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Jeongguk is surprised that Minhee didn't bother him after the campaign.

He half-expected it since their marriage had an unspoken condition of 'benefit' and he assumed it was to get her ass out of such situations. Wings is huge, it is untouchable and people blindly trust the brand but they don't trust changes.

Especially changes like Minhee as a CEO and her decisions.

He isn't surprised. Minhee is born with a silver spoon up against her ass and he's not sorry to be bitter about it because she doesn't even try to earn or be worthy of the position she has been given. People learn, but Jeongguk thinks Minhee never did and doesn't plan to either.

He's been keeping track of the issue at Wings despite telling himself that he doesn't care about it. She'll manage, she has Yoon Daejun backing her up.

But something's off, Jeongguk feels at the edge.

And just like that, he is in front of the cruise for the dinner. His eyes flicker to the parking lot, waiting for Minhee to arrive. He can't step inside the glitz and glamour without her, he's used to the scrutiny that the spotlight brings. Their issue as a 'couple' has died down after a while, the articles saying that Jeongguk used Minhee to bag that Persona cover pushed back with more interesting news.

However, he can still see some fans of Taehyung under BE's official social media accounts, criticising Jeongguk. He doesn't mind it, however, he does wonder what the model thinks about the whole situation.

He brushes away the thought when he sees Minhee walking towards him with the same secretary that had followed her during the IAA awards. He didn't say anything, unsure of what to make of the situation.

He was supposed to arrive with Minhee, she didn't offer a pickup so he had kindly done that but once he reached Wings', Dahyun informed him that Minhee had already driven away to the venue. Yet, she arrived after him.

What the fuck is going on?

He simply follows Minhee, texting Secretary Kim that 'he's fine' and 'Minhee arrived'. The older man insisted on tagging along but Jeongguk told him not to bother. It's just a cruise dinner, he'll be fine.

When they reached the entrance, the cameras pointed towards them and Jeongguk outstretched his hand towards her, smiling. But Minhee didn't smile, somewhere Jeongguk wishes to see the sparkle he had seen in her eyes during the festival because right now they are blank and guarded.

When she clasps his hand with hers, he shudders. So cold, unfamiliar.

They walk inside, speak nothing and Jeongguk is forced to keep his distance, afraid of crossing a line and its aftermath is something he doesn't want to face. On the way up to the top floor, there was a photo booth for all the guests and the staff gestured to them to take a few shots there.

Minhee's hand is situated on the small of Jeongguk's back, barely touching him and Jeongguk hesitates to wrap an arm around her shoulder. He can feel her shapes pressed against his torso, the smell of lavender fills his nose and he wants to bury her nose in her skin. He places his palm on her shoulder lightly, making sure it weighs nothing more than a feather. The camera flashes and Jeongguk immediately let his hand linger over her bare shoulder.

And when they go inside, it's not less than a party. Jeongguk scoffs, thinking rich people have no lives other than to host dinners and parties every other day. Making connections, ambiguous talks and alcohol.

Minhee takes no time to slip towards the bar and Jeongguk feels affronted at the display of nonchalance. He tries to not be affected by it and finds himself talking to Mr Park again. Jeongguk is a little taken aback by him. It has been long since he's come across someone so petite, delicate and beautiful. His makeup is light, complimenting his whole look perfectly and Jeongguk is mesmerised.

He can only imagine perfecting his makeup skills to such a point that he fails to make out any hint of it on one's skin— because if Jeongguk wasn't sane he would believe that his eyelids are actually golden.

A few moments later he finds his way to Minhee again who is at the bar corner sitting on a relatively high stool, her legs slightly spread apart and bare leg stretched straight through the slit of her dress.

Jeongguk inhales.

He doesn't want to think the worst but he prays that nothing is seen through her improper manners. I thought she took the ethics class during high school?

Minhee looks bored, detached and on edge when she gulps the contents from her glass. Jeongguk shakes his head, she's an open book. "Did anyone tell you that it's bad to drink alone at business dinners like these?"

Jeongguk can feel eyes on them— wondering what's up with the odd behaviour between them and waiting for the screw up that's in the making. He didn't want that.

He sighs. "Such a good girlfriend I have."

It feels odd to call Minhee his girlfriend. Legally she's a wife and practically, she is just a business rival who he knows nothing about.

