Kyungsoo was riddled with guilt as she entered school that morning. She had checked her phone at least 50 times but still nothing. She knew it was a bad idea and blamed Kris entirely as she recalled the conversation that she had with her friend yesterday after school.

“Baekkieeeee” Kyungsoo called adorably to her friend swinging her arm around as she held it lightly in her grip. Baekhyun sighed before answering “What do you want Kyungie? You only act all cutesy like this when you want something. So spill.” Kyungsoo looked at her friend, slightly taken aback “How did you know that I want something? Maybe I just wanted to be affectionate to my best friend in the whooooooooole world.” Baekhyun chuckled “Because I have known you forever and you’re as affectionate as a plank of wood. But don’t worry, I love you that way. Now spill, what do you want?” Kyungsoo sighed looking at the floor while chastising herself for being so obvious. She continued “Baeeeeek I know how you feel about him but I reeeeeeeeally need you to go out on a date with the Yoda!” Kyungsoo immediately covered her body waiting for the blow to come but was shocked when she received nothing. Lifting her head she saw the exasperated look on Baekhyun’s face. “Are you kidding me? That idiot! The one who’s been chasing me since we started highschool? That annoying loser who can’t take no for an answer?” Kyungsoo looked at her friend apologetically “…Yes…Please Baek. I really need this!” Baekhyun tried to calm down because she didn’t want to hurt her friend “Why do you NEED me to go out with the giant dork?”

Kyungsoo brightened up as it looked like her best friend was willing to hear her out. “Remember how I told you that Yi Fan, I mean Kris, I’ve got to stop doing that, devised this plan that will make sure that we all get what we want while still maintaining our relationships and friendships…” Baekhyun replied “Yes – it was very complicated and I fell asleep about halfway through.” Kyungsoo looked at her friend slightly hurt that she didn’t take much interest in the very clever plot but chose to ignore it. “Well part of it is to get the dork Chanyeol on side. We need him and he only agreed to help if he got a date with you. Remember how he used to annoy me to convince you to go out with him, he basically blackmailed Kris into doing it. So here I am. This is really important Baek, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.” Kyungsoo looked at her friend expectantly “Fine! But only one date and he pays for everything. I have to say that I’m actually quite impressed that he can be that devious. So maybe this time he has actually earned it. Tell him to meet me here in 20 minutes.” Kyungsoo looked back at her friend in shock “What? Now?!” Baekhyun looked back at her in all seriousness and replied “It’s now or never Kyungie” then walked through the school gates towards her car.

Kyungsoo quickly pulled her phone out and messaged Kris to grab Chanyeol now. She received a string of very angry messages but then 20 minutes later Chanyeol was there, sweat dripping from every part of his body but a huge grin plastered on his stupid face. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun both rolled their eyes at him “Well you made it so let’s go. We can take my car. I don’t trust you to drive us anywhere.” Chanyeol just nodded to everything Baekhyun had said still trying to catch his breath. He opened the car door to let her in and followed after her. Kyungsoo stood there stunned as they drove off into the sunset. She received a message:

From: My fiancé ♥ (she had to make it look like she was smitten and this was the only thing that didn’t make her want to rip her skin off)

Did he make it?

To: My fiancé ♥

Just. Mission complete.

Kyungsoo felt guilty the rest of the day for selling her friend to get Park Chanyeol on side. She felt like some sort of mob boss that had to buy and sell people and it made her uncomfortable. She messaged Baekhyun several times to ask how it went and whether she was okay but received no response and was starting to worry.

