"Are you really okay, Jisoo?" 

Jisoo snapped out from her reverie as Xiaotong's voice took her back to her sense. "You look so pale," the girl added, and Jisoo waved her hand to reply to her.

"I'm fine,"  she said nonchalantly. She actually felt so exhausted today, since she found out that she was pregnant Jisoo was more aware of how easy it was for her to get tired over small things that she did. She usually was able to do so many things in a day, going to classes and walked around the campus in between classes, at the same time also doing the other things like receiving a consult, holding some meetings and dozen other things.

She didn't even do that much today, because feeling a bit nauseatic, she stayed in her office to do some paperwork and having her students along the way, and she felt like she was about to collapse not until it reached lunchtime. When she reached home, all she wanted to do was having a hot shower and curled up on her bed, but then she remembered that she had promised Xiaotong to talk about her studying development for the foundation.

"So, let's get back to this again. Why do you think this job suits you? Say your answer all in Korean." Jisoo asked as she leaned down to rest her back on the home office chair, she put her elbow on the arm-rest and propped her cheek on it, waiting for Xiaotong to answer her. She watched the girl cleared while contriving with the answer before she said,

"Because it took me the hell to see how important this is to my life. I was born in a silver platter, thinking that life would feed me diamonds and pearls without me trying to lay a single hand on its work. People think I live in Wonderland with all the wealth that family has been pampering me with. Nobody takes me seriously, nobody believes when I say that I actually have been living in the hell of that they call Fantasy Island. Not going to talk about the dark side of my Zhang family, but this is the time for me to stand up for myself. I want to speak up for those who can't voice out their minds, I'll speak on behalf of those who are not listened to. This is my time to step on my game and to be heard completely." 

Jisoo nodded to hear her reply. As she corrected her grammar here and there, she was happy to see how neat her word arrangements were. Three months ago Xiaotong barely even speak Korean, and she was amazed to see how mature her language was after the intensive reading and discussion session.

"Okay, this is satisfying." 

The happy beam grew on Xiaotong's face to see her approval look. They practice some more to polish her basic Korean while discussing some issues relating to several cases that their lawyers' had been working on with their own respective clients.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Xiaotong asked a few moments later. They had moved to the dining table right now as it's now the dinner time. They were enjoying the fruit slices and some salads while the maid was preparing their meal. Jisoo raised her eyebrows as a reply.

"Do you think if I keep working hard, Chanyeol will eventually like me?" 

For a second Jisoo stop munching the apple slices that she had been having, that was an unexpected question and Jisoo was honestly surprised to hear it. She didn't expect that Xiaotong was still having her interest in Chanyeol after all this time, but she started to think that maybe it's just the time to tell her the truth about Chanyeol.

"He won't, Xiaotong. I'm sorry," 

The girl frowned her forehead, "Why not?" she asked again.

"Because it's just the way he is. Well, maybe he'll like you, but it's not that kind of like that you'd like him to do." 

Jisoo could see clearly that her answer was making her more confused because the frown was getting deeper by now. Xiaotong's eyes fixed on the tabletop, she paused before she raised  her gaze to meet her with a question,

"Is he gay?"

"No." Jisoo answered it almost too immediately, too startled to even react to the question itself. Of course the thought would arise, it's not actually the first time that people thought that Chanyeol preferred men than ladies, but Jisoo knew it best that it wasn't that. "He's totally straight, it's just that he's not into commitment. As I said, he will probably like you, but it's more, like, physical thing. He will never marry you, if that's what you wish for."

"Oh,"

She pouted and droop her head down, looking disappointed, while Jisoo could only watch for having no words to say. 

"Well, I guess not every girl could have what she really wants. I know I shouldn't have got my hopes high with him, my mom must be upset when she hears this."

"Does she still pester you a lot?" Jisoo then asked as the mother was mentioned. It's not new for her to know how the girl's mother had been treating her daughters all this time, Jisoo heard a lot of stories about her from Xiaotong regarding her obsession to matchmake her with those man from rich families. She had dated several boys, she said, but none of them was actually working that she grew tired of it. Until Xiaotong met Chanyeol their wedding last year, her mother saw the chance of them getting together and actually told them to get her move on him. But Xiaotong never thought that trying to get Chanyeol's attention was just as hard as pleasing her grandfather.

