“What are you talking about?” Suzy turned back to the sink & the tap. Jonghun reached out again & turned off the tap. “What are you doing?” Suzy snapped at him irritably. “I just told you something & you haven’t given me a proper reply yet.” Jonghun inched closer to Suzy. She backed away & winced painfully as the stainless steel basin collided with her spine. “Careful..” Jonghun steadied her immediately. “Thanks.” Suzy shrugged away from his grasp.

“So..” Jonghun looked at her expectantly. “Look here Jonghun..” Suzy started but he put a finger on her lips silencing her. “Ssh. If you’re going to deny it then don’t bother. I’ve decided I will wait. I will wait till you admit you love me. I just hope it won’t be too late when that happens.” Jonghun said with a smile tinged with sadness. Suzy looked away & fiddled with her bathrobe nervously. She didn’t want to speak anymore. Everything she said to Jonghun he found a way to use it against her.

“I’ll see you at my father’s birthday party in two days then.” Jonghun said when he saw that Suzy wasn’t replying. “I don’t think I will be coming for the party.” Suzy answered. “I think you will be coming. I know you well enough.” Jonghun touched Suzy’s cheek lightly before walking out of the kitchen. Suzy heard the front door close shut & collapsed against the cool sink.

Jonghun didn’t have to know that he was rattling her cage. He was already confident of himself to the extent that he was willing to wait for her to admit her love to him. “I’m leaving in a month’s time. Why would I want to give you false hope?” Suzy asked an imaginary Jonghun. “Because you want him to stop you.” A smaller voice inside her said smugly. “Shut up. I don’t want him to stop me.” Suzy quelled the voice.

“Should I go to the birthday party?” Suzy wondered as she dried off the last plate & placed it carefully on the rack. Her mind drifted back to the time when Jonghun’s parents had been so sweet to her. It was almost as if Suzy was back in her own home with her own parents from all the love Mr & Mrs Choi had showered upon her. “They almost make me not miss my parents. How can I refuse them?” Suzy smiled, making up her mind to attend the birthday party only for a while.

“I’ll just pop in; give them the present and leave.” Suzy made a decision. “And the fact you’re going to see Jonghun again doesn’t mean anything at all.” The tiny voice taunted Suzy again. Ignoring it Suzy grabbed her ATM card & prepared to head towards the nearest cash online machine.

She needed quite a bit of cash to get a proper present for Mr Choi. She couldn’t risk giving him her home baked biscotti & risk his birthday to end in disaster. Deciding that she would gift him a bottle of perfume Suzy quickly got dressed to head to the shopping district of Seoul.

“You’re looking handsome.” Hyuna drawled lazily as she sat on Jonghun’s bed watching him getting dressed. “Thanks.” Jonghun didn’t even glance at her as he buttoned up his shirt. “Where did you get that shirt?” Hyuna asked suddenly. She recognised all of Jonghun’s shirts as she had worn them all at least once before but that white silk shirt was new. “It was a gift.” Jonghun answered. “A gift? From who? Your parents?” Hyuna had become curious to the origins of the shirt. “No. From my friend.” Jonghun replied an edge already taking over his voice.

“Your friend?” Hyuna raised her eyebrows. “Yes. Now shall we go? We are after all the hosts of the party.” Jonghun adjusted his dark green velvet jacket & shot a look at Hyuna through the mirror. She merely sighed in reply. Hyuna was getting tired of Jonghun always neglecting her.

Compared to Dino who had always given her his attention even if she had only met him for a mere day. “I really don’t like this at all.” Hyuna grumbled. “What did you say?” Jonghun asked her. “Nothing.” Hyuna mumbled. Once the door to the bedroom was open Jonghun & Hyuna were greeted by the throbbing music resounding through the mansion.

“Nice party. You arranged all these in just a few days? Impressive.” Hyuna nodded approvingly her mood finally lifting. “I didn’t arrange all these. Dino did. I merely helped him with it.” Jonghun pointed at Dino standing with his parents.

“Yeah.. He seems like the long lost son of your parents.” Hyuna added with a snarky smile. “Do you want a drink?” Hyuna asked him. Jonghun shook his head. He already had enough alcohol a few days before with those three bottles of Merlot and the result of him crashing at Suzy’s place.

“Well I’m going to get myself some champagne.” Hyuna stalked away her silver minidress figure drawing admiring glances from the men around. Jonghun however only wanted to see one woman at that moment. A woman who never bothered to dress up unless she practically forced at gunpoint to do so. Jonghun smiled as he recalled the first time he had taken Suzy grocery shopping.

“She turned up with that bird’s nest hair & the huge oversized pink Minnie Mouse sweater she adores.” Shaking his head at that thought Jonghun pushed past the crowd & headed outside to get some fresh air. If it was the old party animal Jonghun he would have become the centre of attention at any party but now.. he wasn’t interested.

“Stupid bus.. Had to break down today of all the days. Now I’m all breathless & sweaty.” Suzy huffed as her Converse chucks pounded down the pavement leading up to the Choi mansion. Suzy was not exactly having the best day ever. Her dress had almost caught fire while she tried to iron it.

“How am I supposed to know that chiffon is easily burnt?” Suzy gazed down at her black chiffon dress. Her mother had forced her to buy that dress a couple of years back & Suzy hadn’t worn it once after buying it.

“Guess today is the occasion for me to wear it. Though I wonder if  I should be wearing black to a birthday party..” Suzy’s hand flew up to her chest as her breath started coming in short gasps. She had finally reached the mansion & almost got run over by a black Jaguar being driven rather recklessly at the front gate.

“Watch how you’re driving you fool!” she yelled at the driver & then held herself back from uttering vulgarities at the smug expression on the driver’s handsome face. He was one of Jonghun’s useless friends. Handsome, rich and dumb as a sack of Brussels potatoes.

Still thrown off by her close shave with being run over Suzy smoothed down her messy hair. Due to her vigorous running Suzy’s ponytail was now a mess of tangles. “I probably look like the help.” Suzy saw the way the other guests dressed in various branded clothes gave her the once over & wrote her off.

“Pompous pricks. I should have known. If only Mr & Mrs Choi weren’t that nice then I’ll have no trouble hating this whole crowd.” Suzy gave the evil eye to a rather heavyset woman who was whispering something apparently not positive about Suzy to her mousy husband. Suzy was too busy glaring back at the people to notice the young man standing at the top of the flight of stairs watching her with amusement.

“Here I was thinking about Suzy & her bird nest hair and she shows up looking exactly like that.” Jonghun smiled. Watching her with growing amusement Jonghun realised just how much he adored Suzy. Even her weird sense of style of pairing a chiffon dress with Converse sneakers was appealing to him.

“What a bunch of airheads!” Jonghun heard Suzy grumbling to herself as she walked up the stairs. “Well hello there. You showed up after all.” Jonghun held out his hand to help Suzy up the last step. She took it grudgingly.

“Yes. I had to return the courtesy your parents showed me.” Suzy held up a pink gift wrapped box the size of Jonghun’s fist up to him. “Hmm.. You got a pink present for my father’s 50^th birthday.” Jonghun laughed. “Let your father worry about that. Now move out of my way.” Suzy scolded him before pushing past him.

“I love it when she’s all feisty.” Jonghun waggled his eyebrows as he followed Suzy who was rather violently elbowing people to get through the crowded living room.

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Author's Note : Thank you for all the comments guys! My readers are always the best! Hope this chapter was good & comments and suggestions are welcome! :D The updates will be once every two or three days now until my exams are over. After that I will update daily. :)