Kyungsoo sighed, she had barely slept thinking that Baekhyun was angry at her for forcing the date on her and that the date was awful. She had messaged her in the morning to apologise but still nothing. It was only during first period that her phone buzzed and she slowly took it out assuming it was just Jongin sending her stupid flirty messages (which she secretly loved) but was pleasantly surprised when it was a message from her friend:

From: Baekkie

Sorry Kyung I only just saw your messages. Phone died hours ago. I’ll be at school later but I’m still with Channie so I’m not sure when I will get there. This has been the best date ever. Thanks for sorting it out xxx

Kyungsoo stared at her phone in disbelief, they were STILL together. The best date ever? Baekhyun just slept with Yoda?! This was insane. Kyungsoo had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She didn’t even know how to respond so she kept it simple:

To: Baekkie

J

That would have to do for now until she digested the information fully. She also received several messaged from Kris before lunch, now that Chanyeol was on side it was time for them to move onto the next phase of the plan, pretending that they were a couple. She was still really uneasy but knew that it was the only way for her and Jongin to be together. So she swallowed down her worries and agreed to meet Kris at lunch so they could have a ‘lunch date’, something that she had always enjoyed doing with Jongin. “There will be no intimacy or skinship” she repeated like a mantra to calm her nerves but it had little effect. She knew that Jongin and Yixing had already started their part of the plan. Kyungsoo just hoped that she wouldn’t have to see it, at least not today. 

She approached the school cafeteria and saw Kris sitting at a table surrounded by the school jocks. She noted that Chanyeol was not there and cringed slightly, trying not to think what he was currently doing to her best friend. She opened her bag and pulled out a ring which she reluctantly slid onto her finger and sighed before entering the cafeteria. She walked straight to where Kris was seated and plastered a big fake smile onto her face before saying “H-h-hi O-o-oppa…I’m here.” Kris looked up from joking around with his ‘crew’ to look at the newcomer “Hi Kyungie. Come and sit down.” He gestured at the empty chair next to him which she took quickly trying to gain as little attention from the other people in the group as possible. “What do you want to eat? It’s my treat” he said trying to be gentlemanly. Kyungsoo stared at him thinking that it was too much but decided to play along “I’ll have whatever you’re having” she said forcing a fake blush onto her face. “Ok. Guys…” Kris turned to look at his new ‘crew’ before continuing “Could we have some privacy? I want to have lunch with my…fiancé today.” He put his arm around her shoulder which caused her to stiffen but she tried her best to hide it. They waved goodbye to Kris’ friends as they left to join the lunch queue. Kris wasn’t getting food from the cafeteria so didn’t join them in the line, he and the rest of the school elite had a personal chef that cooked whatever they asked. He requested two bowls of beef chilli on rice and then headed back to the table.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to touch your arm. I hope that I didn’t make you uncomfortable…I just wanted it to be a bit more believable, that’s all” Kris said looking remorseful. Kyungsoo shook her head “No it’s fine. I totally understand but give me some warning next time.” They both smiled at each other before Kris nodded in understanding. “Well no one can possibly have any doubts that we’re engaged, not with that huge neon sign on your finger” Kris chuckled. Kyungsoo looked at him perplexed before looking down at the huge 20 karat diamond sitting on her ring finger. She very obviously cringed before responding “Well you chose it. I told you to pick a small one but you kept going on about how we needed to make it obvious to everyone. To me it just looks obnoxious. I hope Jongin doesn’t think I want something like this when he proposes to me because I’ll kill him if he gets me a huge ring like this one.” As she finished her short rant, she took a quick glance at her meal partner who was staring at her in confusion “You guys…have already talked about marriage?” Kyungsoo sat upright as she was taken aback by the question “Not…really. Just me…imagining what Jongin would say and do on that day. We haven’t discussed it or anything.” Kris looked at her more intensely “But you want to?” Kyungsoo hesitated before slowly nodding her head. “That’s great Kyungsoo but just some words of advice, talk to Jongin about it and make sure you’re on the same page. Remember you guys don’t even know when and where you will be going to college and you’ll be leaving here sooner than him. You need to talk about what that means for your relationship long term.” Kyungsoo nodded her head and they both sat there for a while completely lost in their own thoughts.

