Author's Note: free food and a good time at work. Nothing beats that.
Sorry it's taken a couple of days to get this up. I've been super busy and this chapter just didn't want to come out. It was like nah. I'll let you think a little more on it. Now it's here and I wonder how the next chapter is going to be. I still don't know who my girl is going to end up with. I'm sorting that out right now.
There's only a half day of school left and I can't wait. In sixteen hours, it will be Christmas break. I won't have to get up every morning. I won't have to put work clothes on. I will just have to sit on my butt in my PJs all day, drink coffee and hot chocolate, and write or read. I'll have to finish my sister's blanket but it will only take me a couple of hours to do that. Freedom!
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"Did she lock the door?" Hoon Jin asked as the lock of the door beeped at him.
He shuffled his bags around and punched in the emergency code Soohyun had given him if he wanted to randomly show up while she was asleep. The door beeped twice to let him know he had ten seconds to disarm the alarm before it called the police. Quickly he punched in the numbers, which happened to be his birthday.
Sighing as he kicked off his shoes, he walked into the kitchen and set the bags on the counter. He rummaged through the fridge before he pulled out the old stuff and put the new food up. He tossed the outdated stuff immediately.
He knocked an open bottom of soju on the floor, cursing as the liquid went everywhere. He snagged the dish rag to mop it up. Luckily the glass bottle didn't break so he just tossed it in the trash. He picked up the rag and started for the bathroom.
And stopped. He saw Won's head on the arm of the couch, but it was Soohyun laying on the CEO that had him staring in shock. Both were covered with the same blanket and Soohyun had her fist tucked her chin. They were peaceful, and neither one knew he was in the house even after all the noise he had made.
But that wasn't the issue. When Hyun Joon and he had left two days ago, neither one had foreseen this. Kim Won was engaged. He shouldn't be snuggling on the couch with a single woman.
Soohyun groaned and turned her head, arching her back as she moved. Won woke up at the sudden motion. He lifted his hand and ran it over her hair as he shifted his right leg.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he rolled his head into a new position. Hoon Jin didn't hear what Soohyun said, but Won reacted by tightening his arms. "It's all right. Go back to sleep."
Hoon Jin swiftly tossed the towel into the bathroom laundry hamper then left the house. He didn't want to see anymore. His heart hurt enough knowing Soohyun hadn't chosen him but it hurt worse seeing her with another man. He knew that even if he pursued her she would turn him down even though he was privy to everything.
Light streamed through the living room windows a few hours later. Soohyun shifted and rolled off the couch, cursing as her hand hit the couch. Won woke up and looked over as she picked herself up. He caught her hand as she started for the bathroom. She looked down at him as his fingers rubbed a gentle circle in her wrist.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded then pulled her hand from his. "I'm fine. Shouldn't you go to work?"
Won sat up and swung his legs off the side of the couch. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Would you be offended if I was?"
"A little."
"Get out of my house."
Laughing, he got up and went into the bedroom to pull out his clothes. Soohyun finished in the bathroom and Won took her place. He took a shower and cleaned up. He was wearing his towel when he walked back into the room. Soohyun was facing away from him in her jeans and bra. She didn't seem to notice him behind her.
Blood rushed to every place possible. He grabbed his clothes and went back to the bathroom to ease the sudden burn in his veins.
When he stepped out, he was dressed immaculately and his hair was swept up. Soohyun looked at him and nodded. She didn't say anything to him as she pulled her hair up in a messy bun. In the process, her shirt lifted a bit to show her midriff. Won shivered slightly then started for the door.
"Are you coming back tonight or should I send your stuff home?" she asked. He looked back to see her standing in the living room with her hands on her hips.
He swallowed hard. She was kicking him out of her house and didn't even have the gall to tell him.
"Why?" he asked.
"I need to get ready for a couple of projects and I want to know what to do with your stuff so I can focus completely on them."
"Are you feeling better?"
She nodded as she folded the blanket on the couch. "I have a slight headache but I'm fine. Go to work. I'll have Hyun Joon come over and get your stuff."
She turned her back on him and ignored him after that. She was seriously kicking him out. He didn't understand why he felt betrayed but he was. She had spent the last two days with him and now this. How could it be so night and day?
"Won-ssi," she said suddenly. He turned back to her. "Don't tell my brother what I told you. It will just make him feel horrible about it. He's got enough on his plate at the moment. I don't want to add more."
Dumbfounded, he couldn't wrap his brain around the fact that she was cold one minute then concerned for someone else the next moment. She was such an anomaly that he couldn't figure out.
He turned fully to her and stared. "How can you do it? You kick me out so readily and yet you're concerned for your brother. Don't the two personalities get tiring?"
"I don't have dual personalities. I'm not kicking you out. I like silence when I work. While you're here, it's rarely silent," she said. He caught her arm as she tried to pass by him. She spun around, a look of pain on her normally happy face. "That hurts. Let go."
