To think that Jiwon even considered sleeping on the stranger's bed again, might seem absurd. Yet that was exactly what she did after their discussion, using her hangover as an excuse.

To her defense, this stranger did not seem life-threatening.

He appeared to be the type whose interest was fixated on work. She could tell by the manifold times he picked up his ringing phone and mentioned the words: schedule, meeting, office and papers in almost every call he received.

Besides, he had left her alone in his apartment with nothing to do but play the waiting game, watching every tick of the clock until it was finally time to deliver her payment and get this all done with.

Jiwon's placid state had to be interrupted, unfortunately, when the said stranger woke her up upon his arrival. He had handed her hygiene necessities, and a new set of t-shirt and pajamas, informing her that they would have to shop for something to wear as her now stained white clothing from last night was not an option.

So there stood Kim Jiwon, with a forced smile, veins on the verge of popping out any second now and hands on her hips as she fought the urge to throw her black stilettos towards the man in front of her, who was then squinting his eyes at her frame.

The twitch on his lips told Jiwon that he was still not contented. That, or she was just having a hard time reading him.

"I swear, if you make me change into another of those dresses, I am definitely going to take my leave."

Contrary to her expectations, he casually stood up and said, "That one looks fine, let's go."

Jiwon scoffed, following him with her gaze as she shook her head slowly.

"Really, this guy is going to be the death of me," she muttered under her breath before catching up to his side.

After their short run to the boutique for a decent dress, Jiwon sat quietly in the stranger's car as they drove to a place she had no idea of.

The possibility that she had assessed this stranger wrong didn't leave her mind, yet the thrill of the uncertain excited her. She also couldn't be bothered, as this was her last escape before she had to go back to the reality of her life.

Jiwon turned on her phone after neglecting it since last night. Messages and missed call notifications appeared one after another, and before she could even check any of them, the name of her brother flashed on her screen.

"Where are you?" a distressed voice erupted from the speaker as soon as she answered the call. "I was so worried! I've been calling you since last night. You should've at least told me where you are."

She heaved a sigh. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'll explain later."

"Where are you?" repeated her brother. "Mom and Dad are still expecting you here. You were informed about this since last week."

"Oppa..." she exhaled firmly. "I'm really sorry, I'll just call you later."

"Yah! Kim Ji—"

Clutching her phone, she shut her eyes closed and leaned on the headrest. At least until the end of the day, she'd hold on to this rebellious act.

"So..." the stranger's voice snapped her out of trance. "What are you running away from?"

She raised a brow at him, as if to ask why he raised such question.

Catching her expression, the stranger chuckled. "You willingly entered my car and let me drive without telling you where we're going, but you wouldn't answer a simple question?"

He had a point. Jiwon pressed her lips into a thin line and inhaled deeply before releasing it in one breath. She averted her gaze outside the window.

"I don't even know what I'm running away from anymore." She chuckled humorlessly. "Hey stranger, what's your name?"

"Why'd you only ask now?"

"Well, I'll admit I kind of tried to find out, but I didn't find anything." She shot him a meaningful look.

"So you snooped over my things?"

"Just a little," she admitted, concealing the sheepishness in her voice. "Then I went to sleep again. Come to think of it, you should also be careful who you leave in your apartment. Those chandeliers and furniture looked pretty expensive."

"A lady like you doesn't seem to fit in that category."

"That's true," she mused, a grin breaking on her lips. "I'm too pretty to be suspected of any crime."

"More like too reckless to even pull off a successful attempt," he mocked.

She scoffed in disdain and rolled her eyes. "I'm capable of a lot of things, you must know. Also, you haven't told me your name yet."

"Don't you think it's better to not know?" He slid her a glance. "That way we'd be complete strangers until the end."

↠

Shit.

Jiwon could hardly get her thoughts straight as she pulled on the stranger's arm, panic written all over her face. How come she had not thought this through? How could she be dense to not find anything suspicious.

