Chapter 10

Going through answers to possible questions for the press conference was bizarre. And exhausting.

We were sitting in a big room full of things made out of glass. Glass table, glass door, glass decorations, glass lamps. I had already dubbed it the Glassroom. It reminded me of the American thriller where the foster parents try to kill the kids.

Shuttering, I concentrated on the official, the guy who asked all the questions. There’d been all kinds of questions, like how they’d adapted back to living in Korea or what their thoughts on the concert were.

Most of the questions had been asked multiple times so that by now everybody was either bored or half sleeping. But the official was still not satisfied.

“If you say one wrong word, you know how that will make the company look like, right? You need to focus. If there’s any of the inappropriate questions, remember how not to answer them correctly. I wish I could try the questions one more time but it’s already late, so we’ll leave it at that.”

We bowed as he left and simultaneously let out a sigh. I looked up and smiled slightly, it was all I was still able to do.

While the five of them all exchanged looks, neither spoke as they rose from their chairs. Understandable.

It had been such an exhausting day, for them as well as for me. They hadn’t finished practice until after 10, while I had been running around ever since 2 pm, when one coordinator had taken ill and I had to fill in while still keeping an eye on the boys.

The manager had come and gone, shuffling about and doing this and that. He hadn’t shown up for the interview testing, so I had had to find the room all by myself. Now there was only us six left in the room.

Only us.

Now was the time.

Oh God.

“Ehm, guys?” My voice was a little bit too high pitched. Damn you, nerves.

They looked at me and Yoochun seemed pretty annoyed. Honestly, he’d seemed annoyed at me for some time now.

“What is it?” asked Yunho.

I could see on his face the tiredness but he tried his best to hide it. Keeping it up for the group, I guess.

“There’s something… I… Okay, wait. Maybe you should sit down.”

My mind was blank. How was I supposed to tell them about this? I looked up at Jaejoong, who’d looked more absent than present for the past 2 hours. Now he looked at me. And raised an eyebrow.

“You want to do that now?” he seemed to ask.

I shrugged. “Why not?”

“You want to wait until we‘re corpses? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re all pretty tired.”

Yoochun.

“No, um, sorry. It’s just hard to start. Okay... I’ve been you’re first assistant, I know and there is a reason why. You don’t really need one, okay? I mean, you’re fine without an assistant.”

“Are you saying you’re useless?” asked Jaejoong and Changmin started to snicker.

What? This jerk.

“No, that’s not it. What I mean is that you function without one. Without me. So why am I here? Because there’s more to my being here than this job.”

I let that hang in the air for a bit and scanned their faces.

Junsu frowned and seemed confused, just as Changmin did. Yoochun still bore his annoyed expression. Yunho seemed concerned. Jaejoong stared at me. I stared back for a second until he started to grin and I averted his eyes.

“I’m sorry… Maybe I should have told you from the start… You’re not going to like this… Fact is, the boss sent me out to play assistant to you guys to make…to­ – “

“To make me fall in love with her.”

Jaejoong’s words were like swords, they cut through the air and hit hard. I winced.

“What?” That was Junsu.

“You little piece of .” That was Yoochun.

I looked at him, apologetic.

“I’m so sorry. I… I had no choice. It was either that or…”

“Or what? Lose your job? I don’t know if you got the newsletter, but there are more jobs out there. Instead you…”

“Shut up, Yoochun.”

Jaejoong stared at his friend.

Yoochun’s lips move only the slightest to form a small smile, but it faded as soon as it appeared.

“You knew that she tried to… lure you in and you went with it? She fooled all of us, don’t you see that?”

“I do, okay? But we made a deal.”

“A deal, Jaejoong, why would you – “

But he didn’t get to finish his sentence, for Yunho had stood up and stormed out of the room with an expression on his face that was closer to fury than to anything else.

. Now Yunho was angry. At Jaejoong, or at me, or at both of us. No matter what, it wasn’t good. I’d wanted to finish explaining before anyone left angrily.

Jaejoong had followed his Yunho along the room with his eyes until the younger had been out of sight.

“If you want to follow him, it’s okay, I can – “

“No” said Jaejoong. “We’ll talk later.”

“So, you know?” asked Junsu.

He’d been quiet all along our conversation, or should I call it argument? Anyway, now he looked me in the eyes.

“Know what? Oh, you mean, eh…”

I was going red again. And I couldn’t say it.

“She does” said Jaejoong instead.

“And you’re okay with it? How’d you find out?”

“Ehm, I just kind of read the signs I guess.”

“Ok, this. If all of you are going to be okay with this little making fools out of us, I think I’d rather join Yunho wherever it is that he disappeared to.” Yoochun.

“Just calm down, okay?” Changmin’s voice was steady. Calm.

I gave him a thankful smile for trying to steady the situation.

“Let her finish explaining before we do anything, okay?”

And somehow Yoochun sat down again and kept silent.

“Thank you. I’m really, really sorry. I never wanted to do this. And you’re right, Yoochun. There are more jobs out there, but you don’t know how the company handles their ex-employees. It’s like a red card. Impossible to get a job in any company that wants to keep in business.

“I… I have to keep working here, I don’t have a choice. So I said yes. And… you guys are all so nice, I felt bad about it all along and then Jaejoong…well, I ended up telling him. I was so ashamed then, I wanted to quit right there, but he said he’d forgive me. And that I should stay.”

“Wait, so what’s become of your task? I mean, you can’t make him fall in love, so all you can do it is…”

“Fake it, yes.” Jaejoong’s lips were curled into a smile.

“I figured it would keep us both safe. The boss would be satisfied and well, people wouldn’t start to think that there’s anything to the rumors anymore.”

Wait, what? What did he mean with rumors? Were there rumors about him? More like about him and Yunho.

“You know, this could all backfire, right? I mean, we all, what if people find out… Scandals kill careers.”

Yoochun’s voice wasn’t angry anymore, so I was thankful for that, but the notion he’d brought up had truth in it.

“He’s right. What if I’ll be the cause of the end of your careers?”

“Oh come on. You think the boss will let it come that far? When he’s satisfied he’ll let Shinae know, she gets promoted, and we’ll be back to normal.”

Although I doubted that it would end up as rosy as he pictured it, he was right about the boss. He wouldn’t dare risk losing his biggest income.

“Anyway, it’s not like it’s just me, right, Yoochun, Junsu?”

I looked from one to another. What did Jaejoong mean?

Junsu and Yoochun shared a look.

“How’d you know?” asked Yoochun.

“Know what?” I asked.

“I’m surprised you haven’t found out yet, Miss Detective. Those two, they’re freshly in love.”

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A/N: So I don't knop whats going on on this site but I just re-uploaded Chapter 9. Next Update in a few days :))