Chapter 15

Yeojin just crossed her arms glaring at the guy sitting in front of her. She concluded that he was an ‘okay’ guy just yesterday. He even gave a small smile more often. But what he did back there, she hated it.

“Are you going to keep on staring at me?” Sehun asked without looking up from his food. But Yeojin didn’t answer him and only narrowed her eyes on him. “Eat,” he said still munching his food.

“Not hungry,” she simply replied. Yet the next second, her stomach rumbled audible enough for Sehun to hear. She hugged her stomach and bit down her lip in embarrassment.

Sehun just pushed her plate closer to her before focusing back on his food without any further words. Yeojin didn’t want to just give in like that though. She looked away when Sehun lifted his head to look at her. He then put down his wooden chopsticks and took hers breaking them apart for her before placing it on her plate.

“Eat,” he repeated. “I don’t want your brother thinking I starve you.” He continued eating his food.

Yeojin bit down her lip looking at her food before sighing and finally giving up. She slowly took the chopsticks still glaring at him.

“By the way,” Sehun started. “Who’s that guy?”

“Who? Jongin?” Yeojin raised an eyebrow. “None of your business,” she answered harshly before taking a bite of her food.

“Fine with me,” he calmly replied shrugging his shoulders.

He then glanced at her as they continued eating in silence. His lips curled into a small smile seeing her so focused on eating her food.

Not hungry, huh? He mentally scoffed.

Somehow he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He just remembered now that even without his suspicion of who she was and even before the whole dating game, weirdly his attention had always been drawn to her. There was just something about her that stole his attention from the first day she stepped a foot on the Jaesan Highs School ground. And it irked him a lot that he couldn’t pinpoint what it was in her that attracted his attention. Maybe it was because she looked like the odd-one-out. Maybe it was how nobody in the school knew her social status. Maybe it was because everyone thought she was just a scholarship student. Maybe it was because he didn’t believe in what everyone else thought. And he was right after all. She wasn’t just a scholarship student. She wasn’t even one. She was practically a Wu.

Yeojin heaved a sigh, placing down her chopsticks.

“Why did you say that?”

Sehun was a bit startled when she asked him pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Said what?” He asked back lifting an eyebrow. “Oh!” He scoffed to the side. “That I’m your boyfriend? Why shouldn’t I? I am your boyfriend. Why? You don’t like it?” He asked smugly.

“Do you even have to ask?” Yeojin cluck her tongue. “Of course I didn’t like it!”

Why? Because your husband is there? Sehun wanted to ask that, but instead he just smirked at her looking back at his food.

“Are you busy tomorrow?” He suddenly asked and Yeojin rolled her eyes at how smoothly he just changed the topic.

“None of your business! Why?”

“I know this nice place to eat,” he answered.

Yeojin was taken aback for a moment before she cleared . “W-what place? Some more street vendors like this?” She scoffed to the side. “Don’t bother. I know a lot too,”

“I meant a restaurant. A good one. It’s nice, but not expensive.” Yeojin just blinked not knowing what to answer. “Unless,” he stared into her eyes, “you want to spend the day with Kris and-“

“Okay okay. I’ll go. Geez.” Yeojin agreed thinking that it was the best way to avoid raising his suspicion. Gosh! This guy is such a pain it the ! She mentally cursed.

His phone flashed her name again. His finger hovered over the answer icon, but he decided to just toss his phone to the side. He wasn’t ready for it. Not now. He blankly stared at the TV showing some variety show.

“I’m engaged.”

He closed his eyes when he remembered her saying it. He gulped trying to wash away the pain, but it stayed.

Why can’t it just go awa-

The door clicked opened and he opened his eyes. Yeojin entered taking off her shoes.

“Oh!” She shortly exclaimed when she looked up and saw him sitting on the couch. “Hey. I’m back.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” Kris looked away.

Call it magic, but the pain he felt then was no more. He didn’t even remember it.

Yeojin walked past him heading for the bedroom.

“Did he ask why I was there?” Kris questioned stopping her in her steps.

“Sehun?” She made sure. “No. Why?”

“Nothing.” Kris looked back at the TV. “You said he was suspicious of you being my wife. I just thought he would ask.”

“Ah~,” she nodded. “Well I guess he figured you were there for Lin,” she added with a shrug.

I wasn’t though. “Oh.” He simply replied.

“He did ask about who Jongin is though,” Yeojin added though she was actually wondering to herself. “Ah! Right!” She snapped her head toward Kris when something clicked in her mind. “Ya! Why did you shove me away to Sehun when Jongin ask me to join them for dinner?” She asked irritated.

