Chaeyeon sighed as she heard the chatter downstairs, at first she thought that it was just going to be a simple dinner with family, but no, her mother invited the Sons and some of her acquaintances as well. And it was a Friday night and all she wanted to do was to lie down and watch her shows. She hid under the blankets and started browsing through her phone.

Chaeyeon heard the door open, and she rolled her eyes.

“Eomma, I~”

“I was told to come up here and check if you..were still here.”

She slowly pulled the covers down and her eyes narrowed at him, Shownu chuckled and leaned against the doorway.

“May I come in?” He asked, Chaeyeon sighed, she sat up and waved him over.

“I’m assuming there’s a crowd downstairs?”

“Not a big one. Minhyuk and Soph just arrived.” He replied with a small smile, Chaeyeon yawned and shook her head.

“I don’t want to get out of bed.”

“But you have to.” He teasingly said as he sat down beside the girl, Chaeyeon sighed again.

“I wanted a chill night, you know. Nothing too…loud and too…”

“Too many people?” Shownu mused as he gently patted down her hair, she rolled her eyes.

“I’ll go tell them you need a few minutes to freshen up.”

“How are you so energetic?” She murmured, he chuckled before leaning over to kiss the side of her head.

“Hi. I’ll see you downstairs.” He said as he slid down from the bed, Chaeyeon shook her head at him.

“You won’t see me, I’ll just go down, grab a plate of food and bolt out. Oh, I should go say hi to your parents before that.”

Shownu chuckled at her.

“Do you need me to carry you down then?” He asked, his tone serious, Chaeyeon blinked and hopped down from the bed.

“I’ll go brush my hair.” She grumbled as she walked towards the bathroom, he grinned and left the room. It took the girl a few minutes to fix her hair, she hopped down the steps and was greeted by her brother, also hiding.

“What happened?”

“Eomma’s friends are here, they want concert tickets or some sort of backstage pass.” Sehun shook his head, Chaeyeon chuckled.

“They’re fawning over Shownu hyung by the way, so maybe they’ll be too distracted to see you.”

“Good. I’m really hungry.”

“Hi, headache.” Wonho smiled as the girl as she walked up to him.

“Thank you for coming, oppa.”

“What took you so long? Even Shownu had to go up to get you.” Wonho asked as they walked towards the buffet table, he picked up plates for them.

“I didn’t feel like leaving my bed, I didn’t know we would be having a lot of guests.” She whispered at him, and then she looked up and smiled.

“Auntie, uncle,” She greeted the Son elders warmly, her father was smiling at her.

“I have to apologize, my daughter was just upstairs.” Mr. Oh said to the couple.

“It’s okay, it’s good to see you dear. Hyunwoo mentions that you’ve been terribly busy lately.” Mrs. Son spoke as she held onto the girl’s hand.

“A little, auntie. We’ve been trying this new marketing strategy for the company.”

“A little? We barely see her nowadays, auntie.” Wonho chimed in, Chaeyeon shook her head.

“We were actually planning to drop by one of your shops, but we didn’t want to disturb you, Chaeyeon-ah.” Mr. Son spoke to her.

“No, just come by anytime. I’m usually at the studio nowadays, but if you call me, I’ll go there to assist you, uncle.”

“Right, you have to get your brother a suit too.” Mr. Oh commented before moving away.

“You go to the shop too? Does Hyunwoo force you to?” Mrs. Son frowned, Chaeyeon shook her head.

“No, we actually hang out there a lot.”

“Don’t worry, auntie, she likes cars. She’s probably better at us when it comes to the shop.” Wonho chuckled, Chaeyeon smiled at the elders, her eyes turned towards the other corner of the living room. Shownu and Minhyuk were speaking with Mrs. Oh and her friends. As if feeling his gaze on her, he turned his head, his brows rose briefly.

“What’s up?” He mouthed at her, Chaeyeon shook her head at him.

