“Now tell me.” Johnny finished the glass of soju Jisoo had poured for him, and looked up at her. “What was that about? Why can’t I pick you from college?”

Jisoo chewed on her bottom lip furiously, and looked around the cart bar they were in. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this...”

“But you won’t hide it from me for long. I know you Choi Jisoo. You can’t hide anything from me.”

“Aish.” The girl glared at him.

“Is it- is it about the guy...the one you have something going on with?” Johnny asked, cautiously watching her. “It is...right? You turn super pale when I mention him.”

Jisoo chugged down the glass of soju in front of her, and took a deep breath. “He’s the one who was sitting next to you in the auditorium. Kim Jongin.”

Johnny’s lips parted in disbelief. “That... that model-like dude?”

Way to go Johnny Suh. You thought she’d be all for you and now see where she’s ended up.

“He’s actually not my boyfriend. Well he is at the moment my boyfriend...but he’s my friend’s fiancé-”

“Yah...Choi Jisoo... YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT YOU SNATCHED AWAY YOUR FRIEND’S MAN?”

His loud voice made almost everyone inside the cart bar widen their eyes and stare at him and the girl. Jisoo shot him the fiercest glare she could give, and slammed her palm on the table. “Stop jumping into conclusions before I tell you the story you dimwit!”

“Sorry.” He muttered, and shoved a piece of fried fish into his mouth. “But you just sounded like that.”

“My friend, she’s to be engaged with him because that’s what their families have arranged. You know...those rich people get their kid married mainly on business purposes.”

“Drama.” He muttered, sulking.

“It’s not as nice as they seem in dramas when it comes to real life okay?” she glared back at him. “However, my friend is having a situation in which she cannot date him.”

“She’s dating someone else? Lemme guess, an ordinary guy?”

“That’s not the case. She can’t marry him due to a personal reason.”

“What kind of personal reason?”

“I can’t tell you that okay? It’s not my own secret so I can’t reveal that part.”

“Okay whatever.”

“So just until she figures out how to get away from this arranged marriage thing, we had to switch our roles. So at the moment, I’m just pretending to be her and hanging out with Jongin.”

“Wait, does that mean that rich dude also think you’re his fiancée? And you’ve been dating him pretending... HOW FAR HAVE YOU TWO GONE ALREADY?”

Once again, the whole cart bar crowd were gapping at them.

“Johnny. Seo. This isn’t the military base for you to yell like that!”

“Aish...sorry. Okay go on.” He took a swig form the soju bottle itself.

“I just wanted you to understand my situation. I know you would. Because so far you’ve been the most understanding friend I’ve ever had. Just pretending not to know me when he’s around is enough Johnny. Because I’m appearing as JY Apparel’s heiress. Please.”

Johnny watched her in silence for a moment. “Can I ask just one more question? I won’t bring up this topic again.”

“Sure.” Jisoo nodded.

“What about your real feelings? You aren’t taking this seriously are you?”

Jisoo started chewing her lip again, instead of answering.

* * *

“Why is the bus taking this long???”

Jihyo whined, stomping across the lawn in front of their department. “They said it takes more than four hours to get to the camping site, so are we gonna have lunch at tea time?”

Park Jihyo’s batch mate from freshman year; Kang Daniel, followed the girl everywhere around as she paced, making his crush for the girl obvious to everyone. “Calm yourself down Hyo...hmm? They’ll be here soon... Don’t be angry on such a beautiful day...”

Chuckling at the boy’s way of courting his girl who was cheesy in her eyes, Jisoo turned to take a peek at her friend who was sitting on a bench in silence, hugging her back pack and spacing out.

It was more than obvious to Jisoo that her friend was stuck with her the feelings she was having for a certain guy, the guy Jisoo assumed to be her subordinate at work. Even though the two girls were best friends since high school days and shared every single thing about their lives, Daya was rather closed up these days, confused with her own thoughts.

Jisoo was soon torn away from her attention to her friend, because the voice of Park Jihyo rang across the department gardens, shrieking in anger. “What do you mean it’s cancelled? What do these seniors take us for? Are we a joke to them?”

A loud murmur spread across the gang of freshmen, as their student representative had come with the news that the seniors have cancelled the programme due to unavoidable reasons. Half of them were fuming in rage, while the other half were glad to have the weekend off.

“Did they say it’s cancelled?”

Jisoo jumped at the voice which went right over her shoulder, and turned around to see Jongin standing with an amused smile on his face. “Jongin! When did you come here?”

Jongin straightened, stuffing his hands in his trouser pockets and shrugging nonchalantly. “Came to see you off, but I guess it’s my lucky day. Since you now have your weekend free...can I have it to myself?”

Her face completely draining off of blood, Jisoo eyed her friend, who was still lost in her thoughts, not at all aware of what’s going on around her.

“My dad assigned me to a business trip because he’s too busy...mind joining me? It’s to Ulsan. It’s really beautiful there in spring time.”

“Um...” the girl bit her lip, struggling for an answer. “Let me talk to my friend for a moment.”

“Can you really go there?” Daya asked lowering her voice, when Jisoo explained the situation while Jongin stared at them from a distance, pouting in confusion. “It’s alright for me... I had promised him earlier to spend a whole day with him. But will you be alright? Your parents will probably think you went to Ulsan with him.”

“I’ll take care of that.” Daya sighed.

“But you can’t even check into a hotel! What if someone you know spots you there?”

“I have this unnie at work who’ll probably understand my situation, so I might be able to stay with her.”

“You sure?” Jisoo asked again. Daya nodded in reply. “Sure. Don’t worry about me, and have a good time with him.” the girl patted on her friend’s shoulder endearingly.

* * *

“So your colleague lives in this apartment complex Jisoo-ssi?”

Jongin pulled the car over where Daya had asked him to, and turned to the girl who was nervously seated at the back seat. “One of my closest hyungs lives here too. He moved in recently. Ah, you know him!” he turned back to Jisoo, who was on the passenger seat next to him. “Byun Baekhyun! Your assistant manager.”

“Ah...yeah.” Jisoo nodded nervously.

“I’ll get off then.” Daya quickly changed the topic, and pulled the strap of her bag over the shoulder. “Jongin-ssi, take care of my friend okay?”

Jongin nodded with a reassuring smile, and Daya got off the car. “Thank you Jongin-ssi!” the girl leaned down near the front seats, and waved at Jisoo. “Take care, and have fun.”

Jisoo nodded with a grin, and the car drove off. Daya straightened herself, turned to look at the building she was standing in front of, and took a deep breath.

Once she arrived at her destination apartment, Daya hesitated for a while, before ringing the doorbell. And making her more nervous, the door opened within seconds.

There he stood, looking sleepier than ever, clad in a faded yellow t-shirt and loose grey pants.

Daya couldn’t help but smile when Baekhyun’s sleepy eyes nearly popped out in horror at the site of her. “Can I come in?” she asked rather hesitantly, to get no reply in words, but only to get him step aside and make her way to walk in.

Daya walked into the small liv