Chapter 9

"Right, Eonni?"

Yeojin flinched at the sudden call and tore her gaze away from the window and turned to face Lin whose grin slowly turned into a line and whose shoulders slumped a bit.

"You were't listening, were you?" The younger girl pouted.

Yeojin shook her head slowly. "Sorry." She gave her an apologetic smile.

Lin sighed a bit. "It's okay, Eonni!" The bright smile returned to Lin's face. "By the way," now a slight frown appeared on her face, "why was Gege grumbling about his arm?"

Yeojin's cheeks suddenly went beet red and she quickly turned back to gazing the trees whose colors looked blurred as the car sped passed them. "I-I don't know." But the tint color of blush on her cheeks didn't go unnoticed by Lin.

"Ah~" Lin nodded eyeing Yeojin with a knowing smile.


"Are you okay, Chairman?" Mr. Lee asked the younger man, who had been rubbing his right arm, worriedly as he opened the back door to the car.

Kris waved his arm dismissively as he stepped out of the car. "Just bring the suitcase for me," he handed his suitcase to Mr. Lee who immediately took it from him.

I shouldn't have lended my arm. Kris grumbled in his mind as he walked to the revolving door of the building. His arm still felt somewhat stiff, but at least it's better than when he woke up this the morning. His arm was practically dead then. But at least I can sleep on the bed after a long time.

Once he was in his office, Kris ed the single button on his jacket and flopped down on his chair while still massaging his arm. Mr. Lee excused himself to order coffee for him after putting down his suitcase. He then took out the small box he had been hiding inside his pocket. His hand played with the box as his mind drifted away.

He didn't love Yeojin. That was for sure. But he couldn't help the pang of guilt from eating him out. He felt like a cheating husband somehow.

"He said that?!" Ignoring their classmates, Sunhee laughed disbelieving what Yeojin told her about what her cousin said before he left the Wu's mansion the other day.

"Yeah. He did," Yeojin deadpanned. "What a crazy cousin you got there!" She rolled her eyes.

"Well... Did he actually tell you? Did you ask him?" Sunhee asked still giggling. Yeojin's eyes widened and her jaw dropped baffled by her friend's question.

"Aigo!" She flicked her friend's forehead earning a little yelp from her friend. "Why would I want to know some moves or position or method or whatever that is for doing that?!" Rubbing her forehead, Sunhee only giggled at her. "Well now I know where you get your erted mind recently. Jongin must've taught you well!" Yeojin scowled and now it's Sunhee's turn to let her jaw dropped.

"What do you mean erted mind? I do not have such kind of mind!" Sunhee pouted.

"Yeah yeah. Whatever, good girl!" Yeojin . Sunhee still pouted, but soon the corners of her lips turned upward in a smile.

"Actually, Jongin's not a ert, you know. Like at all. He just likes to act like he's some kind of a womanizer."

"Well~ he's a charming person - I'll give you that," Yeojin smiled remembering how fast she actually got close to Jongin though she just met him yesterday. "Speaking of him," Yeojin suddenly turned serious, her brows furrowed a bit, "how the hell he knows I'm married? It supposed to be a secret, Sunhee!"

"I'm innocent!" Sunhee exclaimed immediately raising her hands in surrender. "Actually... My parents accidentally spilled the beans when he was staying over at our house before he finally found an affordable apartment for himself," she explained still putting on her innocent look and Yeojin sighed. "Don't worry. He's good at keeping secrets," Sunhee beamed at Yeojin who was narrowing her eyes at her. "He promised he won't tell anyone."

"I know he won't. But he will surely use it to tease me." Yeojin burried her face in her hands.

Class started soon after. And though it felt like the day was dragging, it finally came to an end. At least the school hours did. It almost slipped out of Yeojin's mind about the track & field audition if it wasn't for the appearance of Sehun leaning on the wall right across the door of her class. She sighed exhaustedly but followed him anyway after waving a bye to Sunhee.

"Have fun!" Sunhee waved from a distance after Yeojin had walked away following Sehun.

The walk to the running track was silent. Sehun still wore his usual poker face while Yeojin glanced at him from time to time.

"You know...," Yeojin tried to break the awkward silence, "we could've just asked the coach about who in the club are the fastest runners rather than putting up form sheets and having an audition like this."

