Chapter 50

One new year resolution: stop flirting with girls. Chanyeol mentally noted.

First step: hide!

Chanyeol quickly turned around and hide his side profile with a hand.

"Uh.. Sir?" The hotel deputy manager was confused by his boss' action. 

Chanyeol was just making sure the things needed were prepared for the event with his deputy manager when the girl he once flirted with a long time ago appeared and approached the receptionist desk not far from where he was standing. On second thought, she wasn't just a girl he flirted with. She was his ex. He dated her before. For three days. 

It didn't end well. Not for her, he knew.

He shuddered at the memory of high-pitched wail and flying heels. She definitely didn't take it well.

What the hell is she doing here?

"Sir?" The manager tapped his shoulder.

"Ssh!" Chanyeol hissed making the man flinched. "Just make sure everything's prepared. I have to go." He scurried away, but he didn't even get to take his fourth step when the girl called his name and he froze.

"Chanyeol? Is that you?" He heard steps nearing him from behind. "Ya! Park Chanyeol!"

He immediately ran away.

"Hey! Chanyeol!"

The clicking of her heels against the floor scared him. He ran to the elevator; but upon realizing all four compartments still slowly descending from the higher levels, he opted for the emergency stairs instead. He hid behind the door still panting and peeped out through the narrow glass on the door.

"Geez! Where did he go?" The girl mumbled looking around and sighed. "Did he not hear me? I was just going to say hi." She clicked her tongue and walked away.

Seeing her walked away, Chanyeol sighed in relief but then jumped at the sound of the emergency door being closed at the basement, just a level below him. He frowned and slowly left the door toward the stairs leading down. He wasn't sure why he was descending the stairs carefully and quietly, but he did anyway. He came to a halt only after going down a few steps when he heard voices.

"Have you given her the key?" A gruff voice asked.

Chanyeol ducked to peek but could only see a man dressed in the hotel's uniform- he assumed to be one of the employees- cornered on the wall. The other one had his back on him and was clad in black leather jacket and black jeans. A black cap rested on his head making it even harder for Chanyeol to recognize who he was. One thing for sure, he couldn't be one of the employees.

"Y-yes, I did," the employee stammered much to Chanyeol's confusion.

"Are you sure you gave it to the right girl?"

"Yes. I made sure her name and she confirmed it herself that she is Yeojin."

Chanyeol's eyes rounded at the mention of her name.

"Good!" The man in black replied and ed a brown envelope to the hotel employee. "Now go! Disappear and never show up again. Understood?" The employee could only nod to that.

They hurried away before Chanyeol could even chase and confront them. But what chasing when he was still in a trance?

Yeojin? She's here? His mind tried to make sense of what he just heard. His heart picked its pace when it finally dawned on him what he just witnessed. "Kris hyung! I must tell him!" 

He rushed out and repeatedly pressed on the button to call for the elevator. Not missing a second to enter the first elevator that arrived, he immediately pressed on the number of the top floor where Kris' presidential suite was. Once he was at the desired floor, he banged his fist on the door of his suite.

"Hyung! Kris hyung! Chairman!"

The door swung open a few moments later and a groaning Kris welcomed his sight. "Can you not knock like that?" He clicked his tongue and glared. "On second thought, don't even knock on my door." He pulled the door to close it, but Chanyeol was able to block it with his hand.

"Wait! I have to tell you something!"

"I don't want to hear it!" 

"Yeojin is here!" Chanyeol revealed without missing a beat, gaining a pause from the older guy. "Did you know that?"

"What?" Kris frowned opening the door wider again. The news was preposterous to him. Why would Yeojin be there?

"I heard-"

"Kris!" Suho called while running towards them. "I just heard something weird from this bunch of reporters passing me by," he told him and briefly glanced at Chanyeol, unsure of whether to reveal more with his presence. "They said...umm... It's..."

"Suho, just spill!" The chairman pressed.

"They said something about getting a leak that a girl entered Sehun's room. They thought it might be his girlfriend. I just- I don't know- It's not Yeojin right?" He asked worriedly.

Chanyeol furrowed his brows hearing the familiar name. He couldn't remember where and when he heard it. But whoever Sehun was, it weirdly felt like he fit in this whole thing regarding Yeojin.

