"Where are you?"

"The bar."

"I'll come and pick you up. Stay right there."

Sipping his drink, Heechul was bewildered when his professor suddenly called him and said that he would come. However, he had no time to entertain his curiosity when his friends showed up in the entrance, waving excitedly at him.

"Here!"

Kyunghoon and Yesung marched towards where Heechul sat, a big smile on their face. As they got near, Yesung out of nowhere ran and threw himself to Heechul, hugging his hyung tightly.

"We did it, Hyung!"

Heechul almost stumbled backward, unready with the crushing hug. Yet, when he saw Kyunghoon sat across him and took out a set of papers from his bag, his eyes grew bigger and he immediately reciprocated Yesung's embrace as tight.

"Really? Kyunghoon-ah, really?"

Heechul looked searchingly at Kyunghoon. The younger nodded once, certainly, and handed the papers to Heechul. Just then, Yesung finally released his hold of Heechul.

"Four out of five. They love your songs, Hyung," Kyunghoon said, smiling ear to ear as he observed how Heechul's eyes were shining.

"They like Falling Blossoms, Yesung's Paper Umbrella, Sweet Dream, and my song Coward. They say your solo song lacks in certain parts. Maybe we can work on that."

Despite the fact that his solo song didn't pass the criteria, the smile never faded from Heechul's face. He was happy, truly happy that they were a step closer to their dream. The paper on his hand was the only thing he needed right now to assure himself that his life was worth it.

"They give us four months, Hyung. By then, we have to decide whether to debut under their label or sell our songs to them and work as songwriters only. They also said that it would be better if we recompose your solo song so we can debut with five songs on the album."

Heechul couldn't contain his happiness, tears almost spilled. He skimmed the paper once again before he pulled both of his friends into a tight embrace. He knew he was halfway to the life he once only dreamed of.

"Ehm."

No.

Please not now.

The three of them turned to the attention seeker when they heard a low cough. Heechul shut his eyes tightly already tired of what his professor was about to say even before the older did. He just knew that everything Jungsoo brought only caused misery.

"Did I interrupt—"

"Well yeah."

On the comment, Jungsoo snapped to the brave soul. Kyunghoon wasn't unfazed, clearly challenging him in a fierce battle. Unfortunately, Jungsoo would never want to lose.

"Well, sorry to be a party pooper but I came to get my spouse."

Jungsoo advanced and grabbed Heechul's hand. He secretly smirked when he saw Kyunghoon's face grew whiter.

"Your fake—"

"Kyunghoon, stop—"

Heechul couldn't finish his sentence when he noticed Kyunghoon had a wronged expression on his face. He immediately realized that he almost if not already hurt his friend's feelings.

"I have to go now. We'll talk about it soon. Thanks. I'll call you guys later."

Without waiting for any answer, Heechul followed his professor outside, leaving his two friends dumbfounded on the table. The tension was palpable that Yesung barely breathed. He eyed his friend in front of him and the pain was crystal clear.

"It's not too late."

Kyunghoon looked up upon the sudden confrontation. He was only silent so go on Yesung did.

"Quit being a coward and just confess already."

"No one knows whether he is like me."

Yesung sighed.

"Well, Heechul-hyung did have a girlfriend back then. But... He also shows interest in guys. No harm in trying, Kyunghoon."

Feeling encouraged, Kyunghoon only smirked, rolling the paper on his hand more than necessary.

"I will but not now."

Yesung frowned, "Why?"

Kyunghoon dropped his stare as he whispered not exclusively to Yesung, more to himself.

"He's married. And although it's only a fake marriage, I bet my life that he won't cheat on that professor."

"Huh, why?"

»»————-　♡　————-««

"Stop picking a fight with my friends."

Heechul muttered as he was examining the classy invitation Jungsoo just gave him. The professor scoffed, eyes on the road although he glanced at Heechul occasionally.

"You mean, your friend?"

Heechul rolled his eyes and put the invitation on the dashboard.

"What makes you hate Kyunghoon so much?"

"You sure that's a question for me? Not for your boyfriend?"

"You both are sickening."

There were no follow-up comments as they inevitably fell into immense silence. However, Jungsoo somehow noticed that his student seemed to be contemplating something, fidgeting slightly.

"Why did you—"

"So, about the—"

Heechul almost stuttered when they unknowingly had the same impulse to ask something. He secretly peeked at his professor and noticed that the one who was surprised was not only him.

"About what?" Jungsoo let Heechul finish his question first, forcibly focusing his mind on the wheel.

"About the gala dinner. I... Do I really need to attend? I mean— I..."

Heechul felt that blood rushing to his face as he was having a hard time to continue and to admit that he had no experience in such an event. It was not that he didn't want to help his professor; heck, he'd swear he wanted to do his best in doing his job as Jungsoo's fake husband. But, for the very same reason, he wanted to be left out of this event. He was afraid that he would it up and—

"Don't worry. I'll prepare your needs, the outfit, the shoes, the—"

"It's— I, ugh, dammit."

Jungsoo turned to his student to seek an answer from Heechul's expression but he found nothing other than discomfort.

"What is it? You have an agenda already?"

"No! I mean... No. But," Heechul inhaled deeply and braced himself to dive in headfirst on the ocean of embarrassment.

"I never attended an event like that."

One side of Jungsoo's lips rose on the admission. He sometimes thought he was thinking too ahead of his student because most of the time, Heechul always surprised him with his simple and silly worries.

"Mother asks you so you have to attend. Don't worry, it's just a dinner party."

Knowing that he got no escapes, Heechul sighed audibly, slumping on his seat. He was about to completely shut himself when he suddenly remembered that his professor also wanted to ask something.

"Why did you...?" Heechul provoked.

"Why did I what?"

"Your question earlier."

Jungsoo furrowed his brows like he did when he was trying hard to remember something before, not long after, he finally remembered what he wanted to ask.

"Why did you work on Thursday? You said that you only work on Wednesday and Friday, right? And also, who are they actually? I think they're more than just your classmates."

Heechul brushed his hair covering his face as he was slowly getting irritated with how Jungsoo bombarded him with a bunch of questions of which none of them he wanted to answer. Sighing, he was about to give up and half-heartedly answered Jungsoo's questions when something suddenly flashed in his mind. 

He wouldn