a/n: started work so might have to end up updating every two weeks! but as always, tysm for supporting and everything!!

Yerim didn't understand how she ended up in her current predicament.

Actually, that was a lie.

She did, and most of it was because of Irene's and Jimin's scheming asses. For some weird reason, they believed that Yerim's fake dating term with Jungkook needed a "boost of evidence", to quote Jimin's exact words. And then, to quote his exact words again, he admantandly claimed that he "thought of this today", responding with an innocent "what do you mean?" when she gave him the stink eye.

(Today marked the day of the company's annual olympics, where all the different departments competed against each other to obtain the ultimate bowling trophy. This meant every employee was present, intermingling and revving up their bowling skills.)

Now, Irene and Jimin were standing a few feet away from Yerim's current predicament, tiny devious smirks lighting up their smug faces. Devils. Both of them were devils on her shoulders; she had no angels for balance.

Not even Jungkook, who completely shattered her world when he agreed with a determined smile.

He was currently at the machine where all the unused bowling balls sat, rolling around each ball and studying what Yerim deduced was the specific weights. Everytime he picked up a ball and went through the motions of bowling, his arm muscles flexed against his rolled-up white dress shirt. If she wasn't sure before, then this would've confirmed it for her. He definitely worked out multiple times a week.

A sight, Yerim objectively thought, but too bad I don't like him, she subjectively thought.

Finally, he picked up a purple one and made his way back to Yerim, his eyes trained on her with an intensity that matched all he stood for.

In a way, this arrangement worked out. Yerim was horrible at bowling, and Jungkook was decent. One might even say he was the bowling god among the company, winning the prestigious bowling trophy for their department four out of the ten years this has been going on.

But this was Jungkook, and all rules flew out of the window with him as a player. I'm going to kill you two, she mouthed, throwing her friends eye daggers over her shoulder.

Irene giggled behind her hands, while Jimin smirked.

So dead, she mouthed, slicing her neck and sticking out her mouth.

Irene made some pumping-fists movement, jumping up and down with glee.

Yerim's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"Are you listening to me?" Jungkook's voice pulled her back to the present.

She whirled around, only to jump back in startelement when she found out how close she was to him. "I was paying attention," she said with a scowl.

One of his eyebrows lifted up. "Really? Then, what did I say?"

Yerim scowled harder. Okay, maybe she wasn't paying attention but was this an important meeting or something?

Jungkook laughed. "I'm just joking. Turn around for me."

She narrowed her eyes, but did what he said. Maybe she also didn't understand why she wasn't running away and screaming. The moment that thought occurred to her, though, it flew away just as quickly. Because Jungkook was stepping towards her.

And oh my god, was he close.

As in, legs-brushing-legs-and-arms-brushing-elbows close. If he exhaled deeply, his chest would definitely brush her back.

She was still trying to process this when he reached around her waist to put a hand on her's, the weight warm and heavier than the ball he was bringing around. Quietly, with only his steady breathing in her ears, he maneuvered her limp hand and helped her stick each finger into the individual holes. It was oddly intimate: the firm grip, the deft movements, and the careful attention to details.

Yerim's mind was whirling. Thoughts after thoughts after thoughts. A jumble of confusion, exhilaration, indignance, fear, and thrill. She was surprised her brain wasn't fried, yet.

"For your information, this wasn't my idea," she grumbled as his hands traveled up her arm and stopped on her shoulder.

"I know," he muttered as he gently pushed her forward. "Come on. Let's go to the lane." Then, they shuffled forward, looking like two penguins, the king and queen of the colony.

Yerim dared not to look outside of the little bubble he had created for them. What would she even say to everyone watching? (And she knew they were watching because their gaze felt like a thousand burning suns.) What would their faces look like? Shock? Disgust?

"I'm being serious." She repositioned her legs when he tapped on her hips and nudged her left leg forward. "My friends say we have to be more convincing if we want to trick your family into thinking we're dating. Apparently, I'm bad at 'acting.'"

Jungkook glanced at her. "That's not a bad idea."

She scowled. "Yes, it is. Don't agree with them."

"You do act stiff and awkward around me."

"That's because I don't like you."

Jungkook made a soft humming noise.

Yerim almost jumped to the sky to protest, "I don't!"

His grin was sweet but also sincere. Not an ounce of sarcasm. "I know."

She frowned. "Good."

