You proceeded the next few weeks with caution, only ever revealing your true self when it was absolutely necessary. By the end of the first month, Luhan trusted you completely. He’d come to your apartment straight after Exo’s rehearsals, and he’d call you after the recordings. It came to the point where you’d have to remind yourself of how you got into this situation.

This was not a relationship. It was a challenge.

Jongdae visited you once while Luhan was away at his schedule. While he apologized furiously, he reiterated the seriousness of the issue. You trusted your brother, and you wanted to help him. Never once did you consider that this was going too far.

It was in the second month where things became complicated. Luhan hadn’t asked you to be his girlfriend, and yet in the midst of everything, you found that intimacy was slowly crawling into the situation. You didn’t dare tell Jongdae. He knew, just like you did, that was meant for those who you loved. You didn’t love Luhan.

At least you thought you didn’t.

And at some point, you thought that Luhan was still using you for his game. That seemed to have changed somewhere in the middle of the third month, leaving you and Luhan in what had to be the most uncomfortable conversation ever.

“I love you.”

Luhan suddenly spoke with his head down, drooping over his dinner. His hands gripped onto the side of the dining table like he was about to fall, his knuckles glowing white from the pressure.

You swallowed, lowering your utensils down onto the table. This was what you feared. You didn’t want him to think it was real because in the midst of this challenge, you started to realize that Luhan didn’t once give you any false information about himself. The only lie he gave was what him into this in the first place.

“Oh.” was all you could say.

Luhan’s doe-like stare met yours with a look of desperation. “I really do. I’m in love with you, ______-ah.”

“You’re lying.” The venom began to spill from your lips. “I know you are.”

He looked taken aback. Never had you spoken to him with such bitterness before, and he certainly did not anticipate the first time being now. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t lie to me, Luhan.” You shook your head, your eyes searing with a plain look of disgust. “You don’t love me.”

”_______, what are you talking about?” Luhan raised his voice.

You stood up, making your chair screech across the floor. Now was the time to reveal yourself; no more waiting. “Is this a part of your game, too? Huh? Telling me you love me? Is that part of the act?”

“I do love you! Is that so hard to believe?!” Luhan mirrored your stance, cautiously approaching you. “What’s gotten into you? You’re acting like a completely different person—”

“A fan.”

“What?”

“I’m not acting like a fan.” You bit at him with your words.

Luhan shook his head. “I don’t understand—”

“It was just fan service, remember? Dating me was part of your bet with Jongdae, and now you’re lying even more by saying you love me. God, you are such an !”

“Fan service?” Luhan slowly began to recall the reason for Chen’s distance in the past few months. “_______, no, that’s not it. I’m not lying to you!”

You scoffed. “Lying until the very end.”

Luhan couldn’t help but stare at the floor at realizing he had been cornered by his own words. You two stood across from each other, both fuming from different reasons. You had your fists clenched, preparing yourself to hold back any urges to punch him right on the spot.

“How did you know about that?” Luhan suddenly asked quietly.

“Know what?”

He sighed. “That I said it was only fan service.” The doe-stare met your eyes again, this time with the hint of lingering tears. “I said that to the guys on the way back from the recording. There’s no way you could have known that unless—”

“Chen told me.” You interrupted him.

“Why would Chen tell you? How did he tell you—I saw you waiting in the lobby!” Luhan started to raise his voice again.

“CHEN IS MY BROTHER!” You shrieked almost painfully.

He blinked. “Y-You’re not—”

“No, I’m not a fan.” You panted. “I came to the building that day to visit Jongdae.”

“I don’t understand.” Luhan backed away from you slowly. “So this entire time, it wasn’t real?”

You turned away from him, incredulous at his questions. “As if it was ever meant to be real in the first place.”

“It wasn’t real.” He echoed to himself.

The atmosphere of the room was almost surreal. The air was thick, stuffy with the cloud of emotions each spilling from you and your pseudo-partner. And somehow in an instant, you felt a shard of guilt prod against your chest as Luhan approached you once more, the look of complete and utter remorse on his brow.

And still you couldn’t tell who the victim of the war was.

”________,” Luhan dropped to his knees, almost begging at your feet. You stumled backwards, treating his actions like a pest on the floor. “I swear to you. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

His lips quivered with sincerity, and yet the brick block around your ego kept you standing tall.

“Chen was right.” Luhan’s voice was a ghost of what it usually was. “I admit my mistake—and I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry that I used you. I’m sorry that I let it go this far without even giving you a glance of knowing how real I was starting to treat this—this thing—us. To me, it became real.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to believe me.” He stood up. “And you don’t have to say anything else because… because you used me, too, didn’t you?”

You gritted your teeth together, keeping your stance.

“You used me to prove a point, but for some reason, I still can’t deny that I’m in love with you. I love you, and I don’t care about any of this. I want to forget about it, and I want us to be together. So please.” Luhan reached for your hands, but you pulled away with enough force to make him uneasy. “Just please answer me this.

“Do you love me?”

The question rattled in your head for two seconds before your mouth spat out an answer, automatically fabricated by the defense mechanisms in your head.

You shook your head. “No. No, I don’t.”

Luhan backed away to the door, barely stumbling over his own feet. “Then we’re done here.”