Chapter Twenty

Dating went about as expected for Doojoon and Jinhee. The girls at school went wild when they found out he was from a wealthy family too. Exclamations of how princely he was fluttered shrilly all around them. Four weeks later, they told their parents who then made it a big deal. Jong Hyun was at another function they were all appearing at.

Doojoon was surprised by her ability to pretend to be saddened by his appearance, trying to reassure him and tell him that she went to the same school as Doojoon and it was natural. The guy was nice about it and avoided bumping into them.

However, it wasn’t a secret that Jong Hyun had managed to court the girl, and publicly at that. This made him a supremely eligible bachelor now, so she boosted his status up before dropping him at least. When asked, she only spoke praises about her former ‘flame’.

Doojoon and Jinhee really did look great together. She made an effort to look a bit cleaner since it got out that they went to school together and where. The response was shock, since it was such a low school in comparison to who they were. Their families spun some story about wanting to remain humble and maintaining a sense of normalcy. Also something about wanting understand how the other half lived. The only way to properly manage people is to understand them. Their school received an unprecedented number of transfer requests that Jinhee had to intercept and reject.

Their relationship and school life was hugely publicized. It was hard to continue her club activities with the way paparazzo was obsessively following her around. They were following before, but now that she was in a high profile relationship, she was on the front page of everything, clickbait everywhere.

“This article is terrible. It literally says it has pictures of us kissing, but then there aren’t any pictures. I was almost excited,” Jinhee snorted to Doojoon in the cafeteria.

“You want there to be pictures of us floating around out there?”

“No, but I was clickbaited. I wondered what I was gonna see. Photoshop is scary these days, you know.”

“You’re right.”

“Speaking of which, how fancy is tonight’s dinner again? Why does your mom keep making me come over for dinner?”

Doojoon remembered the first time she was over for a ‘family dinner’. They went all out for her, even though he told them she preferred traditional Korean dishes over fancy French cuisine. She also had to pretend his house was something impressive though her own home was twice the size of his. To live in her neighborhood would be to try to bankrupt themselves. But she was polite and well trained in their society.

“She really wants us to get married.”

“Dinner isn’t going to magically make us the proper age for marriage…”

“I’m curious,” Jiwon piped up. “Aren’t you rich people in competition with each other?”

“Our families operate in different industries for the most part. And AFA is bigger than Yoon Corp. No competition.”

“My dad thinks that me marrying you would be him winning. He thinks that because I’m a man, I’ll be stronger than you and have control.”

“That’s cute,” Jinsoo snorted.

Jinyoung smirked, “Not even her own parents can make her do something she really doesn’t want to.”

Jinsoo grinned, “Which is why they never directly ask her to do the things they know they won’t be able to get her to do in a million years. They have to handle her like a problematic business deal. It’s honestly quite amusing. I wonder how it’ll all turn out.”

Jinhee glared at her cousins, “Yeah yeah. You know something I don’t. I get it.”

“It’s not our business to tell you.”

“Then who is?”

“Your mother. Most likely. Or Dongwoon.”

“Dongwoon?”

“That’s all we can say.”

Jinhee narrowed her eyes at them. They changed the subject to secrets about their teachers that they’ve deduced. The others at their lunch table shifted around nervously. It was like nothing these past couple months would just settle and let them be bored. They didn’t know what this new revelation would develop into, but it had to be big because the twins had been hinting at it for weeks since they’d arrived to town. They’d only ever shut up before because they were forced to by Dongwoon or Junhyung.

But now Dongwoon was out sick and Junhyung took the day off to help his mom on the job. She had given him the okay this one time to help her out because her assistant had sprained her wrist and they really needed the help again.

There was nothing to stop the cousins from revealing this information. There was nothing to stop her from going straight to his apartment after school, dismissing everyone from club activities for the day. His dad was out working, as usual, so he was alone. She owned the building so she was able to get a key into the place. She could hear him snoring. He only ever snored like that when he was sick and congested.

She called in her assistant and had her arrange to have the place tidied up and the fridge stocked. Jinhee wasn’t a cook by any means, but the state of his home was abysmal. This judgment was coming from the girl who sat behind a dumpster for hours to document the mating habits of a specific species of flies in that spot.

He woke up to the sound of a lot of footsteps in his home. Footsteps when it was usually dead silent except for his own breathing and loud thoughts.

Jinhee was reviewing reports on her tablet when he poked his head out, hand clutching a baseball bat. She smirked, “No need for that. They’re almost done and should be leaving soon. You like abalone porridge when you’re sick, right?”

“Yeah…”

Jinhee smiled sweetly, just the way he remembered when they were kids, “Good. The chef should soon be done.”

“Why are you here?” He had to ask. She magically appeared and took control of his life just like they were kids again. It was so sudden. No warning.

