It’s been a week since Jongin found out the truth and the same amount of time has passed since he’s seen or heard from Jiel. The first day back from the weekend, he immediately approached Kyungsoo to ask about Jiel. The older one was more than happy to supply him with any information he knew, even giving him a copy of her schedule. However, going ahead with Sehun’s plan did not come about as easily.

 

Jongin has been battling with his conscience all week, forcing himself to believe that there’s nothing wrong with what he’s about to do. The past week proved to be insufficient for even as he stood outside the infirmary, he was still debating whether to do it or not. Unfortunately for him, that’s all the time he’d get.

 

“Jongin-ssi?”

 

“Ah Jiel-ssi,” Jongin jumped slightly from shock.

 

The ends of Jiel’s lips lifted a little to show a small grin after seeing what had happened. “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked him after noticing that he was leaning heavily on the wall.

 

Realizing what she was thinking, Jongin responded with, “Ah, it’s not what it looks like,” then he pushed himself away from the wall to approach her. “I just came to ask about—I mean, I just wanted to check on you. If you arrived home safely.”

 

Jiel looked him in the eyes with confusion, causing him to cast his gaze downward. Seeing his reaction, the crinkles around Jiel’s eyes and forehead softened and she looked at him with the upmost gratitude. “I’m okay now, but aren’t you a bit late? Though I don’t know how he got a hold of my number, Kyungsoo-ssi called me later that night to ask how I was doing,” her reply made Jongin raise his head and rub the back of his neck causing her to let out a little laugh. “I was only joking Jongin-ssi, don’t let what happened bother you too much.”

 

“It’s just…” Jongin could not look her in the eyes. All that was going through his mind was how to proceed with the plan.

 

“I’m okay now, I was just really shocked,” she tried to ease the tension that was suddenly building between them.

 

“I just wanted to apologize for what my friend did,” saying the word “friend” left a bitter taste in Jongin’s mouth.

 

“There’s no need to. It wasn’t any of your fault, plus Oh Sehun-ssi already came and apologized to me.”

 

“He did!” Jongin was stunned.

 

“Yes, the first day back from school he brought a bouquet of flowers and apologized. Flowers can never excuse what he’s done so I was reluctant to accept them, but it made me feel bad to reject, especially since he looked so apologetic. Although I accepted the flowers and I bear no grudge, I don’t feel comfortable being around him.”

 

“You’re a really good person Jiel-ssi,” Jongin was having an inner battle of what he should do. “Please don’t tell Miyoung about what happened,” he suddenly blurted out.

 

“You must really care for her, huh?” Jiel said with a sad smile on her face.

 

“W-What do you mean?” Jongin stuttered.

 

“I didn’t want to say anything since I could tell she’s Sehun-ssi’s girlfriend, but she was the girl with you in the hallway when I first saw you, right?” she said causing Jongin’s eyes to widen. “Don’t be alarmed I won’t say anything,” she tried to calm him down.

 

His heart was pounding hard against his chest for a second until he remembered that Sehun already knew about it. The thought reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing so he asked out of nowhere, “I was wondering if I could take you home?” Jongin was surprised to notice that Jiel’s gaze suddenly turned cold. “T-To make up for not checking up on you sooner,” he added an excuse after seeing the change in her.

 

After hearing his excuse, Jiel seemed to snap out of it and replied with a smile, “I’m sorry Jongin-ssi, but I’m actually meeting up with my father today and I haven’t seen him in a while.”

 

“Next time then? Maybe I can even treat you to some food?” Her change in demeanor was not as noticeable as earlier, but after his question Jongin could see that Jiel was losing interest in their conversation.

 

“Ah, sure,” she responded half-heartedly and immediately left him without saying goodbye.

 

Jongin continued to stare at her disappearing silhouette as he thought about how she was acting differently from her usual polite self. It made him remember the cold-hearted girl Sehun had described.

