Listen to URL: Reading the Letter [Letters to Juliet Soundtrack]

Standing by a large brick building, Jaejoong stood on Seoul University’s campus as he watched students shuffling off to their classes. If it wasn’t his awkward lingering around campus, his dark navy blue suit differentiated him amongst the human population. Jaejoong felt this growing nostalgia, leaving him to reminisce the good days of university, where he was sheltered from the brutality of reality. In his hand was a picture of Hae Bin which his mother had given him to recognize her amidst the crowds. Though she did not have any obvious attractiveness to her, she had a quiet, natural beauty about her that could possibly turn the heads of at least a few men. But, Jaejoong couldn’t help but to frown at how familiar this woman was to him.

“Have I met this person before?” Jaejoong asked his assistant, standing beside him also dressed in a clean suit.

“I believe you attended her mother’s funeral three years ago with your family,” he replied.

Looking back at the photo, he recalled the day he had attended a funeral of a family he did not know. The atmosphere was somber, much darker than any other funeral he had attended and he remembered seeing a girl not much younger than his twenty three year-old self, dressed in a black hanbok with her eyes all swollen from the grievance of her mother’s death. Jaejoong could only imagine what it would feel like to lose a family member so close to the heart and for a woman to lose her mother? It would only leave that little girl longing for her mother back.

Jaejoong lightly nodded. “…I vaguely remember that.”

Despite that being the only memory Jaejoong could recollect of this girl, he couldn’t help but to think if he had seen her somewhere else without knowing.

“Sir, isn’t that her?” his assistant pointed out.

Jaejoong snapped out of his thoughts and saw her walking out of the building with a couple of other girls, assuming they were her friends. Though was nothing particularly special of how she looked, the smile she gave radiated her face with a glow he had never seen before. Her overall stature was a little above average while her gently curled hair bounced in the wind past her shoulders. Straightening out his suit, Jaejoong looked towards his secretary and nodded.

“I guess it’s time to meet my future fiancée.”

“Hae Bin-ah, do you want to hang out with us?” Yuri asked. “We’re going to head to the café for some lattes.”

Hae Bin smiled, but curtly shook her head. “I can’t. I’m meeting up with someone right now.”

“Who? Is it a boy?” Ara teased.

Hae Bin lightly blushed at the thought. “I-“

“Excuse me.”

Hae Bin and her friends turned around to see who was interrupting their light conversation only to see a man dressed neatly in a dark, navy suit that could've been worth over thousands of dollars. His jet black hair was neatly tousled, his eyes, dark as the night sky. His tall and broad stature filled his suit with ease, leaving Hae Bin to only assume he had a well-toned physique underneath. His wrist carried a silver Rolex watch with a black face and silver detailing and his dress shoes polished to a glossy black.

In other words, he was drop dead gorgeous.

Despite Hae Bin having a difficult time prying her eyes off this mysterious man, she couldn’t help but to notice how familiar he is.

“Y-Yes?” Hae Bin managed to squeak.

“Are you by any chance, Chu Hae Bin?” the man asked, his voice smooth enough to cut into butter.

Speechless, Hae Bin could not find her voice until her friends nudged her, only leaving her to nod her head. The mysterious man held out a hand in front of her.

“My name is Kim Jae joong and I believe my mother had spoken to you earlier.”

Kim Jae Joong.

It then occurred to her that this was the man that could potentially be her future husband. She had met up with his mother yesterday at Aroma Café to discuss about this matter. According to her father, her family as well as his was very close and that this marriage was in the making for nearly two years. Hae Bin had believed that the stranger would be an ordinary man, but she was wrong.

She was very wrong indeed.

“Uh…Hae Bin?” Yuri said, breaking Hae Bin’s train of thought. “We’re going to go. Call us later, okay?”

“O…Okay,” Hae Bin whispered, not taking her eyes off of Jaejoong.

The two girls bowed curtly at Jaejoong before giggling away from their friend’s get together.

As Jaejoong turned back towards to Hae Bin, after watching her friends leave with amusement, he noticed she had yet to return his handshake. Instead, she stared at him doe-eyed, like a deer caught between car lights.

“You know, normally people would return the hand gesture,” Jaejoong teased, flashing his million-dollar smile.

Blushing to a bright red, Hae Bin enveloped her small hand in his as the two shook hands. His hand was warm and inviting. It was rough, showing he was a handworker, and yet, they were gentle enough to inform Hae Bin that he would not cause any harm.

