I wait at the place where Yongguk told me to meet him. What exactly does he want to talk about? Did Jaime already tell him about the plan that we’re pretending to be dating? Surely she would’ve given me some hint that he was going to talk about that, right? Maybe it’s about the proposal, I’m not entirely sure. I just know that he wants to come to talk to me and for some reason, that gets me nervous.

                I pace around the park, walking back and forth with my hands shoved into my pocket. I guess I should try to get this thing solved with Jessica as quickly as possible. I don’t want to cause Jaime and Yongguk any more trouble. They’re already happy together and I can’t do anything about it. I shouldn’t do anything to disrupt their happiness, they’ve been together for so long. What makes me think that some guy like me is going to be able to take Jaime away?

                “You’re here,” Yongguk’s deep voice says knocking me out of my thoughts. I immediately turn around and face him.

                “Yea I’m here. Didn’t you think I would show?” I ask. Somehow the air between us seems tense already, even though we didn’t do anything yet. Why do I have a bad feeling about this meeting?

                “No, I didn’t think that,” Yongguk says with a half laugh. He looks good for a guy that got stabbed a while ago. I guess his recovery is going well. I’m pretty sure that Jaime is taking good care of him. “I just…I don’t entirely know what I was thinking.”

                “Is that medicine going to your head?” I attempt to joke, and Yongguk only manages a light chuckle. “Anyway, why was it that you wanted to meet me?”

                “Why don’t we sit down,” Yongguk offers. We both make our way over to a bench and sit down. The park is dark and quiet. We’re the only two there because of the time. Most children would now be sleeping or watching their favorite program or something. They wouldn’t really be playing at a park.

                “So, why was it that you wanted to meet me?” I repeat again once Yongguk and I are sitting down. I slightly lean forward and interlock my fingers together as I stare into the empty playground. I don’t know why I’m called here, I don’t know anything. I hope it’s about the proposal, but something tells me that it’s not.

                “So, I hear you have a crush on Jaime,” Yongguk says after it feels like we’re sitting forever in silence. I can’t say anything. How in the world does he even know? “You’re probably wondering how I know, right?” It’s like he can read my mind. “Your friend, Youngjae, he works with you, I presume. He told me about how strangely, you had a picture of a girl with the same name as my girlfriend on your desk and she looked the same too.”

                “Youngjae?” I ask. How in the world does Yongguk know Youngjae? Youngjae is just a nerd that asks too many questions. How in the world would he know Yongguk? That just doesn’t make sense at all. Plus that conversation was quite a while ago, that was before Jaime even stepped foot into the company as a worker, as a trainee. That was when the trainees were just picked. Did Yongguk know from back then? He couldn’t have.

                “Youngjae and I have quite a history together,” Yongguk says leaning back on the bench and slightly smiling. “He found it strange that there would be something like that and he contacted me afterwards asking if Jaime had gotten the job that she wanted. When I replied that she had, he said that something seemed fishy.”

                “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that I like her,” I say attempting to deny all of the feelings that I have for her.

                “That doesn’t mean that you don’t,” he says giving me an eye. “I know that you and Jaime have been together in school since you were smaller.”

                “I’m not going to,” I say interrupting Yongguk before he can say that words that I know he’s going to say.

                “You aren’t going to do what?” Yongguk asks. I don’t know if he’s asking just to see or if he really knows what I’m talking about. I’m assuming that he just knows and just wants me to say it out of my own mouth.

                “I’m not going to steal Jaime from you, if that’s what you think,” I say attempting to clear the whole thing. “I’m not going to do that. I have respect for you and Jaime. Making it through all those years together, I have respect for you and if it makes Jaime happy then I’m going to let her be happy.” Yongguk nods his head as he gets up from the bench. “That’s it?” I ask in shock.

                “What do you mean that’s it?” he asks looking at me with a confusing look.

                “That’s all you wanted to talk about?”

                “That’s all I wanted to talk about,” he says nodding his head. “Thank you.”

                I stare in disbelief as he continues walking away. Is that all he wanted to hear me say? Is that all he wanted to meet me for? A little sliver of hope inside of me actually wished that he would’ve spoken to me about the proposal, but instead, he talks about me possibly stealing Jaime away. I’m not going to steal Jaime away, if that’s what he thinks. I would never steal another man’s girl away. That’s just not my personality. No matter how much of a playboy I seem, whenever it comes to Jaime, the rules are always different.

