Song : Kim Hyun Joong - One More Time

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“Don’t scream.”

Hyeomin looked at the lit entrance to the dark alleyway. It was so small and dark that it was impossible for anyone to know she was even there if she didn’t scream. And yet, this whole predicament had frozen her solid. Who was this? Her hands immediately grabbed at the hand around and she struggled in their grasp. They grunted as they fought to keep their hold on her.

“Hyeomin ! Stop ! It’s just me!”

The girl stopped struggling the minute she recognized who called her. As the hand as removed from and the arm around her waist, she turned around and immediately hit him in the shoulder. “Baekhyun ! What are you doing?!”

He hushed her and motioned with his hands that she would draw attention if she wasn’t careful. It was an odd predicament indeed. Still, what was he thinking?

“If I knew you’d freak out this bad, I would have rethought my approach.” He let out a disappointed sigh before looking back at her with a warm smile and his arms folded. It was like the old days, except his attire had grown more… odd.

“To overlook that, I just wanted to check your motives toward accepting Jong-In’s proposal.”

“Fake proposal,” she corrected almost immediately. She then realized what he had said, allowing her brain to snap back into the conversation. “Wait! What do you mean check my motives? There is something I can get out of this?” Her eyes had grown into something that one would call anger, though it was hard to really say so in the dark.

“Umm… Well, yes. But I guess that if you don’t know, why share it with you?” He gave her a curt smile before leaving. It was abrupt and actually quite rude. She was almost scared out of her wits and then he leaves as if nothing happened. Wait until she got her hands on him…

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Noon came faster than she had anticipated. It was almost as if her teachers had sped time up in order to torture her in another way, seeing as classes had yet to become as mundane as people warned her of. As she walked out of the campus to meet Jong-In, she stopped the minute she heard something coming toward her. It sounded like an engine revving and she almost lost her mind trying to think of what it reminded her of. But it didn’t take long to figure it out when the source stopped right in front of her.

A motorcycle, one of the deadliest types of transportation on this earth… And she was about to ride it down a highway to meet her fake fiancé’s dying grandmother. This had to be payback for the lie. Had to be.

“You’re serious?” The minute Jong-In removed his helmet was the exact moment she voiced her displeasure. And much to her dismay, all he did was give her a matching helmet, a look-over, and then a thumbs up.

“Oh, I’m so flattered,” she muttered sarcastically before putting the helmet on. Some fiancé he was turning out to be. He didn’t even voice if her outfit was sufficient. Nope, he would rather give her a thumbs up and move ahead. Frowning after putting the helmet on, she dismissed the fact that she stayed up for a few hours in order to pick out this nice, casual but business-like dress. It made her look more responsible and hopefully more reliable when it came to handling Jong-In in the future.

Not that she would. It was just something that needed to pass if she wanted to- Oh, you get my point.

She straddled the motorcycle, now realizing that her burlywood skirt was riding up and possibly going to turn into a mini shorty all down the drive… Well, good thing it was tight. Right? She frowned again before looking ahead, seeing Jong-In eyeing her impatiently. “What?” she yelled out impatiently.

“Put your arms around my waist unless you want to fall off and die. Haven’t you seen movies with bad boys on the bike?”

“Is that why you have one? Do you want to be the stereotypical bad boy?”

An almost irritated growl escaped him before he jolted forward, scaring Hyeomin so much that her arms reacted for her and wrapped firmly around Jong-In’s torso. Good thing for the helmet or her glowing, red face would have given away her disposition. But the minute he was done laughing at her reaction, he bolted forward. The speed and wind that hit her was unexpected and she felt herself clinging to Jong-In as if it were for dear life. Yeah, every girl thought about riding on the back of some guy’s motorcycle but this? This felt more than just dangerous.

While curling into a ball of “protect me!” behind Jong-In, she realized how firm he felt. Through his jacket, she could feel a slight outline of abs and her heart fluttered the minute she thought about it. Had she ever truly been this close to a boy? Her chest was pressed against his back, her arms wrapped so tightly around his body that her heart was skipping beats like crazy, and her mind moved from danger to their proximity in mere seconds.

Nope. This had to be the first time, seeing as this was the only time she remembered feeling like this.

“You still alive back there?” Jong-In yelled back at Hyeomin at their first stoplight, his legs hitting the ground as a way to balance the bike before taking off again. Great, she could take a breath before he leapt forward. Unfortunately, words were hard to find and she could only nod in response. The laugh that escaped the boy was… undefinable. Was it amused or forced? Or was it both?

Hyeomin tried to read his expression but his helmet remained in the way. Not to mention the light turning green and him leaping across the four way like it was nothing. Nuzzling into his back as if it would protect her, she felt a small squeak escape her. Jong-In remained silent, as if it didn’t affect him. Or maybe it was because he didn’t care.

Regardless, she knew that she wasn’t going to be up for this ever again.

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Hyeomin looked up at the large hospital, getting a feel for how big it was. She had no idea that such a large city lied next door to Goyang. Perhaps it was because she moved from the other direction. That and no one bothered to mention it. But as she came to look at the many cars aligned the entrance, she saw an ambulance with a person being pulled out and into the emergency room. Would that person come back out? Hyeomin may never know.

