A/N: You might want to read a few chapters back, to get familiar to the flow of the story again. Just in case you forgot already. :)

CHAPTER 19. Morning After

Oh Ha Ni woke up suddenly, touched her head and realized that her headache was gone.

As it was already midnight, nothing sounded in the house.

She got out of bed to stretch out and noticed that the tray of porridge Seung Jo brought her earlier was already gone. In its place was a bowl of candies and something that looked like a folded piece of note. She picked a candy and opened the note.

"I hope you're well in the morning, noona."

A note from Eun Jo.

A realization struck her and Ha Ni choked on her candy.

Of course the family's already back…which surely means they also know how wasted I became last night.

She shuddered at the thought of breakfast in the morning. She did not know how to face the family.

Ommoni's motherly concern.

The CEO's twinkly eyes behind his spectacles that seemed to tell her that he knew things she didn’t.

Eun Jo's possible interrogations.

And worst of all, Seung Jo's smug look, knowing everything that transpired in all that one night that they were gone.

...all the embarrassments caused by the stupid bet and several shots of soju.

And she also thought of her friends. Min Ah would grill me on Monday! And Jin Woo…

Ha Ni shook her head vigorously, as if doing so would clear her head and make her ready for the following day.

A very light knock on her door made Ha Ni jump. She placed back the note and candy wrapper silently and listened. At the second knock, she quickly slipped under her blanket and pretended to be asleep. Whoever it was, she was not ready to talk yet.

I would apologize in the morning, but for goodness’ sake, it is still midnight!

She closed her eyes and waited for the person to go away.

Apparently, Seung Jo did not want to go away that fast. He knocked for a third time. Hearing no response from inside Ha Ni’s room and knowing that it was midnight, he concluded that she was probably still sleeping. So he decided to let himself in, the door still unlocked. He treaded lightly, careful not to make any noise. He looked at Ha Ni, sleeping very soundly.He smoothed some loose locks from her face and tucked her better under the blanket. Before he went out a few moments later, Ha Ni heard him sigh, the only sound which he made no effort to conceal.

Ha Ni breathed comfortable when she heard the door clicked shut. All those minutes Seung Jo was standing by her bed, she was struggling to control her breathing for it to sound normal for a real sleeping person.

What does he want with me in the dead of the night? That ert!

Ha Ni was already very thirsty, especially after eating a candy from Eun Jo’s bowl, but fearing that Seung Jo was still up, she waited agonizingly for 30 minutes before she decided it was safe to come out and go down to the kitchen.

Ha Ni tiptoed, making the littlest sound possible. She dared not open any lights and just brought her mobile phone to light the way. Luckily, she reached the kitchen without any mishap.

As she was pouring herself a second glass of water, she was startled by a sound of someone clearing his throat too loudly. She would have dropped the glass if SJ was not fast enough to grab her hand and keep its grip firmly around the glass.

“Watch it!” Seung Jo said.

Ha Ni was very startled by his appearance. She thought he had already gone to bed. “What are you doing here? Were you waiting just to scare me off?!”

Seung Jo gave her a look of disbelief. “What do you mean waiting for you? Don’t think too highly of yourself, Oh Ha Ni.”

“So why are you here?”

“Probably for the same reason that you’re here?” And with that, SJ took the glass of water from Ha Ni’s hand and drank from it. Then he added, “And I don’t know how many times I need to remind you that this is our house. I am free to walk anytime, anywhere.”

Oh Ha Ni squinted her eyes and said, “Oh really? So that gave you the right to walk into my room in the middle of the night without my permission?!”

Seung Jo was taken aback, he thought she was asleep. “Well, I was about to go down when I passed your room so I decided to check on you for a bit. Who knows if you’re still alive after sleeping for so long?”

“Baek Seung Jo, doesn’t it ever cross your brilliant mind that it wouldn’t look good if people knew you entered my room at night when everyone’s supposed to be sleeping?”

“No. First, I was really just being nice to check on you. Second, as you’ve said, everyone’s supposed to be asleep so there’s no danger of anyone finding it out.”

“But I am a girl! It’s not polite to sneak into my room anytime you want just because I am living in your house!” Ha Ni tried not to talk too loudly but stressed her every word.

