"Ms. Park!"

Chaeyoung stopped walking, turning around to see the security guard running up to her.

"I almost forgot," the guard took a deep breath and Chaeyoung furrowed her brows when he raised a paper bag. "Here, someone left this for you."

"Who is it from?"

"I'm not sure, miss," he scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.

She took the paper bag from his hand and peeked inside, an upsetting knot formed in her stomach when she saw a box of donuts. Then, when she looked up, her eyes caught the sight of Mr. Lee. He was watching her just as he was walking to his car and gave her that very familiar wolfish grin. Chaeyoung looked away immediately, quickly thanking the guard before she speed-walked to her car.

When she was finally seated and locked the door, she mentally cursed herself when she realized she had brought the donuts with her instead of passing them to the guard. With Mr. Lee watching, maybe that would tell him that no matter what, she would never be swayed. Chaeyoung thought of going back to the guard but Mr. Lee had already pulled out of the parking space and left, leaving her to sigh heavily in her car. She wished to put an invisibility cloak around her every time he was around.

Chaeyoung took the paper bag to her lap and noticed a small card inside. Her brows drawn with her lips pressed together. So Mr. Lee wanted to leave notes now? She scoffed but took the card out nonetheless and flipped to see what was written.

The flowers are lovely.

Her lips parted and she inhaled shakily as she carefully placed the card back into the bag. Chaeyoung stayed still in her car before she put the donuts in the passenger seat, staring at them for a few moments. The note somehow made its way into her head, recited on a loop. Not with her voice, but a certain someone's voice.

Then, she remembered how upset she was when her gift was regarded as unnecessary. Chaeyoung huffed, side-eyeing the bag of donuts on the passenger seat and grabbed her phone, punching her thumb against the name that had annoyed her constantly, sometimes, without any reason at all.

She heard her name being uttered after a single ring.

"What's this for?" she immediately asked.

Jungkook didn't answer right away and she was surprised that she actually waited for an answer when she thought she would just end the call so she didn't have to listen to him. She heard the sound of a car door opening and Chaeyoung tried to deafen her ears when she registered the sound of him grunting softly as he, she assumed, was taking a seat in the car. As soon as the car door closed, then only he responded to her.

"What?"

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. "These donuts... Are you the one who gave me these donuts?"

"Yeah. Why'd you ask?" A short pause, then she heard a chuckle. "Did you think it was your fanboy who gave it to you?"

"Yes," she admitted, recalling how Mr. Lee had watched her from far and gave her his signature creepy smile that, somehow, was only reserved for her. "Because he was smiling at me from afar and couldn't keep his eyes off me."

The pause that came after was longer to the point that she thought he was ignoring her. "What else did he do?"

Chaeyoung exhaled. "Thankfully, nothing. He just kept looking and smiling before he left."

She could hear Jungkook taking a deep breath so clearly before he let out a seemingly forced hum.

"Why'd you send me these?" she prodded, not even sure why it was necessary. He probably wanted to apologize for what he said about her gift. But whatever reason he had, why was it so important for her to know?

"Nothing," he said after a while. "Just thought that you're grouchy maybe because you didn't get to eat your donuts the other day Mr. Fanboy came to bother you."

That was giving her a mix of irritation and feeling touched. But this was Jeon Jungkook. She wasn't supposed to feel touched with any of his gestures.

"Grouchy, huh?" she scoffed. "You wanna know something funny? I've never been grouchy before I met you."

"Ah, then I guess, I made you human," he replied, laughing and Chaeyoung wanted to pull her own hair because a chuckle almost escaped her at his response. Choosing the safe route, Chaeyoung stayed silent.

"I didn't know what you like," he said on the other line. "But donuts are donuts. Enjoy."

Chaeyoung bit her lower lip softly when she turned her attention back to the donuts. If that was his way to apologize, maybe she'd accept it, though there was no way she'd let him know he was forgiven. With him, it honestly didn't feel complete if she didn't try being petty about everything. So she did the thing that had roamed her mind for minutes, from the moment he'd answered her call.

"This is really unnecessary," she snorted and waited for his response. "And I'm no longer in the mood for donuts, so..."

Jungkook said nothing for a moment before he quietly said, "Then give them away if you don't want them."

A huge grin of satisfaction spread on her face. Hah! Now you know how I feel!

"You know what? Good idea! I should go give these donuts to the security guard."

