Sehun turned his back to her and walked away, he was about to join Hyejin back to their table when somebody blocked his path.

“Sehun-ah.” Kai was also surprised to see him, and then he saw Chaewon a few steps away from them, he paused.

“I don’t have time for~”

Kai pulled him aside as soon as a familiar odor hit his nostrils, his eyes focused on his friend.

“Sehun-ah, you~”

Sehun had his eyes on Chaewon as she walked towards the table, Kai shook his head.

“You’re not supposed to be drinking, Oh Sehun.” Kai nudged his friend, Sehun’s eyes went to him and he shook him away.

“Look at her,”

Kai shook his head.

“I…I tried talk to her…she wouldn’t even let me get a single word out. I don’t know what to do anymore.” Sehun murmured, his friend sighed and leaned back on the wall.

“I hurt her so bad, huh?” Sehun looked at Kai, the latter didn’t reply.

“I deserve all this. But,”

“Sehun, please~”

“It’s still her, Kai. It’s still her.”

“Sehun~”

“And now matter how many times this ed me over, I can’t let her go.”

“You told me you already have.” Kai told him, his eyes went to Chaewon again.

“I lied.”

Chaewon got in the car and signaled for the driver to start moving. She leaned back on the seat and covered her eyes with her palm.

Lunch stressed her out.

Working with Sehun stressed her out.

Hell, everything stressed her out.

How could he say that? After what happened, how could he? He disappeared on her, and yet he managed to make her feel bad.

“ing idiot.” Chaewon muttered under her breath, and then her phone started to ring. She looked at the screen and answered as soon as she realized it was her secretary.

“What is it?”

“Ma’am, it’s your nephew.”

“Jaehwan? Why?”

“He’s at your office, and he’s requesting, no, he demands that you come here at once.”

Chaewon’s brows rose in amusement.

“I’ll be there in ten, please entertain him then.” She said before ending the call, Chaewon shook her head.

“He will ask questions about him.” She murmured to herself before putting her phone down.

Sehun straightened his tie after taking his seat, he was at one of the conference halls at JGH’s main office. Chaewon’s secretary had informed him and his team that the young lady was already on her way. He chewed on the insides of his cheeks. He had a feeling doing this project would not be as easy as he thought.

The doors swung open, and they stood up. Chaewon walked in with a cool and polite smile.

“I apologize for being a little late, traffic was really bad. Please, sit down.” She said before taking a seat herself, she looked up and met Sehun’s gaze briefly.

“We wanted to open the discussion about the architectural firm, vice president.” One of the Samsung executives spoke, she nodded back.

“We also have a list of recommendations as well.”

“Yes, we are in contact with your team as well, we decided on this firm, ma’am.”

She picked up the folder from the the table, Sehun looked around the room, and he grew a little amused as he noticed how the other people in the room seem to be on the edge as they waited for the girl to react.

“I heard about them while being abroad, good choice.”

“I’m glad you also approve of them, vice president.” Sehun spoke, her eyes shifted to him.

“Well, not yet.” She said, everyone in the room froze.

“Yes?” The executive looked up, Sehun’s secretary blinked.

“We have nothing to approve of. There’s no proposal yet. Not even a sketch of a bathroom.” She replied, Sehun’s lips quirked up.

“Exactly.” He said, Chaewon nodded back and crossed her arms, her eyes went to one of her staffs and she raised one brow at the male.

“We’ll get right to it, vice president.” He said quickly, and then the meeting went on as planned.

Sehun would glance at her occasionally as the meeting went on, Chaewon had changed a lot, but not so much. There were still bits of of the old her, the eagerness to listen to the others and of course, her interest with her job. He exhaled and leaned back on his seat, back then he always had a feeling he would be working with her. But this wasn’t how he imagined it.

She loathed him now.

“Well, that ends everything.”

Sehun looked up just as the other people in the room were standing up, his forehead creased and he glanced around them.

“Vice president.” He spoke, Chaewon paused and turned to him.

“Can I speak with you privately?” He asked clearly, making sure that everyone heard them.

