ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

A week passed and Soonyoung and Jihoon's relationship had developed a few new characteristics. They still bickered with each other every single second but Jihoon was also starting to open his heart, just a tiny bit, for Soonyoung, even though he wasn't aware if it.

He still disliked Soonyoung though. That wouldn't change, or at least he hoped it wouldn't.

"Get dressed darling, we're leaving the house in an hour." Soonyoung poked his head into Jihoon's room, informing Jihoon who rolled his eyes. "How many times have I told you not to call me darling?"

"What? Are you afraid you'll fall for me if I do?" Soonyoung asked with a confident smirk. Jihoon sighed, picking up a pillow and throwing it at his husband.

"I'm not afraid of anything, especially not falling in love with you because I won't... I have standards." Jihoon shrugged and Soonyoung chuckled before walking in.

As he walked towards Jihoon, Jihoon stepped backwards in an attempt to escape but ended up against the wall with Soonyoung in front of him. "And yet here you are, married to me." Soonyoung's eyes fell on Jihoon's lips, his thirst for them only increasing day by day.

Jihoon crouched a little, running out of Soonyoung's captivity. "Yeah against my will." He pointed out and Soonyoung rolled his eyes. "Just get dressed, darling." He purposely dragged the nickname before walking towards the door as Jihoon hit him with another pillow.

"I hate you, I hope you know that." He told Soonyoung who simply smiled, turning to face Jihoon. "And I'm head over heels for you, but I'm sure you know that." He retorted before leaving the room and leaving a speechless Jihoon stuck to the floor.

What? Soonyoung was head over heels for him? No, there was no way. He had to be joking. This was all just a funny little joke to him.

No real feelings. None at all.

If he had real feelings for Jihoon, he wouldn't have trapped him in a fake marriage. He would've courted him as he ought to and married him out of love.

Not that he even wanted that to happen.

"Sir, your bath is ready." Minghao came out of the bathroom, surprising Jihoon who hadn't even known he was there. "Shall I pick out a suit for you or will you do it yourself?" Minghao questioned, his legs crossed as he stood by the door.

"I'll do that myself Minghao, thank you." Jihoon responded and Minghao nodded, bowing before he left. Jihoon groaned as he walked towards the bathroom. He hated social events so much and to make them even worse, he had to pretend to be Kwon Soonyoung's husband.

The thought alone was disturbing.

Soonyoung walked back to his room with a smile on his face. Jihoon hadn't realized it but they had indeed gotten a little bit closer after their first week of being a married couple and Soonyoung couldn't wait for them to bond even more.

As he got into his bedroom, he took out his phone, dialing Wonwoo's number. The call rang out before being answered, "Good morning, Sir." Wonwoo's deep voice passed through the speakers as he spoke.

"Good morning Wonwoo, have you gotten information on Kim Mingyu yet?" He questioned as Minah strode into the room with a dark green suit in her hands.

Soonyoung gestured to the bed as Wonwoo replied, "I did a background check on him but I'll be meeting him in person later today, after the event." He informed Soonyoung who nodded, his eyes on the suit and his ears focused on the call.

"That's great. Any information on Yoon Jeonghan?" He asked, the name alone sending feelings of uncontrolled rage through Soonyoung's veins. He pointed to his closet as Minah walked over to it, opening it and bringing out a pair of shoes.

Wonwoo sighed, responding, "Yes, he's still alive. I've confirmed it but I'm still trying to track his location." The information that Yoon Jeonghan was still alive made Soonyoung's body shake with a heavy vexation.

"Find him, Wonwoo. See you in an hour." Soonyoung ended the call, tossing the phone unto his bed as he turned to the wall, punching it so hard that it became dented.

Minah stood with the shoes in her hand, flinching at Soonyoung's sudden action. "Sir, where should I-"

"Just drop them and go Minah." He instructed and she carefully placed the shoes near the suit on the floor before bowing and leaving.

Soonyoung's eyes closed as he bit on the skin of his bottom lip. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He punched the wall again, this time a rip appearing. He hated when things didn't go his way and he had a quick temper which he had inherited from his father.

The door creaked open and Soonyoung turned around, a deep sigh following as he yelled, "I told you to fucking-"

His mouth shut instantly as he saw the person standing at the door, regret pooling in his eyes. It was Jihoon who was now stuck in place, an afraid expression on his face as he stood there, his body quivering slightly.

Soonyoung's countenance immediately changed, his body cooling off as he laid his eyes on Jihoon and the feeling of guilt coming to the frontlines.

Jihoon looked at Seungcheol, the wrath in his eyes scaring him and his immediate change in demeanour terrifying him even more. His body shook in fear as he stepped backwards, slowly retreating.

Soonyoung's hand reached out as he walked closer, "Jihoon, wait, please." He pleaded but Jihoon spun around, walking away from Soonyoung. He had forgotten who Soonyoung was for a moment.

