Chapter 2
The next day, Ryeowook received a call from the agency, that he was to have a lunch meeting with a client. He jotted down the time and place, wondering who it would be. Most of his clients, weren't the sort who had lunch dates with him. All his traditional customers were more like surrogate grandparents that he had found in the city, and as such they were well aware of his schooling, and disliked the thought of bothering his studies. The only one he could think of was his new, biggest client, apparently, at least according to work load, which automatically forced him to recall the events from the evening previous. He knew that this meeting was an important one, he could not afford to be late, which, he realised meant he needed to leave in about 10 minutes.
He immediately started rushing around to make sure he'd be presentable, in case it was Kyuhyun he was meeting. He didn't know why. But for some reason the idea of showing up, not looking his best just didn't seem like an option. He did look pretty different when he didn't put his make up on, so maybe he subconsciously thought Kyuhyun wouldn't recognise him without it.
Luckily he was already dressed, and so he only needed to grab his essential items, namely keys, wallet and phone, before he left his apartment. He was just lucky that with all the practice he'd had, he was able to apply all of his make up essentials in only a few minutes, otherwise he would have missed the bus, and would have had to wait another 7 minutes for the next one.
A 7 minute wait on its own, isn't anything that Ryeowook would have been too concerned about, however the problem was that the restaurant was one that was awkward to get to from his apartment. Indeed it was quite far away from where he lived, and so he had to change his mode of transport a few times to get there. As a result, a small delay on one, could result in being very late at getting to the final destination.
Luckily though, everything was on his side, and he made the relatively long journey in good time, though it was hardly surprising; South Korea having one of the most reliable public transport systems in the world. He was through the door of the restaurant with 5 minutes to spare; late as far as the agency would be concerned, but given the short notice he'd had about the meeting, he was satisfied.
He hoped his client had not yet arrived, as he still wasn't certain who he was meeting; if they got there first, it could make for quite an awkward meeting, considering there was little chance he'd be able to find them. He knew this place well, and knew that there were many hidden crevices where couples could be seated for privacy, and that wasn't including the private rooms on the second floor!
Clearly he was not in luck in this respect, as his client had arrived before him, but Ryeowook didn't mind much. They were seated over by the bar while they waited, but upon spotting Ryeowook's entrance had made their way over to greet him, and escort him to a table, one hidden in one of those very crevices Ryeowook had been thinking of a moment before.
"It's good to see you again, sir." Ryeowook told him politely, as he sat down across the table from Kyuhyun's father. "I'm surprised you could find time in your busy schedule to arrange a meeting with me." he continued. Kyuhyun's father shook his head, managing a tired smile in the young boy's direction. "In truth, I did have to rearrange a few things, which is why this was such a last minute thing, I'm so glad you could make it. We have urgent matters to attend to, and very little time, I'm afraid."
The man quickly glanced at the menu, distractedly, clearly eager to have the entire thing be done with, as quickly as possible, if the suspicious glances he kept sending the waiter were any indication. He clearly wanted the matter to be discussed privately.
Ryeowook quickly glanced at the menu, noting the prices of each item, before making his selection. He'd been warned from his very first day on the job, that it was never wise to expect the client to pay for your meal, so don't eat what you couldn't afford to buy. However Kyuhyun's father caught the look immediately, telling him, none too gently, "The meal is on me." Ryeowook was inclined to argue against it, as was custom, but Kyuhyun's father was a busy man, and he seemed irate enough at the continued presence of the waiter as it was. "It's the very least I can do after what my son has got you into." he clarified. So Ryeowook acquiesced, biting down on the little voice of his mother calling him insufferably rude for it.
"I should imagine your job would result in urgent matters quite frequently." Ryeowook stated conversationally, as the waiter, moved on to a table nearby, in case he was listening, deciding to err on the side of caution with his words as he had at the party.
"Don't be silly, they pale in comparison to what Kyuhyun's got you into at that stupid party." Kyuhyun's father rumbled, and although the irritation he saw in the man's eyes was directed at his absent son, Ryeowook couldn't help a small quake of fear at the look anyway.
