Three days had passed after the worst night, yet his words still stung. She hoped to never encounter him anywhere again. She'd rather eat dirt for one whole year, day and night, than talk to him or even see him again.

Chaeyoung was aware how she wasn't acting rational. His insults came as a result of her insulting him. Her prickliness came as a result of him being a prick. It was all fair and square. But this wasn't the plan. Chaeyoung wasn't supposed to get out of the blind date feeling hurt. If there was someone who'd get hurt, it should've been that V guy, and not her.

Jennie had been late to pick her up from the date because she was almost caught by her mom while she was on a date with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend saved her ass by driving her car to some other place to resume their date and decided that it would be safer for them to date in private. They had chosen a hotel room and ate in private.

Chaeyoung pressed her lips into a thin line, refusing to ask for clarity when Jennie had provided her with that information, because the hickey at Jennie's neck explained it all. Thankfully though, Jennie's mom left the blind date session alone or else Chaeyoung's cover would be blown.

"It's been three days, where's my reward?" Chaeyoung playfully whined. "I know it's not exactly according to plan, but anybody would agree that it worked."

"Well, our deal didn't exactly include how to execute the plan. Glad it all worked out," Jennie cheered. "Anyways, the reward... Do you have anything in mind? Clothes? Books? A new guitar? A drum set?"

"Desserts?"

"Desserts? After what you've been through, you just want desserts?" Jennie asked, her voice layered in amusement and confusion.

"Nothing beats desserts when it comes to cheering a sad girl," Chaeyoung said with a shrug. "I want homemade," she demanded with a pout.

Though, one day later when Jennie arrived at her home early morning, she brought not just her specially homemade macaroons.

Chaeyoung was not surprised that Jennie was able to sponsor her a paid trip to Hawaii. She just didn't think that ruining the date in Jennie's place would be worth a whole week trip to Hawaii. If she wanted, Chaeyoung herself could afford it, but who's stupid enough to reject such a reward? Everyone loves free stuff, including her.

She wasn't going to leave for Hawaii soon, it would be next year, but looking through her outfits and imagining she was in Hawaii was a great destresser. Chaeyoung was choosing her outfits when her phone buzzed on the nightstand.

Mom: Tomorrow 8pm. Don't be late.

She stared at the message for a few moments before replying to her mother with a simple 'ok'. This day came sooner than she thought. She had expected that there would be at least a year to prepare herself. Chaeyoung had already come to terms with the fact that she would marry the man her parents chose for her, she was convinced that whoever her parents chose for her would be the best and that was why she had no thoughts on rebelling albeit her true nature of being a rebellion in the past.

But sitting at the pit of her guts was an unknown feeling. Was it discomfort? Was it uncertainty? This whole idea of meeting a total stranger whom she had no knowledge of at all was a bit overwhelming, pressing on all nervous switches inside her as she imagined how the situation at the dinner would turn out.

A moment later, her sister's message popped up on the screen.

Alice: You'll like him ;)

Her sister knew her best. All her likes and dislikes. Chaeyoung told her sister of every crush she had during high school. She even knew who was Chaeyoung's first real boyfriend and who had stolen her first kiss. She was there for Chaeyoung when she had to go through her first biggest heartbreak. If she really had to marry a stranger, she didn't think it would be a problem if her sister was convinced that Chaeyoung would like him. She trusted her sister.

Slowly, a small smile spread on her face.

Chaeyoung was curious to death how the man actually looked like, how he would sound like, how he would be around her. She almost tried to ask her sister to spill anything about this man, but she knew that surprises were just her thing. It would be wise to keep her curiosity locked away. After all, the meeting with him would be tomorrow.

As the smile on her face spread further, her excitement to go on a trip to Hawaii was replaced with the excitement to meet her future husband as she went on to spend an hour to pick an outfit for the dinner instead of the outfits she'd wear for her Hawaii trip.

*

"What do you mean you can't?"

Chaeyoung tried not to let out a big sigh as she lifted her eyes to look at a frustrated Seojun, the coworker that she had enjoyed being around with during the beginning of her time working there. But as time passed, it became clearer to her that Seojun liked to take advantage of his junior coworkers.