The food came shortly after and as they served the food Kyungsoo looked up at Kris “You remembered?” He smirked “How could I forget? When we were kids it was literally the only thing that you would eat. You said it always made you feel better when you were down. I figured…you would appreciate it since you’re here with me instead of Jongin.” She looked up at him and saw a genuine smile on his handsome features “Y’know I’m actually really enjoying this Kris. I missed hanging out.” His smile widened “Me too. I will always be here for you. I will always see you as a precious little sister and take care of you when you need it. Remember that.” She smiled back realising that she felt different hanging out with Kris compared to Jongin, every time Jongin would say something sweet she couldn’t help but blush and feel her heart race like crazy. But with Kris she just felt warm inside when she saw his smile and reassuring words “And I will always see you as the most trustworthy and caring Oppa. Let’s take care of each other during this time. And I hope we can get back to being as close as we were when we were kids.”

“I miss Jongin” she confessed “And I miss Xing…like crazy” he responded and they shared a warm smile before digging into their lunch. The whole time they remained completely unaware of the fact that all eyes in the cafeteria were on them and everyone there was discussing their interactions. Word had already spread about the dramatic events that had occurred at the anniversary party but no one knew what happened afterwards. But based on what they had seen over lunch, they concluded that Kris and Kyungsoo had chosen the marriage of convenience over their highschool first loves. None of them were shocked but they felt disappointed at the lack of drama. That didn’t stop them from discussing it amongst themselves and telling all of their friends about what they had witnessed, with some minor embellishments of course.

Jongin received a message from Kris earlier that day saying that they were going to put the plan into motion and that he and Yixing should do the same. He sighed reading the message, he never thought that they would be setting the plan in motion so soon after discussing it. Jongin thought that he would have time to get used to the idea but clearly Kris had other thoughts on the matter. “Well the sooner we start this, the sooner it will be over” he said as he headed to his locker. He walked passed Yixing’s locker on the way to his as he scrolled through his tumblr feed when he heard her say “I’m really gaining weight. I need to stop eating so much. I don’t want to get fat.” The rest of her friends nodded in agreement much to Jongin’s shock. Because while he had no romantic feelings for Yixing, he would be lying if he said that she wasn’t beautiful and had the most amazing curved figure. He could tell why Kris liked her so much. He was angry that her friends wouldn’t reassure her of that. He smiled seeing this as the perfect opportunity to naturally reveal their relationship. While she wasn’t paying attention and continued to discuss how she planned on dieting he snuck up behind her and placed an arm around her shoulder “Lay-ah (her stage name) you don’t need to lose weight. You’re perfect and I like you just the way you are. So please don’t diet, Oppa won’t like it.” He flashed her one of his breathtaking smiles as he spoke these flirty words. Yixing couldn’t lie, she was completely shocked by the situation but as she felt Jongin lightly squeeze her arm she understood the situation and tried to respond naturally “noooooo Kai-ah! You don’t understand, I don’t want to be fat…you won’t like me then” she whined. “Don’t worry baby. I like you a lot anyway. I have to go to class but I don’t want you to talk anymore about dieting” and with that he left the group of girls whose jaws were now touching the floor. As he left he heard them bombarding Yixing with questions and he knew that the plan had worked.

Jongin had to admit that he didn’t enjoy the lying, he just missed his Squishy and wanted to hold her tight and never let her go but he knew that he couldn’t. Kris warned him not to go to the cafeteria for lunch so he decided to eat his home made sandwiches in the school yard. He asked Taemin, Sehun and of course Yixing to join them. He felt bad about lying to his friends but he was too scared to let Taemin and Sehun into the plan and he thought it was better for everyone if they stayed out of the loop. As they joined him on the grass, Yixing flashed him a fake smile as they sat down. “Hi Kai-ah, how were your classes before lunch?” she asked putting on another fake smile. “Good thanks Laaaaaaaaaaaay. Better now that you’re here….baby.” Sehun and Taemin glanced at each other assuming that they had heard wrong until Yixing started to pick food from Jongin’s face lovingly. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat’s going on here?” Taemin asks getting right to the point. “Yixing and I are together now” Jongin replied as if it was totally normal and expected. “I…thought you were with Kyungsoo” Jongin stiffened shifting away from Yixing when he said “Not anymore…didn’t you hear she’s with Kris now. But that’s fine…because if they hadn’t betrayed us so badly, Lay and I wouldn’t be together now.” He smiled at his ‘girlfriend’ hoping that the confession would convince his friends. Taemin was the first to respond “That was unexpected. But I’m happy for you both. I always thought you two looked better together. You’re a much better fit and you have great chemistry when you dance. I always did secretly ship you too.” Sehun interjected “Me too!! You guys are waaaaaaaay cuter together. And when you dance it’s basically like you’re having on stage. I’m glad you’re together!” Hearing the confessions of their friends Yixing and Jongin shifted away from each other feeling uncomfortable about hearing how good a match people thought they were. For the remainder of the meal they laughed and joked as normal but Yixing made sure that she was more affectionate with Jongin than usual.

