Daddy’s money is always the easiest to spend when you add them up together.

This was the motto everyone at Daewon Academy gave their most popular couple. Of course, dating and other relationship statuses were prohibited from this prestigious private school because it proved to be a distraction to its college-prepped students, but everyone knew about Joo Yeon and Jong Yoon, or aptly called by their peers as “JY²”.

They were the school’s couple based off of irony. While Jong Yoon’s grandfather was still the chief justice in the Supreme Court, he adamantly supported the Saneuri Party during the time Joo Yeon’s maternal grandfather was chairman of its opposition, the Democratic Party. And while Jong Yoon’s father was donating funds to the Saneuri Party’s presidential election campaigns, Joo Yeon’s father had just been appointed chairman of the Democratic Party in the likeness of his father-in-law. But to these two kids, politics was only as relevant as the money in their bank accounts.

But their relationship seemed so surreal; almost too perfect even for a manhwa. Here you had two exceptionally good looking students who ranked at the top 10% of their class and whose parents were well-known political and business figures; their paths were bound to be crossed one way or another. Instead of being the biggest rivals, they blossomed the kind of relationship that garnered envious looks from the singletons of their high school and even from a few other closeted couples.

Nights at the school-specified private tutoring sessions didn’t seem to be a drag because it meant a longer time spent together – even if they were required to read thirty pages of English Literature at night. At least they got to hold hands under their desks.

However, with all high school romances the inevitable happens. Things got hectic and way too complicated that the two decided to part ways before their high school graduation. By the time they were scheduled to walk down the aisle for graduation, Oh Jong Yoon had already left the country.

***

Taemin leaned over the brass pot on top of Joo Yeon’s stove, his metal chopsticks slowly stirring the ramyun. Joo Yeon stood next to him, chopping up thin slices of spring onions and cabbage to add to their spicy ramyun.

“Remember when I told you Onew-hyung had started discussing moving out of the dorm since he was getting older?” Taemin implored, tapping his chopsticks over the edge of the pot.

Joo Yeon merely hummed, her attention paid to the cabbages she was now lining up against each other to cut.

Taemin leaned against the kitchen island parallel to Joo Yeon’s gas stove. “Well after hearing that, I got to thinking. And…”

The ramyun began to boil over, causing Joo Yeon to drop her knife and reach over to lower the fire of her gas stove before hissing at the hot water splashing over the pot and onto her hand. Taemin rushed over to her, clutching her burned hand.

“Jagiya, are you okay?” He asked her, lightly kissing her hand.

“I’m fine,” she replied and pulled her hand away from him to turn back to the cabbages and throw them into the pot. “Make sure you watch it before it boils over again. You had one job.”

“Right,” Taemin sighed, picking up his chopsticks and dousing the cabbages with the ramyun’s soup. They remained silent as Joo Yeon washed up her cutting board and knife and then pulled out her china soup bowls from the cabinet.

“Um, anyway, as I was saying,” Taemin continued. He pulled the pot off the stove and placed it on the kitchen’s island where Joo Yeon sat waiting with her and Taemin’s bowls. “Since I’m so busy with all the album preparations and I hardly ever see you except for of luck like right now, I was thinking about – ”

“Taemin, you know moving in with each other is out of the question,” Joo Yeon interjected quickly.

“What? No, no. I wasn’t thinking about that,” he refuted. “I was going to suggest that you probably move into the apartment next to our dorm.”

 “You’re asking quite a lot with that request.”

Taemin silently watched the steam from the hot noodle effuse slowly above the pot like watching his spirits peter away.

“It was just a suggestion,” he said, defeated.

His girlfriend pouted, feeling sorry for this visible let-down. She got off her stool and walked over to Taemin, giving him a hug.

“We play house here whenever you come over,” she said, nestling her head at the crook of his neck. His distinctive designer brand cologne pacified her accordingly. “And besides, we’ve only been dating for a couple months. It’s a little too early to start thinking about things like that. We’ll move in together when – ”

Joo Yeon’s iPhone began to vibrate with Apple’s distinctive “Marimba” ringtone playing loudly from its miniscule speakers. She dropped her embrace and picked it up. After staring at the caller id for a moment, she looked up at Taemin.

“Um, I’m going to take this. Excuse me,” she said right before heading out of the kitchen to answer her phone. Taemin’s glance followed her wake, confusion beginning to occupy him. She never answered calls outside of his presence, no matter how much table etiquette her proper mother had spoon-fed her. So when she scurried towards the living room to answer a call, he began to suspect the worse. Like her probable involvement with secret North Korean intelligence, or something.

Quietly, he peeped around the threshold of her kitchen to see her leaning outside her balcony. She was speaking faintly to the caller.

“I’m having dinner with Taemin,” she spoke softly to her caller. “At home… Nothing fancy…” A chuckle – a little high, a little flirtatious. “Look, let’s make plans to have lunch tomorrow… No, not have lunch tomorrow, let’s make the plans tomorrow…” Another chuckle. “Right… Bye.”

Taemin hustled back inside the kitchen as soon as his girlfriend turned around.

“Who was that?” he asked the instant she returned.

“Oh, just one of the girls at the magazine,” she said, shrugging off-handedly. Joo Yeon dug into her bowl of noodles without saying another word about it. Taemin sighed audibly, staring at his bowl.