Not even a tad bit?

When this certain stranger had informed her about needing a date, perhaps she should have questioned further about the specifics of this so-called 'dinner date'.

"Don't tell me you're backing away now."

"I'm telling you, let's go out now if you don't want to regret." She tugged on the stranger's arm, movements growing stiff as the apprehension built up.

"I thought we're clear about this?" He held on her hand, loosening her strong grip.

"You got it all wrong, look—"

"Am I seeing this right?" A middle-aged woman blinked at them with wide eyes, disbelief lingering on her words. Her attention went towards Jiwon, who then refused to make any eye contact.

Ah. This was exactly the expression he had been expecting.

"I hope you understand what this means." He intertwined their hands, showing it to his mother, and Jiwon couldn't help but cringe and had this urge to melt away from her spot.

"Hey, stop it," Jiwon hissed, retracting her hand away from him.

Her feet were tingling to dash out at any given point. She was so ready to run.

So if she had to fight her way out, she wouldn't hesitate. She angled her free arm, gathering as much force to gather the strength to push him away.

But he wouldn't allow that. He simply hid the fact that he was annoyed with how she was protesting out of nowhere.

"Jiwon?"

Kim Jiwon pressed her fingers on her forehead whilst she drew a long breath out.

She was done for.

Perhaps her still clouded head overlooked what she should've paid attention to.

Firstly, when she had deemed this guy familiar as if it weren't the first time she had seen him, she hadn't been wrong. Jiwon remembers chancing upon his face printed on the cover of a prestigious business magazine one time.

Secondly, her memory brought her back to last week, when her secretary had handed her the dinner invitation with two surnames intricately embossed at the back.

Min and Kim.

And then it all suddenly clicked.

But it was fucking too late.

She hung her head low, shutting her eyes tight, and bit on her lower lip. A stream of curses flooded her mind.

Just what the hell is this?

"Oh? This is unexpected."

With the new voice approaching, Jiwon balled her free hand to a fist.

Meanwhile, the guy beside her grew confused with every passing second. Suddenly, he wasn't in control of the situation anymore just as he had planned. His gaze went back and forth between the unfamiliar woman and Jiwon.

"M-Mother." A wry smile broke onto her lips followed by a rather shaky laugh as she lifted her head at none other than Kim Seulhee.

And when she met her brother's hard, demanding gaze, she swallowed hard, wishing the ground would do the same to her.

Mother? Min Yoongi's eyes widened by a fraction. Now it was his turn to wonder what in the world was just happening.

"My, my," Min Hyo gushed. "We were just talking about how the two of you always back out and play your own antics every time we arranged something."

"Am I not getting something here?" Yoongi whispered, his voice hinting he was downright annoyed. He didn't specifically liked being clueless.

The man who Jiwon now recognized as Min Yoongi—Min fucking Yoongi—threw her a pensive look as everyone around them seemed to have received some sort of miracle.

But all the noise was blurred out from Jiwon's ears. All she could think of was: Fuck. This is really Min Yoongi.

"I guess we can finally breathe and be at peace," joked one of the fathers. The respectable Min Dongwook.

Jiwon had to prevent her hand from slapping her face. Why did their parents have to be here anyway? Usually, it was just her and whoever they set her up with.

But the thing was, with both families knowing how their children acted, they had to take precautions for this single arrangement.

After all, both lineage were influential and atop the industry. They weren't necessarily competitors, but they weren't allies as well. Had they been competitors, it would be a tight match, and had they been allies, they'd be close to being indestructible.

That being considered, neither would risk a misunderstanding, and at this moment, it actually seemed like both families were ready to pave their path to domination.

"Shall we get dinner started then?"

— ✿ —
❝this plot idea first visited my mind like three or four years ago, and it had recently made a comeback, so I just kind of really have to write it. let's see how this one goes (and wait until it gradually turns into a crack fic — hAH!) anyways, thank you for reading and do tell me what you think! 😉❞