Realising they had to discuss matters now, Ryeowook's tone also turned serious, even as it dropped secretively, "You mean when he told his mother that we were moving in together.?" Kyuhyun's father nodded, "You got it. My ex-wife is just itching for a way to catch you out, and so every precaution must be taken. It doesn't just have to sound right, there has to be no indication of anything less than an idyllic relationship between you two, or the whole thing is ruined."he told him seriously.
It was those words that sent alarm bells going off in his brain, and he stared at the man incredulously, hoping that what he'd thought of, wasn't true. "You don't mean the two of us, are actually going to have to...move in together, do you?" Ryeowook squeaked, in alarm. Kyuhyun's father just sighed, sympathetically patting the other boy on the hand, in a gesture of his commiseration, "I'm afraid so. I wouldn't ask it of you if it wasn't important. And I promise you'll be fairly compensated for your trouble."
Even in the midst of his terror, that one word still struck something in his mind, some small, but very pragmatic part of his brain, that could see the silver lining in this unfortunate scenario. "Compensated?" he queried hollowly. "Of course!" exclaimed the other man, "I'll be responsible for your rental payments on your own home, in your absence, and I'll be sure to add more for your troubles to the payment you'll receive at the end of the 6 months."
The pragmatic part of his brain was almost salivating at those words. It sounded like an exceptionally good deal, provided of course, the major concern in his mind were also addressed. "Well, that does sound alright, but I'm afraid I must express my concern at the thought of living with a near perfect stranger. Kyuhyun, in the short amount of time that I've spent with him seems lovely, but..." "You need not worry about him. He keeps almost entirely to himself, you'll be lucky if you see him, and he's not capable of hurting anyone." he assured.
"Well, I suppose it's no different from living with a room mate on campus at the university." Ryeowook decided, "Except for the whole compensation aspect of course." he added on, with a smile. He felt surprisingly reassured. He even felt as though it might be fun to have a room mate, particularly since he already knew that he got along with Kyuhyun; most people don't get the benefit of finding that out until they've already moved in.
"Excellent. Well, I'm afraid this matter really is urgent. We need to get the two of you moved in as quickly as possible. I hope you don't mind the basics." he told him distractedly, as he bent to retrieve some files from his briefcase.
Their food was delivered at that time, and so he waited to reveal what he had brought with him to their meeting, until they were left alone once more, before handing it to Ryeowook. There were many sheets of paper, all of them ads for apartments, of all shapes and sizes, but all of them, Ryeowook noted, well above anything he could afford.
He looked back at the older man in confusion, who stopped eating his food long enough to explain, "Just pick out the one or ones you like. I'll notify my lawyer and purchase it, I'll hopefully have to two of you in there within the week." Ryeowook stared at each of the pictures, eventually narrowing down the selection to one of three, based on the pictures that had been included, and his own criteria.
In truth he would have quite happily settled in any of them, but he felt like a response of that nature would not be well received from the man before him. He handed all of the pictures back to him, telling him of his narrowed selection. "Excellent. I'll get Kyuhyun to pick one of your choices, and take care of the purchase." he told him relieved, and Ryeowook could tell, this had been a pressing matter to him, prior to their lunch.
"I'm so sorry, Ryeowook, but I have to go now. Please, feel free, I've already paid, take as long as you like with your meal. And once again I'm really sorry about all this." the man apologised, evidently urgently needing to leave but feeling uncomfortable about leaving the boy alone to eat his meal. "It's okay, don't worry about it. Goodbye, sir." Ryeowook cheerily waved, as the man left, happily starting his meal in earnest.
He decided that meeting could have gone far worse than it had. He could see no real downside to the whole arrangement. Though, upon consideration, if appearances are that concerning, perhaps he'd have to stop working for the agency, at least for 6 months, in order to keep up appearances. Deciding that was probably a smart move, he decided suspension of his work could wait until he had some other means of being contacted by his boyfriend, perhaps when they were living together would be the best time.