                Slowly, I make my way home, deep in thought. What was the whole purpose of Yongguk asking me to meet him anyway? Did he simply want to ask me those things or was there another meaning to it? I completely don’t understand anything.

                “You’re home already?” Gongchan asks looking at me as I walk in the door.

                “Yea, I’m home,” I say attempting to give a smile, but my mind is so enveloped in my thoughts that I can’t really think straight.

                “Are you okay? You seem…out of it,” Gongchan says as he stares at me intently.

                “I’m positive I’m okay,” I say. “I’m going to go get some sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow ahead of me.”

                “Alright, I’m just going to be finishing up my homework.”

                “Okay,” I say nodding my head as I make my way towards the staircase. “See you tomorrow, goodnight.”

                “Goodnight,” Gongchan says giving me a smile.

I wake up feeling slightly better, or rather, I guess. I don’t know why I was overreacting about that whole thing before. I mean, Yongguk just wants to make sure that his proposal is going to go as planned. I don’t know why I was concerning myself with anything before. It just seems like I was worried that he was going to do something about me because of my feelings towards Jaime.

                “I’m leaving to go to work,” I tell Gongchan as I get up from the table after eating breakfast. “Should I drop you off at school?”

                “No thanks,” Gongchan says taking one final bite of his rice. “I’m going to walk.”

                “Ah, your girlfriend,” I say slightly forgetting that he had one. “You better not let her go, you hear me?”

                “Loud and clear,” he says as he picks up his backpack from the living room. “I’m going to leave before you.”

                I sigh to myself as I watch Gongchan leave the house. He really likes his girlfriend, I can sense that. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I were able to successfully convey my feelings to Jaime. Would things be like this? Would we have been broken up or still together? Life would have surely been different; I have no doubt about that. Maybe I would’ve never been living with this feeling of regret and missed opportunity.

                After driving to the company, I walk in and immediately see Youngjae standing there. As much as I want to ask about his relationship to Yongguk and how they met, I see that that’s not my place to be. I don’t know why I should ask him about that, he’d probably think that I’m strange for asking such a thing. But I’m curious. However, I shouldn’t let curiosity get the best of me.

                “Hey,” Youngjae says smiling at me as he walks over.

                “Hey,” I say greeting him like I would any normal day.

                “So, how has Jaime been as a trainee?”

                “Why would you want to know?” I curiously ask. These aren’t questions that Youngjae would just suddenly ask. Now that I think about it, he wouldn’t even acknowledge anyone’s presence. Is Yongguk putting him up to this? Does he really not trust me that much?

                “No reason, I just thought we could talk for a little bit.”

                Now that’s strange. Youngjae never wants to talk; he’s always enveloped in his own world. Now I have no doubt that Yongguk is probably the one behind it, doing something. “Oh, well, I’m sorry, I have to get some work completed.”

                “I understand,” he says nodding his head. “Why don’t we get some lunch together?”

                “Lunch?” I ask in disbelief. Now this is really strange.

                “Yea, you know, the time to eat? Normally placing around high noon to thirteen hundred.”

                “Um, yea,” I say looking at Youngjae strangely. “I know what lunch is. There’s no need to explain it to me.”

                “Good then, so do you want to grab some together? I’m pretty sure that I can pencil you in.”

                “If you’re the one that asked, then shouldn’t you already have room?” I curiously ask.

                “Ah, you got me there,” Youngjae says smirking at me. “Then yes, I have time. I’ll see you in your office at twelve?”

                Before I can say anything, Youngjae walks away to go talk with someone else. He has to be up to something, there’s no way that I would just have lunch with Youngjae randomly at the work day. Normally he doesn’t talk to anyone. He doesn’t do anything, it’s strange. Why would he do that? I guess I’d just have to wait to see what happens at lunch.

                “Hey,” Jaime says coming into the office as I sit behind my desk and attempt to get some work done to get my mind off of things.

                “Hey,” I greet back as I look up from my computer and I smile at her. Jaime has that sort of affect over me. I don’t remember when those feelings exactly came back, but maybe they never left in the first place. Those feelings, have they always been there? Were they just buried beneath everything in memories that I wanted to forget?

