It was already almost midnight when Junmyeon pulled up at the Yoo mansion’s driveway, and Jiwon had already fallen asleep on the way home. She was peacefully slumbering with her head leaned on the glass, and the CEO contemplated on how he could wake her in the gentlest way possible.

He himself was also getting desperate for some well-deserved rest, but he had other plans aside from heading home. A lot has happened, and by the looks of how things will go from here, he needed to start planning his next steps.

Poking the sleeping heiress in the arm once, he watched as the other slowly opened her eyes and looked around for a few seconds, trying to remember where she is and who she’s with. Then upon realizing they were outside her house, she lazily stretched around to ease the strain of sleeping in a sitting position in such cramped space before fixing her hair and straightening her coat.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

Junmyeon shrugged nonchalantly “Nah. It’s fine, you had a long day.”

“Thanks for driving me home anyway,” she stepped out of the passenger seat but held the door open. “I guess I’ll see you again soon?”

“Yes. And before I forget, we should probably exchange numbers so we can contact each other.”

He reached for his phone from the glove compartment and handed it to Jiwon, and the latter reciprocated by digging onto her purse to fetch hers and hand it back to Junmyeon.

“Goodnight, Jiwon,” the CEO said after they had returned each other’s device.

“Goodnight. Drive safely, Junmyeon.”

They were still trying to get used to comfortably addressing each other in a first name basis, but really, how hard can that be? If they were going to fool everyone, this will have to be the least of their worries.

“Thanks for the concern, love,” Junmyeon cheekily replied with a grin. “Go inside now before you catch a cold.”

Jiwon waved as she watched the car drive away before heading inside the house and into her bedroom. Now that she’s alone and everything is quiet, she had time to let the fact that she had just agreed to be Kim Global’s CEO’s fake wife sink in. In all honesty, their plan still sounded crazy and absurd, but it’s the best solution that they have at the moment. She also kind of felt bad for lying to her parents, for going so far as to getting involved in a sham wedding, but deep inside she knew that she would not back out of this. If it’s any consolation, there really is no turning back even if she wants to do so, since the paparazzi fiasco a while ago would probably blow up in the next few hours.

After a quick shower, she grabbed her phone and dialled the only number marked as favourite in her contact list. She couldn’t wait to tell Kyungsoo that she managed the feat of getting herself an instant fake husband. Apparently they don’t fall from the sky; they strut around VIP lounges of expensive, exclusive restaurants.

***

“What is it this time, Jiwon?” A tired and disgruntled Kyungsoo answered into the call before Jiwon could even voice out a hello.

This goddamn spawn of the devil. Would it hurt him to at least give a proper greeting for once?

“Uh, before you go all beasty on me, it was you who said I was welcome to call you back to tell you what happened at the restaurant.”

“Oooh, yes I remember,” his tone immediately switched from ‘exhausted’ to ‘excited’ in a heartbeat. “Did you tell your parents the truth? Were they disappointed and did they finally decide to disown you? What? Come on, what happened?”

What do you mean ‘finally’? This bastard. Jiwon pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Calm down, drama queen. No one’s getting disowned. I didn’t tell them the truth okay?”

An audible gasp was the next thing that came. “Why not? Hold on, I’m closing my atelier,” she heard shuffling and jingling of keys from the other end as she waited for Kyungsoo to finish. “Okay, I’m walking to my car now. Go on.”

“I’m getting married, Kyungsoo.”

“Nice try. But I told you I’m not available,” the man gave a hearty chuckle, intent on irritating Jiwon even more.

“Har har. No need to rub it in my face. You’re the biggest traitor in the world for not wanting to be my fake husband. Now before we get side-tracked, I’m seriously telling you I’m getting married.”

Silence.

“You, the rogue heiress, are getting married?” Kyungsoo scoffed, still disbelieving.

“It’s a fake marriage, but yeah. I guess a fake wedding is still a wedding.”

More silence. Until..

“Holy . You sly, sly woman! You’re telling me, that you managed to find someone who’s willing to pretend to be your husband?”

“I’m terribly offended that you thought I couldn’t do it,” she faked a tone of hurt in her voice.

“Who is the willing tribute then?”

“Oh, so we’re making Hunger Games references now?”

“Shush! Stop diverting the topic and just tell me, will you?”

Jiwon rolled her eyes even though the other could not see her. They were both impatient hotheads and sometimes she wonders how they became the very best of friends.

“Kim Junmyeon”

“The hot CEO of Kim Global?”

“I didn’t know he’s your type, but yeah, that one.”