Indeed, it hadn't taken long at all for Kyuhyun's father to arrange everything. Before even a week had passed, he had been contacted by the agency that he was to keep his entire Saturday free, as it had been booked by a client.
He found Kyuhyun waiting for him at the coffee shop, that he now associated as their meeting place. "What are we up to today?" he asked, as he approached the boy, who had been looking around anxiously. Ryeowook couldn't help but wonder if that had been how he'd looked on the night of the party, because when you're a spectator, he found it was actually pretty amusing.
Kyuhyun jumped slightly at the unexpected voice, clearly not having noticed Ryeowook's approach, but smiled at him, directly after. "We're going furniture shopping." he informed him, his tone clearly conveying to Ryeowook that he wasn't looking forward to the venture at all.
"Furniture shopping?" Ryeowook queried, not sure he'd understood him correctly, "What are we buying furniture for?" Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at the fact that Ryeowook still hadn't caught on. "Well funnily enough, my father thought we'd be a little uncomfortable moving in to our apartment tomorrow, without any furniture there to greet us." he told him dully, but the smile he gave Ryeowook told him that he wasn't as adverse to the whole thing as it had appeared a moment before.
"I didn't realise the sale would go through so quickly." Ryeowook gushed, in surprise. Kyuhyun just sort of shrugged at his surprise, stating distractedly, "They must have just been in a hurry to sell is all."
"So where are we going to get our furniture from?" Ryeowook asked him excitedly, he had enjoyed the idea of furniture shopping for his own place when he first came to the city, but had found that due to his small budget, he was unable to do a big shop like he'd hoped. It was more like a small shop for essentials, and then slowly gathering everything else he needed, as he could afford it.
Kyuhyun shrugged. "I don't know. We can get stuff from wherever you'd like. We have no budget, my father's paying for it. But we need it now." he told Ryeowook, distractedly. Furniture shopping wasn't exactly Kyuhyun's strong point. He'd only been able to make a decision on which apartment they got in the end, because Ryeowook had already narrowed the choices down. He didn't really mind, he could be happy wherever he was, with whatever they had, so he decided it was best to leave shopping to Ryeowook. Of course his being there would also do well for their guise as a couple, so he was happy enough to tag along.
"Okay. I know where we need to go, but we'll need to make a few stops, is that okay?" Ryeowook excitedly queried, to which Kyuhyun nodded. The two got into the fancy car parked out front, with another a driver, but not as large as the limo from the party. He excitedly listed off the first address to Kyuhyun's driver, before turning to Kyuhyun, some of his anxiety catching up to him.
"Kyuhyun, your father seems to be having a lot of expenses because of me as of late, are you sure he can afford all this?" he worriedly asked. Kyuhyun eyed him curiously, not understanding the cause of Ryeowook's concern. "What do you mean?" he enquired, politely, trying not to reach any conclusions before Ryeowook had answered him. He'd been warned for years that concern could quickly give way to greed.
"Well I mean he has already had to pay for an apartment, because of me, he's going to pay my rent, my compensation at the end of all this, and now he's letting us spend whatever we like on furniture, isn't it too much?" he noted the genuine concern in Ryeowook's features and tone, and couldn't resist the urge to giggle at it. The sincerity of it, only making it seem funnier to him.
Ryeowook pouted slightly at the laughter that was emanating from the man beside him, but as he caught sight of it, Kyuhyun managed to settle himself. "I'm sorry Ryeowook, it's just that my father's company earns trillions of won every year. As it's CEO, my father's wages are into the hundreds of billions of won annually. To him this is a small expense. You need not worry about him."
Hearing that, Ryeowook could now understand why Kyuhyun had found it so tempting to laugh at him a moment earlier; were his parents that wealthy, he would have laughed too. Saving him from his embarrassment, the car pulled to a stop outside a relatively small store, and he quickly jumped out of the vehicle.