He loosened his grip but he didn't let go. "Soohyun-ssi, aren't you tired bearing this all on your own? You're sick. You've been sick for a while, and yet you worry about others when you should worry about getting well. You don't want them to worry about you, but the more you stay quiet about how you're doing, the more they worry."
Soohyun stared up at him with a blank expression. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. He never had really been able to. But at that moment he could see a glimmer of dissatisfaction in her expression.
He slid his hand down her wrist and tugged her towards the door. He slipped on his shoes and waited for her to do so, grabbing her bag in the process. She didn't know what he was doing but she didn't fight him.
Soohyun was silent as she was forced to follow Won down wherever he was going. He didn't let go of her wrist the entire trip. She didn't know what he wanted her to do but he didn't seem to be in the mood to argue.
Hyun Joon stared at Hoon Jin as his friend told what he had just seen. He couldn't believe what had been said but he knew his sister well enough to know that anything could happen with her. She was a very caring person when her mind was in the right place.
Won shouldn't have done it but there was nothing he could do. He had allowed Won to stay with his sister. He had known better than to allow him to do so, but when things were rough he knew to ask for help.
He heard his boss's voice as he stepped off the elevator. Everyone turned as he walked in. Hyun Joon wondered why all their mouths fell open. He found out as soon as Won rounded the corner. He was dragging Soohyun behind him. She didn't say anything as she followed, listening to whatever he was saying. Hyun Joon had no idea what was going on.
"Hyung?" Hoon Jin asked. He was looking just like Hyun Joon's coworkers, his mouth wide open like a fish.
"I don't get it either," Hyun Joon muttered. "But I'm going to find out."
He followed Won and Soohyun into the office and watched the way the boss man treated his sister. He poured her a cup of coffee and unloaded her bag. If Hyun Joon had done that she would have killed him. Here she was letting this man do it.
Won set out her sketchpad, colored pencils, and medicine box. He ordered lunch and snacks from downstairs then looked at her.
"If you need anything, let me know," he said.
Hyun Joon saw the look on his sister's face before she disappeared into her music and work, there was no doubt she was listening to GOT7 and B1A4.
He walked over to Won's desk and stood so he blocked his sister's view if she decided to look over. He knew she wouldn't but he wanted to make sure. Won looked up expectantly, obviously waiting for him to get to the point.
"Quit treating her like an invalid," he warned.
Won turned fully to him, leaning back in his chair to look up. "Do you even know how she feels about all of this?"
Hyun Joon frowned. "What?"
"You have so much on your plate that you don't even know. You spend so much time worrying about your dad that you don't see what's going on with her. You don't see how hard she's trying to stay in one piece."
Turning around, the younger man looked at the woman. Ever present beanie covering her head, Soohyun was focused on whatever she was working on. But he could see the tiredness in her face. There were little white lines crossing her tanned skin. Her eyes were dimmer than he remembered and she rubbed them incessantly. Her two days off had helped.
"She's not as strong as she lets everyone think, but she won't tell you. She can't. It's not in her. So she'll suffer in silence until it eats her alive," Won continued. "It's so easy to overlook the fact that she is a human that we just go on with our daily lives and we don't think about it."
Sighing, he turned and left the office. Won watched him leave with the dejected look on his face. Hearing the truth was always painful. This time wasn't any better.
A few hours passed without a hassle. Won did work with his online associates as Soohyun sketched out a few orders she had been sent via email. Neither one said a word to each other the entire time. It wasn't an awkward silence; they were just busy with their respective professions that it was easy to ignore each other.
Someone from the food bar downstairs buzzed him about lunch. He thanked them then resumed his work. He didn't even blink when the door to his office opened.
"What is she doing here?"
Won looked up into Da Kyung's face. The woman had her perfectly manicured hand on her hip as she pointed the other at Soohyun. The man looked over briefly, actually remembering the other woman was in the room. It had been so quiet he had seriously forgotten she was there.
"Are you secretly seeing her?" Da Kyung demanded. "Is that why I couldn't reach you for nearly three days?"
He rubbed his eyes. "Soohyun-ssi was really sick. I just dropped by to see her to make sure she was eating and getting well." He wasn't going to tell her that he had actually stayed for two days straight.
"She seems healthy now. Send her home."
"I can't do that. Lee Hyun Joon doesn't want her to be alone right now. She's got a couple of more days off, and he's afraid that she'll end up going to work anyway. Her job doesn't want her to collapse on them again."
"So she camps out here? And you let her."
"Da Kyung-ssi, she is my friend. I want to help her."
Da Kyung wasn't hearing it. "I'm your fiancé and you have another woman conveniently at your beck and call. You don't even call me when you're concerned about something, but you let her stay here simply because she collapsed? How does that make me look?"
Won knew the woman was all about looks, but there was nothing he could say to make this any better. He had volunteered for this. He had to keep the woman's reputation in check because he didn't want it in the mud.
"I won't let her come in the office anymore. But I am going to be seeing her. She's catering our wedding."
Da Kyung got this haughty look on her face. "Fine. But after the wedding, I don't want to see her ever again."
Won looked at Soohyun and had a bad feeling overcome him.