Long chapter alert! ^^

Chapter 35

The house felt empty. The atmosphere was heavy in the morning before Yeojin went for the school's camp. No matter how many times Kris asked of why she suddenly turned cold, Yeojin would just ignored him. She didn't say a single word to him ever since last night. Never had he thought he would feel what Yeojin had been feeling for at least the past one year. He used to treat her like she was invisible. Now, he was the one being treated that way. At least, now he understood her feelings.

Kris sat alone at the kitchen counter. A bowl of cereal was before him, but he didn't really feel like eating. He used to want this. He used to dream of being free of Yeojin. But now, he hated it. He regretted ever wishing it. Now that he knew how much she meant to him, he realized how he had been taking her for granted. 

Kris stood up from the high stool and gave up on eating the cereal because he couldn't even stomach any food. He then dragged his feet to the bedroom, thinking of taking a shower. He was just walking for the bathroom, passing the bed, when something on the bedside table caught his sight from the corner of his eyes. He made his way to the bedside table and picked up a phone with pink case. 

He knew it wasn't his nor was it Yeojin's. His eyes widened, realizing it was Areum's, and his heart skipped a beat when his mind connected the dots. It was as if he had found missing puzzle pieces to complete the picture. To his horror, he knew now why Yeojin was mad at him.

She must've seen us! Kris suddenly felt breathless and he face-palmed himself. Damn it! His hand ruffled his hair as he momentarily closed his eyes to calm himself down.

When he opened his eyes again, they landed on Beavie, lying on the floor. He figured that she must've thrown the plush away out of anger. Worry started creeping up his nerves.

What if it rain later? He quickly picked the large plush up and stared at its face. "God dammit! Why was I so stupid?"

Yeojin took a break and leaned back on the trunk of a tree.

"Great! Now I'm lost!" She clicked her tongue and looked around. She tried to look for any tree with the colored ribbon tied around its trunk, but she found none. Only ordinary tall trees were around her. "Darn it!" Yeojin ruffled her hair.

Right after the bus arrived at the premise, the students were assigned to their rooms. Yes, rooms- much to Yeojin's dismay. She thought it was supposed to be a camp at a real camp site, with real tents to sleep in. Instead, they were having their supposed camp at a hotel. She realized she expected too much. But she thought that at least, the hotel didn't look much like the ones in the city. It still had that eco look. Parts of the wall were of wood. The floor, in fact, was also that of wood too. Moreover, the fact that the whole hotel premise was built in the midst of forest of tall trees helped remind the visitors that they were indeed outside the city. On second thought, the hotel wasn't so bad after all. Plus, she got to share a room with Sunhee. Sehun probably had something to do with it.

But after the room assignments, everyone was called to gather at the field. They were then separated into groups of nine. Since the senior class had three classes, the group was consisted of three from each classes. Sadly, Yeojin had to be separated from Sunhee for this so-called bonding activity: the much clichéd treasure hunt. This particular activity was prepared by the teachers. Thus, the council members weren't exempted from it.

Yeojin was usually excited to make new friends, but not today. Not when a certain kissing scene kept on bugging her mind. Strangely though, it wasn't a certain bus stop kissing scene that intruded her mind. Instead, it was one which involved her own lips. The bus stop kiss was still in her mind, but it was pushed back by the memory of the kiss Kris shared with her. It kept on popping in her mind for some reason. In fact, she could hardly sleep last night because of this.

For reasons she couldn't understand herself, she was indeed enraged by what she saw at the bus stop. Yet, when she tried to calm herself down, her mind decided to bombard her with the kiss she shared with Kris days ago. Her cheeks burned at the thought of it. She remembered the tingles left on her lips. She remembered how it felt sincere. But then she shook away her thought. No, it wasn't. It couldn't be. They had agreed it was only accident. Nothing pertaining to their hearts were involved. And if it were sincere, he wouldn't kiss someone else. 

These thoughts frustrated Yeojin because she shouldn't be feeling these. She shouldn't be angered. She shouldn't be... jealous. It got to the point when even looking at the innocent Beavie's face would triggered that memory again. Thus, she had to shoved away the plush. Or else, she wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

No thoughts of Kris or any kind of kiss entered her mind again. Until the treasure hunt, that was. She remembered trying to help her group mates crack the codes that each group were given and entering the forest together. She swore she was just distracted by the thought of a certain tall chairman for a little while, but then the next thing she knew: she was in the middle of the forest. Alone. 

No matter how many times she looked to the left and right, her group mates were nowhere in sight. It was really a mystery how she ended up straying alone.

"I wasn't daydreaming that long, was I?" She scratched her head. "Even if I did, shouldn't my group mates notice?" She stomped her foot. "But of course! There were a lot of us!" She rolled her eyes before looking around once again. "How did I end up here, anyway?"

