CHAPTER 23: Mischievous Acts

SAN
•••

Stepping inside the dorm room, I noticed Wooyoung seated at his desk scrolling on his laptop with his earbuds in, his face showing full focus in whatever he was doing. A smirk grew on my lips as I playfully made my way over and pulled one out of his ear. "And here I was thinking you missed me."

It was easy to spot the faint blush on his cheeks as he turned around and closed his laptop with a faux-scoff. "You would want that, huh? Unfortunately for you, the world does still revolve with or without you San."

"Does it? I never knew it could without my permission."

Wooyoung rolled his eyes while a laugh escaped his lips. "You're such an idiot..."

A smile etched my face at the sound as I started grabbing clothes to shower with. "Honestly, I've heard worse. What were you doing while I was gone?"

"Well, nothing really. Felix came and helped me pick out my outfit for my interview tomorrow." He sighed, getting up from the chair to head over to his bed. "I'm just hoping I get this job, or else I'm out of options."

Keep quiet San, everything will work out.

"I have no doubt you will. Where's the special outfit?"

The male pointed to his closet proudly. "In there, all ready to go."

With a soft hum, I made my way over and opened it with curiosity. Upon opening, his chosen outfit consisted of a pair of blue jeans with a coral pink sweater, a white beret hat and matching sneakers. My eyes peered around from the door to tease the male. "Are you sure you're going to an interview? This looks like clothing for a photoshoot."

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. "As if I could ever be good enough to model. Yes San, it's for the interview."

Shaking my head, I closed the closet door. "I actually beg to differ. You would make a great model, in my opinion."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because," I paused, taking a moment to quickly rethink my answer, "I think you have the looks for it. Plus, you don't even try dressing and yet you seemed to have a natural style."

"You're just saying that..." Wooyoung softly murmured, turning his head away as he crawled further underneath his sheets. "Enough of this conversation, weren't you going to shower?"

A chuckle escaped my lips as I nodded. "You're right, you're right. Let me go."

Making my way into the bathroom, I felt even better about the possibility of him joining the agency. As unexpected as the conversation had turned, I figured that the small detail of encouragement toward the idea would plant a seed in his mind for the hopeful future. Everything I said was the honest truth. Wooyoung had a unique beauty to him that wasn't common among most males, something that made him the perfect fit for a new face in the industry.

However, my curiosity was peaked about his apparent interview at the retail store. Choi Industries was associated with almost all of the well-known stores in Seoul, so I wondered which store he was looking to apply for. Although, the option of asking him upfront was out of the question, as the last thing I needed was to push him and create suspicion.

"I'll just see it tomorrow when I drop him off...and with my luck, it would be one of our contracted stores." I smirked to myself, starting up the shower to wash the day off.

Breezing through the routine, I stepped out and dried myself off, going through my skincare and oral hygiene before dressing and stepping out the bathroom. Wooyoung was scrolling on his phone in bed, so I decided to climb into my own and relax. The entire day was finally catching up to me as I could feel the tension in my body dissipate into the mattress, exhaustion creeping up on me as sleep was imminent.

A yawn left my lips, causing Wooyoung to glance up at me. "You should get some rest, San..."

"I'm fine. I don't want to sleep yet, or else I'll be up in the middle of the night."

"Are you sure? You look extremely tired."

With a playful smirk, I turned my head towards him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you concerned about me Wooyoung?"

"What?" Wooyoung scoffed, hiding his blush from me as he turned away. "You would want that. All I'm saying is that you have to take me to my interview tomorrow like you said you would."

"I know that, don't worry. I think the meeting just drained me, that's all..." I reassured.

That seemed to perk his ears as he turned back around to me. "...do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to bore you with politics."

"Try me, I'm willing to listen if you want me to."

Hearing those words sent a wave of warmth in me as I looked at the male who had his full attention on me in return. It was the first time in years where I had someone willing to not just listen to me, but actually hear me and my thoughts without any hesitation. With a soft chuckle, I turned my body completely to face him with a smirk. "You better get comfortable then, because at this moment, you're my pretend therapist."

Wooyoung laughed and sat up in his bed, pretending to grab his glasses and notebook before crossing his legs. "Call me Dr. Jung, at your service."

The rest of the night consisted of me telling him vaguely the process of the meeting, leaving out the key details that didn't need to be revealed at the moment.

Not yet....not yet....

•••

The next morning was the morning we both had waited for. After having a shared breakfast together, we made it back to our dorm room to allow him time to get ready for the interview scheduled at noon. My job was to take Wooyoung to his interview and hopefully get a glance at the name of said store, just to see if it would indeed be one of the contracted companies to the agency. With my luck, it would be and I could secretly pull some strings to get him to start working for me.