A rather dry chuckle came over Sehun's lips. "Well... He sacrificed his fastest female runner just to put his daughter on the spotlight, didn't he? So I kinda doubt his discernment on that." He threw her a gaze making her flinch a little. "Also," he continued, "there might actually be kids outside the running club who can ran faster." Yeojin wanted to snort at how Sehun referred to the other students as 'kids' but she hold it. "Plus! You shud be happy!" He smirked and Yeojin frowned not understanding what he meant. "This can be some kind of a revenge on the coach for sacrificing you. His daughter might not be qualified enough for the competition."

"Psh." Yeojin rolled her eyes as Sehun opened the door to the green field surrounded by the running track. "Childish," she snorted and Sehun raised a brow at her comment. "Revenge is a childish act. I dont want it. Besides, his daughter really is the fastest female runner here- well...maybe after me. But I've told you I'm totally okay with it."

Sehun stared at her for awhile before he looked away. "It's a revenge from the boyfriend of the victim then," he muttered while walking ahead of her towards the group of students gathering and stretching in the middle of the field.

"What did you say?" Yeojin asked, but he just ignored her and greeted the students.

Sehun introduced Yeojin as the PIC of the track & field competition and some of the students who were part of the running club waved happily at her. They were some good friends she made in the club. Sehun then proceeded to explaining what they needed to do - which was basically running the certain distance they had chosen: either 100m, 200m, or 400m. After making it clear for the others, he told them to get ready and stretch for a moment while he and Yeojin took a position at the side of the track near the finish line.

"So we both only need to time them and record the time," Sehun explained handing Yeojin a stopwatch and a clipboard with papers and a pen clipped to it.

Yeojin scanned the names listed on the papers.

"By the way, how is your brother taking in the fact that you have a boyfriend?" Pretending to read the names too, Sehun suddenly asked Yeojin surprising her.

Yeojin whipped her head towards him whose eyes were still glued on the paper, but she could clearly see a slight smirk there on his face. "What are you talking about?" She chuckled mockingly and shook her head. "You're not even my real boyfriend. I'm not going to talk about some imaginary boyfriend to my brother!" She scoffed.

"He sounded pretty irritated the other day when I mentioned I'm your boyfriend over the phone," stated Sehun with his usual flat tone. This time his statement nearly knocked Yeojin out in surprise.

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "You did WHAT?"

An almost silent scoff came over his mouth as he glanced at her. "He didn't tell you?" He raised an eyebrow at her trying to maintain his poker face. "No wonder you seemed clueless about the meeting a few days ago," he mumbled more to himself though he purposely said it loud enough for her to hear.

Wait. Kris knew? Is that why he suddenly asked mother to put me in the misery of private lesson? Ugh! That guy! Yeojin gritted her teeth.

"What an overprotective brother!" Sehun commented earning a glare from Yeojin. "You know...," Sehun suddenly fully faced her holding his clipboard behind his back and leaned forward that their faces were so close Yeojin could feel his breath tickling her face, "he sounded more like a jealous husband than a brother."

Yeojin's eyes were slightly widened and she suddenly felt it hard to breathe. And it wasn't merely because of the close distance between their faces. It was also because of his eyes. That cold strong gaze of his felt like it was making her frozen. And that almost invisible smirk softly grazing his face! That smirk! She wanted to claw it off of his face so badly, but somehow it made him look so attractive. At least for that short moment, it did.

Sehun straightened his back distancing himself away from her though his eyes still locked with hers. She blinked a few times and wanted to retort back at him, but Sehun suddenly blew his whistle and called out for the others. "Okay! Stretching time's over! Get to your place," Sehun shouted - though he still sounded calm and cold as ever - not breaking his eye contact with her.

After one last lingering gaze, he turned away from her and shouted the first two names on the list. The batches of students took turns and the audition went on.

Once the whole thing was done and Yeojin dismissed the others, she greeted some of the girls giving them a little hug. Walking behind her at a certain distance, Sehun watched her while the girls walked out of the field and into the school building together. It was pretty clear to him that she was not that close to them, yet she was very warm toward them nevertheless. It was as if she was a ball of ray of sunshine. Although, she didn't act that way toward him.


"See you after holiday then!" The girls wave her a good bye.

"Sure! Bye!" Yeojin waved back before walking to her locker. She just realized that she was still carrying the clipboard and made a mental note to give it to Sehun after she would be done packing up. She took out her bag and packed some of her books.