 

~~~*~~~

 

A tall man with graying hair sat in his home office with an authoritative air looking over pictures of a tall, blonde haired guy with a girl who looked to be the guy’s classmate since they were wearing matching uniforms. He had a total of three pictures: one of the teens hugging, one of them holding hands, and another with the girl giving the guy a kiss on the cheek. He looked on at the pictures with disdain when a knock on the door startled him, causing him to hurriedly hide the pictures under his paperwork.

 

“Come in.”

 

Jiel came through the door with her long dark hair straightened and cascading down her back. She was wearing a dark colored summer dress, the skirt of which she adjusted when she sat on a chair in front of the man’s desk. “You called for me father?” she addressed him politely.

 

“Yes, how are your studies?”

 

“I regret to inform you that I am not in the top 5 of my class,” she talked to him with her head down.

 

“So I’ve heard,” her father let out a soft sigh. “Is this because of a boy?”

 

Jiel’s straight back straightened even further. “No father,” she denied. “I haven’t disobeyed that rule. Not even once.”

 

“Then what is this I hear about you going to a party in the weekend?”

 

“A schoolmate had invited me.”

 

“And this schoolmate is…”

 

“The schoolmate is a girl father.”

 

“And her name?”

 

“It’s Park Miyoung.”

 

“The name doesn’t ring a bell.”

 

“I believe she’s not of our social circle.”

 

“Then why bother attending her party?”

 

“I wanted to give off a good impression, father.”

 

“That is understandable, but you must think about how attending such parties will look to the public. You must remember that your actions reflect on the company.”

 

“I apologize father,” Jiel’s head lowered even more. “It won’t happen again.”

 

“I expect as much. If I hear of another incident like that, I will have to expedite your wedding,” he sounded serious but Jiel could tell from the small grin on his face that he was teasing her.

 

“Understood father. That incident will be the last.”

 

“Then you are dismissed,” her father waved her off.

 

“Father, if I may,” Jiel looked at him with sparkling eyes.

 

“What is it?” Her father looked at her with a softer expression from the one he had on earlier.

 

“When will I find out who I am to marry?”

 

“I know I said that I would tell you soon. However, something came up that I need to fix before I can present him to you,” he said remembering the pictures he was viewing previously.

 

“But fath—”

 

“That’s the end of this discussion. Just trust me for now. Appa will not let anything or anyone harm you. Now leave so I may continue with my work.”

 

“Yes father, I’m sorry to have imposed upon you,” she bowed in his direction and quietly left the room.

 

Once outside, Jiel let out a heavy sigh. Before she could walk to her room a maid stopped her to hand her the phone.

 

“Yeoboseyo?”

 

“Ji-ah!!!” The other person on the line shouted causing Jiel to put the phone a little distance from her ear.

 

“Chohee, why are you calling?” Jiel asked keeping the phone away from her ear.

 

“What do you mean why am I calling? How dare you forget about me! We were supposed to meet up at the ice cream place after school!”

 

“It completely slipped my mind.”

 

“Just because you moved schools you forgot about me,” Chohee cried.

 

“I just saw you on Monday,” Jiel deadpanned.

 

“Only because I waited for you outside your house. You know, just because you gave me a bouquet of flowers you were going to throw away anyway, doesn’t mean I will easily forgive you for not wanting to hang out with me that day.”

 

“What are you talking about? You were the one who picked the flowers up out of the trash. Besides, I had a test the next day, so I needed to study. You know how much I want to make my father proud.”

 

“I know, that’s why I let you push back our hangout to today but you forgot about me!”

 

“I’m sorry but I had to meet up with my father.”

 

“Oh,” the voice on the other end suddenly became soft, allowing Jiel to put the phone at a normal distance to her ear. “What happened?”

 

“The same thing. He still won’t tell me who it is,” Jiel replied and continued on her walk to her room.

 

“So you don’t know who your fiancé is yet?”

 

“No, not yet.”

 

“I thought your father told you he would say who it is if you transferred to his school?”

 

“I thought so too, but when I asked him today he didn’t tell me anything. And he was acting suspiciously,” Jiel said remembering how her father acted.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“He was a bit distant at first and I got a glimpse of a picture on his desk. I think he was looking at them before I came in.”

 

“Maybe it’s just your pictures. Your father does keep an eye on you,” Chohee tried to offer an explanation.

 

“Maybe you’re right.”

 

“Of course I am. Enough of that, come to the ice cream place now.”

 

“But Chohee…”

 

“No buts Ji, if you don’t come in thirty minutes I will consider our friendship over.”

 

~~~*~~~

 

Three months later, a girl with blonde shoulder length hair was patiently waiting outside the school. Once she saw who she was looking for, she jumped up and down in excitement, “Ji, yoohoo!”

 

Jiel stopped laughing at the joke Jongin had just told her and looked to where she heard Chohee’s voice only to see her friend jumping up and down waving her arms back and forth to get her attention. Jiel covered herself from view by grabbing onto Jongin, then she dragged him with her while trying to steer clear of Chohee’s path.

 

“Yah! Yoon Jiel, I can see you so don’t even try to hide from me!”

 

Jiel gave up the failed attempt and approached Chohee with Jongin tailing her from behind. “Oh, Chohee-ah it’s so nice to see you. What are you doing here?” Jiel shot her a strained smile.

 

Chohee disregarded her annoyance and turned to Jongin, who was now standing rather close to her friend. Seeing her looking at him, Jongin bowed and introduced himself. Instead of introducing herself also, Chohee just stood there staring at him giving him an awkward feeling.

