| CHAPTER TWENTY |

The Winner Is ...

“The—there, that’s what you call flirting. If you—if you plan to flirt with men, be better at it, at least.”

Jiwon stared motionless, eyes wide as they could ever be. There he was, walking out from the fuss they had just created, swaying away any protests from the staff. Byun Baekhyun just kissed her on the lips. On the ing lips. What was she supposed to feel? What did he want her to feel? Anger? Betrayal? Humiliation? Embarrassment?

Death?!

The last one was the closest to what she was feeling at the moment.

When was the last time she had felt somebody else’s lips on hers? Like, seven years? She had the urge to touch the part he had just touched. She held it in, hiding both hands behind her. She looked around her, all eyes glued down to her direction. Concerned eyes. “I apologize for … the commotion. I will get our photographer back, please take a quick water break everyone.” She kept her composure before walking off to find him. It didn’t take her long because he was just by the shore close to a barn, far away from their set. He looked towards the water, while kicking the white soft sand. “This ing .” She muffled under her breath as she made her way towards him, borderline sinking in every step she took.

The sand was way too soft and fine. She could feel her flats getting filled with dusts of sand inside, she’d have to take them off later for a quick clean.

“Yah.” She called out making the man turn.

Baekhyun threw his arms out high in frustration. “Oh—great. Of course, she’s the type who chases.” He muffled sarcastically before walking off farther. Jiwon continued trailing behind. “What the was that? Care to explain, Byun Baekhyun? Why’d you kiss me? Is this part of your plan? You think it worked along with your stupid flowers?” She asked straight up being the brave motherer she was. She didn’t get any response, not even a look. She bent down and picked up a small stone she found and threw it right on his back.

“Aw—what the hell?! That is assault.” He finally reacted, turning around while trying to reach the affected area—impossible by the way. He turned around with a big frown. He wasn’t in the mood anymore. All the new energy he had gained back went straight down the drain after that kiss. It was his fault; he couldn’t possibly blame her for anything. He was the one who did it after all. Out of frustration, he bent down and grabbed a bunch of sand and threw it across from her as if she was some evil entity he was trying to fight back with his holy sand. It didn’t touch her at all because she was too far away.

“Why, you son of a b—that’s it, you asked for it!” Jiwon skipped to the shore, away from the sand and closer to the water and grabbed a bigger piece of stone from under. “Yo! Not that—that’s way too bi—ah!” Baekhyun winched in pain when the stone hit his leg. He stomped his feet to the shore, letting his feet get soaked in the water. “You want that game, huh.” He grunted and grabbed a random weed floating. “Ew, you’re disgusting! Why are you touching tha—yuck!” Jiwon groaned before screeching loudly when Baekhyun threw it towards her direction. She jumped away to avoid it, only to land right into the water as well, eventually dipping her shoes and feet. “, I’m wet!” She cried out while stomping her feet angrily on the water.

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up as he laughed in victory. The long-gone confidence in him suddenly ignited in an instant. “Yeah baby, that’s what I like to hear! I need to get that statement embroidered on my pillows, with the time and date.” He grunted back before scooping some water in both his hands and splashing it to her direction.

Jiwon glared intensely and started kicking the water towards him. She walked closer and started pushing him on the chest, anger blasting from ear to ear—at the same time, smiling in excitement. He laughed as he took steps back, more and more not realizing they were getting a bit deeper by now—well, like below their knees, but still. “No—wait—no, I can’t swim—!” Baekhyun fell back right on the shallow water, first. The strong impact of his fall made his head go under the water too as he threw his hands up in panic. “Now, who’s wet?” Jiwon laughed but immediately stopped when Baekhyun frantically stood up, shivering and groaning in fear.

“I’m so—I’m sorry, hey.” Jiwon held him on the shoulders while peeking at his face. “I went overboard, I’m sorry. You can’t swim? Let’s get out of here then. Sorry, I scared you.” She felt so bad. That was so bad. It was too much, she regretted it. Baekhyun panted while looking down to her. Slowly, he felt himself calming down again, despite the coldness that was now filling him inside. “I wasn’t … I wasn’t scared though, for some reason.” He muttered. He was being honest. Too honest.

Normally, he’d be frantic just by having his feet under the water.

But today it was different, somehow.

A small smile formed on his lips. “Probably because I knew you’d … save me if I ever drown.” He added. Before he could even give her a full smile to show that he wasn’t just messing with her, she splashed a good amount of water across him again. “Oh, shut up, you cheesy . Save your own .” Jiwon grunted as she walked away but he was able to catch a glimpse of her smile.

“Oh, come on. I know you’d save me. Yah!” Baekhyun grinned as he followed. Jiwon then turned around to face him, taking her steps backwards. ”By the way—” She cleared first. “Jihwan’s gay.” An unreadable expression drew on her face as they shared a meaningful eye-contact.

