Fiancee

Kim Jongin smiled a little as he watched his favorite couple hug inside their closet. This was a special moment of theirs, the rainbow after the storm that has raged on for some months.

Heaving a little sigh, he silently goes out of their room and gets into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine.

“My love,” He called his fiancée. God, he giggled silently, it felt so good to call her that. “I’ll be spending the night here. Sehun’s here and we got into a huge fight and I still need a long, LONG, long talk with the boy.”

Hyorin sighed out loud from her end and Jongin could see her shaking her head slightly. He smiled happily at the thought of her short hair swaying with it. “Babe. I know you love them a lot and would want the best for them but don’t be too hard on Sehun.”

He raised his eyebrow at that, pausing the glass that was coming to his lips. Hyorin was the one who was always harsh on Sehun.

“Sehun’s also going through a lot. You guys don’t see him at work so you wouldn’t understand much. That kid doesn’t like it there one bit… It’s understandable that he is bitter and not the usual sweet Sehun we know.”

Jongin nods his head and sipped his wine as though Hyorin could see it. “And also don’t be too biased on Kina.”

Jongin chuckled at that. “I can’t help that. I see her and share her problems.”

Hyorin hums an acknowledgment to that but continues, “Kina may seem confident and mature but she’s still a baby. She is yet to figure out many things in life… like standing up for herself.”

Jongin tapped his fingers on the table and frowned. That was true.

“I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible, love.”

“Hmm… Please do. Sehun also needs us… Not just Kina.”

“Yeah. He does... doesn’t he?”

He ends the call with good night greetings and waited patiently for the boy to come down. Or he should go up if he doesn’t come down.

But thankfully, Sehun comes down after a good half an hour later expecting to see him there. They were best-friends, alright.

“Sehun,” Jongin poured a glass of wine for his friend which the latter accepts with a roll of his eyes muttering ‘why do I feel like the guest here?’

“Been long, hasn’t it?” Jongin chuckles emptying his glass and refilling it. “A fight between us, that is.”

Sehun only scoffs but says nothing, sipping his wine.

“I hope you are alright. You’ve been through a lot and I am sorry for being insensitive to you. It’s not just Kina who’s going through a lot. You’re in it too. I forgot, sorry.”

“I can’t believe I lost my best friend to my wife.” The younger one muttered with another roll of his eyes.

“Hey. You’ve got my fiancée on your side.”

Sehun smiles at that but raised his eyebrows a moment later as though he remembered something. “I can’t believe you proposed to Hyorin without my knowledge! Congratulations, man! You finally found the one.”

Jongin smiled gratefully and rubbed the nape of his neck, a little bashed. “I still can’t believe it. She said yes to me… Proposing to her nearly made my heart stop.”

A grim smile took over Sehun’s face at that as he nodded and quickly took a sip of his wine as though trying to cover it up. Jongin, for a moment, had forgotten that Sehun was in an arranged marriage. The man did not go through any of these steps.

“Any way… I heard that your progress going mighty well.” He chuckled trying to ease the tension. “I-we all miss you in college though. We really do.”

Sehun smiled ruefully at that and nods his head. “I’m trying to get through. It’s making my life terrible though. I feel so bad for everything that has gone through… this whole time. I’ve been making my life as well as hers terrible. And tonight even yours.”

Sighing a little, Jongin clicked his tongue and shook his head. “This year’s been ty for us all, no kidding and it’s just the beginning. You just seemed to have it worse… going to the place you despise every single day. I am sure it’s terrible.”

But Sehun shook his head. “That doesn’t give me an excuse to be a terrible human… Especially to Kina. We-um… had a little talk but…” He sighed, “She looked terrified and keeps pleading me to believe her until she knocked out some minutes back. Can you believe that I made her so insecure that she has to keep pleading with me to believe her?”

“Before you go on and starts talking about you being a ty human,” Jongin pulled Sehun’s empty glass towards him so that the boy doesn’t pour more in and become drunk, “We need to discuss Kina as well. You should know what happened the time you were absent.”