“Okay, I would not be nice again next time. You could die in your sleep for all I care. And yes, you might be a girl but as I told you, there’s nothing in there that interest me… ” SJ pointed at her body.

Ha Ni, remembering that it was Seung Jo who changed her clothes the previous night, suddenly hugged herself again. “ert!”

SJ just chuckled. “Why were you pretending to be asleep when I came in, anyway? You could have just thrown me out the moment I set foot in your room… or maybe you really pretended to be asleep, hoping I would do anything to you? Kiss you, maybe?”

“YAH!” Ha Ni shouted a little too loudly. Her eyes were so wide-opened with rage.

SJ laughed some more.

Without warning, Ha Ni started to cry. All the pent up emotions of having to deal with his attitude towards her finally blew up.

“Bad bad jerk. Why do I have to get engaged to you? I have been a very good girl. All I hoped was to have a happy family and now, all I am stuck with is you. All you do is make me miserable. You always embarrass me. You make fun of me. You’re always rude. You make me do all sort of things in the office. You want to choose whom I become friends with…”

SJ panicked when he saw real tears streaming down her face. He did not know how to stop her from crying.

“Why did I do to deserve this? I didn’t do anything real bad to you. I even agreed to comply with your unfair rules. You don’t even try to be really nice, even as friends. You don’t even respect me.”

Seung Jo turned serious with her outburst and tried to pacify her.  “Look, I am not that bad. I even help you at times. Remember?”

Ha Ni sniffed. “But why do you even have to do those rude things? It’s like you always want to get me angry…”

“Okay, I am sorry. It was immature of me to do those things to you. Please stop crying now.” SJ stepped closer to her. He tried lifting her chin and brushed off some of the dampness from her cheeks.

Ha Ni hesitantly looked up to him and sniffed once more. “I am sorry, too. For making all these arranged marriage stuff earlier for you. I don’t believe in arranged marriage and I would not have done it if there was any alternative.”

Seung Jo nodded.

Ha Ni continued, “I don’t expect us to hit it off like a true couple but maybe we can at least be nice to each other, follow the rules, be friends… and who knows, maybe we can find a way out in the future. I hope we could start over.”

“Okay.” Seung Jo agreed. “So from where do we start over?”

Ha Ni thought for a while. “Let’s start over from the musical. You were unexpectedly friendlier at that time. You were even more than pleasant during dinner. We tried to learn things about each other. I thought you were a totally different person.”

Seung Jo did not say anything.

“It was a nice evening until Jin Woo came and you…” The rest was too much for Ha Ni to continue. She was even blushing against her will.

Seung Jo looked away.

“So…” Ha Ni thought of her words and continued, “Thank you again for everything you did when I got drunk. I am sorry for causing your troubles. I swear I wouldn’t try drinking alcohol again. That should be my lesson.”

Seung Jo smiled. “Yes, that should be lesson enough.”

Ha Ni turned and she was about to leave when Seung Jo tentatively grasped her arm.

“Wait…” he said and dropped his hand from Ha Ni’s arm.

Ha Ni looked back and waited for what he had to say.

It took long before Seung Jo was able to say it out. “I’m sorry for kissing you unexpectedly in the parking lot. It was wrong. If I could only turn back time-----”

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RRRIIIIINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

RIINNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Oh Ha Ni’s alarm clock cut off Seung Jo’s words.

She opened her eyes and the dream dissolved.

It was a start of a new day.

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Ha Ni blinked.

So everything was a dream? I mean, I did not wake up at all?

She raked her brain for the remnants of the dream before they disappear from her memory.

And my talk with Seung Jo was also a dream? It was all too real! I thought we already reached a compromise. Aish. But then, I knew he wouldn’t apologize ever for the kiss… nor for every rude thing he did to me. That jerk.

Ha Ni got up from bed and something familiar caught her eyes. There in the table was a bowl of candies.

Eun Jo’s candies!

Then she saw Eun Jo’s note and an empty candy wrapper.

She became more confused.

These are supposed to be parts of the dream… but they’re here. They really happened. But…

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So what part of it was a dream?

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A/N: Sorry for my delinquencies. I’ve been really busy. I still am, btw.

       Update dedicated to someone's birthday. Belatedly :)