Chapter 20

The splash of water on his face woke him up with a jolt. He heard the curtain of his room being opened as he tried to open his eyes.

"I didn't call you to come back home just for you to party all night long!" His father yelled at him. "Now wake up!"

He felt his blanket being thrown as his eyes tried to adjust to the light. He felt a throbbing pain in his head when he sat up on his bed, rubbing the water off his face.

"You are such a disappointment, Park Chanyeol! This is why he is always better than you! You take everything in life as a joke!"

This time, he groaned at the comment and tried his best to glare with his half-opened eyes.

"So why don't we stop this madness already, Dad?" He retorted and then scoffed to the side. "Us taking over Titan Wu? As if!" He then raised his eyes to his Dad who was already glaring at him. "Don't you see the name? It belongs to them, Dad! So whatever you're planning won't work!"

"It will!" Changsun roared at his son. "If you get your act together, it will!"

A knock on the door interrupted them and Changsun's personal assistant went in with a bow. "Sir, the car is ready."

"I'll be down in a minute," the Vice Chairman stated and his personal assistant nodded before exiting the room. He then turned back to his son. "You're grounded for the whole day."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Dad!" Chanyeol complained with a groan.

"You sure act like one," his dad retorted before turning to walk for the door. He paused when he placed his hand on the door's handle. "This is for your sister too, so get yourself together."

Chanyeol scoffed. "It was just a hormonal high school girl problem. And it was in the past. Are you sure this is for her, Dad?" He asked just as Changsun opened the door. "Noona doesn't even care about him anymore. She's happy with her life now. So for all I know, this is just your personal ambition."

The older man pivoted his head to the side. "Watch your tongue, Chanyeol! And just prove to me that you are more than just a bratty kid who only knows how to party. Prove me you're better than him!" With that he exited the room and slammed the door behind him.

Chanyeol groaned and threw his body back on the bed. "I hate my life!"

"Hey, 40!" Sehun greeted with a smirk.

"Ya!" Yeojin immediately covered his mouth with her hand. "Shut it, will you!" She said through gritted teeth.

He pried her hand off and chuckled at her reaction. "Fine, fine!"

Yeojin just glared at him as she closed her locker.

"Ready for another tutoring?"

She let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, but can we do it somewhere else other than in your house?"

"Why? But alright. Where? Your house?"

Yeojin's eyes immediately rounded. "No!" She quickly answered. "I mean... It won't be fun."

"Idiot." He pushed her forehead. "Tutoring isn't supposed to be for fun. It's supposed to make you understand your lesson."

"Still." She pouted. "I can't get anything inside my head if it's too stressful."

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Ah!" Yeojin snapped her fingers. "Let's study at Areum eonni's."

Sehun threw his head back and huffed a sigh. "Fine."

"Jin, you ready?"  Sunhee suddenly came giggling and clasping Yeojin's hand with Lin behind her.

"Ah right!" Yeojin slapped her own forehead. "I forgot to tell you guys. I'll be getting accounting tutoring - thanks to Miss Moon - until the exam from this guy over here." She jabbed a thumb toward Sehun and sighed. "So girls' time gonna wait again. Sorry."

"But you do have an accounting tutor, eonni," Lin pointed.

"Yeah. I know. Tried to tell Miss Moon that, but she kept on insisting that I should get tutored by him. 'No buts' she said."

"Let's not waste any more time." Sehun checked his watch and intertwined their hands. "We'll get going then," he said to the other two girls with a bob of the head and pulled Yeojin away with him when she tried to pull her hand away from his.

Lin sighed as she saw them leave. Sunhee glanced at her and just patted her back with a smile.

All this time, Lin thought that what she had for Sehun was just a simple crush. But it looked like it wasn't so now.

She entered the gazebo, her favorite spot at the mansion's vast backyard. She loved how the plants twirled around the gazebo's skeleton and how peaceful it was here.

None of the family members knew it because she was always that bright cheerful girl, but she occasionally visited the place when she needed some time alone. When she got home from school, Mr. Ahn told her that the moms were going out to meet some friends, grandpa was in the library as usual, and Jinho was up in his room.

