” he asked nervously. “Of course I remember your older brother. He was the best. He used to give me toys and sweets whenever I came over to play. He was the only one in your family…that didn’t judge me for being poor. I will never forget him.” Kris absorbed the kind words that Jongin spoke about his beloved older brother and was grateful that Jongin had kept him in his thoughts all these years.

“So you must remember how he died right?” Jongin simply nodded unable to articulate the sadness he still felt about his memories from back then. “Well you probably didn’t know but Zhoumi hyung was in the same position I am in now. He was set to inherit the company from our Father as long as he followed all of the old man’s orders. He never wanted to run the damn company but he thought that with him in charge, he could provide better working conditions for the employees and stop the old man from taking anymore reckless chances with the company’s money. The old man made him get married to the daughter of one our collaborators before he even graduated from college. And being the dutiful son that he was…he married her.” Jongin was shocked by this revelation “I didn’t know Zhoumi hyung got married!” Kris nodded and continued “Yeah they did. And surprisingly they turned out to be a great match. Hyung fell in love with her and they were enjoying being married. Everything looked like it was going well and hyung looked happy for the first time in years and the old man handed over the company to him and he was CEO for three whole years and the company was thriving. But then…he died in the car crash and everything fell apart. I remember at his funeral the old man telling me not to cry as it was a sign of weakness and we couldn’t let anyone see that.” Kris stopped briefly trying to collect himself.

“But I will never forget the look on Qian noona’s, Zhoumi hyung’s wife’s, face. She was devastated, they had only been married three years and were so in love. Never had she ever expected it to happen to them. Then after the funeral the old man took back his place as CEO and then he…kicked Qian noona out of the house. He said she had no claim to the family fortune and didn’t want her to leech off his wealth for the rest of her life. Y’see Jongin they didn’t have any kids which meant she had no claim on the company so it was easy for him to just toss her aside.” Jongin looked at Kris in disbelief who just stared back, warning his friend “And that isn’t even the worst of it. You’re probably thinking that she would go back to her family and they would take her in but that’s not what happened. It turns out that she had given her entire fortune to save OUR company from bankruptcy when the old man tried one of his dodgy schemes. Apparent Zhoumi hyung and her parents tried to stop her but the old man had already accepted the money behind his back. After that, Hyung promised her that he would pay her back by always being there for her to protect her from harm and give her everything she needs. So when she left the house she had nowhere to go, too ashamed to return home to the family she had betrayed by giving away all of her money to the man who just tossed her away like she was nothing. I saw her…a week later…she was on the street, not begging, just sat there looking dazed and completely out of her wits. I wanted to help her but there was nothing I could do, I was so young. So I gave her the one thing it looked like she needed, the charm bracelet that my brother always used to wear. I figured that she deserved it more than me seeing as the old man kicked her out with nothing.”

Kris let out a deep breath as he knew it would be difficult to say the next bit, fighting back his tears he continued “It was all over the news the next day…they found her body washed up on the riverside…the bracelet on her wrist and a sad smile on her face. She killed herself Jong…because she thought her life was no longer worth living. I will never forget that day, it haunts me even now. Sometimes when I close my eyes I can see her face.” There was a long pause. “I’m sorry Kris….I don’t know what to say” Jongin voiced out feeling overwhelming sadness and compassion for his friend. This explained so much about why Kris sometimes behaved so cold and distant.

“The reason I’m telling you this Jongin is because I can’t let that happen again…to Xing. When I met her I knew that I couldn’t let her go, she’s the only one for me. If something happens to me I won’t let them throw her away like they did to Qian noona. I can’t imagine that happening to her. So when I take over the company as CEO I plan to transfer everything into Yixing’s name so that she will always be safe” Jongin’s eyes widened not believing what he had just heard. “Xing and I don’t have any kids and we won’t have any for a while. Having kids now or even in the next few years will ruin her chances at being a professional dancer and I don’t want to be someone who takes her dreams away from her. But without an heir I can’t guarantee that she won’t get disinherited by my parents if something were to happen to me. And since we aren’t going to have kids…this is my only option. If I become CEO, I can give her everything and protect her even if I’m no longer around and that’s all I want. So I know that it seems crazy agreeing to this fake engagement but if it means that the old man will hand over the company then I’m willing to do anything. I will do anything to make sure that Xing doesn’t suffer the same fate as Qian noona. Sure when I first agreed to the arranged marriage it was because I wanted to be CEO so I could be more powerful than the old man and take him down. Since I wasn’t in a relationship, I didn’t see the harm of faking an engagement with whomever. But now I have to become the CEO because I need to protect her, Jong. She means the whole world to me.” Jongin was speechless. Never in a million years had he thought that this was Kris’ plan. He had spent the past few days racking his brain to understand why the elder would get involved in this craziness but never had he expected this. Kris had thought it all through and had been planning this from the start.

Before Jongin could comment on the information that he had just been told, Kris spoke again “And it’s not just Xing. Once I’m CEO I plan to sponsor Xing, you…and Kyungsoo to pursue a career in the entertainment business.  And it’s not because I don’t think that you can be successful without my help. I know you will all be incredibly successful because you all have real talent but you would also be a massive asset to our company.” Jongin sat there with his jaw dropped, he had no words to describe how he was feeling. “But I’m sorry Jongin. None of this was an excuse for lying to you. And I won’t ever do it again. I can’t lose you as a friend…it feels just as bad as when I lost Xing and I can’t go through that again” he said while looking at his feet, too scared to look his friend in the eyes. “We’re good. I’m still not happy about the engagement but I…understand why you felt the need to do it. And I accept it.” Jongin nodded and smiled at Kris, the smile not reaching his eyes but Kris was willing to take anything from Jongin at this point.

“And one more thing…please don’t worry about Kyungsoo and I. There is nothing between us, there never was. We are just friends. I love Xing and I swear to you Jongin, she loves you. I can tell she’s head over heels for you bro.” Jongin tilted his head “How can you be sure?” Kris smirked before responding “We don’t know each other very well but Kyungsoo always used to say that relationships are weakness and that she never wanted to be in one. She didn’t want anything to stand in the way of her career so she barely dated anyone. But since she met the new guy, which turned out to be you, her priorities changed. Instead of talking about how we would use the fake marriage to save her career, she kept talking about how we would get out of it because she didn’t want to hurt you. Honestly Jong she is willing to give up anything for you, including this whole scheme if you ask her to. She loves you that much. And if you want to end it all now I won’t stand in your way. But it won’t be forever. So if you can endure it…please let us try to follow through with the plan.” Jongin sighed deeply before answering “I already told Soo…it’s fine by me. Keep up the charade but only for as long as necessary not a second longer. In return you have to do me a favour. Her parents are being strict with her and banning her from seeing anyone outside of school, so we can’t spend any time together. I need you to fix it. I can’t be away from her this long.” Kris nodded in agreement “I’ll handle it. Thanks…bro.” Jongin coughed loudly and held out his fist which Kris hesitantly fist bumped, a clear sign of their reconciliation.

Jongin smiled to himself glad that he could get passed his discomfort with Kris and he realised that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe they could all have their cake and eat it too…if Kris’ plan works.

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A/N

Thanks so much to my new subscribers. And to whoever gave me those upvotes, you are the sweetest lamb chops and I love you so much. I never thought that anyone would want to read this story so thank you so much for showing an interest. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was one of my favourites to write.

As always,

Take care and keep loving kaisoo~~~

kaisoonoodle