Chapter 43

Yeojin stopped and looked back when Sehun just walked past her. A part of her wished he would turn to look at her. He didn't. Her heart was clenched, but she took a deep breath and continued walking to her class. 

Has he given up on trying to uncover my secret? Yeojin wondered. 

It felt so wrong to be ignored by him, but wanting his attention felt even more so. Knowing she had unknowingly broken her promise with Lin made her feel even worse. By lunchtime, her mood was plummeting with some people still giving her weird looks. She regretted coming with Sunhee and Lin to the cafeteria, but she knew better than to stay in class. It would only make people think that she was weak. And she was not.

"I don't see Sehun sunbae," Lin stated craning her neck to look around.

Yeojin looked around too and realized Lin was right. Sehun was nowhere seen.

Taken aback, Sunhee almost choked on her food. "Whoa! You're being straightforward now?"

Lin shrugged with a shy smile. "Well both of you already knew anyway. And Yeojin eonni is okay with it too."

"Really?" Sunhee asked with a subtle tone of surprise.

Yeojin saw the look Sunhee shot her and immediately brought her gaze down to her food. 

She didn't see Sehun even until dismissal time. She wondered if he was deliberately avoiding her because of the viral pictures. The thought disappointed her a little knowing he was the one who had been adamantly insisting that he was her boyfriend all this time.

But all thoughts of Sehun ceased when Mr. Ahn showed up to pick her up. Today was supposed to be Kris' day, she reminded herself. She shouldn't be thinking about someone else.

Rays of sunlight filtered through the crisp leaves protecting the figure lying on the bench. With arms as his pillow, Sehun covered his face with a book.

Just a few more minutes and lunch would be over, so he could avoid seeing Yeojin enter her class. He would avoid seeing her go home too later. He gulped down the lump in his throat knowing that wasn't really what he wanted. He wanted to see her, talk to her, hold her hand. But he couldn't be selfish. This game they were playing needed to stop.

Lin still had a few minutes until lunch is over. After excusing herself from Yeojin and Sunhee, she went to look for Sehun with a cup of bubble tea in her hands. If Sehun was not in the student council office or library, then there was only one other place he would be at.

The field behind the school.

Lin knew that no one would know that secret place of Sehun. Not even Yeojin. And she was proud of that.

She remembered that time during junior high when she was so frustrated with Yeojin and Kris' cold relationship that she felt so lonely. She went to the quiet field and sat on the bench crying. A groaned from somewhere behind the tree surprised her. Then a guy came out frowning at her and complained she had disturbed his sleep. He gave her a handkerchief nonetheless and then left without any word of comfort.

That was when Lin started falling for the cold guy Sehun. If it were any other guy, he would be flustered and try to comfort her knowing which family she came from. But not Oh Sehun. And she liked him for that.

Spotting Sehun lying on the bench, she carefully approached him. Upon hearing the crack of a leaf she stepped on, Sehun immediately sat up taking off the book covering his face. He looked at her surprised but then looked away as he stood up.

"Sorry," Lin muttered shyly.

"It's okay," Sehun replied almost immediately. He moved to walk past her, but Lin mustered the courage to grab him by his elbow before he could.

"Wait- uhm." Bringing her gaze down, she cleared when Sehun looked at her with a stoic expression. She heaved a breath and willed herself to look at him with a smile. "Here." She handed him the cup of bubble tea at which Sehun only blinked.

"You treated me twice. It's my turn now!" Lin cheerfully exclaimed. "Thought you were a bit down. So here's to cheer you up!" She smiled her widest smile.

Sehun hesitated at first, but he finally took the cup. Butterflies fluttered in Lin's stomach and happiness bubbled up inside her when their fingers brushed. Hiding her growing grin was almost impossible now. Today was the happiest day of her life!

"Thanks," Sehun breathed out and took a sip of the bubble tea. Then he turned to Lin again with furrowed brows. "How did you know to find me here though?"

Lin softly giggled. "I first met you here years ago."

She thought it was cute how his eyes rounded a bit in surprise. She rarely saw any emotions on his face, so she made sure to store this expression of his in her memory. Lin wondered if Yeojin had the privilege to see other emotions from him and was a tad bit jealous of the thought.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Sehun checked his watch.

Snapped out of her dreamy thoughts, Lin let out a gasp. "Oh no! I'll be late! Excuse me then, sunbae." She bowed and ran in panic, but she stopped halfway when Sehun called her name. Her heart skipped a beat at that and she turned to look back. Her heart rate skyrocketed when she saw him jogging toward her.

"Are you free after school?"

Her whole world seemed to momentarily stop. Is this really happening? She blankly stared at him.

"Lin?" Sehun put a hand on her shoulder breaking the daze spell she was in.

"H-huh? Oh!" She lightly shook her head to regain herself. "Yeah. I'm free."

"If your driver isn't picking you up, I can-"

"Yes!" Lin cut him off and grinned.

Sehun was taken aback but nodded anyway. "Alright. I'll see you after school then." A corner of his lips curled up slightly making Lin melt. "You better go to your class now." He nodded for her to go.

