THIS IS A DOUBLE UPDATE

Read chapter 19 first ^^

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Jongin couldn’t wipe the smile from his face the entire day. He was finally going to see Kyungsoo tonight and honestly he couldn’t wait. It had been a grand total of 3 months and 4 days since the ‘plan’ was set in motion and Jongin was counting the days like a prison inmate counting down the days until their release, although in Jongin’s case there was no clear or definite end date to his misery. He had enjoyed spending more time with Yixing and since joining the basketball team, he had seen Kris at least three times a week. Kris would always bring him food and games to apologise for not being able to spend more time with him, sometimes he felt like Kris was an absentee Father trying to appease him with gifts, but much like children from broken homes Jongin wasn’t complaining about being pampered. He couldn’t complain as his life was going pretty well but he missed her, his Squishy, it had been 2 weeks and 5 days since he had met up with his girlfriend at hotel EXO. She had been so busy preparing for her college entrance audition and exams that she had little time to spend with him. The only time Jongin saw her was when she was walking between classes and he savoured those moments. She had apologised for not having any time for him and he would always reassure her that everything was fine. But he had to admit that it bothered him that she had time to spend with Kris at their fancy events but couldn’t make time for her actual boyfriend. Not that Jongin was jealous….okay maybe a little but he wasn’t suspicious, he trusted them even when he heard whispers from his classmates about how their fake relationship was progressing nicely. Then again his relationship with Yixing was gaining just as much attention so he couldn’t complain, not that it was a competition. Of course not…but secretly he hoped that it bothered Kris too.

Tonight was the night, after weeks of being deprived of his Squishy, Jongin was finally going to get to see the source of all of his affection. It was the school dance and all of the students were excited and there were banners displayed all across the school. But both couples had agreed to boycott the dance and have a date night alone instead as they all really deserved it, this lying business was much more tiring than they originally thought. Nothing could ruin his mood today and he smiled and whistled all the way to the dance studio, counting down the minutes till the end of the day.

Jongin wondered whether tonight was the right time to tell Kyungsoo what he was planning, it had been months in the making. It had worried him for a long time what would happen to their relationship when Kyungsoo went to college. Jongin was concerned because the college that Kyungsoo had her heart set on was the most prestigious university for the arts in Korea which was on the other side of the country. He knew that they loved each other but he was wasn’t sure whether their relationship could last the long distance, especially when he was missing her already even though he saw her nearly every day. So he set out a plan and after receiving his parents’ consent he had began preparing for his big audition. He walked into the studio and met with his dance teacher who had been waiting for him. “Kai! It’s about time! What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for 10 minutes. Hurry up and show me the polished routine” his teacher instructed. “Sorry Sir. I was….distracted” he said sending his teacher a pitiful smile. The elder sighed “I’m sure you were daydreaming about your girlfriend but you need to focus Kai. The routine is good and I have no doubt that with your talent you can get early admissions into EXO University of Fine Arts next year. Now show me.” Jongin simply nodded before standing in the centre of the room as the music began to play.

The song was a classical piece and Jongin took a deep breath before beginning, he was incredibly nervous as this was his first time doing a pure ballet piece without any forms of modern dance. But he was confident after having practiced it to death in preparation for his audition in two days. He performed his own take on Swan Lake as one of the criteria for the audition was for the dance to be an original piece. His teacher thought it was a bold move for Jongin to perform a famous and beloved piece because who could beat the original Swan Lake. Most candidates would choose a safer option by performing a more modern song which was more up tempo and easy to perform. But his teacher knew that Jongin wasn’t like most students and when he had first seen the choreography, while it was rough around the edges, Jongin was breathtaking and the dance was so original and captivating. Jongin began slowly dancing to the song swaying his arms to the soft beat of the tune. As the tempo picked up and the music became deeper and more serious, Jongin’s moves became sharper and his expression captured the seriousness that the music was portraying. The dance lasted about 6 minutes and by the end Jongin was exhausted from the exertion, a true sign that he had put his everything into the performance. He looked up expectantly at his teacher who stood up with his jaw dropped “Jongin that was…beautiful. You’re a shoe in. If you can’t get a place with that performance, no one can.” Jongin smiled and bowed deeply thanking his teacher for all of his support and help. Jongin made a mental note to thank Yixing and his Father will all of their help as well. He felt ready and now all that was left was to enjoy tonight with Kyungsoo and rest up for his audition in two days time.

He exited the studio with a spring in his step. As he headed to his afternoon class he received a message from Kris on their group chat:

From: Kris

Emergency meeting. Fourth floor of the main building, the abandoned classroom now.

Jongin sighed thinking about how he just couldn’t catch a break. When he walked into the classroom, his co-conspirators had all already gathered and were deep in discussion. Both of his girlfriends, both real and fake, looked awful. Kyungsoo was beyond pale with huge dark circles under her eyes while Yixing looked like she would collapse at any moment. He thought the lying must be taking a toll on them as it was him. Also, Kyungsoo was probably not sleeping due to rehearsals and exam revision. Jongin thought it was to not mention to them how awful they were looking, he chose to keep that observation to himself.

