/I don’t know how you managed to get me to do this./

Changmin rubbed his forehead with his fingers and sighed to himself, unwillingly letting Yoona drag him to several boutiques to look at suits for a sudden formal comeback party he was going to have to attend now that they were officially acknowledged by her father. And he tried not to groan when Yoona shook her head at another suit she didn’t like fitted on him before pulling him out of the store with surprising strength the very moment the ill-fitting suit was off and he was wearing his over worn grey shirt once again.

He felt completely out of place in this area – where all the wealthy kids seemed to hang out and get their stuff. Changmin wasn’t much of a shopper to begin with (that was his sisters’ specialty; not his) nor did he put much thought on what he wore and not. This was alien territory, and he (despite his decision to stay mute and brooding) hated feeling of being left out. People like Yoona probably found this place comfortable, but for him – it was torture. And unknowingly, he kept trying to find an exit to the sea of people occupying this maze of a shopping district.

Changmin carried his whiteboard under one arm while the other was linked snugly with hers as they walked down the busy street. He tried to erase the words he’d written to ask her how much longer he had to endure the torture of shopping, however he only ended up pulling Yoona’s arm in the process and smearing black ink on her forearm.

“Changmin!” she exclaimed, pulling her arm away to rub the dirt away. Hitting him lightly on the shoulder, Yoona made a face and glared at him. “I know you’re not enjoying this – but could you at least try? I’m already freaking out as it is with organizing this party.”

Changmin grunted at her and rolled his eyes. /Then why did you offer a party to begin with? A dinner would have been fine!/ He wrote quickly, tapping the board impatiently as she read his reply. He only received another smack on the arm from her before being pulled down into a corner, her eyes bright as she continued to glare at him with a frown on her face. /Do you realize that a party would have to involve both of us trying to fool an entire army of people your father knows that we’re a couple?/

“Yes, I do know that, Changmin, but what was I supposed to do?” she retorted, crossing her arms across her chest in frustration. Yoona bit her lip as she turned her head to side to check if anyone was looking at them. She really didn’t want to cause a scene, but Changmin had been a pain since she’d pulled him out to get a suit for her father’s party and she didn’t need any thing else to screw with her mood today. Not since Donghae’s come back and made his presence in her heart known.

Her heart gave a little jump at the name and she frowned, stepping back once to breathe. She hadn’t told anyone yet about Donghae coming by her house days before and, thankfully, neither did he. Hyoyeon didn’t call her in a mad rage yet, so it was safe to say that Donghae hadn’t spoken to his best friend about their meeting either. It was just as well because she didn’t think she was all that ready to talk about it to anyone either…

Especially not to Changmin. Yoona looked up to him sighing under his breath and pressed her lips together. She didn’t why she hadn’t told him about Donghae yet… even though technically what they had together was just a sham; Yoona found it odd that they’d never really talked about the person who made her proposition him into pretending to be her boyfriend in the first place. He doesn’t ask… that’s why, her mind told her and she knew it was true. Changmin wasn’t interested to know any more than what she’d already told him; he was just paying her back for what she offered for his sister. That was it. They were friends… sure, but… Yoona sighed in her head, Yeah… there’s nothing more to that.

(She tried not to think about how disappointed she felt just a little bit knowing this.)

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to ease her nerves, Yoona continued in a calmer tone. “My father’s been cooped up in the hospital for weeks and I really want him to have fun when he gets home, okay?”

Changmin let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging in defeat.

Yoona had been acting strangely since she’d come to rescue him from her father days ago. She was civil for the most part, but he’d noticed how she would refuse to meet his eyes – as if she were hiding something from him that he didn’t know. Even today started out strange – with Yoona arriving at his doorstep with her lips pressed into a thin line and speaking in a business-like tone, telling him that the she was planning a party for her father and that it was semi-formal. This meant he had to wear a suit, but he – obviously – did not own one and so she dragged him out without warning to where they were going.

They walked around all day, unsuccessful at each store they stopped at. She snapped at the salespeople too, which was strange – because Changmin have never seen her act that way to anyone. He watched her once in the hospital; during one of her rounds while Sooyoung went up to her final check up and he accompanied his sister. Yoona was calm with all of her unruly patients, and she never raised her voice… so it was very strange, scary even, to see her so snappy at anyone.

He wasn’t entirely sure what the reason was for her to be suddenly so riled up (he wanted to ask but thought against it in the end) but, more or less, he understood her current predicament. It wasn’t easy to juggle school work, her dad’s health and a fake boyfriend all at once – but even he had to admit that things were getting more complicated by the minute. A lie to one person was already hard enough to tell, and to do so to a number of others? At a party? That had disaster written all over it.

He leaned back against the wall and began to write, taking time with his words in order to give Yoona some air. She looked like she needed it – she was sickly pale when she came knocking at his door, and he wasn’t used to seeing her that way.

/I understand that, but this is getting out of hand and you know it./ He wrote, catching her eyes seriously. She read for a moment, taking the words in consideration. Yoona looked pensive for a moment, as if she was weighing options in her head.