With a light heart, Lin bowed again and ran to her class. She made a mental note to tell her driver not to bother picking her up today. Oh, this gotta be the best day in her life!

Another car passed by in front of her, and Yeojin crossed her arms grumbling under her breath. After changing into a set of casual autumn wear Kris had bought for her, she was left at a bus stop by Mr. Ahn. The old man told her he was merely instructed to do so by Kris and that the young master would pick her up soon.

That was over ten minutes ago.

Yeojin swore she would just take the bus home and beat him up later if Kris didn't show up in three more minutes. Fortunately for Kris, he arrived just a minute later. She entered the car mentally grumbling and sat silently through the ride.

Kris chuckled realizing that Yeojin was giving him a silent treatment. "Are you mad at me?"

Yeojin huffed a breath and looked out the window. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she answered curtly.

"Really?" Kris taunted raising a brow.

Yeojin finally groaned and glared at him. "Why did you tell Mr. Ahn to leave me at the bus stop? What took you so long anyway? Do you know how long I have to wait there? Out in cold! Why did I have to change clothes too? And where are we going? I'm no longer in the mood for dinner! I wanna go home! It's too early for dinner anyway."

Kris laughed at her rant. "So you are mad at me." The car came to a stop at the red light and Kris turned to her with a soft smile. "Sorry."

Yeojin clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at him. "You're annoying."

Kris chuckled under his breath and, without warning, gave her a quick peck on the lips. "And you're cute when you're mad."

Yeojin was left stunned. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mind suddenly hazy. When Kris took his eyes off of her and the car moved again, she regained herself and looked away. For a moment, she brooded over the feelings bubbling inside her as she blankly stared ahead.

A moment of silence passed between them before she heaved out a breath. "Don't do that again," she quietly told him. "You promised we're going out as friends."

"Alright," he answered rather cheerily it made her stare at him perplexed. The guy was even smiling!

What has gotten into him? She frowned.

Minutes later they arrived at a street food festival. Stalls lined up offering mouth-watering food, snacks, and drinks. Some were more crowded than the others, but every stall promised a good taste.

"Why are we here?" Yeojin asked as Kris reached for something at the back seat.

"You like street food, don't you?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"You often go to street food stalls with that guy. I wanna go with you too."

"Okay. But the place is crowded! What if people recognize you? Kris, someone might still be following me- us! What if-"

Kris put a cap on her head leaning his face close to hers. "You should really stop sulking or I might kiss you again." He glanced down to her lips and smirked. "It might not be just a peck next time. So don't tempt me." He winked.

Yeojin immediately pursed her lips and gulped. Her heart was suddenly racing. This Kris was new even to her. He used to an awful lot when they were younger, but this Kris? What had actually happened to him, she couldn't understand. A part of her told herself that this was because he had fallen that deep for her, but another part of her wanted to deny it.

After putting on his own cap, they alighted the car ready to explore each stall. Yeojin flinched when Kris suddenly grabbed her hand.

"We're friends, aren't we?" He asked with a lopsided smile. "Can't friends hold hands?"

She slowly and hesitantly nodded. Kris smiled before pulling her with him. It felt weird to Yeojin at first, but soon everything felt familiar again. It felt like they were back to those times they were the best of friends. No awkwardness, no marriage, no complicated feelings. It almost felt like nothing had changed. Trying out different foods, they started feeding and laughing with each other in no time.

Witnessing Kris' carefree laughter made Yeojin's heart light with joy. While to Kris, seeing her laugh because of him was the best birthday gift. He wouldn't ask for anything else if he could always be the only one to make her smile.

After almost two hours, Kris brought her to their favorite amusement arcade. By then, Yeojin was lost in excitement that none of her complicated inner conflicts mattered anymore. It wasn't until they realized they had spent too much money on the games, did they decided to finally have dinner.

The planned dinner was far from what Yeojin had expected. They bought fast food through drive thru, and Kris drove them to a park overlooking the famous Han River. Yeojin couldn't figure out what he was planning, but she just followed. They sat down on the ground after Kris laid a cloth he had brought.

The sky had turned darker driving off the blue color with dark purple and a tinge of pink and orange. The night view of the city was calming despite the distant sounds of honks coming from cars busily passing the street. City lights were reflected on the river creating dim colorful sparkles. The pair ate in comfortable silence watching the view.

Yeojin felt content and smiled. "So this is your idea of a birthday dinner?" She turned to look at him with a little pout feigning disappointment.

Kris raised a brow. "I would've booked a table for romantic dinner if we were going out as husband and wife. But didn't you want us to go out as friends?" He smiled teasingly and leaned closer to whisper to her ears, "But we can go from friends to married couple even here if you do that with your lips." He gestured at her pouting lip.

"Stop with that joke already!" Flustered Yeojin shoved him away and Kris burst out laughing. She looked away and took a big bite of her burger.

"Then don't tempt me to tease you." He chuckled.

"Whatever!" She rolled her eyes.