As he approached them, he smiled widely at his girlfriend looking forward to embracing her after such a long time. However, the look he received made him rethink his original plan, Kyungsoo looked up at him with sadness in her dark brown orbs and then looked down at her feet to avoid eye contact. This caused Jongin to slow his pace and he became more suspicious of the nature of the meeting, “What is this all about…Kris? Why are we meeting all of a sudden?” Yixing moved to stand next to Jongin and crossed her arms over her chest before saying “Well! Tell him Kris. Tell him why we are all here!” Jongin felt nervous now because whatever it is must be pretty bad if it made Yixing, the kindest person he has ever met, angry. “T-t-tell me what?” he uttered really panicking as he looked at each of them in turn. Kris sighed placing his hands on his hips, a sign that he was about to go into Dad mode and tell Jongin that he has to do something he doesn’t want to. “Buddy, I’m sorry to have to tell you this but…Kyungsoo and I have to go to the school dance.” He paused and stared at Jongin to gauge his reaction but Jongin’s facial expression was unreadable. Kris continued “The old man wants me to go and build better ties with the heirs and heiresses to the big companies here in Korea. He thinks that this is a good opportunity to do it without their parents around to stop us making our own deals. We will use Chanyeol and Baekhyun as a buffer since they are really popular with that crowd.” Jongin still didn’t say anything, staring at the ground entirely expressionless.

“Jong…say something,” Kris gently asked his friend but feared his reaction. It was unlike Jongin to be so unresponsive and it worried Kris to no end. After a long silence Kris dropped his head helplessly when Jongin finally spoke up “Did you know?” Everyone raised their heads to look at him but his eyes were firmly fixed on his girlfriend. Kyungsoo inhaled sharply with tears in her eyes before slowly nodding. “How long?” Jongin asked, his voice cold and harsh. “O-o-one week….but Nini I didn’t know how to tell you. I was worried about how you would react especially since we haven’t spent much time together recently” she replied trying to reason with her boyfriend. “MUCH TIME TOGETHER? We haven’t spent MUCH time together? Kyungsoo, I haven’t seen you in two weeks! And y’know what? That’s fine. It’s normal for couples to spend time apart. But you know what isn’t normal? That your girlfriend who has no time to spend with you, finds the time to go out with her FAKE FIANCE.” At his final words, both Kris and Kyungsoo flinched, knowing full well that they deserved his wrath and feeling helpless because they couldn’t defend themselves.

Kris tried to calm his angry friend “Jong I know its difficult now but I think that this is the home stretch. I can see my Dad giving me the position soon. He’s happy with the work I’ve been doing recently.” Yixing scoffed and looked at Kris incredulously “I bet he’s reeeeally happy with the ‘work’ you’ve been doing recently. Please we all know that he’s just happy that you’re with Kyungsoo, THAT’s what he is happy about. All day, all I here is how good you guys look and how great an empire you both will form together. Such a great power couple in our school. That’s all I hear day in and day out. Oooh but not that anyone would say any of that to me. Can’t mention it to precious Yixing, oh no! Remember, Kris dumped her because she wasn’t good enough to be part of his great family. But you know what I ignored all of that sh** because at least we are together. At least I HAVE YOU! But you are going to just throw it back in my face like this! I thought this was meant to be our night…we were going to have our own dance, just me and you. That’s what you promised me but you waited A WEEK BEFORE TELLING ME. You waited until the last possible minute to tell me, KNOWING that then there is nothing I can do about it.” Yixing stopped at this point, her face red as she tried to regain her senses. She swayed from side to side and Jongin looked over to her worried that she may collapse.

Jongin took a step back and analysed the current situation. He and Yixing were stood side by side while Kris and Kyungsoo were stood facing them. It almost looked like they were on opposing sides rather than working as a team. He felt an overwhelming sadness take over him causing him to sigh. “How did it turn out like this? Why are we all so exhausted? What are we even fighting for?” All of these questions ran through Jongin’s mind which served to only increase his frustration and despair. He turned to glance at Yixing to make sure that she was alright but he could see that she was barely hanging on by a thread. He then turned to look at his girlfriend, the love of his life and his greatest treasure and watched as she silently wept with her head down in shame. Jongin felt bad for Kyungsoo, knowing that she was also suffering but he couldn’t bring himself to comfort her. They had all grown so weary of each other and these three months had aged them at least ten years.