"Hey, Yeojin!" Someone called her as she was about to close her locker. She turned her head to the caller and found a pair of familiar eyes which turned into crescents with straight eyebrows bridging over them accompanied by a cat-like smile.

"Oh! Hi, Jongdae!" Yeojin immediately beamed at him with a bright smile. "What's up?" She asked as she closed her locker and hung her bag over her shoulders.

"It's just nice to see you again! You've been absent from the running club for a few months now!"

"I know...," Yeojin replied over a sigh. "I'm having some private lessons..." Headache-causing lessons! "...and then I got chosen as the PIC for this competition, so yeah..," she chuckles.

"Oh wow! You sound really busy!" Jongdae commented with rounded eyes. "By the way...," with a tint shade of pink on his cheeks, Jongdae handed her a can of drink. Yeojin just realized that he had been carrying two cans. "I thought you might be thirsty, so...," he lightly bit his lower lip.

"O-oh!" Yeojin took the can. "Thanks!"

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward between them and they both avoided each other's gazes.

"Actually," Jongdae started as he rubbed the nape of his neck, "I wa-"

A hand suddenly snatched the can in Yeojin's hand. The can was then shoved back to Jongdae. Yeojin looked at the intruder in surprise.

"Bribing is not allowed," Sehun said flatly staring at Jongdae coldly.

"Whoa! Chill!" Jongdae half-raised both of his hands with a can in each and gave him an 'are you serious?' look.

"Ya!" Yeojin snapped at Sehun who now glanced at her still with his cold eyes. "He wasn't-"

"Wait for me at the lobby," Sehun simply told her after taking away the clipboard from her hand. Yeojin raised an eyebrow confused by what he told. "Have you forgotten that I'm going to take you home?"

Her expression turned from confusion to panic as she took a quick glance at Jongdae while the said guy glanced back and forth between the two of them with a surprised and confused look.

"I--"

"Just do what I said. You don't want to know what I gonna do if I don't find you at the lobby." Sehun whispered the last part sending shivers down her spine before he walked away.

Sehun snorted. "So she's really waiting." He shook his head in amusement before walking towards the school building's entrance where Yeojin was waiting.

She was crossing her arms and tapping her feet, checking her watch from time to time. She had been waiting for Sehun for almost fifteen minutes now. She had toyed with the idea of just walking home by herself, but Sehun's warning stopped her from doing so. Yeojin actually thought that his threat might just be a bluff, but then again she didn't really know him, and thus, she didn't know what he's capable of doing. So she waited. But her patience was running out. She sighed loudly and uncrossed her arms.

What is taking him so long?! Yeojin grumbled. "You don't want to know what I gonna do?" She imitated the way he spoke whilst grumbling. "Ugh! Whatever!" I could care less! I'll just go-

"Didn't expect you will actually wait," Sehun casually said as he came beside her. His eyes were staring somewhere ahead. Yeojin glared at him, but her gaze soon softened when he turned to look at her with something close to a smile. "Sorry."

He said it so blandly, almost as if he didn't mean it, but that small smile said otherwise.

"Whatever!" Yeojin averted his eyes. "Where's your motorbike?" Sehun pointed at the direction of the parking lot vaguely and started to walk with Yeojin trailing behind him.

"He wasn't bribing me," Yeojin suddenly said.

Sehun glanced at her over his shoulder and smirk mockingly when he realized whom she was talking about. "Tsk. Yeah not to get chosen for the competition at least." Yeojin was utterly confused. If he knew that Jongdae wasn't bribing her to get into the competition, then why did he accuse him of doing so? That made absolutely no sense!

As if he could sense her confusion, Sehun continued, "Don't tell me you didn't see it?"

"See what?" She raised an eyebrow as they reached his motorbike.

"He was clearly hitting on you," he said it flatly while giving her a helmet which she took.

Yeojin blinked several times trying to process what she just heard. Well... Jongdae DID seem to be blushing earlier, but that didn't necessarily mean he had a crush on her. Or at least that was what she thought. Wait. If that was the reason he shove Jongdae away, was he...

"Were you jealous then?" She spoke her mind and smirked at him teasingly.

Sehun was flustered for a moment. His eyes rounded surprised to see that playful and teasing glint in her eyes. But his eyes went back to its cold unwavering gaze the next moment. In turn, he also gave her a smirk as he lightly pushed her forehead. "Did you want me to?" Yeojin softly yelp and rubbed her forehead glaring at him. Knowing he had not answered her question, he gave a vague answer instead, "He needs to know what's not his." He mounted his bike and started the engine.