"Good." Jungkook sounded nothing but pissed now, and Chaeyoung wanted to laugh.

"But what if he doesn't want it?" she asked with a smile, waiting for his response.

She could hear him inhaling deeply. "I don't know. Throw them away then. Whatever."

"Right. I should do just that," she grinned.

"Good."

"Good," she parroted him and before Jungkook responded to her with anything, she ended the call and drove back home with the bag of donuts tucked nicely on the passenger seat.

*

Jungkook poured milk into his bowl of cereal and turned back around to open the refrigerator when something caught his eyes.

Happy belated birthday, Mr. Jeon

He took the note that he'd attached with a magnet to his fridge. Why was the note even there? Jungkook scoffed as he brought the bottle of milk to his mouth and took a sip, the phone call he had with her that day came to his mind as he stared at the note in between his fingers.

Did she really have to tell him that she wasn't in the mood for donuts anymore? After he'd literally bought her favorite donuts? He'd gone spending at least 15 minutes lining up at that cafe to get her some donuts because he'd felt bad and food was known to be the one and only thing that an upset girl would want. Seeing how much she enjoyed food, he thought the donuts would be just perfect.

He didn't mean it when he told her to give those donuts to someone else. Did she really do it? Jungkook opened the fridge roughly and kept the bottle in its place, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before attaching the note back on the fridge. She was so frustrating to deal with.

But what was even more frustrating was the fact he was bothered by her actions. Why did it bother him so much? He didn't care about her, so he definitely shouldn't care what she wanted to do with the damn donuts. She wanted to throw them? Give them to someone else? Whatever. It shouldn't be in the list of things he should be worried about.

He went back to the kitchen counter, sat on the stool and started eating his cereal and began to wonder about the what-ifs on that Saturday morning.

If Taehyung hadn't asked Jungkook to replace him for that stupid blind date, maybe he wouldn't have met her. If Taehyung had gone on that date instead, he wouldn't have to be stuck in this situation of confusion and inability to control his emotions.

Something foreign rumbled in his chest at the idea of her on a date with his friend.

Jungkook exhaled heavily, the cereal no longer appetizing. Then, he was reminded that the woman whom his parents were dying to get as their daughter-in-law was Park Chaeyoung, the same woman who appeared at the blind date. If Taehyung had gone to that date instead, Jungkook was still going to be the one engaged to Chaeyoung, in one way or another.

He subconsciously nodded his head, the corner of his lips began to lift before he realized it and Jungkook shook his head, in hope that everything regarding her would be shaken off of his thoughts. She had no business trying to consume his thoughts.

Just when he thought his mind was free, his phone rang and Jungkook caught himself from answering it right away as soon as he saw that it was the very woman who'd been bothering his thoughts. He was about to swipe to answer after five seconds when she canceled it and he frowned.

Without thinking twice, Jungkook called her.

"I was about to text you," she muttered.

"Why'd you call?" When she hesitated for a moment, all Jungkook had in mind was the image of that stupid old creep. "Where are you?" he asked as he stood, grabbing the bowl of cereal in hand, about to toss into the sink. "Is it Mr. Lee?"

"Wha— No," she breathed. "No, nothing to do with him."

A sense of relief washed over him, slowly sitting back on the stool. He had to remind himself that he still had to do a background check on that man, just to be sure. He had been too busy lately and he didn't really trust anyone to do the job.

"The rules in the agreement..." she began after a few silent moments. "Well, you stated that we must attend every event at my family's residence together."

Jungkook began moving away from the kitchen, toward his bedroom. "Yes."

"So, there's this baby shower party at my aunt's place..."

He opened his closet and checked on his outfit, thinking what he should be wearing to a baby shower party since he'd never been to one.

"I don't know if it counts, though. It's my cousin's baby shower party and it's not at my parents' place. I called because I'm...confused? If it doesn't count, then I don't have to drag you to it."

"It counts," he responded, a little too quick. "What time should I pick you up?"

"Uh... It's in the afternoon. I haven't got a gift yet so I'm just gonna go shop for gifts and—"

"Okay, we'll go buy gifts first." He briefly wondered what gift he should get, but maybe they didn't have to buy separate gifts since they were going together.

"Oh... actually, I was planning to get the gifts on my own, maybe you can pick me up after?"

"We'll go buy the gifts together," he insisted, leaving her speechless. "I'll see you later."