Jongin was upset after lunch hearing his friends opinions about his relationship with his girlfriend and he began to feel guilty thinking that he was being too convincing that he and Yixing were in a relationship. He wanted to apologise to his girlfriend as he bizarrely felt like he was cheating on her. As he was about to pull out his phone to message her he heard some loud whispers from a group of students from the opposite side of the hall. “They were sooooo cute. Did you see him tell his friends to leave so they could eat alone. He’s such a gentleman” one said. “Kyungsoo is literally the luckiest girl. First she dated the hot guy Jongin but she must have tossed him aside and now she is with the school king Kris. How does she do it? They looked so good together. I need to ask her how she does it” another continued. “Poor Yixing, she must be devastated. Not only are they together but they are rubbing it in hers and Jongin’s face. I mean they looked so happy and you should have seen the way he looked at her. He really seems to love her. She’s a way better match than Yixing was.” As Jongin heard the latest lunch time gossip he became livid and stomped towards the loud mouthed teens and put on a terrifying fake smile. “Don’t worry about me and Yixing. We’re doing fine. We don’t need those two. We are going out now and we couldn’t be happier but thanks for your concern.” He once again flashed them a huge smile and then left. He heard in the background one of them saying “DAEEEEEEEBAK!” He knew that they had everyone fooled but he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that people thought that they looked better in their fake couples than the real ones. He needed to see his Squishy so he could assure himself that they are the best couple.

As if he read his mind Kris messaged them all on the group chat entitled the four horseman saying that given that day 1 was really tough he would make an exception this one time and arrange for the two couples to meet up for the night. Jongin was shocked as he wasn’t expecting to see his Squishy for another two days but this was a pleasant surprise. He smiled at the message and replied with his gratitude and within seconds the chat was bombarded with excited messages from both Yixing and Kyungsoo. Clearly the lying was just as hard on them as it was for him and he was glad to not be alone. Jongin was then able to smile happily for the rest of the day counting down the minutes until he could meet his bae. As the bell rang Jongin ran out of the school grounds and headed to Hotel EXO where they had arranged to have all of their rendezvous from now on as anonymity was highly valued there. As he entered the suite he was immediately tackled to the ground and gripped tightly by his girlfriend. Once he recovered from the shock he leaned forward and buried his face in the crook of her neck inhaling her intoxicating vanilla scent. This is the best moment he has had all day, without a doubt. “I love you so much Nini. Today was so hard and I’m sorry about all the lies. I know how you hate it” she said against his chest. He lifted her head by the chin as he spoke softly “Shhhhh let’s not talk about it. When we’re together we can forget all of that. I love you Baby, only you. I don’t care what other people think. We will just have to make the best out of this situation.” She nodded in agreement as she leaned up and passionately kissed him.

_____________________________

A/N 

So I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this but if you are then I'm sorry it took me so long to update but a lot has happened recently in my life which made it difficult for me to update. But there are only a few chapters left and I plan to upddate them all today and tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it. 

As always,

Take care and keep loving kaisoo~~~ 

kaisoonoodle