"Fake," she says, eyes moving away from the crowd towards her glass.

Jeongguk frowns. "What?"

"Fake girlfriend."

"I know that."

"Ofcourse, you know. It was your plan, you should know."

His eyes remain fixed on her posture, unmoving and he blinks. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Minhee slides the glass on the tabletop, letting it slide over towards the other side and falling over. Jeongguk sucks in a sharp breath, the waiter on the other side flinches hearing the sound of glass shattering and Minhee stays rooted in her position.

"Isn't that Yoon Minhee and her boyfriend Jeon Jeongguk?" he hears someone say. "Are they fighting?"

"Are they even a couple?"

And that is the only thing Jeongguk needed to hear before he takes Minhee's hand in his and drags her to the public washroom. Minhee is almost like a lifeless limp teddy bear he's dragging and Jeongguk loosens his hold slightly, thinking he could break her.

You shouldn't care, she's bound to damage her image with yours today. He reminds himself.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asks, putting a latch to close the door.

"Why did you drag me here?"

"Why do you think? You're making a scene!"

Minhee just stares at him, blank. "You think you dragging me here is not one?"

"You started it!" Jeongguk reasons. He pushes his hair back, "Do you realise where we are? This a party from your itinerary, your connections—"

"Do I look like I give a shit? How long will he have to care about what people think!"

Jeongguk gapes at her, rooted in his position. He's convincing himself to not give a shit either. He doesn't care if people call Minhee an asshole, a drama queen or a troublemaker. He shouldn't care if people start questioning the authenticity of their relationship because he would be at more advantage with people's opinions.

"I suppose that's it. Stop meddling with my business, Jeongguk." and Minhee walks out, closing the door behind her with force. Jeongguk doesn't flinch or react to it, lost in his inner turmoil.

However, as much as he'd like to admit that he's not supposed to care, he felt vexed at being brushed off, to be given the cold shoulder the way Minhee did. This attitude he received had been out of the blue that he failed to process what instigated it in the first place. His eyes remained to the space that Minhee left, mind swerving to numerous speculations on a subject that frankly, he shouldn't be bothered with.

He thought they could finally be civil with each other, the bitterness between them toned down after the campaign. He knows after that, things happened but he didn't expect Minhee to let it affect her image.

He can't attend the rest of the dinner anymore. He walks out as well, towards the reception, wondering if he could get a spare room till they get back to the deck in Seoul. He gets one, takes the keys and allows himself to wander around for a bit.

The dinner just started, if he is assuming it right, the party would last until the early morning hours— until everyone is asleep in any cosy place they find, since most of the crowd is the younger generations of the conglomerate families.

He comes across the swimming pool on the other side of the pool and is immediately met with Minhee staring at the pool while crouching down near the pool end. She keeps losing her balance while crouching, making her tumble from one side to the other and placing a hand on the ground to not fall in the water. Jeongguk would have found it cute if it were on some other day.

He walks towards her but doesn't speak anything, afraid he'll startle her and make her fall in the pool. He knows if that happens, he will end up in jail and he's not being dramatic. He sits on one of the deck chairs placed there.

It is not until Minhee looks up in the sky, still struggling to keep her balance and she lets out a slurred yell, "Fuck the world. Fuck you Jeongguk!" does Jeongguk realise that she's actually drunk.

Holy, why are you trying so hard to ruin your reputation Minhee?

Jeongguk rushes towards Minhee when he realises that she let go of the hand that kept her balance but it's too late because till the time he reaches the end, he's only met with a loud splash of water on his face. His eyes open wide, panicking when he sees her figure reaching near the bottom end of the pool.

Minhee makes no effort in coming up to the surface and Jeongguk is stripping out of his jacket to fetch her. He is untying his shoelaces in a haste, eyes glancing towards the pool every other second when he hears a gasp and sees Minhee's head poke out of the surface.

He breathes, letting go of the laces and watches Minhee push her hair back. He hates how that one single gesture is enough to make his cock twitch in his pants as if two minutes back he wasn't ready to strip out of them to save her.

His eyes meet with hers as she swims to the edge of the pool, hands coming up to grasp the tiled floor to push her body to the edge's level. Jeongguk is heavily breathing, not willing to speak as the past few moments replay in his head.