Before Kris could even make sense of all these news, he heard another elevator dinged open and out came his PA. Mr. Lee approached them down the hallway in a hurry. "Chairman! You have to come with me immediately! It's about Ms. Yeojin."

This time, Kris didn't even have to think twice. His guts knew what was happening. And he wasn't pleased at all. Without being asked, Mr. Lee pressed the ninth floor when everyone had entered the elevator. To their surprise, a swarm of reporters greeted their sight when they stepped out of the compartment.

"Oh Sehun, is this your girlfriend from the news?"
"Are you perhaps engaged?"
"Do your parents arranged you to get married?"
"What family is she from?"
"Miss, are you Oh Sehun's girlfriend?"

Kris' hands curled into fists at the repeated questions. He could see Sehun being stumped and frozen with Yeojin behind him. Yet, he also knew that the younger guy was thinking of a way to escape this without anymore suspicion. There wasn't really any other way besides one.

"No."

His voice silenced the reporters who immediately turned to him. They parted and made a way for him when he approached them with. His eyes locked with Sehun's slightly rounded ones when he stood in front of the pair.

"Kris?" Yeojin peeked out from behind Sehun's back, wide-eyed.

He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her toward him frowning at the dress she was wearing. He could hear the murmurs behind him as he stared down at her.

"This girl," he started before settling his gaze on Sehun, "is my wife."

His statement earned him gasps. The words that left his lips were meant to drive away the reporters' false suspicion, but at the same time, Kris felt like they were the very words he had been wanting to say to Sehun.

"Ya," Yeojin softly protested gaining back Kris' attention.

He silently wrapped his arm around her bringing her close to his side as he turned around facing the reporters. Yeojin immediately looked away and hide her face as much as possible on his chest. Questions from the reporters rose again, but Kris kept his lips sealed this time and escorted themselves past the reporters.

"Hold them up," Kris instructed the wide-eyed Mr. Lee and Suho while he proceeded inside the elevator.

Chanyeol stood shocked as he watched Mr. Lee and Suho tried to hold back the reporters trying to chase Kris and Yeojin. He did not expect Kris to announce who Yeojin was like that. But hearing the questions earlier, he understood the necessity to claim Yeojin as the wife. His eyes trailed to the lone figure still standing there on his spot now forgotten by the swarm.

That must be Sehun, Chanyeol figured. His gaze then fell to the guy's balled hands.

There must be more to this sudden rumor.

"Then Suho should get to the bottom of this as the hotel's managing director!" Park Changsun exclaimed much to Kris' annoyance.

"How could your employee just disappear like that?" The Vice Chairman continued chastening Suho.

Slouching on his chair, Kris held back a groan and just squeezed his eyes while rubbing his temple.

"Then, I'll help," Chanyeol butted in. "It's my responsibility. Even more so as I'm the operations manager. I should've been able to prevent this."

"Chanyeol-" His father warned clearly trying to put the blame on Suho alone.

"If anyone should be responsible, that would be me," Chanyeol firmly stated, cutting off his father.

Suho stared at him with rounded eyes. But his father glared at him.

"In any case," Kris finally spoke opening his eyes and sitting up straight, "I want this matter to be thoroughly checked. I don't care about the rumors. I'll handle that." He then tapped his table with a finger repeatedly as he said, "But I want to know who the employee was. Who was actually behind this?"

"Yes, Chairman," Chanyeol and Suho nodded.

Soon after, Kris dismissed them from the small office in his suite except for Suho and Mr. Lee. After the PA reported that the signal weirdly had turned normal just few minutes before Yeojin's arrival, he was instructed to arrange a press conference for the next day. 

"The Vice is behind this, I can feel it!" Suho admitted after Mr. Lee was dismissed.

"I know that." Kris sighed. "But he's working with someone. Someone skillful enough to disrupt the signal in the entire hotel and use Mr. Lee's number to send Mr. Ahn that message."

"I think we can trust Chanyeol though."

Kris ignored the suggestion and stood up to exit the office. "I'll need to clarify this to the board before the event starts." He ran a hand over his face and heaved a heavy breath. "I might need to formally introduce Yeojin to them too."

Suho nodded and followed him out of the office. "I'll let them know."

"I'll go check on Yeojin first."

"Yeah, you should do that." Suho patted his back before going out of the suite.