She remembered Mr. Yoo told everyone to look for trees with ribbons around their trunks if they ever felt lost. Following those trees with ribbons should lead them to nearest post, he said. Unfortunately, she found no such trees around her.

"They certainly didn't expect anyone to get lost this far." Yeojin clicked her tongue. "Very clever, Yeojin!" She opened the cap of the one and only bottle she had and chugged down some of the water, careful not to drink all. She then wandered around again, hoping to find at least one tree with ribbon around its trunk. 

"At least, my group mates should realize I'm missing by now- ack!" She found herself on the ground. "Very graceful, Yeojin!" She winced. "You just tripped over air!" She suddenly felt a pressuring pain on her ankle. Great! What a cliché! Now all I need is a knight in shining armor to save me. Then my clichéd story will be comple-

"There you are!"

Yeojin whipped her head around and for a second her heart stopped beating. Her eyes widened when she saw a panting Sehun approaching her. "Sehun?" Her voice was small as her eyes were still on him, looking like they had just seen a ghost. "Sehun?" She repeated, louder this time.

The said guy rolled his eyes. "No. I'm the lord of the underworld. Of course it's me!" 

He crouched down beside her before flicking her forehead. She winced and threw him a glare, but his eyes that held hers flickered with worry.

"Where have you been?!" Yeojin opened to answer, but Sehun beat her to it. "Why did you wander away from your group?!"

This time, Yeojin sealed shut and looked away. Because a certain jerk decided to invade my mind. She bit the inside of her cheeks. The jerk or the kiss he shared with you? A small voice in her head asked, prompting her to squeeze her eyes to drive away the thought.

Sehun clicked his tongue when he didn't get any answer from her. "Come on! Get up. Everyone's worried." He told her as he stood up and Yeojin opened her eyes. I was on the verge of losing my mind, you know! "Come on." He extended a hand to help her up.

Yeojin stared at his hand and bit down her lip. She very much wanted to take it and stand up, but the growing pain down her ankle prevented her. She grimaced at the pain that was just getting much more unbearable by time.

"What is it?" Sehun knitted his brows and crouched down again.

"Umm. I think I kinda sprained my ankle." She forced a smile through her wince.

Sehun immediately moved close to her feet. "Which one?" 

"Right one. But what are you going to- ouch! Ya!"

Despite her protest of his gently pressing around the ankle, Sehun didn't look fazed. "That hurts?" He got what her glare and gritted teeth meant, but he gently pressed around the ankle again.

"Ya!" Yeojin tried to pull her leg away from his touch, only to groan at more pain the next second.

Sehun glared at her. "Are you crazy?! You shouldn't move your leg too much after spraining its ankle." He gently held down her leg by her her ankle again. "I was only checking which ligaments are injured. Now hold still. This may hurt a little, and do tell me if it does." He grabbed her feet and slowly moved around her ankle.

Yeojin moaned in pain and Sehun stopped.

"I don't think it's severe, but you may have moderate sprain. A tore of your ligament is certain. Your ankle joint felt a little loose when I moved it around. And it's also swelling." He examined her swelling ankle.

Yeojin just blinked at Sehun's fast explanation. "Human language, will you?"

Sehun turned to look at her confused face with an amused smirk. "I meant you shouldn't exert force on your foot." Yeojin only knitted her brows even more and he rolled his eyes. "No walking," he gave a shorter explanation.

formed an 'O' as she nodded. "So what now?"

Sehun thought for a moment before he looked down at his clothes layered with jacket. He zipped down his jacket and suddenly tore some piece of his long sleeve shirt. Yeojin's eyes were widened at what she saw.

"What are you doing?" She asked, aghast.

Sehun just silently wrapped her ankle with the torn piece of his shirt and securely tied it. "This will help immobilize your ankle." He zipped up his jacket again. 

He then circled an arm around her back and under her thighs. He lifted her up and Yeojin immediately threw an arm around his neck. Her eyes rounded even more in surprise, but she found no voice to complain. He walked to a nearby tree and gently put her down to stand after telling her to lean on the trunk for support.

Sehun then crouched down in front of her. "Come on. I'll carry you."

"What?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I believe spraining your ankle didn't affect your hearing, Jin. You heard me. Come on." He looked back ahead.

Yeojin was still frozen on her spot. She wasn't sure if she should be carried on his back.

Sehun groaned and clicked his tongue. "You can't and should not walk by yourself. It'll be harder for me to carry you like earlier all the way back to the hotel. Now get on my back! Or do you wish for me to leave you here?"

His threat made her flinch and Yeojin hesitantly got on his back. She circled her arms over his shoulders while his arms propped her under her thighs. With no further arguments, he stood up and started walking.

Yeojin felt awkward at first. But as they- he - silently continued to walk, the awkwardness was replaced with a funny feeling in her stomach. Soon, that feeling morphed into a feeling of comfort and she slowly rested her chin on the crook of his shoulder. Sehun tensed for a moment when she did that. It took him a few seconds to relax with a gulp.

From where Yeojin rested her head, she could glance at his side profile and could now clearly see the bruise on the corner of his lips and near his eyes. Her brows furrowed as she thought of what actually happened to him.

"Stop staring at me," he curtly told her.

She swallowed the lump in and asked instead, "What happened?"

Silence.

"Did you get into a fight?"

Silence.

Yeojin pouted. "You haven't said a thing to me during the ride here this morning. What happened, Sehun?" She demanded.

Hearing her called his name made his heart did a little jump. He kept his mouth shut, nonetheless. This only irritated her.

"You were perfectly fine when you dropped me off last night. What happened to you after that, Sehun? And I swear, if you won't answer me, I will bite your shoulder!"

Sehun shuddered at her threat. "Barbaric! Fine. I got into a fight."

"What?! Why? How? With whom?"

"With some...," he momentarily closed his eyes and sighed, "gangster."

"You? With a gangster? You? A respected student president? How the hell did you get into a fight with a gangster? Wait, why, most importantly?"

Sehun had to held the urge to heave another sigh. He was definitely not going to tell her why. She didn't have to know he got into a fight because he couldn't take someone insulting her.

"Sehun?" Yeojin pressed.

Instead of answering, his lips curled into a smirk. "What, were you worried about me? Are you turning on your girlfriend mode now?"

Yes! She wanted to answer, but decided against it. It didn't seem right to answer that though she felt the urge to. Instead she just groaned and frowned.

Silence fell over them again after that. The temperature felt to be dropping down lower. Winter was indeed around the corner. Yeojin's eyes wandered up at the sky that was slowly turning darker. They then lowered back down and landed on Sehun's face again. She took in every feature of his face and that blonde hair of his. Despite the bruises, she had to admit that he is good-looking. 'Good-looking' might even be an understatement. 

A smile crept its way on her lips as she thought of it.

Wait, what am I smiling for? She squeezed her eyes shut. You're not supposed to think of him that way, Yeojin! Remember. He is only your temporary boyfriend. Tem. Po. Ra. Ry. And he is doing this to reveal your secret. To crush you. Stop thinking of him in that way! He's an enemy! A very handsome enem- ugh! Enemy, Yeojin. Just an enemy! She reminded herself. But when she opened her eyes, her eyes were drawn to his face again. Well, it was understandable considering how close their faces were.

Yeojin had to force her eyes to look away and down at her wrapped ankle instead. Now that she thought about it, oddly Sehun was always there whenever she was down because of a certain jerk whose name she didn't want to think about at the moment. And only now did it finally occur to her that, in terms of how he treated her, Sehun had changed a lot. He wasn't that cold threatening student president anymore. At least, not to her, she knew. He was always there for her when she needed company, and he was certainly a good companion.

Her eyes traveled up to his face again. Suddenly the close distance between their faces made her heart thumped a little faster. Maybe... Maybe thinking of him as someone more is okay. After all, my own so-called husband doesn't think much of me.

Inside, Sehun couldn't really keep calm. He felt self-conscious having her face so close to his. It didn't help at all that he could see her glancing at him from time to time from his peripheral view.

"You know," Yeojin's voice broke the silence, "you're really good in this first aid stuff." He didn't know what to reply, so he just kept his silence. Yet, breaking the silence seemed to be what she wanted. "I remember that one time the coach's daughter collapsed during the track and field competition. And earlier, you seemed to really understand how to check my sprained ankle."

Sehun snorted at her compliment. "That's common knowledge, idiot!" He held back a chuckle. 

Without looking at her, he could tell that Yeojin was probably pouting- and seething in anger- right now at how he addressed her. He expected her to rant and beat the daylight out of him; but instead, she asked him a question.

"Do you plan on becoming a doctor?"

Sehun was taken aback by her question. How did she...

"Do you?"

"...yes." His answer came out above a whisper as he lowered his gaze before his eyes turned dark for a moment.

"Really?" She, on the other hand, sounded excited.

"It doesn't matter though." His reply was curt. "My dad won't allow it."

"What? Why?" Yeojin frowned.

"He has always wanted me to take business as my major later. That way, I can take over his business."

"Don't you have an older brother to do that? What's his name? Ah! Luhan, right?"

"Well, yes. Hyung didn't really want to inherit Dad's business though. He has always wanted to start his own. Whether I like it or not, I know I will have to be the one taking over Dad's position in the company later."

Yeojin was silent for awhile, seemingly deep in thought. "Have you told your dad you want to be a doctor?"

Sehun gave out a scoff. "Why should I? I don't want to waste my energy on any argument. It's no use. He would be against it," he bitterly told her.

"You would 't know what your dad really thinks if you don't tell him."

