Jongin’s POV

This was not what I expected. What she said and how she said it totally surprised me. But I must admit, she got a point there.

‘Argh!’

I my hair angrily and let myself fall on the couch.

What Luhan said to me last time made me realize some things and I wanted somehow to fix the mess I made. I don’t know what I wanted to achieve with this conversation and don’t know what I was going to say but I just wanted to talk to her. So why it went so wrong again? I think I should just stop drinking. Maybe it’s the alcohol that makes me aggressive all the time. She did nothing wrong, yet it made me so angry she is going out without saying a word to me. I was trying to reach her for a few days now to speak about that unfortunate agreement we made. And now, when I had a chance, I blew it.

Oh, it! I need to stop listen to  Luhan’s blabbering. He only makes me feel guilty while I have done nothing wrong. I didn’t hit her or anything like that so why even bother? Agreement we made is very convenient for both of us. She should be thankful. I know I make her unhappy and it won’t be any better. So why be miserable with me, when she can divorce? Her life for sure will be better without me. I am who I am. I can’t change it. I don’t have any feelings for her, so the way I treat her will never change. My parents were the one who forced her on me, that’s why I hated her even more before. But it’s not that I hate her now. I know that our positions about this arranged marriage are the same. I get it now. And I’m trying to make this situation easier for us. But it doesn’t change anything. I won’t love her… Because I still have feelings for Jiyeon.

I poured myself another drink.

Your POV

I took out the small mirror from my handbag and checked if my face doesn’t look suspicious. If Luhan saw that I have red cheeks he would figure out that something happened between me and Jongin. And I didn’t want that. He is the angel that gives me strength and makes me smile. While being with him I only want to feel happiness. That’s why I don’t want him to notice, I don’t want him to ask questions, I don’t want him to know, I don’t want him to worry. I don’t want to be sad around him. I don’t want him to see me sad. What’s even the point? It’s not that he will rescue me. He won’t take me from Jongin. He won’t change Jongin’s behavior. He won’t make him like me… Sadly.

‘Oppa!’, I said happily when I noticed Luhan.

His gentle appearance never fails to make me feel at ease.

‘Hey! I hope you don’t mind I brought a few friends,’ he said.

‘No. Not at all.’

Frankly speaking, I was even happier to be around a group of people. It’s always much more fun. And if there will be moments when I stay quiet, no one will notice and  it won’t be weird.

‘I think you know Lay already,’ Luhan pointed to a guy who waved his hand to me and smiled gently.
 

Wow. His smile and dimples are no joke.

I noticed it before but somehow it hit me hard this time. How come such an evil person like Jongin has angelic-looking, nice friends? And why I ended up with Jongin and not with one of them? God must really not love me.

‘Yes. I remember Lay. And Sehun, right?’ I asked looking at the third guy.

‘That’s right. I’m Sehun.’

‘You’re pretty good with names,’ Luhan praised me and continued with introducing two other girls. It looked like a triple date.

We found ourselves a nice coffee shop, sat there and just talked, to get to know each other better. After a while I got this thinking and felt a little weird, like I have done something wrong. After all they were Jongin’s friends. Yet, they meet with me. With me only. No Jongin around. It’s not that I try to steal his friends, right? But then, again, I didn’t meet with them on purpose. It’s Luhan who arranged this.

Without much though I looked at him. At his disappearing, sparkling eyes. Adorable wrinkles appearing, when he smiled. I was so devoured with my thoughts that I didn’t even hear what they were talking about but just looking at Luhan’s smiley face made also me smile. It was like a virus and I couldn’t resist it but just be happy with him. Despite his age, whenever he smiled  he really looked like a highschooler.

‘Do I have something on my face?’ Luhan asked and looked at me.

I jumped on my sit, immediately grabbed on my bubble tea, took a sip and looked away at the window.

‘No-no. Nothing,’ I replied feeling my heart race.

Everyone burst out laughing.

‘Well, we are not surprised,’ Nana said.

‘W-what?’

I still stuttered.

‘Of course we aren’t. You are not the only lost soul. You have no idea how many girls lost their minds for Luhan,’ Seohyun added.

‘All 12 of them were the real heartbreakers, not only in our school. They were popular everywhere’

‘Girls wrote fanfics about them. They even had their own nicknames, remember?’ Seohyun got all excited.

‘Yes, of course I do! Soft Smile Heroes Luhan and Lay, Perfect Prince Kai and Kung-fu Panda Tao were one of my favorites!’ Nana joined the craziness.

‘Yeah. They really got some wild imagination there.’

I looked at the boys thinking that they will rush with some explanations or add a story but they just laughed it off.

‘But when you put it like this, it means that you read them,’ Sehun concluded. ‘Were you also fangirling over us?’

‘W-what? N-no.’ It looked like Sehun caught Seohyun out off guard.

‘Or maybe you even wrote one, hm?’

‘Pfff. No. Of course not.’ She took a sip of her hot chocolate. ‘Look at you being all grown up and full of yourself. Don’t you remember that I was in the school newspaper? I did it to receive my daily dose of news. It was for research purposes only!’

‘What does fanfic  have to do with school newspaper?’ Lay asked out of curiosity. Seohyun gave him disapproving gaze.

‘You basically just said that you didn’t even once read my newspaper.’

Lay still looked at her unmoved, waiting for reply to his question. Seohyun gave up.

‘We had a ranking there. For the most popular guys and girls in our school.’

After a while of sitting there and having a big laugh listening to stories girls told about their highschool life and how Big 12 had it hard because of female students I realized that Luhan exactly knew what I need. That’s why he set up these triple date. I needed friends.

He really is a Soft Smile Hero.