Yeojin didn't dare to glance at him again and silently continued eating. Even so, she could see from her peripheral view that Kris would stare at her from time to time then he would chuckle lowly for whatever reason. It made her felt self-conscious and somehow shy. But soon a small smile curled on her lips.

Having finished their food, they fell into conversation reminiscing their childhood days. Kris vaguely remembered those times he was excited to visit her family because he wanted to play with baby Yeojin. He was there too when she first started to walk. Then he went on laughing at that one time he was so clueless on how to appease her when she cried in fear for having her first period. Yeojin scoffed at that and reminded him of that time he was crying because his team didn't win for his first basketball competition back in grade 5.

As they continued on teasing each other with their past, Yeojin realized that all her firsts were shared with Kris. She too knew his firsts. They practically grew up together like siblings, and thinking about it made her feel weird that even her first kiss was shared with Kris. It was even weirder that they ended up marrying each other.

They both sighed after laughing at a memory of them teaming up to tease Lin. Yeojin was just smiling at the memory when she felt Kris' lips softly pressed against her cheek.

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks." He smiled when she looked at him with blinking eyes. "For coming with me today," he added then heaved a deep breath looking at the river ahead. "Things been really complicated at work," he confessed.

Yeojin never thought of that. Kris was always that powerful and cold young chairman in her mind. Sometimes, she forgot that he was still the same dorky guy she grew up with. He was not as strong as people thought. He needed someone with whom he could share his burden. "How so?" She tilted her head to the side.

A pained smile grazed his lips as he momentarily lowered his head. "I think the board wants to replace me. They want Chanyeol to replace Suho."

Yeojin frowned in confusion. "So it's not you they want to replace then."

Kris rolled his eyes a bit and grinned at her like he was talking to a kid. "I chose Suho to be the hotel's director. His alleged incompetency is my flaw."

Her frown deepened. "But Suho oppa is really good with what he does, is he not?"

"Exactly. They're framing him to make the board's trust in me waver."

"Wait. Who's Chanyeol?" Yeojin asked and Kris laughed.

"You don't remember him?" She shook her head at the question. "Park Yoora's brother. Remember?"

"Ah!" She snapped her fingers. "The tall big-eared guy?"

Kris snorted. "Yeah. That one."

"I still don't get it." She furrowed her brows again. "Why Chanyeol? And who are 'they' you've been mentioning?"

"Park Changsun and his supporters." He shrugged.

Park Changsun.

The name sent shivers down Yeojin's spine prompting her to recall a memory she had forgotten.

"And Chanyeol is his son." He smiled dejectedly. "Perks of having a dad, I guess."

No matter how hard Kris tried to hide it, she knew he missed his dad too despite the many times he said he hated his old man. She knew that pain very well.

"You don't have to look so worried. I got this!" He caressed the back of her head. "Ha..." A sigh escaped his lips as he smiled. "Why am I talking about work with you?" He looked ahead again. "It feels good to share it with a friend though."

Yeojin smiled apologetically. She felt guilty. If she didn't decide to marry him then, maybe he wouldn't be so burdened with this responsibility of being a chairman.

Suddenly shifting to rest his head on her lap, Kris surprised her again for the umpteenth time today. He snuggled his head on her lap and lowered his cap to hide his face.

"Ya-"

"Let me rest for a while before we go back."

Yeojin bit down her lip in annoyance but she gave in. She would spare him because this was his day. She was unsure though of where to place her hand. As if reading her mind, Kris reached to grab her hand and placed it close to his chest without letting go. Before long, Kris seemed to have fallen asleep. This was weirdly comfortable, Yeojin thought. She looked down at him and partly wished he didn't cover his face with the cap. Hesitantly, she placed her other hand on the top of his head. Gently caressing it, she let the corners of her lips to curl up.

"I wonder if we can stay like this," Kris suddenly spoke up, his voice muffled by the cap. Yeojin's hand froze while he continued, "I... wouldn't mind giving up the chairman position if I can prolong today."

Yeojin felt her heart dropped a little. She could almost feel the despair of losing him if he fell deeper in love with her. She was, after all, a bad luck to those people who loved her too much.

And if Kris gave up his position, her decision to marry him and his dad's dream would go to waste.

No. He should not give up his position. Yeojin spoke in her mind. Especially not for me.

Moments later, they were back in the car to go back home. Her heart was not at rest, but she tried her best to mask it with a smile every time Kris glanced at her. She wanted to remember today as a good memory too.

When they arrived at the mansion, a familiar car parked in front of theirs. Lin was standing on the side of it talking to a guy Yeojin failed to recognize because of the dim light from the lampposts. She alighted the car and was going to approach the pair when Kris suddenly held her hand. She snapped her head up at him with surprise only to see his eyes focusing on the pair in front of them.

"Oh! Gege! Eonni! You guys are back!" Lin cheerfully greeted.

Yeojin turned her head toward her just when the guy turned around. Her heart dropped at the sight.

"Hey," Sehun greeted her with a soft smile.

Kris is subtly stepping up his game! SeJin/HunJin shippers, let's hope Sehun won't back down! *ifeelsoevilforcreatingawarbetweentheships*