32nd➳

Jisoo

"A plan?" Jisoo repeated, his eyebrows raised. "And how are we, simple high school students, going to do that?"

Gain soullessly chuckled and fixed her glasses. "You see, Hong Jisoo, we both know since our birth that we were never meant to live like simple high school students. We have privileges others don't. We're rich from birth, some even heiress or heirs to a company. You see, no matter how much we tell ourselves that we're like any high school students in Seoul, we never are. We belong to another group, Jisoo, and some don't even like it."

Like me, Jisoo thought, his head dropping so he could stare at his thighs. "And?"

Gain slightly smirked and told him, "Well, we can't live as normal high schoolers but that means we have a power. If parents have the power the arrange this marriage for us, then we surely have some kind of power to stop it. But first, we must find out why they arranged this marriage for us."

This was actually the first time he's hearing No. 1 talk smart, like she knew everything. It was fascinating. Jisoo nodded, following what he was saying. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Don't worry, I know someone who can get me that information. Trust me," Gain said. "I'm glad you're agreeing to this. My theory is that both family needs more power and in order to gain it, they're making us marry each other so they become in-laws. Your sister would actually be a good fit for the spot of arrange marriage, since I have an older brother, but he told us last minute that he's already married. We weren't invited to his wedding or anything. Jerk."

Jisoo wasn't sure whether he should be listening her talk about her family, so he just kept quiet. 

"If my theory is right, we have two options. Either we find something else that will help them gain more power such as a new business idea or something or we search for even more powerful companies that have daughters your age," Gain suggested. 

Jisoo paused and gave her a look. "Wait, what? Another arrange marriage? I didn't agree to this arranged marriage not because I didn't want to be with you, but because I didn't want to be with anyone other but Nari."

Gain sighed and said, "Sorry. Don't forget, I'm another one who wants to get out of this, too, so at times, you would catch me thinking about how I get out of this and stay single until I get into medical school and study abroad. I wasn't thinking about you."

Jisoo scoffed and said sarcastically, "Wow, well isn't someone considerate?" 

Gain glared at him. "Don't start with me, Hong Jisoo. You ending up with Nari is almost impossible since your family is somehow in need of power. Unless you fall in love with someone else—"

"No!" Jisoo shouted, out of rage. He stood up and stared at her with his eyebrows furrowed. "There's only Nari in my heart and, believe or not, she's my first love. I broke up with her just to protect her but that doesn't mean I don't want her back. I want to end this stupid thing as quickly as possible before Nari gives up on me. I don't want to lose someone I didn't give my fullest just yet."

"Calm down, Hong Jisoo," Gain advised, still sitting down on the bench. "And stop going on about your love for Nari. It's sick. Love is sick. So stop it."

Jisoo shook his head at her and said, "You don't know what love feels like, don't you? You sad, sad soul. I wonder if you ever even experienced happiness."

"Don't talk to me like you know my life, Hong Jisoo," Gain warned, also standing up and standing in front of him. "Look, before we draw knives against each other's throats, let's work together to stop this marriage. Okay? I told you to trust me, so trust me. I'm working on it, so just wait until I tell you news about what we can do. Now, I'm leaving."

Once Gain walked away from Jisoo, Jisoo was left to recollect his thoughts. At times like these, he just wanted to embrace Nari until time would stop. Sadly, he couldn't do that anymore. He made a deal with his noona, and hopefully, she was also keeping the end of her deal. 

Nari

I titled my head to the side, confused. 

When Jiae came home, she immediately told me to take a break from my work and even told the maids to cook me a good meal. I insisted to help Ms. Pyo cook the meal that was supposedly for me, but Ms. Pyo said that I didn't need to lift a finger and told me to wait by the dining table. 

Since Jiae had already eaten because she came from some dinner meeting and Joshua was nowhere to be found, I was allowed to sit there and eat. What was going on, exactly? Why was Jiae suddenly acting this way?

I was currently in my room, sitting with my back against the wall as I tried to find out the reason on my own, since no one was going to tell me. 

Okay, Nari, let's piece things together. What has changed? 

First of all, Joshua and I had broken up and now, Jiae is acting all nice to me—sort of. Maybe that was it. Because Joshua and I had broken up, Jiae doesn't see much as a threat anymore, but she still hates me. But wait, about Joshua and I's break up... it doesn't seem natural. 

Did Jiae have something to do behind it, once again? Did they somehow made a deal, like how Jiae and I did? That made the most sense, actually. So let me try to put them in proper order. 

Joshua and Gain got into an arranged marriage and since Joshua was with me, he obviously didn't agree to the marriage at all. Since Jiae hated the fact that Joshua and I were together and that he wouldn't accept the marriage, she must have threatened him with something, which eventually made him break up with me and thus, Jiae's kindness—once again, sort of—to me. 