"Oh, but I know my dad. Like I said; he would be against it."

Yeojin shrugged a little. "I don't see why you shouldn't at least try, though. For all I know, you're not a psychic who can read the future. So, unless you are one, try first. Take a chance, you know."

Sehun took a glance at her only to be caught off guard by her smile. He quickly looked away, clearing his throat.

He never really thought of actually telling his dad about his dream before. But now that Yeojin brought it up... Maybe she's right. A small smile appeared on his face as warmth spread across his chest. He glanced at her again and saw she was now giving a little yawn.

"It's getting dark," she noted. "Are you sure you know the way back?" He nodded to her question. "Why aren't we there yet then?"

Sehun held back a playful grin from curling on his lips. "Well, missy, if you weighed like a feather, we would've been there earlier. But with this weight of yours..." he trailed off only to chuckle. "What did you eat before? An elephant?"

Yeojin scowled at his joke and lifted her head away from his shoulder. "Ya!" She slapped his back. "I can't be that heavy!"

Sehun smirked in return. "Oh really now? Have you ever carried yourself?"

"That is nonsense! Of course not!"

"Exactly!" He laughed. "You don't know how heavy you are!"

Yeojin did not appreciate his teasing of her weight, and she was certainly annoyed by his laughter. "Stop laughing!" She demanded, but the guy only laughed even more.

Crazy jerk! She mentally cursed him. She kept her frown and wished she didn't sprain her ankle, so she could step on his feet with great force. Yet, hearing his rare laughter slowly made her smile. Soon, she started laughing along.

Her laughter made Sehun's heart expand in warmth. His own laughter slowly changed into a light chuckle and then he could only smile as he watched and heard her laugh. Seeing how happy she was strangely made him happy. Knowing he was the one who made her laugh gave him a weird feeling of pride. And now, he wasn't sure if he wanted to let anyone else be the one to make her smile. 

But she's someone else's wife. He grimly thought. The upward curve of his lips immediately fell into a thin line.

Sensing how he suddenly turned sullen, Yeojin's laughter gradually came to a stop. "What's wrong?" She asked him with a tinge of worry.

"Nothing." He tried to smile.

And then, there was silence again. Yeojin wasn't satisfied with his answer, but she decided not to prod him further. She didn't really have the energy to do so, anyway. Walking around aimlessly and getting lost had apparently her energy. She, instead, laid her head back on the crook of his shoulder with a content sigh.

Sehun briefly glanced at her again. She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed and a smile decorating her face. He couldn't help but to think of how lucky that guy he hated was to be able to wake up to this face every day. His heart clenched and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Jin," he called her and she hummed in response. He hesitated for a moment before Yeojin opened her eyes and he could feel her eyes on him. "Can I ask you something?"

"You're already asking," she pointed out with a chuckle.

Sehun, however, was turning serious. "If...," he gulped and even Yeojin could feel his hesitation. "If- and I'm only saying if- you really didn't lie." He swallowed again. "If I can't prove my suspicion, if.... you really have told me the truth, if... you're not..." He paused to collect himself and wet his lips. "If you're not Kris Wu's wife, would you... would you want to stay as my girlfriend?"

He felt her head leaving the crook of his neck again. He might have heard a little gasp coming from her too.

"I meant," he quickly added, "if you had never lost that ring and if this deal never existed, would you have accepted me as your boyfriend?"

Silence.

This time, Yeojin was the one who kept her lips sealed. Sehun mentally cursed himself for asking the question. 

Of course she couldn't answer you, idiot! There's no if. She is his wife.

"Sehun," after a long brooding silence, Yeojin's voice came out small, but his ears perked up at that. "I..." He could hear her take a deep breath when she paused. "I think I need to tell you something."

Sehun felt chills ran down his spine, freezing every part of his body. His heart might have been frozen to stop beating for a second. Damn it! Don't say it! He held his breath.

"I-"

"Jin!" Sunhee's voice startled them both.

Sehun just realized that they had finally arrived at the hotel's premise again. He let out a breath he didn't notice he was holding on.

"Sunhee," Yeojin breathed out as her friend came running to them with Jongdae, their teachers, and several other students behind her.

"Jin! Where have you been? I was worried! We were worried! Why did you wander away from your group? Did you get lost? Wait, of course you did. But what happened? Are you okay though? Wait a second. Why are you on Sehun's back?" Sunhee's brows shot up.

Yeojin was about to answer Sunhee's long list of questions when she was interrupted by a voice.

"Yeojin."

The voice was calm, but she could sense so much emotions in it. Longing, relief, worry. And it made her feel a lot of emotions in return. Pain and rage were on of them, along with surprise.

Her brows shot up. "Kris?"

The cliffhanger is back! Haha! Sorry for such a long chapter with no KrisJin moment. But Kris came!