As the two broke apart, Hae Bin lightly fixed her bangs with the hand she had just gotten back. Meanwhile, Jaejoong placed his now free hand back into the pocket of his trousers.

“You know…you look awfully familiar,” Jaejoong commented. “It’s almost as if-“

Jaejoong caught sight of Hae Bin’s necklace, the same gold necklace that the woman he bumped into yesterday was wearing.

He lightly squinted. “You’re that girl I bumped into in front of the café yesterday, aren’t you?”

A small frown creased across Hae Bin’s forehead, puzzled by Jaejoong’s blunt comment. But, it had occurred to her that the man she had encountered a small accident with yesterday was indeed Jaejoong. Her eyes widened by the realization and blushed once more, while Jaejoong lightly laughed.

“Well…isn’t this a small world.”

----//----

Listen to URL: End Title [Changeling Soundtrack]

“So, I’m assuming that you were at Aroma Café yesterday to talk to my mother?” Jaejoong asked.

He and Hae Bin were now sitting in a private room at SOHO Gardens restaurant, a high class cuisine spot that served those with wealth, fame, status, or all three. For Hae Bin, she was none of the above. To be sitting in a restaurant that she would’ve never been able to enter otherwise truly fascinated her, leaving her to question Jaejoong’s status.

Hae Bin nodded. “Yes.”

“I hope my mother did not pressure you into doing anything,” Jaejoong said before taking a sip of his water.

“Oh no,” she shook her head furiously. “Your mother was nothing but kind. She told me about your family’s relationship with mine and of course…the marriage proposal.”

Jaejoong watched her, as if she was a piece of art put on display. Her eyes were fixated on the interior of the restaurant, soaking up every detail from the chandelier gracing over them or the multiple stainless steel cutlery that lay before her.

 “Judging by your look, can I assume that you’ve never been here?”

Looking across the table, she nodded. “Even if I could get a seat here, I wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

At that time, a waiter arrived to their table, pouring them each a glass of red wine. After placing the bottle of wine into a wine bucket, the waiter asked,

“Are you ready to order?”

“Actually, we haven’t even looked at the menu,” Jaejoong said. “But, I’ll trust my friend to whip up something that my guest and I will both enjoy.”

With a smile, the waiter took the menus and bowed. “Of course, your order will arrive shortly.”

Hae Bin waited for the waiter to leave before asking Jaejoong,

“Friend?”

Jaejoong smiled as he held his glass of wine before his lips. “Yes, my friend is the owner of this restaurant.”

Lunch was much more inviting than Hae Bin had expected. Jaejoong was rather warm and welcoming and asked many questions about her life, almost as if he was interested in getting married to her. She spoke about her current studies at Seoul University, as she was in Graduate school with her degree in fine arts. She discussed her life how, where she was raised and the tragic death of her mother three years back. And she also spoke of her future plans and her wish to go abroad to study and experience the life of European art. On the other hand, Jaejoong spoke about his life and his role as the heir to his father’s company. He briefly spoke of his past and his studies at Seoul University and how he earned an undergrad and masters in business. Not once was Jaejoong rude or egotistical by any means because of his higher status. It felt as if Jaejoong actually cared for her feelings, making Hae Bin feel important.

Or perhaps she was watching one too many Korean dramas.

After lunch was finished, the two of them were sitting at the table for a cup of coffee. This time, Jaejoong’s light-hearted smile slowly turned into a serious expression.

“From what I heard from you today, I can sense that you are uncomfortable being amidst in an environment completely new to you. Even being in this restaurant made you uncomfortable at first because you never knew what it was like to experience such upscale living. But, you do realize that getting married to me means getting used to being in the spotlight. The media and paparazzi will be watching your every move and you will no longer have the leniency in life like the way you do now. You would no longer be an everyday citizen, but as a member of a high-class society. You would be responsible for attending every charity event, dinner, and ball that I attend as my wife and everyone will be watching you, waiting for you to slip up and fall.”

Hae Bin stayed quiet in her chair, looking down at the table before her, unable to meet eyes with Jaejoong. She shivered at the sudden change in Jaejoong and how his personality went from warm and inviting, to a cold and serious one.