"Well, you know my mother. The only time she will stop pestering me about everything is if the world ends tomorrow." she scoffed, "She keeps telling me that I'm just wasting my time here, that I'm degrading myself in front of you by working for you and blah blah blah. She doesn't even ask if I'm happy with this, whether I'm alright, how I'm holding up with this. Sometimes I think maybe I'm adopted, because there can't be someone as bad as her as a mother, can it?"

"You can't say that, she's your mother after all." Jisoo tried to soothe her.

"Ugh, try to live with her for 27 years, then tell me if you can still say that."

Jisoo was thinking of elaborating the words that she wanted to say about this, but she wasn't in the mood to have an argument with Xiaotong. That girl was just too persistent, it would take hours to take it out with her. Though she knew that Xiaotong didn't have a good relationship with her mother, Jisoo was actually hoping that they could still fix what it was that still could be fixed. She was aware that the girl's mother despised her, but no matter what she had done or said about or to her, Jisoo never really hated her. She still respected her, so she made a mental note to work on this any other time, when she was in a better condition to have a more civil talk. 

The maid finally served the dinner. Knowing her condition and her meal preference these days, the maid deliberately served the beef braised that she loved to eat recently. She also pan-grilled two slices of salmon that Yixing's colleague gave them as a gift from Japan, and Jisoo started to dig in without further ado.

"Anyway, as we talk about work, I think it's time for you to give me your bank account number. I'll have my lawyer to proceed with the downpayment that I've promised you to have right away. Right after then, we're going to schedule your first press conference to publicize the foundation officially. How's that sound?" she proposed a moment later while they were having their meal.

"About that. I think just keep it, the money." Xiaotong suddenly said, "You know, for the three months that I'm here, I feel like, having a spiritual journey here. While I'm studying and reading those books you gave me, I think about a lot of things, and one of them is, how happy I am to be actually here. Whole my life, I've been living in Xiaozhi's shadow, copying her looks, hanging out with her friends, agreeing to everything she said. I was no one. But when I'm here, I finally feel like I'm somebody. I'm doing things that I like, no matter how boring it was, this is me. And I feel thankful that Yixing ge let me stay here, he provides me everything I need and that's enough. This is the first time in my life I actually feel that it's really nice to not think about money at all."

Jisoo smiled, she was happy for her. She could see that Xiaotong was growing while she was here, and she was glad to know that the girl was enjoying herself.

"I'll still proceed with the downpayment like I've promised you too. Business is business, if you don't it now, you can save it for later." she then proposed.

"Well, if you insist." she shrugged, "Now that you mention it. I think I actually need the money to fill the house. You know what's funny?" Xiaotong asked, which got Jisoo's raising eyebrows again as an answer. "It's just like a few months ago I was still haunting him to give money. But now that he's showering me with these facilities for free, and now even bought me my own condo, I feel so overwhelmed that I want him to stop wasting his money on me."

She totally could relate to that, to be honest. Yixing was the type who would spend his money to the fullest, especially for people he cared about. He changed his treatment to Xiaotong seeing how truthful she was to change herself, and seeing how he pampered her right now, it really showed how much he cared about her. And Xiaotong was right, it was actually funny if they thought about it again. It's even funnier because Xiaotong wanted it to end instead of living it happily like everyone else would.

"Just take it. If he wants to spend his money on you, he won't like it if you say no. When are you going to move in anyway?" 

"I don't know, maybe this weekend. I've been asking Zitao to help me with the stuff, but gege has been making him so busy lately," she said with a sigh. And she was telling him how busy Zitao these days as he was doing errands for Yixing when he's not in the office, Xiaotong was wondering what actually Yixing had been doing that his secretary didn't even have that much free time on weekends but Jisoo knew better to keep it for herself.

Little did the girl know that her cousin had been slacking off just to match Jisoo's schedule and make sure that she was well cared. When Yixing usually got off for work at 6.30 or 7 the latest, now he would wait until Jisoo was actually ready to go to work so they could leave together. And he would also get home earlier that Jisoo was even surprised to see him was home already. She knew that he'd kind of cutting off his workload at the office and brought them home just to have more ti