Jongin sighed once again before giving his final verdict “Shall we call it quits here? I’m too tired with all of this lying, you guys do you what you need to but I don’t want any part in it.” He then turned to leave the room but he suddenly felt a tight grip on his arm. He turned around to see Kyungsoo desperately gripping onto his arm, a look of panic and desperation on her face with tears streaming down her now red cheeks. “N-n-n-oo Jong *hiccup* in *hiccup* please don’t *hiccup* go. Don’t break up with me please *hiccup*. I don’t know what I would do without you. I sh-should have told you about the dance. I’m sorry…I didn’t want to hurt you and I missed you s-s-so much” she pleaded. Jongin pulled his arm from her tight grip and looked down to stare into the beautiful owl eyes that he adored so much and said “I’m not breaking up with you. Trust me I will never be able to leave you. You must know that by now. But I don’t want any part in this anymore. No more lies. I love you Soo…and Kris…but I won’t lie. I won’t tell anyone the truth but I won’t help you lie anymore. If you want to go to the dance…I won’t stand in your way. I’m just…done.” After his speech Jongin exited the room. Worry overtook him as he left, wondering what state Kyungsoo and Yixing were in but he couldn’t worry about that now. All he knew was that he needed to leave this place. He chuckled sadly to himself as he exited the building, at least he didn’t need to worry about the auditions anymore, Kyungsoo won’t need him around for much longer.

Kyungsoo dropped to her knees not knowing how to process what had just happened, this was absolutely the best scenario she could have imagined. At least Jongin hadn’t broken up with her and she clung onto the hope that she could talk him around. Kris then spoke breaking the heavy silence that fell upon them after Jongin’s dramatic exit “Xing, baby, we have to do this. It’s a one time deal, I swear. We are nearly there, I can feel it. Jongin will come around. I’ll talk to him. Please baby, don’t be mad.” He slowly tried to approach her in an effort to pacify her, but Yixing was not in a forgiving mood. She sighed “Kai’s right. I don’t want any part in this. Come find me when you’re done with your plans. I’m done being your girlfriend when it suits you.” And with that she turned and left the room. Kris stood still while in complete shock. Kyungsoo turned to him and whispered “Now what?” as fresh tears streamed down her face.

“What choice do we have Kyung? I don’t want to do this anymore than you do but…it will finally be over. Soon…very soon the old man will hand me the company and we can go on to have the lives that we have always wanted.” She nodded because despite understanding how Yixing and Jongin were feeling, at that moment all she could see was the finish line and she knew that just with this last push, they could all cross it…together. She stood up and bushed herself off and spoke with conviction “Pick me up at 8. Put on a good show for my parents. They like it when you dote on me.” With that she left the room. Kris took a deep breath, he really hoped that this would work…he really did.

Jongin walked out of the school gates at the end of the day, not having absorbed any information from his classes that took place after their emergency meeting. He sat outside not sure what to do with himself as basketball practice had been cancelled because of the school dance. He also didn’t feel like going to the studio either, in case someone tried to ask him about the upcoming audition which he wasn’t sure he was even going to attend. He sighed looking up at the sky when he heard a horn beep right by his ear bringing him back down to earth. The window from the backseat of the car was rolled down to reveal Yixing who smiled at him brightly, despite her pale and tired complexion. She gestured for him to hop in and he did so wordlessly. “Hey, how are you?” He smiled at her and leaned over to hug her tightly. “I’m okay Lay-ah. How are you?” She smiled weakly before responding “I’ve been better” as she looked down and began to twiddle her thumbs. He took her hands into his as he tried to catch her attention “I’m so sorry Lay. This must have been so hard on you. I’m sorry I didn’t ask how you were more often…I was so caught up in my own world. But…I’m here now. You don’t look well, are you eating?” She sighed “I don’t know…sometimes I eat but not much and sometimes I sleep but again not much. I don’t even know what day it is. All I know is that I feel like vomiting all the time. And I know it’s from all of these lies, they are taking a toll on my body. And now that I’ve given up on this stupid scheme, I already feel so much better. I feel lighter somehow.” He looked back down at their hands before asking “So you gave up on the plan too?” She simply nodded “You were right. I love him but…I can’t take this anymore. He knows where I am when he is done with all of his scheming but I don’t want to be a part of it.” Jongin nodded in agreement and he was grateful that Yixing knew exactly how he was feeling,

“What are your plans tonight?” she asked trying to lighten the mood. He looked at her darkly before replying “Well I had planned a lot of y times but looks like Jongin junior is going to have to wait even longer now. But to answer your question, I have no plans. You?” She rolled her eyes and tutted “Jongin junior. You idiot! I have no plans either. I have an idea…we should go to the dance.” She raised one of her eyebrows and Jongin knew that she was being mischievous. “Are you crazy? You hate seeing them together as much as I do. Why would we put ourselves through that?!” he said exasperated. “Because we deserve to have some fun too! And besides…we aren’t the only ones that get jealous. Just because we let them do their little plan, that doesn’t mean we won’t torture them in the process. Come on! Let’s show them how to have a good time.” Yixing raised her hand for a shake to ask if he was in on the plan. A wide grin spread across Jongin’s face as he took the proffered hand and replied “Let’s do it! This is the best idea you have ever had.”