Jaejoong continued. “I don’t know what your father did for my father to be in debt to him, but if you do accept this arranged marriage proposal, I will find out if you only agreed to it for wealth and status gain. I mean, marrying into this relationship means great benefits for you, but I don’t gain anything particularly special. If you and your father think that getting to me will help you with all of that-“

Before Jaejoong could finish, Hae Bin had taken her glass of water and splash its contents onto Jaejoong’s face. As his immediate reaction, he stood up from his seat, slamming his hands against the table, making everything on the table tremble by its force.

“Are you out of your mind?!” he yelled. “Do you know who you’re dealing with?!”

Hae Bin stood up from her seat, frowning upon Jaejoong, her eyes glowing with fiery eyes. “I don’t know where you got this preconceived notion that I would marry out of greed, but I guess you have every right to question me and my honesty. After all, I’m only a stranger to you where the last time we had met was when we children. You can criticize me all you want, but you do not have any right to disrespect my father! He is an honest man with a kind heart and has never lived his life out of greed! We live with nothing more than we need and we are happy with the way we live. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will take my leave.”

Grabbing her purse from the head of her chair, Hae Bin stormed from the table to leave the private room of the restaurant, but not before she turned back and slamming a 20,000 WON bill onto the table. The force of her anger carried through the table, causing anything that rested on the flat surface to tremble.

“This is for your dry cleaning bill,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be in debt to a self-absorbent man like you.”

Jaejoong watched Hae Bin’s figure headed towards the door once more to let herself out, but ran into another man that was in front of the doorway. Bowing her head and muttering an apology under her breath, Hae Bin slipped in between the doorframe and the man to leave the restaurant that she would hope to never set her foot in again.

Wiping the excess water from his face, Jaejoong couldn’t help but to scoff at the site of the wrinkled bill that lay against the white table cloth. Never in his life had he been treated in this way, by the known and certainly not those of lower status. Turning his head to the entrance of the private room, Jaejoong saw Yoochun leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed and a smile etched upon his face.

 “I just came by to ask how lunch was going,” Yoochun said. “But, it seems like it didn’t go so well.”

Jaejoong shot a menacing glare towards his friend, hinting to Yoochun that provoking his already angered state would not be wise.

“Just find me some spare clothes,” Jaejoong replied, unwilling to explain to his friend about the mishap that occurred just a few minutes ago.

With a bemused smile on his face, Yoochun stood up straight from the doorframe. “Your fiancée was cute and she’s definitely something if she has the guts to treat you like that.”

“…Just find me another shirt,” Jaejoong said, unamused by his friend’s comment.

Yoochun lifted his hands in defeat as he went to go find a spare shirt for his friend.

----//----

Listen to URL: Spring I Love You-Big Baby Driver [A Gentleman’s Dignity OST]

==TWO WEEKS LATER==

“Sir, your mother is here to see you.”

Jaejoong pinched the bridge of his nose as he heard his secretary speaking to him over the phone. He had hoped that his lunch meeting with Hae Bin two weeks ago would not have gotten back to his mother. After all, the lunch was a complete disaster. But, his mother would not visit him during the middle of work unless it was important or a serious matter that she had to discuss with him.

With a heavy sigh, Jaejoong replied, “Send her in.”

By the time he placed the receiver back; Jaejoong’s mother had already entered, dressed in a navy blue suit, with a pencil skirt, and neatly pressed white-collared shirt and a navy blue blazer on top. Her hair was pulled up into a low chignon with pearl earrings resting peacefully upon her ear lobes. Her look was completed with a black designer handbag and a pair of black stilettos with the classic Christian Louboutin red soles on the bottom. Jaejoong stood up from his seat ad went to go sit down in the lounging area in front of his desk with his mother.

She placed her handbag beside her as she watched her son with livid eyes. His mother was never a woman to fully display her anger by actions or words, but was shown through her eyes. As a child, Jaejoong would know if he got into trouble whenever he met gaze with his mother’s eyes.

“So, what brings you here, mother?” Jaejoong asked, nearly laughing at himself for asking such a foolish question.

“Do you mind explaining to me about what happened at lunch with Hae Bin two weeks ago?” she asked. “And explain to me why I received a phone-call from her father asking why his daughter looked so upset and angry when she got home after the lunch date?”

Jaejoong sat still, unable to answer his mother’s questions.