Sehun looked uneasy at that, his face turns into a scowl and it took no scientist to know that a certain boy has taken over his mind.

“Now, now…” Jongin begins, “Let’s not jump to a conclusion. Let’s first talk about Kina.”

Sehun thankfully nods. “She told me that her friends overheard her talking about her ‘boyfriend’ with Baekhyun and got mad at her for not trusting them. They sort of avoided her for an entire week or so. Baekhyun and Minah were with her at least.”

Sehun frowns again but looks at Jongin to let him continue, “From what I noticed about Kina there is that she’s… well… Even Hyo told me this when I was talking with her just some moments back so I suppose it is not just my observation. She looks confident and knowing but she’s kind of insecure. I guess it was her upbringing to make her like so.”

Sehun looked genuinely surprised but nods his head. “She’s not that insecure around us older people, surprisingly but she seemed rather tensed when it comes to people her age. If I were to guess, I suppose she just wants to fit in.”

“So what does this have anything to do with Baekhyun?”

Jongin rolls his eyes at his friend’s questions. Of course, always the impatient one. “So…” He says pointedly emphasizing through his tone that he was going to get there eventually. “Even if a guy like Baekhyun comes into her life she is scared of being left alone… or unable to fit in so she doesn’t question openly. Whenever I talk with her, she has her doubts and questions but it seemed as though she never opens them up with her friends.”

Sehun’s eyebrows come together as he sat there thinking. “Are you saying that is why she never rejects him directly?”

“I guess,” He replied, “My guess is that she doesn’t want to seem like the bad guy in their group… After all, everyone just wants to be accepted.”

“But her friends…” Sehun probed on, questioning with his eyes making Jongin continue.

“Well… they were upset that Baekhyun got into a more ‘closer’ relationship with Kina even though he’s been friends with her shorter than them. Every group goes through something like this to be closer anyway…”

“H-how did she cope with that?” Sehun looked extremely guilty making Jongin shook his head sadly.

“She must have felt pretty bummed. Considering what she really wanted was to fit in but they did that.”

Sehun sighed into his hands and rubbed his face miserably. “She had been so forgetful these whole time and I thought she was feeling guilty going behind my back.”

Jongin grunts angrily at that making Sehun throw his hands in the air. “I know… I know…” He says, “But Minseok had pretty solid points, enough to make me question a lot of things.”

“Minseok? I keep hearing about this guy. Who’s he?”

“He’s Minah’s older brother.”

“Minah? Kim Minah?”

“Yeah.” Sehun nods, “Small world.”

“Indeed… So what does this Minseok guy say that makes you question your wife’s loyalty as well as me… your BESTEST FRIEND in the whole, wide world?”

Sehun gives Jongin a ‘really’ look but continued. “I’ve also been thinking about it these last few days… about all the things Minseok seem to give me. It’s always news from his sister… Your wife this, your wife that… and he always manages to bring in Baekhyun in there, sometimes even you. He even sent me photos.” Sehun took his phone and placed it between them of Baekhyun and Kina hugging each other. “Look.”

Jongin gasped as he slides through Sehun’s phone to look at the photos. “Kina’s crying here… It must have been today after our inquiry.”

Sehun snatches the phone away from his hand and stared into it, zooming and looked surprised. “I did not notice that before!” He exclaims and let out an aggravated noise. “Oh god, and I got so angry seeing their photos that I ignored her. She wanted to tell me about that but I ignored her.”

Jongin clicks his tongue and watched the younger guy freak out for a while before looking at the photos again.

“But all those aside, this is a total violation of privacy. I mean today when the principal talked to us, he had photos of Kina and me from everywhere! I felt really weird. I feel like someone’s watching us as we speak.”

“If my guts are right,” Sehun tapped his phone on the table between them, “Then Minah’s not what she seemed. She’s been feeding some nonsense to Minseok to get to me… or there’s something more going on.”