“Yes.” Chaewon’s reply was short, the staff immediately vacated the room, Sehun exhaled, he loosened his tie just as the doors closed.

“Chaewon-ah~”

“You were right. We do have to get along.” She beat him to it, Sehun stopped briefly.

“Chae~”

“It’s work after all. We shouldn’t let our personal issues affect it.” She said as she leaned against the table, keeping her distance.

“I shouldn’t have said those things to you.” Sehun told her.

“We both have things we shouldn’t have said to each other.” Chaewon replied, not meeting his gaze.

“I’m sorry, Chaewon-ah.”

Chaewon turned to him, her eyes searching his and then she spoke.

“It’s vice president Ji at work, vice chairman Oh. Enjoy the rest of your day.” She said before leaving the room.

Joohyuk looked up as the male joined them on their table, Jaehwan beamed and greeted the latter.

“Strange. You’re already trusted to watch over him.” Kai claimed as he sat down, the other male nodded.

“I volunteered. Everyone was busy. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”

“What did you exactly want to ask?” Kai asked just as his cousin joined their table, he paused.

“Hwan, why don’t you join the other kids at the playground?” Hyebin suggested, Jaehwan cheered before running away from them. Joohyuk watched as two male bodyguards followed the toddler.

“What really happened, Kim Jongin?” Hyebin spoke, Kai winced.

“Well, to make you comfortable. Chaewon and I are not really together. We fake date so that she wouldn’t get pestered by suitors back in LA.” Joohyuk suggested, Hyebin balked at him, stunned.

“You guys..aren’t real?” She blinked at him, Joohyuk offered her a small sheepish smile.

“Wait, you..two aren’t real?” Kai repeated, Joohyuk grinned at him.

“Oh god, my husband is going to kill me.” Hyebin murmured to herself.

“So, tell us, my new friend, what really happened? How did those two end up like this?” Joohyuk pressed on, Kai bit his lip.

“Dude, come on, I gave you one juicy tidbit.” He urged on, Hyebin turned her gaze towards her cousin. Kai ran his fingers through his hair before talking.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone. Especially Chaewon.”

“Deal.” Joohyuk smirked, Kai had a feeling he would get along with Chaewon’s fake boyfriend.

“After the accident, things went really bad. Not just for her, but for Sehun too.”

“He…disappeared, Kai.” Hyebin said softly as she picked up her coffee.

“He didn’t want to, noona.”

“Huh?”

“That night, while everyone was so busy running around, Sehun rushed to the hospital while she was still in surgery. No one was there except for mister Ji.”

Joohyuk listened in, his phone was vibrating, Chaewon was calling. He put it on silent mode.

“He…started yelling at Sehun, you know. He was blaming it on him, if he hadn’t gone to the party, Chaewon would never run after him and get hit.”

“No.” Hyebin frowned.

“He said Sehun brought nothing but trouble for her, and that he was bad for Chaewon. He told him to leave. No, he demanded that Sehun never show up in front of his daughter again.”

“But, that guy doesn’t look like the type to back down.” Joohyuk spoke.

“He would never, you’re right.” Kai faced the male.

“Kai, what…else happened?”

“He took one of the bodyguard’s guns, and…mister Ji shot Sehun.”

The two froze, Kai shook his head and pushed his cup of tea away.

“He shot him in the leg and the arm. Sehun had to be hospitalized for months to recover. And after that, he..began to have problems with alcohol.”

“Sehun, no.” Hyebin bit her lip.

“He was in rehab for almost a year, noona. The Ohs kept everything under the rug. That’s why no one ever heard of Sehun during that time.”

“That..That is just wrong.” Joohyuk muttered.

“Why…Why didn’t he..just tell people? I mean, their father was never really welcomed to the family.” Hyebin was confused.

“Sehun didn’t want to taint the Ji name, noona. He knew that it would affect Chaewon a lot.” Kai explained, Joohyuk shook his head.

“That’s why Sehun disappeared, so that rumors wouldn’t start. He didn’t want Chaewon to be affected by what went on between him and her father.” Kai paused before looking up.

“And what bothers me now is that…Sehun..Sehun’s drinking again.”

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