 

“Ah, I should go now,” Jongin rubbed the back of his head while backing away from the two girls. “Bye Jiel. Let’s go for snacks another time,” Jongin shot her a charismatic smile that Jiel replied to with her own.

 

As soon as he was far enough away, Jiel told Chohee, “I think you scared him away.”

 

“Serves him right.”

 

“Chohee, Jongin’s a friend.”

 

“Are you sure he’s not your boyfriend instead?” Chohee raised one eyebrow at Jiel.

 

“What are you talking about? You know I can’t date,” Jiel disagreed.

 

“That doesn’t stop you from liking him. I think you’re getting too close to him. You should be careful,” Chohee’s tone became serious, something that happens rarely.

 

“Don’t worry about me Chohee, I know what I’m doing. I have everything under control.”

 

Chohee sighed, “Do you really? With how much time you spend with the guy, you’ve been talking about him, which wouldn’t be such a problem if you hadn’t stopped talking about meeting your fiancé.”

 

“Jongin has been really nice to me, and what exactly has my fiancé done? Nothing. I don’t even know who he is,” the volume of Jiel’s voice raised a little.

 

“That didn’t stop you before. You might not have known him, but you were never opposed to the idea of marrying him.”

 

“Shouldn’t you be happy with me? Jongin is someone who I could grow to love, not someone my father picked out for me. ”

 

“Ji, I would be happy if you had different circumstances. I’m only warning you because I don’t want you to get hurt again. You can’t date anyone else. Remember that guy you really liked before your father forbid you from dating. You cried all night because you had to turn him down when he finally confessed.”

 

“I don’t remember that,” Jiel replied.

 

“Really? Okay then how about this scenario: when your father finds out he’ll be really disappointed in you. You don’t want that would you?.”

 

“…” Jiel couldn’t respond because she knows Chohee is right.

 

Seeing the sad look on her face, Chohee tried to change the mood by putting her arm over Jiel’s shoulders and dragging her along. “Come on, let’s go get ice-cream. My—” Chohee cut her sentence off when she saw a certain tall, blonde-haired male pass them by and walk straight to a black car. “Omo! Is that Sehun-ssi?”

 

Hearing his name, Sehun stopped abruptly and looked behind him causing Chohee to run toward him. “I was right! You may have changed your hair, but I would never forget your handsome face. Sehun-ssi, do you remember me?” Chohee’s eyes were sparkling. He does recognize her, but he shook his head because he could see Jiel looking curiously at them. “But we used to go to the same school,” Chohee pouted.

 

He bowed in apology, “I’m sorry but I don’t think we’ve met before. Anyway, I’m in a hurry so if you will excuse me.” Sehun did not wait for Chohee to say anything else when he left her and walked quickly to the car waiting for him.

 

Chohee was dumbfounded by his abrupt departure and was only snapped out of it when Jiel came and stood beside her. “You know him?”

 

Chohee turned to her and asked, “Don’t you?”

 

“Well he’s friends with Jongin,” Jiel said as a matter of fact.

 

“That’s it?” Chohee was expecting a different answer.

 

“Yes,” Jiel furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

 

“Oh forget it,” Chohee waved her off. “It seems like people around here forget easily.”

 

~~~*~~~

 

Inside the black car, Sehun was slapped in the face by a bunch of pictures his dad threw at him. “Dad, what’s that for?” Sehun sadly looked to his left.

 

“Why don’t you look at those pictures and get an answer to your question,” Mr. Oh sounded very stern.

 

Sehun obeyed him and looked, only to be faced with three pictures of him and Miyoung. There was one picture of them holding hands, one of them hugging, and one with Miyoung kissing him on the cheek. Sehun nervously said, “Dad I can explain, these are—”

 

“Are what?! You disobeying me?!”

 

“I’m sorry dad, I—”

 

“Don’t give me excuses Sehun! Do you know the trouble you caused?” his dad was very angry.

 

“Dad it’s—” Sehun tried to say something but his dad cut him off again.

 

“You will break up with that girl.”

 

“But Da—”

 

“You will do as I say Sehun,” Mr. Oh glared at his son with wide eyes then looked out the window for the rest of the ride. When Sehun was being dropped off at their house, his dad said, “I’ll come for you later this evening. We will be having dinner with Mr. Yoon and his daughter, and you will apologize for your mistake.”

 

“Yes dad,” Sehun looked down.

 

It was finally time for the scheduled dinner and all Sehun could think about was losing his trump card against Jongin before his plan could come to fruition. However, as soon as he and his father sat at the table, the image of a girl with long, dark, straight hair observing him in shock caused him to smirk.