Chapter Fifteen

The Ball

The following morning, both Kai and Sungmi pretended that nothing had happened. While thoughts still lay heavy in their minds and they had been tossing and turning the entire night, it was better to not broach the topic. 

In the meantime, the approaching ball took precedence.

"Do you have any tuxedos?" Kai asked at breakfast. 

Sungmi choked. She had almost forgotten that the event was going to be formal, and being a girl, she didn't own a suit of any kind. "N-no," she replied. 

"Then we need to go get you one." Kai stood up and dropped his empty bowl in the sink before pulling out his phone and dialing a number. A second later, the other line picked up. "Hello? It's Kim Jongin. I'm calling to book an appointment for a fitting today."

Who? Sungmi questioned. She had never heard that name before. 

"No, it's not for me. Just have assistants ready, alright? Yes, yes, thank you," Kai swiftly said, and then ended the call. He replaced the phone inside his pocket before returning his gaze to Sungmi, who was staring at him strangely. 

"Who's Kim Jongin?" she asked curiously, cocking her head to the side.

He didn't answer. Kai's mind seemed to have entered a different dimension as he stood completely still for a whole minute. Seeing this, Sungmi got up from her chair and waved her hand in front of his face. "Helloooo? Earth to Kai?" 

He snapped out of the trance and grabbed her moving wrist. Sungmi's heart stopped as he focused his eyes on her with a blank and stoic expression, slowly gripping her wrist tighter. A moment of pure tension passed as Kai studied her face, appearing to search her features for something that he couldn't seem to find. Sungmi could observe his frustration from the furrow of his eyebrows to the narrowing of his eyes. What, did she have something on her face? 

"Kai, uh, what are you doing?" Sungmi said slowly, not breaking his eye contact. 

With a sigh, he let her go. "Just...go change."

And then he turned around the corner and left, just like that. 

What is wrong with him? Yesterday and today, he had been acting a little weird, and Sungmi couldn't help but wonder if she had done something to make him question her identity. Even though she had been trying her hardest to be as careful as possible around him, she was only human and would be prone to slipping up. His strange behavior was probably a suspicious reaction to something she had done but didn't know, and Sungmi desperately hoped that that wasn't it. 

Ten minutes later, they were both sitting in her car with Kai directing the steering wheel. The direction that he was taking was completely new to Sungmi, and as they headed south of the Hangang River and the street pedestrians morphed into well-dressed, fashion-conscious people, her eyes widened. "Are we in Gangnam?!" (A/N: Seoul's Gangnam district is the wealthiest in Korea, known for its lavish living, expensive upmarket shopping area and enormous underground COEX mall.)

Kai casually nodded, oblivious to her surprise and shock. If he was going to get her a tuxedo, why did he have to travel all the way down here? As far as she knew, everything here was as expensive as her house rent. "Kai," she said, turning to her side to look at him, "I don't have the money to afford a suit here!" 

He waved her off, not taking his eyes off the road. "I'll take care of it," he answered curtly. 

"How are you going to have the money? I'm not going to let you pay!" 

Kai broke his concentration off the road for a second to giving her a sardonic look. "Are you complaining right now? If I remember correctly, you used to gripe at me for having to pay for everything. Consider this a payback." 

"But--"

"Take it or leave it."

His tone indicated that the conversation was over, so Sungmi sat back in her seat with her arms crossed, huffing indignantly. She couldn't believe that Kai was about to buy her a freaking expensive tuxedo that she was probably never going use again after today. Was he in his right mind even? Where did he have so much money to waste on her? 

The car pulled into the underground mall parking and Sungmi followed Kai into the building. Since he had apparently placed an appointment in some shop earlier, Kai moved with quick, purposeful steps towards an unknown destination. Lagging behind him, Sungmi really hoped that the store would not be extremely high-class, as she had no desire to make Kai empty his pockets for her. If the store was moderately well-priced, she figured digging up some old savings would cover the cost, even for something as trivial as a tux. 

But that wasn't the case. 

"What the hell?! GUCCI?" she exclaimed as they approached the storefront. dropped and she could feel her feet begin to stagger. "What on earth, Kai? How are you supposed to afford this?!"

Kai, who noticed that she had fallen behind, walked back to grab her arm and pull her forward. "You're so annoying. I said it's not a big deal. Just shut up and come on." He proceeded to tug her inside the store, but Sungmi could only stare up at the fancy golden lettering of the storefront and flap like a fish as he did so.

"Oh, Mr. Kim! Welcome back to our store! Is this your friend?" a butchering high voice practically squealed at them upon their entrance.

Sungmi turned to observe the speaker, who was a short, stocky man that looked around his thirties. He was dressed elegantly in a maroon suit and sported an blinding neon apricot scarf around his neck, and his blond hair showed streaks of caramel highlights. Upon closer look, Sungmi could even see that his slanty eyes were coated with a thick line of black kohl pencil. 

"Hi, Daesung. Yes, he needs a black tuxedo that's appropiate for an evening ball. Take his measurements carefully," Kai responded, and pushed her forward, almost causing her to slam into the man that was scrutinizing her from head to toe. 

Almost as if he was hesitant, Daesung muttered, "Alright...Mr.Kim." He never took his eyes off of Sungmi. Her blood began to grow cold as he stared her down, suspicion flashing across his features. "You, follow me." With a curved finger, he beckoned her to follow him to the back of the store, leaving Kai to wait at the front until they were finished. 

When they were out of earshot, secluded by several racks of clothing and standing mirrors, Daesung swiveled around and folded his arms. "You're a woman," he declared crisply, with no hint of a doubt. 

Sungmi gulped. "I-I don't know w-what you're talking about." 

"Girl please, you can't fool a gay man. I know an authentic male when I see one," he sarcastically remarked. 

Wringing her hands nervously, she looked into the man's judging eyes. "Am I really that obvious?" 

He scoffed. "Your hair is short, your clothes are baggy, and your s are nonexistent. Aside from your face, everything else kind of screams testosterone, to be honest."

Sungmi's jaw fell. While Daesung was pr