“Minah?” Jongin sighed, looking worried. “That girl is a little strange. I catch her staring at me sometimes… but she’s always frowning when I see her. Do you think she has a problem with me and decided to attack me using Kina?”

“I’ll have to confront Minseok about it tomorrow,” Sehun looked angry and pissed. “I can’t stand that I and the people I love are being somehow manipulated like this…”

Jongin nods and they talk some more before officially calling it night.

“Ah…” Sehun called out just as Jongin was about to enter the guestroom. “I might have to give you a run with the ‘first’ dad thing. I haven’t talked to Kina about it… But it’s been on my mind for too long to ignore it any longer.”

Jongin raised his eyebrows in surprise but a smirk took its place. “No way. I’ll be a dad first at the least.”

* * *

Kina stirred in her sleep, her pounding head starting when her consciousness returned to her.

“Hun?” Her voice was rather croaky thanks to all the crying she had done.

“Mmm…” He lifted the blanket and climbed in. “Sorry. Jongin and I finished our talk just now…”

“Did it go well?” Kina whispers once Sehun had settled in and had enveloped her in his warm body. Goodness… this felt like a dream rather than a reality. How long has it been since they’ve gone to sleep in each other’s arms?

“It did…” He sighed, “I am just sorry you had to see us fight.”

Kina, however, chuckled at that. “Isn’t it funny that people have fights between couples but over here we have two best friends fighting because we were… um…”

“Not good?” Sehun ended the sentence for her, a low chuckle erupting from his chest as well. “I suppose we needed someone to come and just… shake us both up and Jongin just happened to be the best candidate for it.”

“We’re terrible at communicating,” Kina sighed as she looked up to see her husband’s face in the dark.

He nodded his head. “I suppose we know what to do now though, don’t we?”

“Yeah…”

“And also make time for each other.”

“True…”

“And remind each other that we are loved.”

“Exactly…”

He sighs at that and hugs her tighter.

“Kina, I am sorry for everything okay.” He kissed her forehead, “I said all of these things out of blindness… and I know I haven’t been there for you.”

Kina nods and curled up closer to him, “I am sorry too…”

For a stretch of a moment, a peaceful silence rang between them and this time it did not feel as though they were worlds apart anymore… rather, they were back in each other’s arms again.

“I love you.”

Kina smiled and almost wept again. It had been months since she heard that. “I love you too…”

* * *

“Jennie told me that you um… hung out with Baekhyun instead of her that day.” Sehun tossed the topic casually as he drank his juice with his wife that morning. It has been a long time since they had a proper breakfast like this. With what went down yesterday night, the least he could do was have breakfast with her and talk to her.

“Baek…hyun? What day?” Kina looked confused at that though as she took a bite off her sandwich.

“Um… that day you two hung out? Last year, remember?”

Kina chewed her food slowly as though trying to remember hard. “Ah~” She finally expresses. “That day? I did not hang out with Baekhyun… It was Kyungsoo who came to us while we were walking around.”

It was now Sehun’s turn to be confused. “Kyungsoo?” He was not expecting that.

“Yeah,” Kina says and starts laughing out loud. “Jimin took him out for a date that day and forced him to wear leather clothing and make-up. He looked really nice but he hated it so he begged me to stop Jimin, he was hiding from her at the moment by the way, from making him into her doll.”

Sehun looked stunned at that information and blinked. ‘Young and wild and cute…’ was apparently Kyungsoo?

“I told you about it,” Kina says after a while, pouting a little. “But I guess you were busy with work and couldn’t hear me.”

Sehun slaps his forehead hard at that, unable to control himself. He was so stupid. If he had listened to her then he would not have been given any impetus to start his jealousy and suspicions which resulted in this long- feud between them.

“By the way… Regarding Baekhyun… I understand.” She says, swallowing her food. “I will… s-ss-stop being a friend of his.”

Sehun watched his wife swallow her food with diff