“I’m hungry.” Shownu mouthed again.

“Not my problem.” Chaeyeon mouthed back with a small chuckle, Shownu was about to reply when he felt his cousin nudge him.

“Watch as your parents fall in love with your girlfriend, she can handle the Sons. Wow.” Minhyuk playfully said, Shownu sent him a look.

“I mean, look at them, hyung. Most girls would always be a little intimidated with your parents, but Chaeyeon chats with them with comfort.”

“She…does like their company. And they enjoy hers.” Shownu trailed off, Chaeyeon was laughing along with his father while Wonho continued with his story.

“So, what will you say?” Minhyuk hummed, he turned to his cousin.

“What?”

“No “Thank you, Minhyuk for introducing me to such an awesome person.”?”

“You literally put her in the most difficult situation.”

“If I didn’t, would you have become her impressive boyfriend?”

“I had to, because you had her cornered.”

“Eh, but admit it. The moment I came up with it, you wanted to volunteer, huh?” Minhyuk teasingly said, Shownu scrunched his nose at him.

“I noticed the way you were looking at her, hyung. You can’t fool me.”

“You~”

“Let’s get some food inside you, don’t kill him. Yet.” Chaeyeon mused as she reached them, Minhyuk stuck his tongue out at the male before stepping away from him.

“How did you even put up with him all these years?” Shownu mused as he took the girl’s hand.

“I had no other options.” She whispered back.

“Hey!” Minhyuk complained.

“It will probably take us months to decide on this.” Chaeyeon murmured as she leaned back on the backseat, secretary Yang turned to her.

“Why not…speak to your brother, ma’am?”

“I did, oppa mentioned a few celebrities he knows, but…it’s just not it, you know. I want someone who has this young and fresh vibe going on.” She puffed her cheeks, the car pulled to a halt and she leaned against the windows.

“We’re here, ma’am.”

“Thanks, and, about my meeting with EH Holdings tomorrow, I’d like a copy of their proposal sent to my email tonight.”

“Yes, I will send one, ma’am.”

Chaeyeon stepped down from the car and looked at the club’s frontage, it was opening night and Wonho had begged for her to attend. Not that she’d say no to him.

Chaeyeon walked towards the entrance, one of the guards recognized her and he smiled at her.

“Young miss,” He said before speaking through his mouthpiece, Chaeyeon made her way to the doors and she felt a hand on her elbow.

“Hi.” She smiled before leaning over to kiss Shownu’s cheek, he smiled and took her hand.

“I’m going to warn you, Minhyuk says that we shouldn’t be arriving at parties separately, he gave me hell for it once.” She jokingly said as the doors were opened before them.

“But, we’re walking into one together now. Should we let him to believe we got here in one car?”

“But, is it really a big deal? Do you want that?” Chaeyeon asked as they walked in the establishment, she eyed the crowd skeptically, music was pulsating off the walls that even made the hairs on her back stand.

“What? Going to parties together?”

“Yeah, that.”

“But sometimes we have very different schedules, you get busy, and, things get hectic for me too.” Shownu reasoned, the waded through the crowd and he noticed that a lot of the male clubgoers were staring at them, no, at Chaeyeon.

“Exactly.” She puffed her cheeks, Shownu let go of her hand and gently placed his palm on her back.

“However, if you want me to come by and pick you up, let’s do that as well.” He said with a small grin, he glanced around him again. His lips quirked up ever so slightly as he realized the males had looked another way.

“Is everyone here already?” Chaeyeon asked as they reached the bar, she climbed up one of the stools and asked for a soda.

“You’re not drinking?” Shownu asked as he stood behind her and leaned his chin on her shoulder.

“I don’t feel like it, and I didn’t really eat a lot for dinner so, a cola will do.” She mused at him, he put his hands on the bar, effectively trapping the girl in his arms.

“I know, I know. I’ll get something to eat later.”

“Thanks for coming, I know you’re not a fan of places like this.”