"Now, back to bowling. When you let go of the ball, you want to make sure your hands aren't angled towards the ceiling, or else the ball will go up instead of forward." He pressed both hands on her shoulder until her knees bent to a 170 degree angle. "Why don't you try it out?"

Yerim followed his instructions as perfectly as she could, but the ball made a small arch in the air before thudding hard on the hardwood floor and slowly rolling into the gutters. She gave Jungkook the side-eye, even though it wasn't his fault she sucked.

He laughed. "Almost there."

"Not really," she grunted.

"Don't twist her hands upwards. Twist it inwards."

"I don't understand what you mean by that," Yerim sighed, stepping away from the lane, from Jungkook's proximity and right into a horde of staring employees.

Okay, not really a horde. They weren't gathered right in front of them, but from the way they kept on sneaking glances over at them, eyeballs darting away the instant she looked over, it was like they formed a very small circle with Yerim and Jungkook right in the smack dab middle.

The good part was that most of them were in disbelief and awe, not disgust.

"It's working," Jungkook whispered, the distance between them closed once again.

"It is," she grudgingly agreed.

"I was thinking. We should try to spend more time with each other outside the company." His lips basically brushed her earlobes as he spoke. At this rate, they might as well announce to everyone in the company that she was expecting his babies. "We should get to know each other a bit. Who knows when we'll need that someday?"

Yerim wanted to stab herself, jump off a cliff, drink a shot of poison for even having this thought, but for a moment, he felt so good behind her that she wanted to tilt her head back to give him better access. Shit. That was definitely not a good thought.

But, at the same time, she had normal, functioning body parts, and Jungkook was a-

"So, is it a yes?"

She nodded.

There was a short pause before: "Were you even listening to me?"

That snapped her out of her inappropriate, spiraling thoughts. "Yes?"

"I'll see you on Monday after work, then." The next words Jungkook spoke were quiet, low and vibrating against her. "You're not escaping me again."

She looked at him with alarm. What had she just agreed to? A sex pact?

One glance at Irene, Jimin, and their shit-eating grins, and Yerim knew that she was screwed.

...

Yerim was helping her mom peel a mango when her phone started ringing across the room.

"Do you mind putting whoever is calling on speaker?" she asked Joy, who was busy adjusting the settings of the air purifier.

"Got it," Joy glanced at the screen, and her mouth immediately lifted into a soft, devious grin. She gave Yerim an amused look. "Are you sure you want to play it outloud?"

"Yeah?" Yerim chopped the mangos into pieces before feeding them to her mom, who whispered a "yummy" and stared out the window as she chewed. "Why wouldn't I want to?" She couldn't think of any person who was going to be saying confidential stuff. Irene or Jimin? Nah, they were the type of people to tell big news in person, merely to see the reaction on the receiving person's face.

"The phone is saying 'Jungkook' is calling you."

Yerim choked on her own spit. She put down the mango she had been holding and darted to Joy's side to snatch the phone from her. "Give me a second," she said as she stepped outside the room and closed the door, ignoring Joy's curious glance. "Hello?"

"Hello." His voice had a husky quality to it, almost as if he had just woken up and rolled out of bed. Made sense, especially since it was 8:30 in the morning. However, that also meant he had immediately called her after waking, which felt so... coupley.

"Why are you calling?"

"Remember how we're meeting after work on Monday. Let's call a rain check on that."

She slowly nodded. "Okay..." Good news, right?

"Instead, I need you to be my plus one for a wedding."

"A wedding?!" she sputtered.

Jungkook confirmed with a mm-hmm.

"On Monday?"

"Yes."

"To a wedding?"

His voice held a tinge of amusement when he said, "Babe, we're not getting married."

She cleared her throat, suddenly feeling humiliated. Of course, with the way she was reacting, it was like he had just told her to elope with him. She looked up, through the tiny window on the door, and saw Joy's smirk.

Hopefully, her face wasn't beet red.

"I'm not prepared, though."

"I can take you dress shopping this evening," he said. "Everything else will be taken care of tomorrow."

"I..."

"Then, it's all set."

She scowled. There was his bossy side peeking out again, the one that gave him his high position, the one that allowed him to kick his employee's butts. It was so common that somehow, it had almost become familiar and expected.

"I'll pick you up at 6."

After hanging up the phone, Yerim stepped back into the room, where Joy stared at her with an expectant smile and her mom munched on a mango, looking confused but interested.

"It was an accident," she grumbled.

The smile on Joy's face grew bigger.