Minhee stares at him, hair slicked back and droplets on her skin shining against the lights that are lit on the walls of the pool. She then looks away on the other side of the pool for a flight of stairs to find a tape covering it with 'closed' written on it.

Shit, she entered the pool past the allowed time. I am an idiot. She sighs, contemplating.

"Help me up," Minhee says, a hand extending to gesture to Jeongguk to get her out of the pool. She has no other choice.

Jeongguk raises an eyebrow, unsure. "Do you plan to pull me inside with you?" A pause. "Because that is what you've been doing the entire evening, pulling me down with ya."

"Forget it, I will come up on my own," Minhee says, elbows propping her up but in vain. Jeongguk can see that the water did knock some sense in her but she's still tipsy, and heavily conscious of the dress that hangs on her body because her free hand keeps pulling the dress up her chest, worried if it reveals more than he should see.

He sighs, walking to the edge of the pool with his jacket in hand. He crouches down in front of her and places the jacket on a relatively dry area before asking Minhee to let go of the surface. "I will lift you from your shoulder, just cooperate with me."

Minhee wants to say it's not possible. She's not that short heightened or light as a feather, moreover her wet dress makes her thrice heavier. But when Jeongguk's hand slips under her arms, and he applies force on her armpits to lift her as if she were a baby, she just focuses on getting out of the pool.

When Jeongguk lifts her, the weight of the water pulls Minhee's dress down enough her chest to make her swat his hands away and hide her goods back in the water. She's sure Jeongguk is getting a nice bird's view of the goods in question and if he pulls her up entirely, the whole dress would slip down her breasts.

Jeongguk sighs, hesitates and mentally apologises to the jacket before lending it to Minhee. She snatches it away without any hesitation, passing her arms through the sleeves and buttoning it up. Jeongguk almost cried seeing it get wet. He tries to lift her again, grunting when Minhee struggles to get her knees on the edge of the pool.

"Fuck." Jeongguk curses and lets go of Minhee before she could place her second knee outside, making her stumble and use her hand to balance instead. Jeongguk falls back, groaning when the grained floor hits his butt and stretches his hands.

"You are an ass. A big one." Minhee says, groaning as she manages to bring her second knee up. Her straight fit dress isn't helping, the slit makes her bare knee touch the grained floor— nothing is helping.

She manages to get herself outside, panting and lying on her stomach on the edge of the pool. Jeongguk looks at her, eyes not moving away.

"I hate you," she says.

Jeongguk sighs, mumbling 'I know'. Minhee rolls over the tiled floor and sits up with hands clutching the jacket around her. She expected Jeongguk to be angry, upset, scared or make fun of her but nothing like this. Not this silence. Not only his breathing.

"Where's your phone?" he asks.

Minhee chins towards the other deck chair where her phone was and Jeongguk heaves a sigh in relief. "Glad you didn't take your phone swimming with you." He says and crawls to take the phone. He is too tired to stand up, his butt also hurts.

"Here.'' He passes the phone to its owner. "Call your secretary and ask her to arrange clothes for you."

"I am fine."

"You are soaked."

"Doesn't matter."

"You look like Ursula from Little Mermaid." Jeongguk teases, lips curving slightly when he sees Minhee's expression morph into that of agitation.

"You crossed a line there, Mr Jeon," Minhee says, immediately dialling Mina. Jeongguk averts his eyes to the pool while Minhee talks to her secretary, feeling he is invading her space. He lets his mind wander off again.

How did they fall back into their normal ways again? As if Minhee didn't brush him off or give him a cold shoulder an hour ago? As if she didn't make a scene at the dinner? As if they didn't almost kiss on that night?

The image from that night comes back again, and he looks at Minhee again. How are they the same person?

Minhee that night was warm, golden and soft.

Minhee tonight is cold, grey and rough. So unfamiliar.

He wants to run away but he realises he's in the middle of a vast sea with nowhere to go.

He's stuck.

MIna comes, taking Minhee away to a room. She thanks Jeongguk who brushes it off, walking back to his own suite.

When he lays on the bed, he wonders how many more sides of Minhee will he see? How many more times will he be taken aback by her? How much will he lose himself trying to understand her?

He doesn't have a change of clothes, so he opts in wearing just a bathrobe around. He will ask Secretary Kim to prepare a set of clothes early in the morning.

He wonders how wrong he might be about Minhee. 

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daily updates, here we start <3