                “What are you working on?” she curiously asks as she comes behind my desk to look at what I’m working on.

                “Just some write up,” I say showing it to her. “It’s just a proposal for a company to use their artist.”

                “Oh,” she says nodding her head in understanding. “Do I have to do one of those?”

                “In the future, not now,” I say as I continue typing up the work. “For now, you can just make sure that everything is running smoothly.”

                “Alright,” she says nodding her head as she diligently goes over in her makeshift desk and begins doing the work.

                I don’t know how much time has passed, but Jaime and I keep doing our work in silence. I guess after the conversation with Yongguk last night things have gotten a bit awkward between us. I wonder if Jaime has noticed anything, hopefully she hasn’t.

                Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more awkward, I see Jessica coming through the door. “What is she doing here?” I complain.

                “Who?” Jaime asks as she pokes her head up and sees Jessica come through the door. “Oh, her.”

                “Yea,” I say sighing. With Jessica there, that means that Jaime and I have to act like a couple. Things might be difficult to do that now, I mean, with Youngjae out and about, he could possibly see something and tell Yongguk something. I’m slowly starting to not trust that kid.

                “Hello,” Jessica says coming in and flashing me a smile.

                “Hey,” I nonchalantly say attempting to show that it doesn’t bother me that she’s there. Jessica comes over and attempts to be seductive, but it doesn’t do anything to me. I’m not affected by Jessica anymore. Who knew that breaking up with her would possibly be the best thing of my life?

                “What are you doing?” she asks as she comes over and leans to look at the computer with her hands on my shoulders as they slowly run down the rest of my body. She’s in the same position that Jaime was in before, despite her hands, but still, Jaime made my heart race more than she did.

                “I’m doing work, if you don’t mind, it’s a lot to get done and there’s a deadline,” I slightly lie. There is a deadline, but it’s not now, it’s at least a week from now, but Jessica doesn’t need to know that.

                “Oh, well I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. I just wanted to see how your relationship as going,” she says as she intently looks at Jaime who isn’t paying attention and doing her own work.

                “Well, we’re doing fine,” I say as I attempt to push her out of the room. “I don’t know why you’d be worried about us.”

                “No particular reason,” Jessica says shrugging her shoulders. “I just didn’t know if there was going to be trouble in paradise.”

                “What are you talking about?” I ask. I don’t know what Jessica is getting at and frankly, I don’t want to find out.

                “I want to test to see if your relationship is good, it’ll only take a second.”

                “What are you talking about?” I ask. “I don’t want to do anything that you have to say.”

                “Oh really?” she asks with a devilish smirk. She’s planning something, but I don’t want to know what she’s planning. “We’ll see about that. Jaime, come over here.”

                Without asking questions, Jaime comes over, I guess she figures that she shouldn’t defy or else it could mean that Jessica would know about our fake relationship with one another.

                “What do you want us to do?” I ask looking at Jessica. I can’t believe that I’m actually asking her, but if I don’t, then she’ll figure out that Jaime and I aren’t actually dating.

                “I want you two to kiss, for real,” she says. “Once you guys do this then I’m going to leave you alone forever. I’ll acknowledge your relationship as being truthful and I’ll leave you forever.”

                I stare at Jessica in disbelief, once again. I can’t believe that she’s making a deal like that. As much as I want Jessica to leave me alone, I can’t just take advantage of Jaime like that. She has Yongguk and I’m the one that told her to be in this fake relationship anyway. This is all of my fault and I have no power to stop it.

                “Jessica,” I begin as I look at her before my head is moved.

                My eyes close and my lips begin to have a mind of their own. My heart is beating so fast that it feels like it’s going to pop out of my chest. I soak in the feeling before I finally, somehow, manage to get my mind back and pull away. I stare at Jaime in disbelief. She just kissed me?

                “Are you happy—,” I begin to state as I turn to look at where Jessica was standing before only to be replaced with Youngjae.

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What is going to happen now? Will Youngjae tell Yongguk? What will Yongguk do? What does Yongguk have planned for Sunday? What is Jessica going to do now that she saw Jaime and Himchan kiss?

Here is Chapter 18. Hope you enjoyed :D