“It’s not going to get out of hand,” she replied, smiling a little (probably in hopes to ease his worried thoughts). It didn’t work entirely well, but a happier glimmer in her face was enough to make him feel a little less troubled. “It’ll be okay... You’ll wear a suit we pick out today, walk into the party and impress my dad the way you did all by yourself in the hospital. It won’t be a disaster, I promise.”

Yoona then clasped her hands together and pouted, pleading with him telepathically. “So could you please just go with me on this? It’s not so bad picking out something to wear, Changmin. You might actually enjoy it if you’ll let yourself.” She said, looking at him with a smile. She folded her arms in front of her and smirked. “You know… if I didn’t know any better – I’d say that you just didn’t want to shop with me.”

/I don’t want to shop, period./ he wrote, rolling his eyes at her. Yoona scoffed at him and hit him lightly on the arm, shaking her head. The smile on her face was more natural now, Changmin noticed and he felt relieved about that. Maybe I should just go along with this then more smiles would come my way—He blinked, surprised by himself and acting impulsively by pulling Yoona out of their corner and into the light again, walking freely now towards another store she’d pointed at before they stopped midway.

Her hand was warm, and when she instinctively squeezed her fingers around his – Changmin’s heart leapt. He remembered his conversation with Mr. Im, his thoughts about love (and Yoona, for that matter) and grinned to himself, letting her pull him into another store without much of a fight.

Whether or not he would eventually admit to himself that things with his pretend girlfriend were progressing at a rate that he couldn’t quite understand yet, Changmin knew at least one thing was true: Yes. He liked her… a little more than he should. He hasn’t had this much interest in a girl in – well, ever as his sisters would say. And for once, Changmin was actually enjoying himself for the first time in six years.

He scrawled on his board quickly, tapping Yoona (who was pointing at a dark blue suit on the rack) on the shoulder with a grin. Her eyebrow rose in mirth as she read his words:

/You owe me lunch./

“You’re going to choke if you keep shoveling food to your face.” Yoona observed, shaking her head and popping a fry into . She watched as Changmin took another big bite out of his monster burger and rolled his eyes at her, grunting with his mouthful. She half-expected him to tell her off without his full cheeks but then remembered that Changmin didn’t like to talk (he hasn’t spoken in years according to his sisters), and she held her laugh in.

She wondered about it a lot; ‘it’ meaning the reason why her pretend boyfriend refused to use his voice in a normal conversation. She wondered about how his voice would sound like… would it be deep like her father’s? Or would it be smooth like Donghae’s? She thought it would be neither – she thought he would have more of a baritone. The type of voice that was pleasant to the ears and would relax her… Changmin looked like the type to have that kind of tone in his voice.

She shook her head at the though and picked at her own burger, munching on morsels at a time. The more she wondered, the more Yoona wanted to hear him speak – and that was a little strange on her part. Especially since… well, his business isn’t mine to wonder about.

He pushed his whiteboard in front of her, tapping it with his index finger. Changmin didn’t look up from his food at all, but he had felt her staring in silence. /What’s on your mind?/

“Nothing.” Yoona replied easily. “Did you really think the suit we picked was okay? Because we can always take it back if you don’t like it.”

/It’s fine. Dark colors work on me./

She rolled her eyes at his answer and threw a French fry at him. It hit him on the fringe of his hair and Changmin looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. She only grinned simply in response and reached over to pat the specks of salt stuck to his forehead. “I’m just saying… you can write that you like it and all for my sake but if you really—”

Yoona was cut off by the loud shrill of her best friend’s voice from the restaurant door. “Im Yoona! I didn’t know you were shopping today!” Hyoyeon cried, grinning widely as she walked towards them – ignoring the people staring at her in surprise while her boyfriend, Eunhyuk, followed closely behind (laughing and apologizing on his way).

The pair looked at each other with wide eyes and simultaneously lowered their heads as Hyoyeon approached. Yoona hadn’t told her about suit shopping with Changmin particularly because she had an aching feeling that she would want to tag along. And with the amount of teasing remarks her best friend had swung her way over the past weeks since they’d told her of their arrangement, Yoona simply didn’t feel like putting up with anymore of Hyoyeon’s casual innuendos between her and Changmin’s so-called relationship.

“Hey, Hyo. I see you’ve decided to take your monkey out for a walk.” Yoona greeted, smiling at her friend as the blonde slid next to her in the booth. Eunhyuk scoffed at her teasing him and tapped his foot at her. She rolled her eyes and gestured towards the tall, resigned man in front of her, “This is Shim Changmin.”

/Hello./ Changmin wrote on his board, rubbing his temple with his index finger before giving her a look. Yoona kicked him under the table to straighten in his seat and he did so, after a flurry of incomprehensible sounds flushed out of his mouth. Hyoyeon laughed and shook her head at him and pulled her confused (but amused) boyfriend down to sit.

“Broody here is Yoona’s new boyfriend of a something number of days.” She explained, grinning and winking at Changmin’s glare. “I told you about