She let out a sigh remembering the way Sehun looked at her sister-in-law and how he took her hand in his. Yeojin had told her that their relationship wasn't real. She told her the reason behind it, and Lin did believe in her favorite unnie. She also knew better than to suspect Yeojin's feeling for Sehun. Yeojin didn't have any feeling for the guy. But she could swear that it wasn't the case with Sehun.

Sehun had never looked anyone's way. But Lin knew that ever since Yeojin was transferred to their school, he had been watching her whether he realized it or not.

She took out her earphone and plugged it to her phone before putting the buds in her ears. After choosing her favorite playlist, she closed her eyes and started swaying her body to the beat of the music.

Lin was just enjoying her time alone, dancing by herself until she suddenly bumped into something - or rather someone. Her eyes flew open and grew wide when she saw the person chuckling.

"You sure got some move," Jongin commented with a chuckle.

Lin quickly took off her earphones. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm supposed to teach Yeojin waltz, but I don't see her - or Mr. Ahn - anywhere, so I decided to  walk around for awhile and I found you dancing, so yeah. Here I am now," He finished his long answer with a charming grin.

Lin felt hypnotized for a few seconds before she realized how close they were standing face to face. She took a step back and cleared .

"Oh! Mr. Ahn must be attending to Grandpa, and I guess he had not inform you, huh?"

"About what?" Jongin raised his brows.

"Yeojin eonni won't be coming here for any kinds of private lesson for awhile until the exam."

"Hm? Why is that?"

"I think she failed big time in her accounting, so her teacher told her to get some tutoring," Lin explained with a little shrug.

"I thought she had a private accounting tutor." Jongin blinked.

"Uh, yeah. She actually does. But she said the teacher insisted for her to get tutored by him." Lin's voice got lower at the end of the sentence along with her head.

Jongin noticed, but he pushed his thought away for now. "Him?"

"Huh?" She lifted her head, a bit disoriented for a second. "Oh! I meant that blonde guy at our school. Sehun. You met him too before."

"Sehun? Oh! That guy! Yeojin's supposed boyfriend right?" Lin's stomach churned a little at the mention and her face fell, but Jongin didn't notice and continued mumbling to himself.  "That girl still owes me an explanation." He chuckled.

His chuckle immediately came to a stop when he glanced back at Lin who was looking at the ground. He mentally slapped himself from being insensitive. It was pretty easy for him to see that the girl before him probably had a crush on the Sehun guy. He saw her reaction then when the guy confessed to being Yeojin's boyfriend.

A corner of his lips slightly curled up. "Hey," he gently called and she looked up with raised brows. "Since Yeojin's not coming and I'm already here, want me to teach you instead?"

Lin's eyes grew wide. "No thanks." She walked past him, but he grabbed her elbow.

"You sure about that? You got some pretty good move. And I'm offering myself to teach you for free while others girls might have to wait in a line for that."

Lin scoffed to the side with a roll of her eyes as she freed her elbow. "Yeah? Well I'm sorry, but I'm not interested. And your smooth talking doesn't work on me." She shrugged tauntingly before turning around and left but with a small smirk on her face.

Jongin just smiled watching her leave.

His chair faced the floor-to-ceiling glass window. The view of the buildings of Seoul was displayed before him, but his eyes were not on it. Kris was looking down at his phone, letting out a breathy chuckle as he continuously swipe his finger across the screen.

He was initially going to take a picture of a folder to later be sent to Mr. Lee as a sample of similar folder he needed, but then his phone flashed a message.

Library full. Can't take anymore picture.

Kris was sure he rarely took any picture. The only pictures in his library would be that of progresses on constructions or other projects that were sent to him and were automatically saved. So he checked his phone's photo library and his eyes were widened when he saw rows of photos of Yeojin with her silly faces. He was going to go all rage with it, but he then found himself chuckling to it. She must had taken the picture when he was in the shower last night.

Well, talking to her wasn't so bad. He mused in his mind as he continued to swipe through the silly pictures of hers.