“What? No. I wouldn’t miss the chance to wear something so skimpy and not get judged for it. This is a pretty dimly lit club after all.” Chaeyeon hummed back at him as she swiveled the chair around.

“What’s this? Too close for comfort, Son Hyunwoo.” She mused, realizing how close he was too her. Chaeyeon began fixing the collar of his shirt.

“I mean it, I’m happy that you get along with the people close to me.”

“Even though I call Wonho oppa and I address you just by your name?” She blinked at him, Shownu broke into a chuckle and nodded.

“It’s a Chaeyeon thing, and I love it.” He said before kissing her forehead.

“If that’s a Chaeyeon thing, so is it your thing to throw people against walls?”

“You’re never letting that go, huh?”

“Like it was kinda hot.” She bluntly said before laughing.

“Go home, you’re drunk.” Shownu murmured, a little flustered.

“Let’s go say hi to the others.” Chaeyeon said before briefly cupping his cheek and sliding down the chair, Shownu watched as the girl walked over to their booth. Sophia stood up to hug her friend and they made room for her.

He felt his phone vibrate, he took it out and paused.

Remember when you said you just wanted to look at the windows but ended being her fake boyfriend after? -Wonho

He looked around and saw his friend at the second floor, he was grinning at him.

“Son Hyunwoo is whipped.” Wonho mouthed at him before moving away.

Chaeyeon leaned against the Mustang as she popped another French fry into . It was getting stuffy inside, she decided to step out and had some food delivered to her.

Chaeyeon put her burger down and let out a small yawn. Joori had been trying to reach out to her lately and she agreed to have coffee with her the next day. She was still skeptic about it, but she can’t avoid her cousin forever.

She took another bite of her burger.

“This is dinner?”

She saw Shownu stepping out from the backdoors, she raised her burger at him.

“People got all sweaty and oily, I had to step out. Sorry.” She said as Shownu took a bite from the burger.

“It’s fine.” Shownu said as he stood beside her.

“You know, it got me thinking how…things were really bad for me back then and we just met,”

“Your aunt?”

“Yes. And how I was harassed by family over not having a boyfriend. Pretty uneventful, right?”

“I remember talking to you about that, I was worried that you’d think I was trying to intervene.” Shownu said as he draped his coat around the girl’s shoulders.

“Yes, the very man who told me that I don’t need one, stepped in and became the impressive boyfriend.” Chaeyeon laughed and shook her head.

“That, I thought that you were going to kill me.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” She mused at him, she stared at her burger again.

“And I can’t finish this.” Chaeyeon said as she handed the food to him.

“But honestly, how did you feel about that? Did I make you uncomfortable?” Shownu asked in between bites.

“At first, I was…confused. I didn’t know you’d do that. But I…you never made uncomfortable. Did I make you feel uncomfortable?”

“I was surprised that you seemed to be just going along with everything. But, no.”

Chaeyeon nodded and continued nibbling on her fries, Shownu glanced at her briefly.

“But, there’s one thing I think I should tell you before the guys beat me to it,” He begun, Chaeyeon let out a yawn and leaned against him.

“What is it?”

“I was staring.”

“What?” Chaeyeon blinked at him, clearly confused.

“I was always..staring at you.” Shownu finished, the girl’s brows rose up.

“What?”

Shownu’s lips curled up as the girl faced him.

“I’m trying to say that I had a crush on you ever since we met.”

“Can..Can I run now?” Chaeyeon blinked back at him, Shownu chuckled and simply pulled the girl closer to his chest.

“No, like I said,”

“If I wasn’t in heels, I would have started running.” Chaeyeon said jokingly, he shook his head and made the girl face him.

“You got me. Always.” He scrunched his nose at her before kissing the girl’s cheek. Chaeyeon smiled and simply wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I know. I have a Son Hyunwoo.”

“You do.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

01-03-2021

The end!

Thank you for reading everyone! :>

Stay safe!