She stopped as Jong-In wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pushing her gently forward. At first, she wanted to shrug him off but stopped immediately when she noticed his dark expression. He looked so closed off, as if pushing all of his stress down to the depths of his very being. It looked… painful.

“It’s only going to be you, me, and-“ Jong-In was interrupted when an older couple rushed towards him from the waiting room. His eyes had grown wide and she was sure that she felt him flinch slightly. She wondered why.

“Jong-In, dear! Your hair is back to its natural color. Omma will be proud.” The woman gave him a warm smile before the dad nodded toward him. Castiel resembled his mother more with her bronzed skin and dark hair. His father was tall, lean, and fair haired. There was no resemblance at all, unlike that of his mother.

Hyeomin almost felt herself freeze up the moment the two locked their eyes on her. She offered a smile, though, hoping that she gave a proper enough greeting. “Sweetheart? Who is this,” the mother asked. As if to help reaffirm the situation, she felt Jong-In’s arm tighten enough to pull her closer. She almost made a noise to show her discomfort but merely glared at him.

“This is my fiancée, Hyeomin. Hyeomin? This is my mother,Young-ae, and my stepfather, Kim-jung.” So he was his stepfather… That made a lot more sense. But that didn’t falter her smile as she warmly greeted with a, “Hello. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

His mother smiled back while Kim-Jung kept his emotionless look. He held the whole “pushing-emotions-so-deep-that-light-has-never-touched-it” look well. Perhaps Jong-In learned it from him? Hyeomin couldn’t say, seeing that this was the first time she became aware that he still had parents. Being independent already sort of made him sound like an orphan. At least this was a better outcome.

Young-ae stepped forward and looked her over, not hiding that she was putting the girl through a mental inspection. It made her nervous the moment the older woman leaned forward to say something, especially since her face looked so serious. “You’re too cute for my son. Did you lose a bet?”

Did… Did she just say that?

“Omma,” Jong-In shook his head in exasperation, as if being fully aware of his mother’s behavior. It was a complete one eighty compared to her son. But Hyeomin found herself playing along, her anxiety seeping away slowly. “How did you know? It’s a funny story actually. I-“

“Hyeomin, honey…” Jong-In squeezed her shoulder tighter before cutting her off. If she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, she might have showed her fake in-laws how much the tight grip hurt. “Perhaps we can discuss this another time?” Hyeomin glared at him and pushed him slightly away, only to make the mother laugh.

“You two are so cute together!” Before she knew it, Young-ae had pulled out her phone and began snapping pictures of the two. The smile on her face showed that she wasn’t alone in her excitement about all of this. Thankfully, Kim-Jung covered the phone after the sixth picture and gave his wife a silent look. It made the older woman sigh and nod, putting her phone back in her purse.

But her smile returned in a flash as she said, “These are going to go on my blog! I can’t wait for the family to see!”

Wait… The family? As in this lie just got a lot bigger?

“Well, we’ll be off.” Kim-Jung cut in, his deep and assertive voice cutting in for the first time. He offered the two a polite smile before dragging his wife out of the door. The woman yelled out the room number before disappearing, poking at her husband as she did. Those two… were they really compatible?

“Just ignore them,” Jong-In said with a shake of his head before pulling her toward the elevator. They were alone once the door closed and Hyeomin felt more comfortable than she would have predicted. Meeting the parents had been… fun. And his mother was such a lovely woman. But because of her, this lie would become larger than she expected. “Tch…”

She looked up to Jong-In, only to see him turn quickly and push her to the wall of the elevator. The small contraption shook slightly from the force but Hyeomin felt her heart stop all the same. “Open your eyes and look at me.” Open? She hadn’t even realized that she had closed them.

Looking up at her fake fiancé, she saw his stern look. It almost sent chills down her spine. “What was that back there?”

“What?”

“Talk of a bet? We haven’t even gone over how we met.”

“Funny. That was what last night was about, wasn’t it?” Hyeomin felt her strength returning the minute she realized the situation. Jong-In wasn’t the type to hurt her. Still, what was she supposed to say? It wasn’t wrong to make a good impression. She didn’t know why she wanted to, but she did. It wasn’t like she was going to disrespect his parents anyways.

He pulled away and she saw the downcast look he had. He was still stressed. Perhaps seeing his parents put more things into perspective over his lie now?

The elevator doors opened and Jong-In pulled Hyeomin down the hallway. She didn’t like the speed or force, so she tried her best to yank her hand from him. But it was futile.

She almost felt relieved when he stopped on the spot. His grip had loosened and she was able to massage her hand for a little. She glared at him the minute she was able, only to see his eyes wide and looking at a door a few feet away.

Nurses were pushing a crash cart in and a doctor followed hastily. The looks on their faces were both serious and worried. It was a scary sight indeed and it took a bit to understand Jong-In’s reaction.

Printed on the door was his grandmother’s room number.

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