Now, it should be noted that Lee Taemin harbors a rather capricious attitude, and this attitude is especially emphasized under two circumstances: great amounts of stress or unrelenting indignity. As often mentioned, his stress levels were currently hobbling over the edge of the usual limit with all the preparations done for his group’s comeback, and now that he can sense Joo Yeon’s slight dishonesty, it’s only a matter of time until that childish temperament of his explodes.

“Who are you planning to have lunch with tomorrow?” He finally blurted out.

Joo Yeon slowly looked up at him, several strings of noodles dangling between her lips. She slurped her ramyun before scowling at Taemin.

“Were you listening to my conversation?”

“I asked,” Taemin stated; his jaw clenched this time to mask his nervousness. “Who are you planning to have lunch with tomorrow?”

“I told you,” Joo Yeon returned, her tone just as irate. “Just one of the girls at the magazine.”

Taemin’s not the brightest kid, especially compared to his private-school bred girlfriend, but suddenly his weak deduction skills began to kick in and it becomes easier for him to add two and two together.

“Why are you bothering to make plans to have lunch with one of the girls you work with when, in fact, you already see them at work?”

Joo Yeon narrowed her eyes. “I work at Ceci, Taemin. You don’t understand that this magazine just doesn’t have one department that covers one business floor. If I say ‘one of the girls at the magazine’, then I really mean one of the girls at the magazine who probably works on a different floor from mine. What’s wrong with you?”

Taemin was still riled up, but sought no point in resuming this conversation, so he looked over at her phone that was laid down next to her bowl. He didn’t have solid evidence to prove that, quite possibly, she had been talking to her ex-boyfriend. Feeling dejected and yet utterly frustrated, he stormed out of her apartment.

***

Choreographer Kim was starting to exasperated. Minho and Key were starting to feel exasperated. Taemin wanted to bow ten times and conjure a long soliloquy that could quite possibly explain why he – in the words of Choreographer Kim – “was looking like on the floor”.

The three remaining SHINee members decided to take a ten minute water break by crouching on one corner of the practice room, gulping down the contents of their water bottles. Key shot daggers at Taemin.

“What?” the younger boy asked innocently. He avoided Key’s glare by watching Choreographer Kim go over the next remaining steps of their number by himself.

“This is about Joo Yeon, isn’t it?”

Minho straightened up and looked over at Key. This is interesting.

“No!” Taemin replied, too alarmed. “I mean, no…”

“You never slack off unless something happened between you and Joo Yeon,” Key said, rolling his eyes. “Now come on. ‘Fess up and get it over with so we can finally go through the entire choreo without having to slug behind because your can’t handle it.”

Taemin looked down at his legs, which were spread out on the wooden floorboards he was sitting on. It was humiliating enough to be a total slump on the dance floor when he’s supposed to be known for being a muse of grazioso, but when you’ve got Key calling you out for being in a little spat with his girl, that just takes the cake.

“Come on, Key,” Minho spoke up. “That’s a little too harsh.” He turned to Taemin. “But yes, Taemin. Spill the beans.”

The youngest member timidly looked up at his hyungs. “You guys, I think Joo Yeon wants to cheat on me.”

Minho and Key exchanged looks, both biting the inside of their cheeks to hold in the laughter that was tempting to spill out.

“Um, Taemin,” Minho uttered. “There are two types of people in the world: those that cheat and those that don’t. I don’t think it’s a really big deal to think – ”

“Last night, she was talking on the phone really quietly and she was making plans to make plans to go out to lunch with someone! And I think this ‘someone’ is her ex!”

“Joo Yeon was ‘making plans to make plans to go out to lunch’?” Key parroted. “And people thought I was the crazy one in the group.

“I’m being serious, hyung!” Taemin wailed. “I seriously think she’s up to something with her ex-boyfriend!”

“How long have you had these assumptions?” Minho asked.

“About a week.”

Key groaned in frustration. “Oh, Taemin, why do you have to be so naïve?”

“I’m not!”

“You are,” Key said. “You definitely are. You’re being naïve and far too insecure over this.”

“If you’ve seen her ex-boyfriend, you’d know how I feel about this!” Taemin exclaimed in his defense.

“And why should that bother you?” Minho questioned. “You’re famous and rich and everyone and their mom in South Korea loves you.”

“But Joo Yeon’s ex-boyfriend is also rich, and he might not be as famous, but his family is,” Taemin explained.

“Who is he?” asked Key.

“Oh Jong Yoon. His father is the CFO of the Hanwha Group and his grandfather was a Supreme Court justice.”

“Wait,” Key perked up. “You’re telling us that your girlfriend actually dated the son of some so-and-so guy of some so-and-so company and is also the grandson of some so-and-so older guy who worked at the Supreme Court? Inconceivable!”

Minho laughed silently at Key’s sarcasm. Taemin only frowned deeply.

“Oh, shut up,” Taemin muttered churlishly. “You don’t get it because you’ve never had a hot girlfriend before.”

Key sighed disdainfully and patted Taemin on the back. “Of which is why we tried to warn you before dating Joo Yeon. The hotter she is, the bigger trouble she’ll bring.”  

Author's Notes: Listened to Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar the entire time I was writing this chapter. They're great rappers, so listen to them when you can lol. Anyhoots, I'm a bit of political fanatic, though I only ever follow American politics and I'm new to Korean politics, so any incorrect assumptions about their politics and their party's platforms, please do overlook it. This is fiction and anything can happen. Thank you for the comments and all the new subscribers! I hope to not let you down with the story, please continue to give love!