Relax San...that's not the way to go about this...

Leaning up against my bed while waiting for the male to finish getting ready, my phone vibrated in my pocket. With a sigh of annoyance, I pulled out my phone and unlocked it to see an article of my father's funeral obituary being published for the public to witness. Seeing it only solidified the reality of him being gone, and the incoming reality of me officially taking over the company. However, I made sure to keep my full name out of the record for now and just keep my last name on public display so no one would know who I was until next month.

Allowing me some time to keep my true identity away from him as long as possible...

With a soft sound of a click, the bathroom door opened to reveal Wooyoung fully dressed in his prepared outfit. My eyes grew wide as I took him all in, a genuine moment of appreciation for his unparalleled beauty. "Wow..."

Wooyoung blushed and fidgeted with his sweater. "Do you think this is alright for the interview?"

"Alright? I think you may be overdressed for just an interview. You might make them faint."

His blush grew deeper as he playfully scoffed and waved his hand. "You're annoying..."

"I'm just being honest." I smiled, grabbing my car keys swiftly. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah... let's get this over with..." He muttered.

It wasn't hard to notice the change in tone in his voice, but I ignored it and chalked it up to just being nervous. Gesturing for him to step out first, I followed behind the male as we walked out of the dorm toward the elevator. He reached out to press the 'down' button, but I quickly rushed over and beat him to it. "Princes shouldn't touch anything."

That elicited a giggle from him, something I was aiming for. "What is up with you today?"

"What ever do you mean?" I teased.

Wooyoung rolled his eyes as the elevator door opened to an empty cart. "You're being extra nice today. Is there a specific reason?"

I smiled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure San, sure."

The elevator cart descended to the ground floor, and with a quick opening of doors, we stepped out into the lobby to head outside. "I'm just saying, you look like an idol and my job is to treat you as such today."

"An idol?" Wooyoung giggled. "I think that's a bit much."

"No, it's true." A familiar male voice said behind us.

The two of us turned around to see Chan and Hyunjin standing behind us with smirks on their faces. Hyunjin continued to speak. "I can tell my boyfriend styled you because that's exactly how he styles himself."

"What he means, Wooyoung..." Chan rolled his eyes, "you really look amazing. It really suits you!"

Wooyoung smiled and nodded. "Thank you Chan-hyung..."

"We will see you two later, I need to get Woo to his meeting." I said quickly, not wanting to waste any more time with the small talk. Ignoring the surprised looks on the two males faces at the nickname, I pushed open the dormitory doors and guided Wooyoung towards the car. "I'm sorry about those two."

"It's fine, I don't mind them. They actually seem very nice." Wooyoung smiled. "Hyunjin kind of reminds me of Yeosang in the way that he acts at times."

Choosing not to question the male further on what he meant by that, we reached my car and continuing my actions, I opened his passenger door for him. "After you."

"You really must be up to something for you to be doing all of this...but thanks."

With a soft shut of the door, I rushed over to my side and hopped in, quickly pulling my seatbelt on to get ready to drive. However, I noticed Wooyoung failing to put his own on as a smirk was on his lips. "You told me that princes don't touch things, so...."

A chuckle escaped my lips as I reached over to pull his seatbelt to secure him safely. "You're right, my apologies."

He seemed to be happier playing along with the antics started, so I felt pleased. Starting up the engine, I sped out of the parking lot. The time was only a quarter past eleven in the morning, so I had enough time to take him to any mall he needed. Although, I decided to ask without assuming which one I needed to go to. "So, which mall are we heading to?"

Wooyoung pulled out his phone and scrolled for a moment before smiling. "Starfield Coex."

"The one in Gangnam District? You do realize that if I hadn't offered to take you, you would've had to leave much earlier? That's like a 20 minute drive from the university, Woo."

"I know that, asshole," He answered with a dramatic eye roll, "but you offered without asking so that's your fault."

Shaking my head, I sighed. "It's fine, not like I'm doing anything today anyway."

There was a brief moment of silence before he asked softly, "...What about the funeral tomorrow? You have everything prepared for it?"

"Yeah, basically. I'm just ready to get it over with honestly. The faster, the better." I mumbled.

"San," Wooyoung looked at me with concern in his eyes, "you really don't feel any type of way about it? Not even a hint of sadness at the fact that your father is about to be put to rest?"

"If you're expecting me to cry or something, don't. I'll admit that I do have fleeting moments where the reality is sinking in...but it's not enough to outweigh the hell I went through with the man."

He just hummed in response, probably not wanting to push any further which I was grateful for. Fortunately for me, the conversation was dropped after that as we continued the rest of the drive in silence.