Kris was flustered for a moment and he cleared his throat trying to find the right answer. “We-well… Uhm. Ah! Didn’t you say that boyfriend of yours is suspicious of us? Wouldn’t it made him more suspicious if I agree for you to go with that tanned guy. Your boyfriend would think I’m jealous if you go with him. And it would just confirm his suspicion.”

Yeojin crossed her arms and squinted her eyes at him, not feeling satisfied with the answer. Kris felt like he was going to bead sweats under her stare, so he looked away.

“Tsk.” Yeojin uncrossed her arms. “Whatever! I’m going in,” she said turning back around for the bedroom and Kris sighed in relief.

Yeojin exited the door tying up her messy hair in a bun. She rubbed her eyes and yawned still feeling sleepy as she walked to the kitchen.

“Oh!” She exclaimed and blinked several times at the sight of Kris in the kitchen making his own coffee. “You’re already awake this early?” She asked surprised as she made her way to sit on the high stool.

Kris scoffed. “What early? It’s already passed 9.30! Tsk.”

“Oh! It is? Hehe.” She smiled sheepishly scratching the nape of her neck.

DING DONG.

They both whipped their head toward the front door.

DING DONG. DING DONG.

“Geez. Who’s tha-“

“I’ll go look at it,” Kris walked out of the kitchen to check on the monitor.

“Who is it?” She asked from behind Kris.

“Well, well, well,” Kris mused before pivoting his head to look at Yeojin. “It’s your boyfriend.”

“What?! Sehun?!” Her eyes rounded in surprise. Ah right! She was suddenly reminded. I agreed to meet him but… “This early?”

“Are you sure he asked you to be his girlfriend only to uncover our secret?” Kris asked raising an eyebrow.

“Why are you asking that?”

Kris turned to look at the guy shown in the monitor. “I think he’s interested in you for real.” He glanced at her who was baffled and was just staring at him with rounded eyes. “Just a guy’s instinct,” he shrugged.

DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG

The bell rang several times.

“Aish!” Yeojin clicked her tongue. “I’ll go tell him to wait outside.” She took a step to head for the door, but was then stooped by Kris who pulled her arm.

“In that outfit?” Kris asked eyeing her and she too looked down at her oversized sweater that covered her shorts and which, therefore, revealed part of her thighs down. “Are you crazy?” He clucked his tongue. “I’ll go tell him. You go shower and change,” he turned her around and pushed her toward the direction of the bedroom.

“Alright. Alright,” she shrugged off his hands. “Geez.”

[“The number you are calling is not active or out of service area. Please try again in a few minutes.”]

She sighed and bit the inside of her cheeks. All she wanted was to talk. But then again, maybe she didn’t deserve to ever talk to him again, even only as a friend.

“Welcome,” she greeted when she heard the bell to her restaurant jiggled. “Oh!” She blinked surprised when she saw the customer who just came in. “Sehun!” She immediately beamed, but the guy just rolled his eyes. “You finally came!” She chuckled. “Oh? And you even bring a girlfriend with you,” she added when she noticed the girl beside him.

“N-no! I’m not his girlfr-”

“Is there a table for two?” Sehun asked stopping Yeojin from denying.

The owner giggled before replying, “Sure! Here come sit here.” She showed them an empty table and they sat down. “You’re very pretty,” she commented looking at Yeojin.

“Ah,” Yeojin blushed at the compliment. “Thank you. You’re very pretty too, Eonni! I didn’t know Sehun has a sister.”

“She’s not my sister,” Sehun retorted, looking through the menu that was handed to him.

The older girl laughed. “Yes, I’m not his sister, but I’m his-”

“Acquaintance,” Sehun finished her sentence without looking up from the menu.

“Yes. Acquaintance,” she repeated with a grin.

Yeojin nodded, but somehow she wasn’t really convinced. Something told her that they were not just acquaintances.

“I’m Areum, by the way,” the older girl extended a hand and Yeojin took it with a smile.

“I’m Yeojin.”

Yeojin? Areum questioned in her mind. Why does the name sound familiar?

“I’ll have jajjangmyeon,” Sehun ordered, snapping Areum from her thought. “What do you want to order?” He turned to Yeojin who was sitiing in front of him.

“Oh! Right!” She quickly scanned the menu. “Oh!”

“What?” Sehun asked raising a brow.

“I think I’ve tasted your food before,” said Yeojin grinning at Areum after she saw the restaurant’s logo on the menu.

“Really?” Areum raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here though.” She knitted her eyebrows in thought.

“Oh, yeah. My h-,” Yeojin stopped and corrected herself, “my brother ordered it.” She grinned nervously, hoping Sehun didn’t catch that almost-slip of the tongue. “I’ll order jajjangmyeon too.”

“Okay. Two jajjangmyeons coming right up!” Areum announced taking the menus and left them.

Yeojin mentally heaved out a huge breath of relief when Sehun was gazing around the restaurant. She almost spilled out the beans herself. But then she thought that even if Sehun’s presence didn’t stop her from spilling out the beans, the weird feeling of referring to Kris as her husband would. She didn’t know why, but thinking of Kris as her husband still felt so alien to her even after all these years. But maybe it was just because they never really acted as a married couple. Well, she was hell sure she did a good job as a wife – considering her age -, but she never really felt Kris had ever acted as a husband.

Their food came and they thanked Areum before finally eating. Yeojin was surprised when Sehun suddenly asked her how she was doing in school as they ate. She brushed it off with ‘It’s none of your business’ as usual, but that only got Sehun to chuckle.

“Fine,” he simply replied, giving an amused smile.

Seeing him chuckle and smiled got her thinking for a moment. She wondered why it seemed like it was so easy for him to smile and chuckle like that when he was with her while he always gave everyone else at school the cold shoulder.

“I think he’s interested in you for real.” Kris’ words earlier got replayed in her mind.

Does he possibly really like me? Yeojin cleared trying to push away those silly thoughts. Speaking of,

“Ya!” Yeojin called for Sehun’s attention. He just raised an eyebrow, so she continued, “About this ‘relationship’ we have… You… know that we’re in our second semester, right? So when you said we’re going to be in this relationship for one whole school year, you meant we’re only doing it until the end of the school year right?”

“Unless you want to extend the time,” he shrugged; a playful smirk decorated his face.

Yeojin was taken aback by his remark. She opened to retort back, but nothing came out of . “A-an-n-no. No!” She clucked her tongue. “What is this guy saying?” She mumbled to herself.

“Chill! I was just joking. I don’t want to be your boyfriend any longer either!”

“Then why don’t we just break up now?” Yeojin said only to taunt him – well, she did want to end this relationship with him, but for now she was just taunting him. But then, she noticed how his face fell and he just stared at his food. Why he reacted that way was beyond her.

She opened to say something, yet a second later Sehun’s smirk reappeared and he beat her to it.

“Why? You’re afraid your secret will be revealed?” Sehun raised his gaze to her.

Yeojin shifted nervously in her seat. “Aish!” She could only hissed. She was afraid that if she let more words come out of , she would just make Sehun suspect her even more. And to be honest, she didn’t want to retort him with more lies either.

They didn’t say anything after that and just ate silently.

“Can I ask you a question?” Yeojin started again after they finished eating. She needed to ask this badly. It had been bugging her for a while now.

“You are already asking,” Sehun pointed out as he crossed his arms, and Yeojin held the urge to roll her eyes.

“Rumor or truth aside – since you won’t believe what I say anyway - why are you so determined to prove that I am married?”

“Why? Does it matter?”

Yeojin gave him an are-you-serious look. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Of course it matters!” She flung her arms in frustration. “If you don’t have a legit reason, I don’t see why we should keep on dating. And don’t bring up your threat of spreading the rumor. Now that I think about it, it was a lame threat.”

Sehun just stared at her for quite awhile before finally letting out a sigh. He looked around and uncrossed his arms to lift one hand calling one of Areum’s waitresses. He asked for the bill and paid for it. All the while, Yeojin’s eyes just followed his every action. He then stood up and grabbed her hand making Yeojin flinch a bit at the contact.

“Ya! Where are we going?” She asked as Sehun mounted his motorbike and gave her a helmet.

“You wanna know the answer right?” Yeojin nodded to his question. “Then come up,” he nodded his head for her to mount the motorbike.

Yeojin agreed and before long they were riding away from Areum’s restaurant.

Yeojin smiled giddily as she roamed around like a little girl, stopping for a few seconds at every artwork that caught her attention. She wasn’t an artsy person, but she was pretty excited to enter an art gallery for the first time. She was enjoying herself too much that she was oblivious to the weird look some of the visitors were giving her.

Sehun was amused at her action as he followed her from behind, and he found himself smiling again.

“Are you 5?” He taunted her as he came to her side.

“Tsk.” She scowled at him before looking away and smiling at the painting in front of her. “So, you come here often?” She asked.

“Mm,” he hummed and nodded. “Kind of like my little place to escape.” She nodded understanding. “Never brought anyone here. You’re the first,” he added as he stared at the painting.

Yeojin slowly glanced at him, suddenly feeling funny inside of her at his words. It wasn’t like the gallery’s a private place or owned by him, so being the first person he brought here shouldn’t mean a thing, right? Then, she remembered the initial reason Sehun took her there.

“So how does coming here answer my question?”

Sehun silently gestured for her to follow him and she did. They arrived in front of a painting, which actually puzzled Yeojin. It was just a white canvas with one small black dot painted right at the center.

“Pssh. If this painting can be exhibited here, I think my brother’s crayon drawings would gain more spectators,” she commented with a frown.

“Dummy!” Sehun hit her head with the brochure he head been holding on. “This painting might look so simple and of no value, but if you read the painter’s concept behind it, you would understand it meant so much more than just a dot.”

“Ah~,” she nodded and looked back at the painting. “So,” she turned to look at Sehun who had his eyes on the painting. What does this painting mean? And how does it answer my question, President Oh?”

“It means imperfection,” he answered and didn’t say another word as if what he just said was enough to answer her question.

Yeojin knitted her brows and stared at him waiting for him to continue, but he didn’t. He didn’t even spare her a glance. Sehun seemed to sense her confusion.

“I hate people who are seen as perfectly perfect,” he said again; his eyes still lingered on the black dot tainting the perfectly white canvas.

Yeojin raised her brows at that and she mentally scoffed. Says the one whom everyone at the school looks at as perfect. She wanted to retort ‘And you’re not?’ just to piss him, but she started pondering instead, letting his words sink in. What does he mean? Whom does he hate? Me? She wondered and looked back at the painting. But I don’t think anyone has ever seen me as perfect. Who is seen as perfect? Then, she remembered. This whole thing wasn’t just about Sehun and her. It was also about Kris. And on top of that, most people, especially those people in Sehun’s social status, view Kris as the powerful and successful chairman of the Titan Wu Group. So does that mean…

She whipped her head toward Sehun when something clicked in her mind. “Are you talking about Kris here?” Sehun didn’t answer and just smirked. Yeojin took it as a yes and she continued, “So what you’re saying is you’re jealous of Kris and you’re just using me to somehow find his flaws, huh?”

“Stupid,” Sehun mumbled under his breath inaudible to Yeojin’s ears as he lowered his head. He then lifted his head again, but his eyes were still on the painting. “Well I do dislike him and I gotta say it would be an additional benefit if I can show the world his flaws, but he’s not the reason.”

“Huh?” Yeojin blinked confused. She then shook her head trying to clear her mind. “Okay, will you stop saying things in riddles and metaphors and in between the lines?! If it wasn’t Kris, then who the hell were you talking about?! Who’s the perfect guy you talked about?” Yeojin was too frustrated already. Heck. She only asked him one simple question: why he wanted to prove she was married? But she was instead dragged here and answered with a painting and riddles. Not to mention he wasn’t even looking at her while she was speaking to him. And that, to her, was very rude.

She was going to yell at him for it, but before she could, he finally turned his head toward her. Yeojin felt her words were choked down when he held her gaze with his eyes. There was something about the way he looked at her that seemed different and made her unnecessarily nervous. But that feeling was nothing compared to the escalating pace of her heartbeat when he finally answered her.

“You.” Sehun paused and turned his body so that he was fully facing her. Yeojin swore the pause just made everything inside her reacted in weird ways. “I saw you as too perfect.”

His words just shut her brain down for any reaction, and Sehun just stared at her blinking eyes that bore no emotion.

A/N:

Hey, everyone! How are you all doing?

Does this chapter confuse you? Don’t worry. I myself am confused lol.

Oh and don’t worry about Kris. There’ll be a lot about him in upcoming chapters. I just feel the need to elaborate more on Yeojin’s relationship with Sehun before moving on to her relationship with Kris which has more unanswered questions.

Anyway, sorry I just got the time now to update. This chapter actually had been sitting in my laptop for two months. I was going to post it right after the previous one, but I didn’t get a chance to review and edit it. Also, I have to announce that updates might be slow from now on (not that it wasn’t before haha). I actually have made a detailed outline for half of the whole story, and I’m so excited to write them, but unfortunately real life is dragging me away. I wish the outlines could just transform itself into organized chapters lol.

Thank you for waiting patiently though. You all are such patient readers! And hello to new subscribers! Hugs, kisses, and cookies for everyone!