He had forgotten that he was married to someone people called a savage mad man. He was so stupid to forget that, to even think that maybe people were wrong about him.

Soonyoung was dangerous and he needed to distance himself. That was the goal, that had always been the goal. This marriage was fake.

He had to remember that.

"Darling, please just-"

Jihoon stopped in his tracks, Soonyoung also stopping behind him. "No, no, no, don't call me that." Jihoon turned around, his index finger pushing out to keep Soonyoung at arm's length.

"Thank you for reminding me about who you truly are. I was a fool for forgetting." He shook his head in disappointment, giving Soonyoung one last look, his expression showing just how ludicrous he felt for even attempting to give Soonyoung a chance.

Maybe to some he was overreacting but Jihoon had already had too many experiences with people who couldn't control their anger and none of them had ended well.

He had to protect his peace. That was the least he could do for himself and if it meant shutting Soonyoung out, going back to the basis of their contract and the rules they made, then he would do it all.

"Are you really trying to do this again? We have an event to attend together, I'm sorry for yelling." Soonyoung's voice passed through the house in echoes as Jihoon rushed down the stairs, not sparing his husband a glance.

The front door opened and shut as Jihoon left the house and Soonyoung ran back to his room, getting dressed faster than he had ever done before. He knew his anger would get him in trouble with Jihoon sooner or later, he just wished it weren't this soon.

He had just started to show Soonyoung some mercy. He had to apologize, in a better way, something that showed how sincere he was. He didn't mean to yell at Jihoon, he shouldn't even have yelled in the first place but when fury took over him, he didn't really have a chance to choose.

Soonyoung hurriedly left the room, locking it and running down the stairs. "Has he left?" He panted as he reached the first floor and Minah replied with a shake of the head. He was still here.

Soonyoung arranged his tie and his suit, giving himself a look in the mirror one more time before running out of the house. As he got outside, he regained his composure, refusing to let his staff see him looking so lovesick.

He strode over to the car as Seungcheol opened the door and got in, sitting beside Jihoon who had his back turned. Soonyoung let out a sigh as he buckled his seatbelt, how the hell was he going to solve this?

"Jihoon-ah, I'm really s-"

Jihoon shook his head, uttering, "No, please, I really don't want to hear it." Soonyoung's expression morphed into an annoyed one although he wasn't annoyed at Jihoon, he couldn't be.

He was annoyed at himself. Pissed off that Jihoon had seen such an ugly side of him when he shouldn't have.

Soonyoung spent the rest of the drive so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice when the car came to a stop in front of the building.

The sound of Jihoon opening his car door brought him back to reality. "Let's just get this over with." Jihoon grumbled, exiting the car.

Soonyoung unbuckled his seatbelt, opening the door and getting out of the car with Wonwoo and Seungcheol waiting for him at the entrance and Joshua and Vernon waiting for Jihoon.

"Any updates?" Soonyoung whispered as he reached Wonwoo and the couple proceeded to enter the hall. Wonwoo shook his head, kissing his teeth as he showed Soonyoung the tablet, "He was last seen near the port but since then, he's been untraceable."

Soonyoung cracked his neck, trying not to have an outburst in public. He glanced at Wonwoo, giving him a nod of acknowledgement and Wonwoo stepped back, walking behind.

Jihoon tried to not look at Soonyoung, but he couldn't help it and his eyes narrowed over to the man's face, a discontent look on his face. He couldn't help but wonder what he was so angry about earlier and what he was so unhappy about now.

But he didn't want to care, he didn't want to ask because it would mean burning the bridges he'd worked so hard to keep in place.

Caring for Soonyoung, liking him, falling in love with him, none of those objectives were in the contract and Jihoon wanted to protect himself and protect his heart so he had to remain as cold as he possibly could.

Even if his heart attempted to sabotage the mission at times.

As they reached the second entrance, the four men behind them, Soonyoung gently placed his hand in Jihoon's, in a way that made Jihoon's stomach churn, not in a bad way as he would have preferred.

The two inhaled and exhaled in sync before walking into the actual, official hall for the event. Many powerful and influential people whose mere stances proved their wealth graced the hall, some seated, some standing and some moving around.

Most were engaged in conversations with others as the event had not begun yet while others were sipping on drinks and having chit chats.

Jihoon sighed, glancing around the filled hall then at Soonyoung who caught his eyes as he did. Jihoon gulped, breaking the eye contact, his focus returning to the hall.

How the hell were they going to pull this off?

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

Ⓒ︎𝙾𝙷𝚆𝙰𝚈𝙾𝙷𝚆𝙰𝚈𝙾𝙷
𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙳 - 11•01•2025
𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙴𝙳 - 𝙽•𝙰