Kyuhyun was quick to follow him, catching up with him easily, as the couple gazed at the building. "What is this place?" he asked, as his arm settled round Ryeowook's shoulders, to which Ryeowook brightly returned, "It's my aunt's furniture store. They always have such lovely stuff, hopefully we can get things we'll both like here. They may even give us a discount." Kyuhyun grunted, unsure about whether or not that should even be considered a criterion in the first place, but couldn't help his intrigue at the small, unassuming store before him.
He made sure to take note of this in the back of his mind, realising that this was probably one of those bits of information that one knew about someone only if they happened to be in the right place at the right time. Something that although known, would quickly be disregarded as unimportant information at any other time, and so not be passed on to others.
The couple made their way inside quickly, and Kyuhyun was struck by the appearance of the place. From the outside, there was almost no indication the store even sold furniture, excluding the small sign on the roof. However inside, was a maze of all sorts of different pieces of furniture crammed into tiny rooms. There was a vague sort of order about the place, which gave a person some idea of what was being sold, and there were sale signs above many items. It was surprising really, because although it gave out the air of a discount furniture store, which it undoubtedly was, the goods they sold appeared very nice, even to Kyuhyun's eyes.
Granted, they were not the expensive, designer pieces his mother would have insisted upon, but that didn't really matter to Kyuhyun. These items looked more like things you would construct a home from, rather than a room to be photographed in expensive magazines; to be showed off but never lived in. Of the two choices, Kyuhyun knew very well which he would prefer.
It didn't appear as though anyone was present in the room he and Ryeowook had entered. Only a maze of lounges and recliners. "The store goes further back, they've got stock hidden all over the place, so it might take a while to find everything that we want." Ryeowook advised, but despite his even tone, Kyuhyun could tell Ryeowook was excited.
And Ryeowook was excited. In the first place he loved shopping, and was going to have the opportunity to purchase the furniture for a new home, even if it was only going to be a temporary one, from a relative's store. He doubted he'd ever have the opportunity to do so afterwards. It was already too hard just trying to make ends meet. But he was also excited because it was going to be the first time in over a year he would get to see his aunt and uncle.
He'd always liked them. Living in the city, Ryeowook had always viewed them as more easy going and open minded than his parents. He may have loved his own parents dearly, but he also had a large soft spot for his aunt and uncle. They were the only ones in his family who had not reacted with rejection when he informed them about his getting a job at the agency. Although they had made it clear they did not support the choice, they at least were prepared to accept his decision immediately. His own parents had taken longer to come around to the idea, and even now they were very open about their disapproval.
Although Ryeowook noted to himself, a touch bitterly that at the same time, their position didn't leave him much of a choice in the matter. They might complain about his being an escort, but they were also part of the reason he'd become one.
Ryeowook bypassed the lounges and recliners, making his way towards a small office, he knew to extend off of this room from experience; it was a family store, and even if he had never purchased anything there, he had still visited it before. The office was tiny, and only held one man inside, who looked up gruffly as Ryeowook poked his head inside.
The firm words he'd been about to say about the office being for staff only, dying on his lips as he took in the sight of his young nephew. "Ryeowook! Is that you?" he shouted, even as he jumped up to hug him close. "Yes, uncle it's me." he laughed, returning the strong hug. "You never come down to visit us." the old gentleman accused, eyes narrowing. "I know uncle. I'm really sorry, things have just been very full on in the city as of late." Ryeowook told him apologetically, hoping his uncle could forgive him for his lie, even as he decided he'd say it. "Oh? How so?" the older man, enquired, in a friendly tone. "Well, university, my job, and well, my reason for coming all this way." he explained, in the most embarrassed voice he could possibly make.
The old man's eyes were instantly alert, trying to read Ryeowook's face for some hint as to the true purpose of his visit. "What is it? What's wrong? Do you need money? A place to stay? Has one of your clients threatened you? Are you involved in drugs? Just tell me, whatever it is." he pleaded, trying to convey both an urgency for Ryeowook to reveal all to him and that whatever it was should not be worried about, because they were going to take care of it.
