Jongin guided Jinhee into the large waiting room where people were sipping on drinks and snacking on tiny finger sandwiches that were being brought around by waiters in matching tuxedo's and white gloves. Jinhee tightened her grasp on Jongin's arm and he reassuringly nudged her. He brought them up to an elderly couple and they were happy to meet Jinhee.

 

"Mister and Misses Chiu, this is my....fiancee, Lee Jinhee." The title as fiancee made Jinhee's heart stop and she suddenly felt uncomfortable as the woman gave her a look over and judged her. The man on the other hand, laughed happily and shook her hand and she could tell that he already had a few drinks.

 

"I am so glad to meet you Miss Lee. The other investors were starting to believe that you were fake." The man joked and clapped Jongin on the back who awkwardly laughed and excused them as he saw another couple he had to show her off to.

 

"How many investors does your company have here?" Jinhee muttered as they walked to the other older couple.

 

"Twenty, hope you brought comfortable shoes." Jongin laughed as he looked her over again and was still shocked at how well she cleaned up.

 

"Of course they aren't. Your sister doesn't dress for comfort." Jinhee wished she was wearing her slip on shoes that she wore at the hospital while working a twelve hour shift. After the fifth couple Jinhee waved over a waiter and reached for a small cucumber that had a pile of what looked like white mush on top but she didn't care how it looked, she was starving and needed something in her stomach. Before she could touch it Jongin reached in and stuffed it in his mouth. Jinhee glared at him and tried to grab another but he took her wrist and asked the waiter to leave. Before she could start a fight in front of people he mouthed the word 'shellfish' and gave her a wink. Jinhee was embarrassed that she got angry at him and gave a shy apology before excusing herself to the bar to grab a handful pretzels or something that wouldn't cause her to possibly die. She walked up to the bar and tried to wave down the bartender but they were busy refilling the drinks of the rich old people who kept slapping bills on the counter, there was no way she could get their attention when they were going to walk out at the end of the night with pockets full of cash. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a champagne glass being pushed in front of her face.

 

"Here, you'll never get their attention even though you're the most beautiful woman here." A man said and Jinhee looked over to see a handsome man in a fancy suit and black bow-tie. His hair was styled like Jongin's but unlike her fiance, not a single strand was out of place where as Jongin's always seemed to perfectly fall in front of his face. "My name is Kyungsoo, I work with 'the prince'. I'm not a crazy person, I promise." He wriggled the champagne in his hand and Jinhee thanked him and took it.

 

"So how do you work with Jongin exactly?" Jinhee knew not to take drinks from strangers and that she had no food in her system, but she could see Jongin from where she was standing and figured that this could be the only time she gets a drink that night.

 

"Well I work with his father mostly. I'm and executive accountant." Kyungsoo laughed and rolled his eyes. "I know it's boring but I enjoy working with numbers. People are hard to read sometimes but numbers never lie." Kyungsoo sipped his own drink and Jinhee followed suit and had to force herself from making a face. She had never been a big fan of alcohol so to hide that she always ordered fruity drinks to try and cover the taste. "What about you, what do you do?"

 

"I'm a doctor." She didn't want to go into details about it because bringing up sick children usually freaked people out.

 

"So the exact opposite of what I said." Kyungsoo laughed and Jinhee laughed with him as his smile was infectious. Jinhee jumped a little when she felt a hand on the small of her back and she turned to yell at who ever it was but stopped herself when she saw it as Jongin who seemed much more intimidating all of a sudden.

 

"Good to see you Kyungsoo." Jongin sounded ridged as he held his hand out and the two men shook hands.

 

"I was going to come over but I saw Jinhee here at the bar by herself so I figured I would get her a drink since you were busy." The smile never left Kyungsoo's face and Jongin gave a small chuckle but Jinhee could feel the tension growing between them. With Jongin by her side the bartender came up and asked what they wanted.

 

"I'll have an old fashion, Jinhee what do you want?"

 

"I got her champagne already." Kyungsoo pointed out only from Jongin to grab the glass from her and put it on the bar counter.

 

"Oh...uh...I'll have a cosmopolitan." Jinhee looked to the bartender who quickly went about making their drinks.

 

"Having a good night Jongin?" Kyungsoo tried to pick the conversation back up again but Jongin just glared at him in reply. When the silence hung, the two men just smiled and stared at each other while Jinhee looked to the bartender with a pleading glance. "Everyone seems to be here tonight. Except, weird, I haven't seen Krystal around." Kyungsoo looked around the crowd with a nasty twinkle in his eyes. Jongin flinched at the name and asked the bartender to hurry up and within seconds the drinks were placed on the counter.

 

"Let's go." Jongin growled to Jinhee but before he could whisk her away, Kyungsoo grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.

 

"It was a pleasure meeting you, I hope we can talk more in the future." Kyungsoo shot Jinhee a killer smile but it ran shivers down her spine as he looked dead behind the eyes. She took her hand back and placed it on Jongin's chest as he led them away.

 

"Don't ever talk to him alone." Jongin whispered in her ear. His lips brushed against her as he pulled her tight against him and her whole body felt as if it were on fire.

 

"Noted." She replied as another investor couple approached them and made small talk. When the hall finally opened up, Jongin brought them in and around the room were large tables, enough to fit twenty people at each. They were brought to their table by a waiter and sat down by the stage which had a microphone and awards sitting up front. At their table was Jongin's father and mother who had a line of people waiting to talk to them. As they approached, his mother gave Jinhee a large hug and welcomed her to the family, despite the fact that they weren't technically married yet. Jongin and his father shook hands and agreed that the night was running smoothly. Jinhee sat down beside Jongin as his father continued talking to the man from before. It was at that moment why Kyungsoo had called Jongin a prince as his father looked like a king greeting his subjects.

 

Even as she was thinking that, a small line had formed by Jongin and he was talking to people with a laugh and smile. She was starting to notice the difference in his fake smile and his real one. Seeing him working and chatting with people filled her heart with pride but she also grew lonely as she realized that she was the only one not talking to everyone. For a moment, she wondered if she really belonged. Jongin needed a woman who could work the room and chat to anyone but Jinhee was struggling with being around so many people and felt overwhelmed before the night was even half way through.