She sighed. “Sweetheart, I know that this idea on an arranged marriage has been hard on you, but you have to at least try to get along with Hae Bin. She’s a very sweet girl and you’ll love her once you get to know her-“

“What’s there to know about her?” Jaejoong interrupted. “She’s a graduate student who’s studying art at Seoul University. Her mother died three years ago and her father is currently a businessman, making them a middle-class family. They live in a lower-class residential area of Seoul for the majority of her family’s income goes to paying for her education. Hae Bin-shhi had the opportunity to travel to France to further her studies in art, but chose not to go for she knew the cost would be too much for her and her father to pay-”

“Kim Jae Joong!” his mother shouted. “I did not raise you to judge others on their status and wealth! I have always told you that the way you live now is a privilege which can be easily taken away from you!”

Jaejoong remained silent.

With a heavy sigh, his mother continued. “I want you to go to Hae Bin today and go apologize to her for your behaviour and bring her to dinner. I hope you haven’t forgotten our family get-together this evening and I expect you to be on time.”

“Mother-“

“I heard she has a class that ends in half-an-hour. Why don’t you go pick her up now?” Jaejoong’s mother proposed. Standing up from the couch, she straightened out her pencil skirt and grabbed her bag that was once next to her. “Now, I’ve got to go to the restaurant to finalize the menu. I will see you tonight.”

“Mother, wait-“

Without letting her son speak, Jaejoong’s mother left the office with her heels clicking against the marbled floor, before leaving Jaejoong to perturb in his own distress. Up from his seat, Jaejoong groaned in frustration, running his fingers through his hair and kicking the hair with his recently polished shoes. His hands were placed on his hips, as he stared at the wooden doors which his mother had exited from, angered by his mother’s proposal.

After all, who wouldn’t be distressed if their future wife was already decided by someone else?

However, despite his frustration, he has never disobeyed or upset his mother twice in a row. He has never experienced her anger then and he sure wasn’t about to find out. Checking his Rolex watch upon his wrist, it read just after four in the afternoon, leaving him and Hae Bin about two hours before the dinner.

“Aish…” Jaejoong muttered under his breath before grabbing his black blazer that he had hung on the back of his desk chair. He grabbed his car keys from his desk and slipped his phone into the pocket of his blazer. Opening the door to his office, his secretary and assistant rose from their seats.

“Is something the matter, Mr. Kim?” his secretary asked as she bowed curtly.

“I’m leaving early today,” Jaejoong replied. “The two of you may leave. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jaejoong walked across the reception area as he walked to the elevators to pick up where he and Hae Bin left off.

----//----

Stepping out of her seminar hall, Hae Bin walked across the Seoul University campus to head to the bus stop. As she made her way, her footsteps slowed down to a halt, as she saw Jaejoong standing a couple of meters away from her. There he was, standing six feet tall, dressed in a black Prada suit with a white dress shirt neatly pressed and iron. His navy blue tie sat comfortably around his neck, and his Movado watch gently glistening on his wrist. Jaejoong stood there, his hands in his pockets, looking clean and sharp, almost as if he had stepped out of a magazine. Although this would normally be something Hae Bin, and almost every single woman on the face of the Earth, would be attracted to, she was still upset about their last encounter that happened two weeks ago.

Ignoring his presence, Hae Bin walked right past Jaejoong, only to have him grab her by the arm. His force was gentle, yet strong enough to turn Hae Bin back around to face him.

“What do you want?” she asked, staring at Jaejoong with clouded eyes.

Jaejoong smirked. “I think you know why I’m here.”

With a raised eyebrow, Hae Bin responded, “Unless you’re here to apologize for what happened two weeks ago, I have no idea why you are here. Now, let go.”

Hae Bin attempted to loosen out of Jaejoong’s grasp, but he held on.

“As firm as I am on my belief that you should be the one apologizing to me, I will apologize for my behaviour two weeks ago. I did not mean to come off as, shall I quote you, ‘a self-absorbent man.’ It was not my intention and I do wish that you accept my apology as a way to make peace for this misunderstanding,” Jaejoong said.

Hae Bin tilted her head, gazing into the eyes of Jaejoong’s which were unreadable by his dark, hollow gaze. She lightly smirked.

“Is this a genuine apology?” she asked. “Or is this just a pathetic excuse to tell your mother that everything between us is all patched up now?”

Jaejoong flashed his million-dollar smile. “You know…you are much more interesting than my first impression I had on you.”

Hae Bin frowned. “Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”

“You can take it however you wish,” he replied.