Now, question is, what was the deal? Maybe it was to get Joshua to break up with me and Jiae would treat me kinder than she has treated me? That sounded the most accurate. 

So now I knew that Joshua and I... we're not really over? By that, I meant our feelings. As for our chances of being together, I wasn't sure whether we still had a chance since now he was an engaged man. 

Oh, I don't know what to believe. But I know that I shouldn't give up. Miracles can happen to those who will wait, so that's what I'm going to do. 

Jisoo

Late at night, in Jisoo's room, he laid down on his bed, only thinking about Nari and how he hasn't seen her though she now lives with them. She must be avoiding him, he concluded. 

Then his phone vibrated and he checked who it was from. It was none other than Gain. 

Gain: I found out something. It's true. It's about status and power. So right now, we need to go to Plan A—find something that will make them have more status and power instead of them trying to get us to get married. 

Jisoo began typing back, That's great! But have you ever wondered if they tried that already, and still haven't found anything that would increase their status and power, which was why they got us an arranged marriage?

Gain: I've thought about that, too. I'm just hoping that's not it. I was hoping that they didn't want to go through all those stocks, popularity, business things so they used this as a shortcut. 

Jisoo: And if Plan A fails?

Gain: Either we accept this horrible marriage, file a divorce years later or we find better people to elope with. Maybe you could find someone you'll like even more. Your sister is a very demanding type, so I don't think you'll get out of an arrange marriage easily. I, on the other hand, will disappear from here after I graduate. I'm going to medical school. 

Jisoo: That's not very fair. 

Gain: Life's not fair for people like us. Either you accept it or be a rebel about it. Whatever you want, Jisoo. But we have try. Plan A. 

Jisoo: Yeah. 

There were no more replies after that, so Jisoo put his phone away and tried to go to sleep, but the only thing that remained on his head was the fear of him losing Nari because of his status and his life. 

Nari was right, Jisoo thought, she was right when she said that our lives were very different and that it'd be impossible for us to last. But I'm going to show her that she's wrong. I'm going to warmly embrace her after all of this. I will show her. 

Nari

I was up very early once again and it has became a routine that I woke up early, left the mansion earlier to get to school and even walked with Jihoon to school. He was always there, waiting for me. 

"JiJi," I called as we walked down the quiet streets. There were barely anyone walking around, except for a few morning joggers that passed by really quickly. I continued to tug his sleeve and pouted. "JiJi."

Jihoon lightly chuckled and asked, "Yes?"

"I want to fly to Neverland," I told him, still pouting as we walked down the streets. 

Jihoon had his hands folded behind his back as we continued our peaceful walk. "Wae? Is something wrong these days?"

I nodded, still heavily pouting. I didn't meet his eyes; my eyes seemed to have settled on my sneakers. 

"What happened? You never tell me anything that happens in your life," Jihoon complained. "Hmph. And I thought I was your friend? Tsk, you were obviously lying."

"It's not that I was lying about you being my friend. It's because I don't know how else to tell you. You'll think everything is crazy," I told him, to my defense. "It's too heavy for you to take in so I'll just tell you simply. I broke up with my boyfriend. No, I got dumped."

Jihoon stopped walking and I only could imagine the thoughts running through his head. Maybe he was feeling bad about not being able to protect me or something like that. "R-really?"

I nodded to confirm it. "Yup. The thought still hasn't sunk in fully, though. But I'm avoiding him as much as possible. That's the hardest thing to do when I want to embrace him every time I see him."

I took time to process my own words and realized how much I didn't sound like I used to before I met Joshua. But since the only thing constant was change, there was no stopping me from changing out from my kid self into an actual teenager. 

Jihoon's hand then snaked its way onto my shoulder as he gave me light pats, but he didn't look at me at all. He said, "I'm sorry to hear that, Nari. Will you be okay?"

"Of course!" I wish it sounded more believable. "I'll be fine, Jihoon." I wish I could believe in myself sometimes. "Come on, let's keep walking. Don't put that face on, Lee Jihoon. I know you're thinking again."

Jihoon's head lifted up until his eyes met mine. His thinking face slowly faded away as his mouth gaped open and he looked like a cute chipmunk. At least, he reminded me of one. "I-I'm not."

"You were," I pointed out. 

"I was not!" he protested. 

"You were," I repeated before walking away with a grin. 

"Aish, Kwon Nari," I heard Jihoon say behind me before he caught up to me, ruffling my hair and then giving me a cute little smile. "Don't worry, I'll be here from now on."

"Thanks, Jihoon, but I don't really need—"

"Have you realized something, Nari?" Jihoon suddenly cut me off. 