"Oh god! You guys are so mushy!" A voice from behind startled Kris that he almost threw away his phone.

Thankfully, he just quickly hid his phone in his pocket. He swiveled his chair around and found Suho grinning at him. Kris let out an annoyed sigh and glared at his friend.

"There's this thing called 'knocking', you know?" He brusquely remarked.

Suho just laughed at that as he took a seat across Kris. "Yeah? Pretty sure I just knocked you out of your smitten state there." He laughed again, but soon realized the Chairman's gaze boring a hole on him. "Okay, sorry. That was lame. But I did knock on the door. You just didn't hear it."

"So you decided to just walk in?" Kris asked in a deadpan tone.

"Yeah." Suho shrugged with a grin.

Kris groaned, leaning back on his chair. Soft chuckles were elicited from Suho.

"Hey. No need to be embarrassed in front of your friend."

"I'm not. I had no reason to be embarrassed."

"Well, glad to know you're opening up your heart for Yeojin." Suho smiled.

"I'm not doing that either." Kris clicked his tongue and started opening up his laptop.

Suho sighed at his friend and lightly shook his head. "I know you won't like what I'm going to say but-"

"Then don't." Kris started opening up his email.

Suho was having none of it though and just continued, "But I have to. Keep on denying as much as you want, but I just want to remind you that you better not take her for granted. She may be around now, but there might come a day when she would get tired and leave." Kris paused at that, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. "You told me Areum's engaged now and Yeojin is currently in some kind of a fake relationship with someone, right?" Suho asked and Kris just closed his eyes with a sigh. "Look, I know Areum was special to you. But I know deep down Yeojin is much more special to you. Heck. It's been long since I saw you chuckling like earlier, but Yeojin managed to pull that out of you. Do you really wanna lose someone like that to some high school boy? I think not."

"Are we seriously talking about this?" Kris rubbed his temple still closing his eyes.

"Yeah. Because I don't wanna see you becoming a bigger idiot for losing someone like her - be it as a wife or as a friend."

Kris' eyes fluttered open meeting his friend's eyes. "You're done?" He sat up straight and focus on his laptop again. "You're not here just to give me some counsel over my love life, are you?" He asked with a smirk and shake of his head.

"Yeah, no."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"A no." Suho's face turned serious. "Park Changsun's son arrived just yesterday when we talked about him."

"Chanyeol?"

"Yeah," Suho sighed. "And," he placed his folded hands on the table and leaned forward, "he's going to report for work at the hotel the day after tomorrow."

"Just  fire him then, or let me do it." Kris crossed his arms.

"Kris," Suho sighed running a hand through his hair. "You know the board didn't really like it when you fired some of the employees. It's not your job nor right to do so. It's the Vice Chairman's. This whole company group maybe your family's, but the board can impeach or fire you any time too if they're not happy with your work. And you being fired won't help us either. So, let's not do that. And besides, we don't really know if my instinct was right or I was just being paranoid here."

Kris let out an amused chuckle. "You sure have a lot to say to may one sentence statement. But as much as I hate what you said, you're right - including that part of you being paranoid." He propped his elbows on the table and intertwined his fingers. He then brought his intertwined hands close to his lips. "Let's just observe for now. But we shouldn't let our guard down."

Suho nodded agreeing to the Chairman's words. A second later his playful smirk returned. "So what's with Yeojin's pictures in your phone?" He lifted a brow.

Kris groaned. "You're seriously not going to drop that topic already?"

Suho laughed. "Just consider my words about her." He stood up and buried his hands in the pockets of his pants. "Or at least answer this question: do you wanna lose her to someone else?" He gave his friend a little smirk. Kris was giving him a poker look, but he knew that the wheels were turning in his head. He was considering it. "I gotta go now. Next time we meet up, do bring Yeojin." He turned around and sauntered for the door.

Kris let out a sigh when his friend had left. The last question proposed to him made him feel uneasy. But then he chortled and scoffed at himself.

As if she would even fall for that guy.

Sehun's phone rang and he sighed before picking it up.

"Dad?" He stood up from his seat and walked out of the restaurant.

Yeojin's eyes followed him and lingered on him for a while as he talked outside. She then tore her gaze away and back on her accounting worksheet. But then she got distracted by her phone. She fiddled with it and tapped on it.

Has he seen the photos? She wondered.

"He's really different when he's around you," Areum suddenly commented as she took Sehun's seat across Yeojin.

"Huh?" Yeojin lifted her head. "What do you mean, Eonni?"

"Can't you feel it?" The older girl asked back with a smile. Seeing Yeojin only blinked her eyes, she continued with a chuckle, "I don't know whether you're really his girlfriend or not, but be's treating you differently. Willingly giving you a lesson? That is so not the usual Oh Sehun."

"Well it's the teacher's request, so he has no choice." Yeojin shrugged.

"Oh I'm sure he does has a choice. He could just say that he had his own assignments or that he already got a lot in his hands as the Student President. It's not his comfort zone to spend time with people. Yet, he chose to leave his comfort zone for you."

Yeojin's eyes rounded a little. She never really consider that. Now that she thought about it, he did look like someone who would rather spend his time alone.

"And he's smiling a lot when he's with you."

"Yeah smiling as he tortures and teases me." Yeojin rolled her eyes.

Areum just smiled at the girl. "His eyes." She stated making Yeojin look at her with puzzlement. "Look at his eyes when he looks at you and you'll know what I mean." She stood up with a smile when she saw Sehun entering the restaurant again.

"Were you guys talking about me?" Sehun casually asked as he placed his phone back into his pocket.

Yeojin looked up at him, a bit startled. "Oh. Uhm-"

"Maybe." Areum shrugged with a grin.

"Whatever." He then turned to Yeojin agaian. "I need to go home now."

"Why? Did something happened?" Yeojin asked, slightly worried, as she tried to read his face.

"No. Just some business dinner. My brother is apparently sick." He rolled his eyes knowing it was one of Luhan's excuses again, and briefly glanced at Areum who was shaking her head.

"Oh." Yeojin nodded.

"Come on." He tidied up his papers and stationeries. "I'll drop you off first."

Yeojin nodded and tidied up her things too. She said bye to Areum before Sehun held her hand and gently pulled her with him. It was probably because of what Areum had said, but Yeojin started noticing the little things he did for her. She looked down at their hands and felt a funny feeling inside her.

Areum picked up the plates and stacked them to clean up the table when she saw Yeojin's phone lying on the table. She took it and quickly ran out, but Sehun's motorbike had ridden away. She sighed and panted a little.

Guess I have to keep this with me for now. She thought as she went back inside.

"Sorry I had to cut your tutoring session." He took the helmet she handed him when they had arrived at her house.

"Nah, it's okay." She shrugged with an awkward smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He swiveled down his visor and rode away.

Yeojin entered through the door on the wall and was startled when she found Kris walking out from the house.

"Oh. You're back," he stated nonchalantly and walked to her. He looked behind her shoulder, expecting a motorbike in front but found none. "You went home alone?"

"No. Sehun dropped me off." Yeojin avoided his eyes as she rubbed the nape of her neck. She then looked up again at him. "You're going somewhere?"

"Yeah. The convenience store. Wanna come?"

"The one we went to yesterday?" Her eyes rounded.

Kris nodded. "It's not that far. So yes, that one. Got problem with that?" He arch an eyebrow.

She shook her head as she snickered. "Just that you're never one to go there."

"Sudden craving for ramyeon cup." He shrugged which elicited another chuckle form Yeojin.

"Okay. I'll come." She grinned.

They didn't talk along the way or even at the convenience store. Both were drowned in their own thoughts. Suho's words kept on being replayed in Kris' mind against his own will. The hotel problem and Chanyeol's return had been giving him headache since Suho left his office. But his friend's words regarding his wife did something unexplainable to his heart.

Yeojin, on the other hand, was thinking back to Areum's words. Despite the ground they were basing their relationship on, she had to admit that being in a relationship with Sehun - though pretty much fake - was not so bad after all. She was more in the receiving end in this relationship with him while she had almost always been in the giving and sacrificing end in her marriage with Kris.