Resting his hand on the door knob of the bedroom door, Kris took a deep breath. He knocked twice before stepping inside the room. Yeojin was sitting on the bed facing the window that showed off the view of the city lights; her back on him. He really disliked how the dress dipped low enough to give anyone a tease of her back.

"Hey," he softly called while sitting next to her. She looked at him and he pursed his lips. "Sorry it turned out this way."

Yeojin lightly shook her head while looking away then hung her head low with a sigh. "I'm sorry. It's all because I was too gullible. I should've known-"

"It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. You've said sorry too much, you know?" He caressed her head and let his hand slid down to the small of her back. "Seriously though, do you actually think I would buy this kind of dress for you?"

Yeojin only pouted before turning somber again. "What about..." She gulped. "Sehun?"

Hearing the concern in her voice ticked him off. Kris stood up with a soft groan. "I have to meet the board of directors now." He diverted the topic. "Yeojin," he turned to her with an apologetic smile, "I have to formally introduce you to everyone."

Yeojin sighed and lowered her head again. "Do we really have to?"

He stood in front of her and cupped her face to lift her head up. "Again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to claim you like that. But I didn't want people to think you belong to someone else."

Yeojin softly smiled. "Now you're the one apologizing again."

He smiled because her smile eased his raging heart. "I'll come back soon and we'll go down together."

Yeojin nodded in his hands. Something about her eyes still bothered him. Her smile didn't reach them. They didn't light up the way he wanted it to. Gently he pressed his lips on her forehead as a chaste kiss.

"I... I missed you," he admitted. His heart was clenched when she looked away and pursed her lips instead of replying him with the same words. "I'll be back," he told her before going out.

"Eonni, do you like Sehun?"
"Okay, yes. I like him."

Kris sighed.

"What is this rumor I'm hearing from people? Kris Wu has a wife?" Oh Jaehan quetioned as soon as he took a seat at the round table beside his eldest son.

The venue was already filled with people. And murmurs. Despite the event proceeding as planned, people seemed to be more engrossed in talking rather than watching the various performances from different departments. The recent news of the Chairman having a wife naturally became the main topic of gossips.

"And why did I hear she was in your room, son?" Jaehan asked Sehun.

Sehun silently gulped down his glass of water. "Soemone set us up."

"What?" His father frowned. "Who would do that?"

Xiumin. Sehun had an inkling the guy had something to do with it. He heard Kris' PA and Suho discussing about the signal disruption. That must be one of Xiumin's goons' doing.

"I didn't know she was in your room!" Luhan gasped beside him. "If someone set you up, what does Yifan's wife had to do with you anyway? Did you know her?"

Sehun pinched the bridge of his nose. More than the pounding in his head caused by the earlier fiasco, his heart was hurting. It was torn apart when he could only watch someone else took away the girl of his heart. But of course, Yeojin was never his in the first place. Now, he couldn't pretend that he didn't know about her status anymore.

"Hun, you're not answering me." Luhan lightly shook his shoulder.

"Thank you, Finance Department!" The MC's booming voice gained back their attentions. "That was quiet a performance, wasn't it, ladies and gentlemen?" He laughed and some laughed along. "And now, we will proceed with a welcoming speech from our very own chairman. Please welcome, Kris Wu!"

Everyone clapped and murmured amongst themselves at the same time. The whispers and murmurs almost drowned the clap when the main doors to the hall opened and the said chairman came in with a lady by his side; her hand holding his arm. 

"Ya!" Luhan exclaimed with wide eyes. "Isn't that Yeojin your friend?"

Sehun kept silent. He tried to hold himself together because he knew he was slowly breaking inside. And when she softly smiled to everyone they passed, his heart clenched even more. Seeing them actually being together, walking side by side as husband and wife for the very first time hurt him more than he imagined it would.

"You okay, bro?" Luhan gripped Sehun's shoulder when he saw his hand grasping the glass tightly as if he wanted to break it. "Hun?" He tried again but Sehun's mind was somewhere else.

Sehun's eyes and ears were only focused on the couple now ascending the stage.

She was no longer his.
No, she was never his.

Whew! It's chapter 50 already! And I initially planned this story to be 50-chapters long XD
Ruined plan indeed! Haha!
We're almost there though (at least in my mind, we are lol)