Ryeowook's eyes widened in alarm at his uncle's thoughts, "No. No. No. Uncle, it's nothing like that. I met someone a while back, and the two of us are getting along so well, and we like each other so much, we've decided we're ready to move in together, but we need furniture for our apartment." he explained, quickly.
Realising that his nephew had come as a customer with his new partner, he quickly reverted to worker mode. Ryeowook had never actually had a boyfriend to the best of the family's knowledge, so this would be the first one. They couldn't help but wonder what sort of guy he was attracted to. And if he could find out all the while making money from their buying furniture for their new home from the family owned store, then that only made the situation better in his eyes.
"Of course, why don't we all step out into the display rooms. Shall we have a look around for whatever you're interested in? You and..." the uncle suggested, politely, eager to begin what sounded as though it could be a very profitable sale. "Kyuhyun." Ryeowook supplied. His uncle seemed to roll the name around on his tongue for a moment, testing out how he liked the sound of it, before making his way out of the office when he was satisfied with it.
The other young man was the only other person in this part of the store today. He smiled at him politely, noticing that the boy was around the same age as his nephew and quite handsome, surprisingly enough. "So then you are the Kyuhyun lucky enough to be with our Ryeowook are you?" he enquired politely, checking he had the correct man. Kyuhyun immediately smiled in response, "Indeed I am, it's a pleasure to meet you uncle. When we decided to move in together, Ryeowook and I could think of nowhere better to get our furniture than from his beloved uncle." he stated, politely.
His uncle was flattered by the way Kyuhyun had spoken, Ryeowook noticed as he caught up to the rest of them, glad Kyuhyun had guessed or heard the story he'd given his uncle, and had not said anything out of place.
"So then what do you boys need, for this new apartment?" he asked, genial salesperson personality shining through immediately, showing Kyuhyun why he'd chosen to go into this line of work; he clearly had a talent for it. "Oh, we need everything uncle, we haven't got anything, so we'll need all the usual things for a new home." Ryeowook answered excitedly, deciding this was going to be a lot of fun, "I see and the price range?" he queried, to help him narrow their range of items to look at, only to those that were reasonable, but before Ryeowook could answer him, Kyuhyun's low rumble clearly answered, "Let's just see what we find first, hmm? I'm sure if Ryeowook likes something expensive, we can find a way to afford it." The uncle beamed at the way Kyuhyun had answered the question, sounding both practical and selfless, looking out only for Ryeowook's needs.
Immediately he started constructing a list of items, some he termed essential, others necessary for them to look at, and leading them around the store to make their selections. Ryeowook would have preferred it if they had been able to get everything at his uncle's store, however unfortunately, they did not deal with things such as electronics and so they would need to purchase these elsewhere later on.
As Kyuhyun had said, he gave no input on anything they were looking at, so Ryeowook ended up deciding on all of their furniture, from the store. They left the store, with promises to return for a family get together, where Kyuhyun could officially be introduced to the family. But the trips to the other stores to buy the remaining items, ended with the same result; Ryeowook choosing everything in their new house.
With all of the stores promising delivery to the new apartment the next day, Ryeowook was dropped back home by Kyuhyun.
He still wasn't sure what to make of everything that had happened; Kyuhyun had been so quiet, and he felt a little guilty about picking everything out. He'd asked Kyuhyun about it in the car, but he'd told him he liked what Ryeowook had picked, but hadn't given an opinion because he didn't really mind what furniture they had in their house.
He wasn't certain if Kyuhyun had meant what he said about sharing Ryeowook's taste in furniture, but he couldn't help but think what a good sign it would be for their relationship if they did. He knew of too many people who had gotten divorced because from the very start they had disagreed on too many things. Liking the same furniture was therefore a good sign.
But why should he care if Kyuhyun and he were compatible, considering it was all just make believe?