That answer was clearly unexpected. And Yeojin pouted. And you think I'm yours? She rolled her eyes.

Sehun just realized that Yeojin had not mounted the motorbike, and he glanced over his shoulder at her who was rolling her eyes.

"Are you going to continue standing there?" He asked snapping her out of her thought. Yeojin mumbled something while mounting the bike. He then rode off after she grab hold of the sides of his jacket.

"Thanks," Yeojin mumbled rather insincerely as she gave back the helmet. "But seriously, you don't need to keep on taking me home. It's not like you're my real boyfriend. We hate each other, remember?"

A deep chuckle muffled by the helmet could be heard before Sehun took off his helmet. For a few seconds, Yeojin thought she saw some kind of rays of light glowing around him as he did so. For a brief moment, she thought that he's attractive. If it wasn't for that cold aura surrounding him, the thought might make her heart skip a beat. But the glow disappeared in the next second along with that thought as Yeojin shook her head a bit.

"Hate is a very strong word, don't you think?" Sehun commented. "I dislike you, yes. But I don't know you enough to hate you." Yeojin's eyes slowly grew wider at his words.

Is this really Sehun the cold student president? Or did some alien abduct the real Sehun and switched it with someone else on our way here and erased my memory? Yeojin fantasized. But again, that thought was thrown out of her mind almost immediately when one corner of his lips quirk upward.

"Unless...," his gaze suddenly turn sharper as if he wanted to penetrate her soul, "you're a materialistic girl or a witch disguised as a kind damsel in distress or simply a liar. I hate those kind of girls."

Yeojin felt shudders ran down her spine at his venomous words. And she felt guilty somehow. She knew she's not materialistic, and neither was she a witch nor a damsel in distress at that. But she definitely lied about not being married. Then again, she had no obligation to reveal that part to him. He had no right to know. It surely reminded her that whatever ridiculous relationship she was having with him was just a bet. A bet of whether she would be able to hide her secret long enough or not. And he definitely wanted to dig out that secret.

"Then I don't hate you either," Yeojin retorted. "Unless you're going to say you love me after this nonsense relationship ended."

Sehun blinked surprised, but his gaze remained stern. "You mean unless I make you fall in love with me?" He smirked yet again. This time Yeojin blinked in surprise, but she soon rolled her eyes.

"Whatever! Why are we even talking about this?" She adjusted her bag and turned away for the door of the gate, but she then felt a pull on her elbow. She turned to look at him with an annoyed look.

"What?!" She glared at him while his hand move from her elbow to her hand grabbing the tips of her fingers.

"You're not wearing that gold ring," he states the obvious.

And that surely threw her by surprise. "I...just don't want to lose it again." He quirked an eyebrow at her.

Just then, a sleek black car came to a stop in front of the house. The chauffeur came out first and proceeded to opening the back door from which Kris came out. The chauffeur bowed before entering the car again and drove away.

Seeing the tall black-haired man, Yeojin just realized that Sehun was still grabbing her hand, so she quickly whisked it away from his grip. Yet, it was actually the first thing that Kris noticed upon alighting the car.

"H-hi...," she stuttered and took a quick glance at Sehun before adding, "oppa!"

A barely audible scoff to the side escaped Kris' lips. He then eyed the blonde guy on his motorbike who bobbed his head to greet him, though it seemed rather insincere.

"I'll see you again after chuseok then," said Sehun to Yeojin before he put on his helmet and rode away.

"So now I'm your brother in front of your boyfriend, huh?" Kris asked. A bright happiness somehow decorated the way he spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew about it?" Kris just shrugged and smiled weirdly. "Anyway, you need to know that we - Sehun and I - are not in a real relationship. He was--" Yeojin felt a finger pressed on her lips.

"Sshh." She slapped his hand away with an irritated look. "I don't care. You don't need to explain anything to me." He buried his hand inside the pocket of his suit jacket. "I'm actually glad you take my suggestion of finding a boyfriend - though I wasn't expecting someone annoying like him." Yeojin raised an eyebrow. "Let's get inside, lil sister." He smirked and patted her head like a little kid.

Although he tried to restrain his feeling, it surprised Yeojin how much gladness she could see on his face and hear in his tone. It was as if the cold Kris had suddenly vanished though it was actually still there. Did he really not feel jealous at all?