Hae Bin lightly frowned as she watched Jaejoong’s face. His expression was emotionless, void of any lines or signs that would assist her evaluation on her potential fiancé. But, his eyes showed the hint of playful banter as his deep, chestnut-coloured eyes twinkled with amusement.

Jaejoong’s grip on Hae Bin’s arm loosened as she immediately took it back, curling a piece of fly-away hair behind her ear.

She cleared . “Now, do you mind telling me why you are here?”

Jaejoong placed his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. “I am here on behalf of my mother’s request. She said to pick you up from school so I could you to dinner that both of our families will be attending this evening. There is still two hours before the rather long evening, so I would assume you would want to ‘doll’ yourself up before then?”

Jaejoong scanned Hae Bin’s attire as she was dressed in a white T-shirt under a thick, wool cardigan to keep her warm in the cool autumn breeze. Her dark wash denim jeans hit just below her ankles before a pair of white Converse covered her feet. Her hair was lightly tousled into a loose fishtail braid that swung over one shoulder with a few fly-away hairs dancing around her head.

Hae Bin shrugged. “I suppose…”

“Then, where shall we go?” Jaejoong asked. “Oska Mall? The department stores downtown? Lotte Mall?”

“Why would I go there?” Hae Bin lightly frowned. “I’m sure I’ll have something appropriate to wear in my own closet.”

Looking at her overall appearance once more, Jaejoong lightly chuckled to himself as he turned around and began heading back in the direction of where he had parked his car.

“Why did you laugh? Hey! Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Hae Bin shouted. “Where are you going?”

Jaejoong stopped in his tracks before peering over his shoulder. “My car is this way, sweetheart. We don’t have all day. Just tell me your address so we can get this dinner over with because I’m pretty sure you and I both feel the same way about our parents’ idea of the so-called ‘grand idea.’”

Hae Bin watched as Jaejoong turned around once more before continuing his footsteps, walking further away from where she stood. She could not believe that this man that stood before her, a man who dressed like a gentleman, was going to be her fiancé and soon-to-be-husband. Though his looks did not disappoint, his personality and manners were atrocious. Hae Bin cringed as she recalled her dinner with Jaejoong as his true colours showed. She could not believe the complete change in attitude he had to her since then. At lunch, he was cold, rude, and straight-forward of his feelings and actions. Now, he was joking, playful, and mysterious with his playful banter and unreadable face.

“Darling, we can’t get anywhere until you start moving your feet!” Jaejoong called from across the street as he waved one hand to get Hae Bin’s attention.

Darling.

It made Hae Bin blushed to have been called ‘darling’ so easily by a man she barely even knew despite all of the stories her father had told her about Jaejoong. Catching her composure, she headed towards Jaejoong as she glared his way.

“I’m not a ‘sweetheart,’” she said. “And I’m definitely not your ‘darling.’”

Jaejoong smiled as he opened the passenger door to his black BMW and motioned Hae Bin to enter. “Ladies first.”

With a slight nod in acknowledgement, Hae Bin entered his car, as he slammed the door behind her before jogging around the front to enter the driver’s seat. The engine roared alive as Jaejoong entered his key into the ignition, lighting up the dashboard and turning on the music coming from the radio.

“Buckle up darling,” Jaejoong said, “because this ride is about to get bumpy.”

Changing the gears to the car, Jaejoong placed a hand on the wheel and pressed lightly on the gas pedal as his car lurched forward and into the busy streets of Seoul.

--------------------

Hello everyone!

I truly, truly, TRULY apologize for the EXTREMELY late/postponed update for the 2^nd chapter. I had a lot on my plate in the last month or so with exams, university stuff, graduation, prom, and all that good stuff. But, I am proud and happy to say that I have graduated HIGH SCHOOL and free from any work for two months before heading off to university!

Technically, I finished exams and everything about two weeks ago, but the EURO cup has been on television for the last 3 weeks I believe? And I was cheering for ENGLAND hardcore J. Though sadly, they didn’t make it to the semi-finals. Now, I’m cheering for Deutcheland (or Germany) and hoping they can win against Spain this year J

ANYWAYS! Now I’m just rambling.

So, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Because of the ridiculously long wait I made everyone endure, I tried my best to make this chapter extra long to make up for the lost time. Please tell me what you think in the comments below!

And as always, please subscribe if you have not subscribed!

Until next time!

-dbsk408-