It wasn't until the walk back home did they finally talk. Surprisingly, Kris was the one who opened up the conversation.

"By the way," he glanced at her after they crossed the street, "why did you use up my photo library's memory?" He asked with a tinge of annoyance.

Yeojin laughed at that. "You've seen? Well they were just a reminder to cheer you up."

"I would let it slide if it were just one or two. But rows of them? Seriously?" He shook his head a corner of his lips curled upward.

"You don't seem to dislike it though," Yeojin pointed out with a grin on her face.

"They amuse me." Kris shrugged making Yeojin stop in her steps and blink in surprise. Kris still walked ahead. He smirked knowing what was going in her head. "Because they remind me how much of an idiot you are," he added snapping Yeojin out of her daze.

"Ya!" She jogged and fell into steps with him. "You're such a cold guy." She commented with a click of her tongue.

Kris glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and gave out an amused smirk. He then noticed Yeojin was still carrying her school bag.

Sometimes he really did forget that his wife was still a high school student. She was an idiot for marrying him, but he just realized she was being an idiot for him. He often thought of what reasons she had to willingly sacrifice a normal life she could be living for a marriage she didn't really want. He never asked her and he didn't really want to know because they had planned to divorce after their third anniversary anyway.

Such an idiot. Kris mentally scoffed.

"Give me that." He unhook a strap of her bag from her shoulder.

"Why?" She stopped him with rounded eyes.

"Because I want to," he casually answered as he grabbed her bag and slung the strap on his shoulder.

Yeojin was flustered by his action. She had to stop and pinch her cheeks to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She then continued walking and caught up to him, but she chose to walk a little behind him. She mumbled a quick thanks and he silently nodded.

"Does he still asked about your status?" Kris started again glancing at her over his shoulder.

Yeojin knew whom he was asking about and shook her head. "He hasn't brought it up again."

Now that he brought up the topic, Suho's words flooded his mind again.

"She may be around now, but there might come a day when she would get tired and leave."

"Do you wanna lose her to someone else?"

He cleared it his throat. "What is he like toward you?"

Yeojin knitted her brows at the sudden question. "Honestly, I don't really understand him. But he's been pretty...nice to me lately." She involuntarily smiled.

"Nice?" Kris raised a brow and briefly glanced at her when he caught her smiling. "And you like him?"

Yeojin's eyes immediately shot up to his. "Huh? Uhm. Well," she stuttered as she looked away. "I never...hated him from the start. He's a likable...," she struggled to find a word. "Friend," she finished with that.

Kris looked back ahead. He felt a little punch in his stomach. She is starting to like him. He concluded.

He then gradually walked to a stop causing Yeojin to bump into him.

"Ya." He turned around to face her. "Why are you walking behind me?"

"Huh?" Yeojin blinked confused.

"I'm your husband, not your master. So don't walk behind me like that," he reprimanded her.

Yeojin stood frozen trying to process his words. She felt her heart suddenly beating fast. Never had Kris willingly acknowledged himself as her husband. And she honestly was starting to forget that he was even one. Lately, she had been viewing him as a housemate instead. But now that he had uttered it to her face, she felt like she was slapped to reality and she wasn't sure how to react to it.

Kris groaned rolling his eyes before pulling her arm to make her walk beside him. Yeojin slowly regained herself and they silently walked side by side. She lowered her head as her mind still tried to process his words.

! Why am I acting like this? Kris mentally slapped himself.

As they almost reached their house, he suddenly came to a halt. Yeojin noticed and stopped to. She looked up at him who seemed to be staring at something ahead. She followed his line of vision and her eyes widened at the sight of someone hugging herself while standing in front of their door with lowered head.

"Areum eonni?"

Kris snapped his head toward Yeojin when the name came out of .

Areum lifted her head and smiled at the girl, but her smile faltered when her eyes landed on the guy beside Yeojin.

A/N:

I hope you don't mind long conversations and side stories ^^