Chapter 3

***CHRO = Chief Human Resources Officer; CFO - Chief Financial Officer

Something was off today. Kyungsoo woke up on the couch of the penthouse because Nari entered the kitchen area to start cooking breakfast. She glanced at him as he let out a small groan while stretching but didn’t say a word. Usually Nari was the type to say good morning and try to start a light conversation but today she kept quiet.

“We could order room service so you don’t have to cook,” Kyungsoo decided to speak up first and test the waters.

Nari only gave him a quick glance before saying, “Home cooked meals are healthier for you.”

Kyungsoo became even more confused at Nari’s sudden indifferent attitude but decided to shake it off. He stood up from the couch after a couple of minutes and folded the blanket before heading to the bedroom to freshen up. After entering the room he noticed that the bed was made and that the rose petals that were scattered last night were now in a basket besides Nari’s side of the bed.

Last night Kyungsoo figured it would have been awkward to sleep in the same bed as her because they weren’t a real couple and the couch was as big as a single bed anyways, so he decided to quickly change and sleep out there instead. He thought nothing of his choices and how it may have affected Nari.

By the time he finished taking a shower and changed clothes, Nari was already done eating and was finishing up washing her dishes. She then dried her hands before proceeding to them bedroom without a word. Kyungsoo thought this was strange as well because she used to wait for him to eat every time they went on vacation together. Kyungsoo had barely even gotten food onto his plate before Nari emerged from the bedroom, a new set of clothes and her purse in hand.

“I’m going to the spa. I'll be back this afternoon,” Nari spoke without sparing him a glance.

She was definitely mad at him, now he knew. He decided to leave the matter alone though, thinking that eventually it would blow over.

Kyungsoo stayed inside for the day and get some work done before they had to head to the airport. There was a lot of paperwork that needed to be done before he officially became CEO because his father had to transfer all the projects from his jurisdiction to Kyungsoo’s. To say that he was feeling stressed inheriting the responsibility of an entire company was a definite understatement. He prayed nothing would go wrong before his official first day as CEO even began.

He decided to do work on the balcony since there was a couch there and plenty of fresh air. Taking his laptop and glass of red wine, he settled himself in a comfortable position and focused on responding back to all the emails he received during the wedding.

“You’d think they would at least give me a day off on my wedding day,” he muttered to himself as he hit send. Grabbing his wine glass, he took a sip, deciding to give himself a few minutes for a mental break.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound was coming from his pocket disrupting his peace. Kyungsoo saw that Chanyeol was calling, “You know, you have ty timing.”

“We have a problem.”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes in frustration. “What happened?”

Apparently, the lead architect at the Kwon’s construction company quit just this past morning, claiming that he wanted to start living for the moment and travel the world. What frustrated Kyungsoo the most about that excuse was that this man was almost about to retire but he just couldn’t wait a couple more years.

“Does this mean the new Jeju resort will have to be put on pause? Because that is the biggest project I have to work on after coming back from my honeymoon,” Kyungsoo started to feel slightly panicked because their company had already started to advertise their projected finish date to investors.

“Nari’s brother said they couldn’t spare any of their other architects because all the rest of their projects have already started and this one technically hasn’t. I’m working with the Kwon’s HR and ours as well to find candidates. Hopefully by the time you come back we’ll have a replacement,” Chanyeol said before he shouted at his office to cancel all their plans for the next week.

“Thanks Chanyeol, keep me updated,” the said person didn’t get a chance to reply as someone else grabbed the phone to speak.

“Hyung, how was the wedding night?” Sehun really knew no boundaries.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as he set his laptop down beside him, “Is that all you care about? Shouldn’t you be worrying about the potential funds we would be wasting because of this delay?”

“Don’t be such a debby downer, we will definitely find a replacement soon,” Sehun said before changing back the subject. “So, did you and Nari… you know?! Did you do the nasty—“

“Yah!” Kyungsoo wished he could strangle his friend through the phone. “No we did not. I actually slept on the couch last night…”

“THE COUCH?!” There was now a ringing in Kyungsoo’s ear. “Are you crazy?! You didn’t even sleep on the same bed? How could you disrespect noona like that?!”

“What do you mean,” now he was genuinely confused, “I thought I was doing the respectable thing!”

“Give me that phone,” a deep voice said to Sehun. “Do Kyungsoo, you are my best friend but Kwon Nari is like a little sister to me so I don’t like seeing her hurt either. How could you think you avoiding a girl that has been in love with you all her life on your wedding night of all times would be the respectable thing to do? How?”

Kyungsoo was speechless as he realized why Nari was acting off all morning. Setting down the phone so that he didn’t have to hear Chanyeol and Sehun bicker, Kyungsoo slowly laid on the couch and grabbed a spare pillow. He brought the pillow to his face and let out a muffled scream before going limp.

He hasn’t even been married twenty-four hours and already managed get his wife mad at him.

The plane ride to Rome, Italy was surprisingly more pleasant than the past twenty-four hours had been since the wedding. It seemed that after spending a day at the spa, Nari’s mood drastically changed for the better. She greeted Kyungsoo once she walked into suite after her spa day and even asked him what was wrong when she saw how stressed he looked. Kyungsoo was relieved that on top of everything, he didn’t have to worry about Nari being mad at him anymore.

Nari had replayed everything that happened during their wedding night while she was at the spa and decided that she was over-reacting. She couldn’t get mad at Kyungsoo, at least not for long, especially when she should have realized it was uncomfortable for him too.

How could you let him off so easy, Nari?! You can’t just let him do whatever he wants in this marriage! Seulgi had other, rather colorful words, to describe how she felt about last night but Nari decided to ignore her.

The whole plan ride lasted 12 hours in which Nari and Kyungsoo spent the greater half on their laptops, working on things for their individual companies. Nari was looking at the blue prints the architect that had just resigned left. Because she double-majored in business and architecture, her brother decided she would be the perfect choice to be the consultant for Do Hotel & Travel. They would need her to be the point person for both companies once a new architect was found because the new person would surely need guidance with both companies polices and vision. Kyungsoo was revising his and his father’s notes on the requirements that must be met for the new Jeju resort. This would be used by Nari as a reference while working with the new architect to make sure that both companies work harmoniously.

The reason Kyungsoo and Nari could work so synchronously was because during university, their families made them do internships in both companies so t