"I have a... family dinner, it was planned since last month," Chaeyoung said calmly. It was half true, but she had no time to explain in detail to Seojun, he didn't even have to know anything about her private life anyway.

"Come on, Chaeyoung," Seojun flicked his wrist to check on the time. "I really have something urgent to attend to, I just need you to help me with making copies of this file and sending some emails. That's all."

"I'm really sorry," Chaeyoung bowed her head. "I really can't miss this dinner and I'm already running late."

Part of her felt guilty because Seojun asked for help instead of ordering her around, but this happened one too many times. Seojun had always resorted to her to cover for him every single time he needed to leave early or when he had a deadline coming for his ass.

Chaeyoung had spent a year lending a helping hand because she had thought that doing all sorts of things to the senior coworkers would land her unending benefits at work. But being extra nice and extra helpful at work brought her nowhere. All the extra efforts and sleepless nights to do her work and someone else's work got her nothing but fatigue that later turned out to be a burnout. It took her a couple months to get herself back together.

It was 8:06pm when Chaeyoung arrived. Another minute passed as she rushed out of her car and toward her family's house. The faint voices of her parents traveled to her ears as she walked further into the house, and seeing how there were three pairs of unfamiliar shoes she had seen earlier, the guests had already arrived. He had arrived. Chaeyoung gulped nervously as she headed toward the dining room.

"That must be her," she heard her mother saying to the guests.

As soon as Chaeyoung stepped into the dining room, her father was the one who greeted her. "There you are. We thought you couldn't make it."

The three guests' backs were facing her and Chaeyoung flicked her eyes away quickly when they started to stand on their feet. Despite her curiosity, Chaeyoung couldn't even spare a glance at the guests. She was only able to get a glimpse of the back of the head of a tall man who was on the left side of the female guest.

Chaeyoung smiled sheepishly as she pushed a few strands of her hair to the back of her ear before bowing 90 degrees to her parents and the guests. "I'm really sorry for being late. Something came up at the last minute at work."

She quickly went to the seat next to her mother, bowing to the guests once more, forcing her eyes to look at the older guests, the parents of the man, she believed.

"She is much more beautiful in person," the guest's mother said, her eyes brightening the longer she set her eyes on Chaeyoung, causing her cheeks to pink. "Pictures don't do you justice!"

"Oh, thank you," Chaeyoung laughed softly and bowed her head. "You look great yourself!"

The dining room was filled with laughter as the moms were exchanging jokes on how they had to frequent the spas to maintain great skin at their age, wishing they could go back in time. It was at that time when Chaeyoung realized that it felt like it'd been forever since she arrived and she hadn't even taken a look at the man standing across from her. With everyone distracted talking about spas, Chaeyoung slowly averted her attention from the parents toward the man.

Chaeyoung hadn't even had anything, not even a drop of water but she had almost choked the instant her eyes were locked onto the man who was already looking at her.

Her eyes widened, her jaw slackened. No way.

Out of everyone in this whole word, did it have to be him?

"V?" she mouthed at the same time he was mouthing 'J' with a heavy frown on his face.

"You two know each other?" Chaeyoung's father asked.

"No," they both quickly answered.

"Oh, I thought we could save the introduction because it seems like you've seen each other before," her father laughed.

"Let's let them introduce themselves, honey," her mother said and was agreed by the man's parents. "Why don't you introduce yourself first, Chaeyoung?"

When Chaeyoung turned to look at V again, his brows were lifted and Chaeyoung knew just what he had in mind. She was convinced that her cheeks had turned red, her mind bringing her back to the night she first met him. If the past could be erased, that would be the first thing she'd do.

Chaeyoung swallowed the lump in her throat as she felt everyone's eyes on her. With the fakest smile she'd ever worn, she introduced herself calmly. "Chaeyoung. Park Chaeyoung."

He stared at her blankly for a moment longer before a subtle scoff escaped him but it went unnoticed by their parents. Then, a small smirk tugged at his lips. "Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook."