Chapter Twenty-Five

The Confrontation

They walked back to the restaurant in silence. Kai needed to get to his meeting before his guests would start to question his disappearance, and Sungmi couldn't leave her date hanging. But Kai wasn't exactly excited about that. 

"Why don't you just leave him and go walk around the square or something?" he asked. There was no doubt that he was feeling absolutely peeved by the notion of Sungmi on a date with another guy, especially when they themselves had never been on a date.  

Sungmi gave him a pointed look. "That's not very nice. I can't just leave Kris like that, especially if he's done nothing wrong. I'm the one who rudely left during our dinner," she said. 

Kai huffily sighed and folded his arms. "Alright, fine. But don't go anywhere with him afterwards and just wait for me, okay?" 

She nodded. They both parted ways and stepped back into the restaurant separately to be as inconspicuous as possible. 

When Sungmi sat down in her seat, Kris snapped his phone shut and gleamed back at her with a broad grin. "Did you have fun?" 

"What?" 

"With, you know, your boyfriend?" he asked, smirking.

Sungmi blushed and coughed to cover up her embarrassment. "Um, what do you mean by that? And-and he's not.." 

Kris chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. Don't turn so red. If you turn any redder, I'm afraid I'm going to be skinned alive from the daggers your boyfriend is shooting me from over there." Kris pointed a thumb behind him. 

Sungmi leaned to the side to see what he was talking about and immediately shrank back when her eyes caught Kai's intimidating glare. Holy freak. 

"You see what I'm saying?" Kris asked amusedly. He gestured a hand to the food layed out on the table before them. "Let's eat now, shall we? I don't think I'll be threatened if we just eat." 

And that was exactly what they did. Kris didn't talk very much, but he didn't need to. Sungmi was in her own little world, smiling to herself randomly every few minutes without a specific reason to do so. Kris had a feeling something good had happened while she had been gone, and although he was slightly curious to ask her about it, he found that staring at her beaming profile was entertaining enough. 

Like Kris had assumed, it didn't take very long for Kai to approach the table after their dinner was over. Kai's guests had left, and he had being loitering around to think up of a way to in on the other's date without coming off as completely unmannered. After all, he had already done it once. 

"If it's not too rude of me, may I please take Sungmi away from you?" Kai asked as he awkwardly stood by the booth. "I'm sorry about...what happened earlier, but I think you're done, no?" 

Kris tried his best to suppress a laugh and lifted his wine glass to his lips to hide his smile. "Yeah, go ahead." 

Kai stiffly bowed before snatching Sungmi's wrist and bolting out of the room. Only when they were out of earshot did the other male double over in laughter. 

It was a new start for both of them, and Kai couldn't be happier. After dropping Sungmi off at her hotel, he had literally started air-punching windows out of excitement. 

Everything he had ever wished for had come true for the most part. Out of everything, Kai was happiest about the fact that his lover wasn't a man, and that he wasn't gay. Why had he been so stupid to assume that in the first place? He definitely regretted putting himself through so much turmoil over his ual orientation when he didn't even have to worry in the first place. Kai figured maybe that was why he starting liking her from early on, even when he was under the assumption that she was a male. His mind had been fooled, but his hormones definitely hadn't. 

And Kai was even happier about the fact that he could finally be in peace. His mind and body had been a wreck as of late, and after tonight, he knew sleep would finally come to him. Thank goodness. 

For the next two days, Kai still felt as if he was in a stupor. While he had business meetings all day, he felt like a lovesick puppy that couldn't stop constantly smiling. The people around him definitely noticed that Kai eased up quite a bit, and seemed much more approachable than before, when he had simply barked at everybody that came close to him. 

Ideally, the best part now was spending time with Sungmi whenever he could. That meant getting off work as early as possible and picking her up from the hotel to walk through Tian'namen Square together or merely sitting on the couch browsing through Chinese films, like they would normally do as friends anyways. Nothing had really changed in their relationship, aside from the fact that now, instead of just wistful gazes, there were handholding and the occasional kiss. Which may or may not turn into a make-out session, as Kai wasn't exactly a shy soul when it came to kissing. 

However, many things still needed to be resolved, and both of them were aware of that. 

Kai had been wondering how to break his engagement for a while, and no matter how much he mulled over the thought, he had no doubt his father was going to fight him till the end. It didn't even matter if Kai had raised the company's stocks by his successful collaborations with other businessmen, because his father was a stubborn man who would refuse to take 'no' for an answer. 

The only way to go about it was to get the other side to agree with the cancellation of the proposal, which was why Kai found himself sitting across from Li Wang in his office a few days later, just like he had planned. 

"Is there a reason you called me here today?" she asked over a cup of coffee, leaning back against the white sofa with one leg crossed over the other. Dressed in a black suit well-fitted to her slender figure, Li Wang was an image of sophistication. 

Kai grimly nodded. "I want to discuss breaking off our engagement." 

At his words, she placed her cup down on the coffee table and raised an eyebrow. "This again?"

"I'm not going to change my mind."

She sighed this time. "Why are so persistent about this, Kim Jongin? You know this has been arranged for awhile now."

"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with me? Because I can assure you I'll never love you, and our interactions will be just like this everyday. Is that what you want?" he asked.

Li Wang didn't answer. opened and closed as she fumbled for something to say. 

Kai continued. "And it would be much easier for me if we both agree to breaking this off. After all, we are both grown adults that will take over our parents' empires in the near future, and I'd hate to think we would be controlled by them even in our love lives." And then in a quieter voice, he said, "And I don't want to marry you." 

That seemed to make her snap. Li Wang surged up from her reclined position and grasped the arm of the sofa tightly. "Do you think ​I want to marry you? You're a complete !" 

Kai's eyes widened. That was the first time he had ever seen her portray any emotion aside from her usual stoic face. Maybe it was the fact that the last two times he had seen her, they had been in the public eye, and today they were alone. Nevertheless, he was sti