Relief. Happiness. Victory. Baekhyun couldn’t quite explain what he felt when he heard that. He had never been happier to hear of someone’s ual preference—worse, of someone he just met today. “Why are you … telling me?” He asked, not being able to help the silly smile from curving his lips up. Jiwon shrugged her shoulders carelessly. “So, you stop being an annoying ? Anyway, I need to change. Ugh, you, you made me soaked.” She turned around, finally removing her useless and wet shoes and running faster.

Baekhyun looked down to himself while panting hard, shivering at the same time. His whole body was now soaking wet. He stretched his shirt lower as the wet fabric glued on his skin. He wasn’t too worried, not even for Jiwon. They have a ton of clothes in the dressing tent. He walked away from the water, slowly following her and keeping their distant. “Yah.” He called out; he only heard a faint groan from her. He smiled. “By the way, I wouldn’t necessarily call that a kiss yet. You didn’t respond to it.”

To his surprise, she turned around to face him. “Why, what are you gunna say?” She continued walking backwards again. “That a kiss is a mutual action?” Jiwon still clearly remembered when their lips gently brushed against each other, that one drunken special night. He said that to her. Baekhyun immediately stopped, surprise evident on his face. How did she know his infamous punch line to girls? He had never used that on her, right? “Uhm, how’d you know that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Jiwon’s mouth dropped. , he didn’t remember that part?

She couldn’t possibly tell him that she still clearly remembered every second of that night, could she?

She couldn’t possibly let him see how much she unwillingly cherished the time she had with him that night, no matter how wasted they were, could she?

“Uhm.” Jiwon cleared . “I heard you say that to one of the staff, one time. I think you were—uh just—being a flirty dimwit and you said that to .”

She made that up, totally made that up. She had never ever seen him flirt big time with another woman since he fake-pursued her, surprisingly enough. She didn’t know how being a womanizer for him worked at all before she came but all she knew was that he was being pretty loyal to his one target, and that was her. “Hm.” Baekhyun scrunched his nose while thinking. “Okay, whatever. Maybe I did.” He shrugged his shoulders, giving up.

They arrived back on their set and everyone was looking at them knowingly. “Now that … we need Hara and Kyungsoo to do what you guys did just now, it was romantic.  I remember Mr. Cheng mentioning that you two are an item? Anyway, what you did there was very cute, our couple should do that today.” One of the Korean Wedding21 staff said in delight. “Huh? No, we are …. We are not an item; it was a misunderstanding. This is all a misunderstanding; he was just fooling around when … he kissed me.” Jiwon panicked. She didn’t think it was going to be brought up by Mr. Cheng at all.

Baekhyun looked at them the same way, if not more confused but it was because of how the man described what they did in the water just now. “Uh … murder is cute for you? She tried to kill me just now, I almost drowned.” He answered.

Jiwon’s eyes bulged out in protest. “That was like two, three feet of water!”

Everyone laughed at their banter, including the ones from Wedding21. “Anyway, you guys go change so that we can continue, okay?” Another staff called out. “Me, first! Nobody gets in while I change, okay?” Jiwon raised a hand before rushing into the dressing tent.

Baekhyun on the other hand just stood there while shivering. Hara and Kyungsoo approached, smiles on their faces. “Totally took the spotlight away from us there, big boy. What was that?” Hara scoffed while wrapping her arms around Kyungsoo. “That was just … part of my plan.” Baekhyun answered, lifting his head up high to hide the fact that he was panicking, still.

Kyungsoo frowned. “What, you mean being jealous? That’s part of your plan?” Said the guy earning a snigger from his fiancée.

Baekhyun pointed at him. “Hey.” His voice was stern like a parent. “You don’t—why are you—what’s up with you and your sudden confidence? Shut up, Kyungpoop.” He lost any argument he initially thought of and just walked off, mindlessly walking into the tent.

“Ahh! I said, me first! Get out, you ert!” A loud screech from Jiwon made him immediately step back.

He saw skin. Bare shoulders. . Bra, oh my god laced bra. Goddamn it, she already had pants on, too bad. But still, the curve of her in those jeans are quite phenomenal.  “Sorry sorry sorry sorry!” He mumbled over and over again a he stepped out; a stupid smile plastered across his face. “Okay, in my defense, there’s a changing curtain you could close up.” He tried to argue back while leaning close to the entrance of the tent that was now closed tightly together around his fists.

Just then, Im Jihwan came. “Is she done? I don’t think Hara’s wardrobe would fit her; don’t you think?” He asked.

Baekhyun turned around, awkwardly looking back at the man. Oh right, he was gay. He didn’t have to be worried. He cleared his throat and stepped aside. “Uh, I do—I don’t know, you need to check on her?” He asked earning a sho