“We need to talk. Plus you’re sick and someone needed to check in on you. Junhyung and his mom are busy, so don’t say that they will. And your dad… Well we both know he’ll be too tired to take care of you when he finally gets home late at night.”

“I’m fine.”

“You didn’t even have ice in your ice cube tray, let alone soup. You were not fine. Just… accept this.” She rolled her eyes and waved him off.

He frowned at her with narrowed eyes, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. And we really do need to talk.”

That caused him to flinch and hesitate. It was never good to be told ‘we need to talk’ in any situation. “About what?”

She shook her head with a thin smile. She was too aware of all the people in the room with them, “We will get to it after you’ve been properly fed.”

“You really shouldn’t be here. I don’t want to get you sick.”

“It’s not like I don’t have a million doctors to tend to me personally if I get even the hint of a sniffle,” She scoffed sarcastically.

“True.”

When the food was set up on the table, she dismissed them and had them wait outside of the apartment. She would call them back in to clean it up when they were done. She watched him eat, not really in the mood to eat herself.

When he was done, he set his spoon down. “So…”

“The sociopathic cousins, what do they mean when I need to talk to you or my mother about something my parents had to do for me? I’ve come to many conclusions, a couple in particular unfortunately make sense, so I just need to know.”

“They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“I’ve let this go for long enough. You want to be my friend, and then you glare at me for no reason. You ignore me for years after we worked so hard to stick together. You want to cuddle with me and then look appalled at the idea of me getting near you at other times. Is this hormones? Weird teen angst? Or did my mom do what I really hope she didn’t do? Did she make you leave me?” She pressed him with hard eyes staring him down.

“Jinhee…”

She didn’t let up in the slightest. She couldn’t. “Did she? Is that what went down behind my back? Because it fits. She knows I would never leave you, she’d never be able to get me to do something I would absolutely hate the thought of. But you’re not as stubborn as I am. Did she push you away from me?”

Dongwoon deflated and stared at his empty bowl. “She just helped me understand that I wasn’t a part of your world. I was the nephew of your cook. I wasn’t smart or talented in anything specific while there’s nothing you’re not naturally gifted in.”

“What should that even matter?”

“It matters! I can’t bring anything to the table for you. I only hold you back!” Dongwoon huffed, though it lacked power due to still being achy and coughy.

“Hold me back from what, Dongwoon? What could you possibly think you’re getting in the way of in my life?”

“Someone worth your time!”

“You think I don’t know my worth? What my time is worth?”

“You’re nicer than most people in your position, but I couldn’t just take advantage of that,” He wanted to explain it to her better, but it was so hard, even if he wasn’t sick.

“Yeah. I’m a really ing nice person. Because your dumb influenced me. You’ve always kept me grounded when my perception of reality as a filthy rich princess got out of control. And if you think that I will find a guy that matters more to me than you, you’re dead wrong. If you think you’re holding me back from world domination, you’re even more wrong.”

“Jinhee.”

“No. You’re not leaving my side again. You are the most important person in the world to me. You are my achilles heel, and my mother decided to cut me there. She forgets I know her weakness. Me. I am going to ing handle this.”

“What about Doojoon?”

“What about him?”

“You guys are…”

She furrowed her brows at him, “Son Dongwoon. He does not matter to me the way you do. Prepare yourself because we’re gonna make up for that stolen time that my mother took from us. I have no idea what she thought she was accomplishing, but she’s just succeeded in pissing me off. Be patient while I make preparations for war.”

“War?”

“Don’t worry, Dongwoon. Us Titans will play chess, and I never lose at chess.”

“What are you about to do?”

“I’m going to take some drastic measures to make sure my mother knows never to mess with what’s precious to me ever again.”

“Don’t do something you’re gonna regret… I really… Your mom wasn’t wrong.”

“She was.”

“Do you really think I have any place in your world?”

“You know who I really am underneath the makeup I wear to the fancy galas. Do you really think I have a place in that world either? No one belongs there. It’s not made for humans.”

“Doesn’t stop you from ruling it.”

“Exactly. I rule it. My rules. No one can stop me from spending time with the person I choose.”

“Jinhee… Am I really… This is…”

She sighed heavily, “Dongwoon. You’re my best friend. You make me the happiest. Even when you were ignoring me, I was happy just watching you be happy and making new friends.”

“I just don’t think you should do anything rash. It’s fine. Your mom had valid points. I get it. She had your best interests at heart.”

“No she didn’t, but I appreciate that you seem to really want to believe so. Now stop fighting this. Go to bed. I need to go handle some things.”

“Fine… Just… be careful.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Jinhee.”

“Fine. I will. Sleep tight.”

The first chapter I wrote in 2018. I tried to emulate 2014 me and the plot I remember thinking up for continuity.