"Hmm? Realized what?"

Jihoon looked up at the skies as we walked before he looked back at me with a smile. "I let you call me Jihoon. I don't correct you, telling you to call me Woozi. Didn't you realize that?"

"Oh." I did notice that he let me call him Jihoon but I mostly thought it was because I told him I would never call him Woozi, since he will forever be Lee Jihoon to me. I thought he just gave up trying to remind me. "Yeah, but I thought it was because—"

"It's really because you're bringing back who I used to be," Jihoon cut me off again. He should really stop doing that. "I let you call me Jihoon because I actually believe that he's back."

I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, then told him, "Jihoon, he never left."

Jihoon looked confused. 

I pointed at his chest, where the heart was located, and told him, "He was always inside you. Only, he was probably trapped somewhere. Cast aside. Forgotten. It takes something from the past to remind you who you used to be, and probably, change you back."

Jihoon looked amazed. "Since when was my Nari like this? Was she always this wise?"

I shrugged and grinned. "Maybe."

Jihoon and I laughed and continued to walk down the streets to get to school before Jihoon would run off again. Who knows where that boy wanders off to, but he definitely was having fun with his life. At least, more than I was. 

♥

School was as it goes, in all honesty. There wasn't a change in routine. It went exactly the same as it usually does; I sleep around; get scolded a few times; ignore Joshua as much as possible; spent my break time alone once again, as usual; then finally went home— oh, my bad, I meant, my workplace. There was no such thing as home anymore. 

When I arrived at the Hong mansion and entered the large home, I noticed how busy it was. I spotted Ms. Pyo not too far from where I stood and went up to her, asking, "Why's it so busy today?"

"Oh, a family from a rich household is coming. Only the sons are, though, because, apparently, the eldest son had some issues to discuss with Jiae and the younger one is simply tagging along because his parents figured that he should learn about these things first hand," Ms. Pyo explained. "Ah, excuse me. I need to go check on the preparations. Go wash up and wear comfortable clothes, Nari. I was told you won't be helping today. Feel free to explore the mansion, then."

Then Ms. Pyo left and disappeared in the sea of maids and butlers. I shrugged and went to the servants' quarters and washed up before wearing a grey cat t-shirt over black tight leggings. I added a hoodie over my clothing since this was the getup that I found comfortable. Stuffing my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, I explored the mansion leisurely. 

I decided to stay in the gardens, away from all the busy preparations. My only guess was that there was going to be a dinner party and just for, what, two sons of a rich household? Well, I guess that was the rich life. 

Lucky bastards. 

I sat down by a very white swing surrounded with vines of plants like it hugged the swing. It was big enough to fit possibly three people on it. I sat down and began to swing it back and forth, constantly touching the leaf that hung around the swing's armrest. 

"Who are you?" a voice that came out of nowhere asked, sounding startled, and startling me as well. 

I whipped my head around, only, unable to find where that voice was coming from. There were too many plants blocking my view. Then, for a second, a saw a hair colour—chestnut brown. "Who's there?"

"I don't think the Hong family has a daughter," the voice smartly pointed out. "Who are you supposed to be? A maid? A thief?"

"Excuse you, but—" I was going to go on about him rudely asking but I paused and asked, "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Surprised you don't know me."

"I can't even see you in the first place," I said, rolling my eyes. "Step on out already. What are you, some ghost?"

They were stubborn at first but eventually stepped out from behind all the tall plants. At first glance, I could tell something was very familiar about him. 

"You look familiar," I ended up blurting. I couldn't take it back now. All I did was pressed my lips against each other. "What's your name?"

"And you?"

"I asked first."

"Doesn't mean I have to answer first."

I scoffed and stood up from the swing, crossing my arms over my chest. "Someone didn't learn their manners, now, did they?"

"I could say the same to you." He smirked. "Who are you supposed to be? Answer me first."

I sighed and gave in. "I'm Kwon Nari. It's not a familiar name since I'm not from some wealthy household—"

"Kwon Nari?" he repeated, completely cutting me off. His face expression shifted and he looked like he was thinking. It seemed to me that he was trying to recall if he knew me or ever heard of my name. 

I doubt that. I've never seen him before in my life so we couldn't possibly know each other. Although, he does look a little familiar...

"Kwon Nari? Aren't you Kwon Juho's daughter?" he asked. 

I was surprised he knew my dad's name. "How do you even know that?"

"Answer the question," he demanded. 

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm his daughter. What's it to you?"

His expression flickered then changed and then, he looked surprised. "Then it's you."

"What?"

"Nice to actually meet you, cousin," he said, extending his hand out. 

~Author's Notes~

;)

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung