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"Did you come around to talking to those investors and convince them?" Jeongguk says, leaning against the elevator's wall. Secretary Kim glances at him, before shaking his head.

"I can't get past his secretary. He won't let me mention anything about the project."

Jeongguk groans, "Why would they suddenly withdraw the sponsorship from us?"

"You don't look so well." Secretary Kim comments, "Had a busy night, huh."

Jeongguk is taken aback by the intentional tease in his secretary's voice but scoffs, "Yeah. With loud music and Minhee's attempts to not let me sleep, totally."

"Sounds like a night."

"That reminds me...could you ask an electrician or someone to come over and fix the television." Jeongguk sighs.

"The television? What's wrong with it?" Kim furrows his eyebrows. Jeongguk brushes him off. That's not important. His ears still hurt from all the noise from the night— God, Minhee is so difficult. As soon as he starts warming up to her, she does something that aggravates Jeongguk. It's like he loses himself whenever he's with her, he's not himself. That's why they aren't meant for each other at all.

Who knows why their mothers thought it would be a good idea to pair them up?

"When do we have the meeting with the planning team for Paris Fashion week?" Jeongguk asks, fixing his clothes as they walk out of the elevator towards his office.

"Day after tomorrow."

Jeongguk nods, pushing the door open to walk inside his cabin— greeting the fish in the aquarium.

"Also I must congratulate you. Persona magazine has outsold every other fashion and beauty magazine in fifteen countries. It's a huge deal, we should be able to enter the European Market easily."

Jeongguk grins, nodding at Kim. "That's great."

"If you showed your abs, it could have been thirty countries."

Jeongguk glares at Secretary Kim who just shrugs in response. "You have a weird obsession with seeing me naked when I am sure you have seen my dick more times than you have seen yours."

"That might actually be true."

...

That night when Jeongguk returns home, he is greeted with a mess in the kitchen. It smells so bad that Jeongguk gags, almost puking. Minhee seems to be in her room, judging by the classical music coming across her closed door.

It's loud too, Jeongguk is sure she's doing it purposefully now. Mrs Yoon did tell him that Minhee has taken three days off to 'settle down' but Jeongguk doesn't think she needs so much time to do so. It seems like she knows too that her stay here is temporary but that doesn't mean she can do anything she wishes too.

If this is how she wants to play, then Jeongguk is more than willing to make her lose in her own game.

And somehow he just knows how to do that.

The next day, Minhee wakes up with the house clean like she never tried baking a cake there. She actually didn't, she just wanted to ruin his kitchen and irk Jeongguk. Her own head is still throbbing from the loud music she's been hearing for two days and curses herself for drinking the whole bottle of wine in two days.

But it's all to get on Jeongguk's nerves. She could have really used these three days to rest, let the fatigue from all these days wear out but if anything, she is more exhausted.

A little pain for that gain.

Jeongguk is an early bird, she figured out the day before when Jeongguk was to be seen nowhere, but a bowl and glass in the sink—indicating he already left after his breakfast. But she's also surprised to hear the front door unlock an hour after the time Jeongguk should be at his office.

"Bam, go in."

And the colour from Minhee's face pales seeing a dog— she guesses it's a Terrier by the way he looks.

"What— who the hell— no is that your dog?" Minhee stutters, stepping back instinctively to reach high ground. The dog keeps barking towards her, trying to reach her but Jeongguk seems to be holding him close.

"Yes, meet Bam." Jeongguk simply says, walking inside. "He was with my parents all this time but I figured out you're too bored."

Minhee rolls her eyes. Jeongguk got the television fixed yesterday but Minhee cut the wire again when he slept with the TV remote after playing an EDM playlist on a high volume— leaving Minhee agitated...and well.

"So I thought you could use some company," Jeongguk smirks and then bends down to Bam's level to pet him. "And Bam here keeps people a lovely company."

"I don't need a dog to keep me company— and I return to work tomorrow, honestly I don't need him. Why don't you leave him back to your parents?" Minhee pleads with her eyes rounded and glossed, it brings a content smile to Jeongguk's face.

"Ms Yoon..." Jeongguk raises an eyebrow, a knowing look in his eyes, "You aren't afraid of dogs, are you?"

Minhee stills. Jeongguk looks down at her and Minhee notices that she has somehow reached the couch with her legs close to each other. Then Bam barks, Minhee flinches, only for Jeongguk to laugh. "What do we do now? Bam's gonna be here for a while."

"I—I am not afraid, it should be fine I guess...Yeah."

"Oh really?" Jeongguk says and then lets the leash in his hand loose. "Then I guess you can say hi to Bam, wifey."

And the next thing Minhee knows, she has climbed up the couch, stuck her back to the wall as if to create a distance between Bam and her but the dog's smart and props his hands on the couch to sniff and lick Minhee.

One touch of his tongue on Minhee's knee and her scream echoes in the house, followed by Jeongguk's laughter and Bam's barks.

"Two can play a game, wifey."

...

With Bam around, it seems like Minhee stays in her room all day. Jeongguk stays at home, making sure Bam is settled in just fine and comfortable too. He'll have to hire a caretaker for him, mentally starts noting down things. It's like Jeongguk almost forgot that there's someone else in his house other than Bam and him until he sees Minhee walkout.

It's so weird to see Minhee in her relatively casual clothes, her choice of clothes isn't far from his. Black, baggy, comfortable. Jeongguk didn't get a glimpse of any thin fabric on her after that remote incident.

He doesn't say anything, doesn't acknowledge her but continues taking care of his dog. It's better that way, he thinks, we pretend we don't exist and continue with our lives. Except it's not that simple. Bam immediately takes notice of her, barking. It warms Jeongguk's heart that the dog is always on his guard and Minhee is obviously a threat to him (he remembers the punch at the golf course, and of course his heart is weak).

Minhee seems like she is stuck on the wall, creating as much distance as she can with Bam as she moves towards the kitchen. Jeongguk chuckles seeing her struggle when the television comes in between and she has to walk away from the wall. The entertainment is only lasting until he hears the mixer-grinder in his kitchen work followed by a scream.

It startles Jeongguk then immediately a wave of concern washes over him as he rushes to the kitchen with Bam following close to him. "Minhee, are you ok—"

Jeongguk stills. Minhee seems to be crying. He doesn't get to weigh any options whether he should comfort her or ask her or just simply leave her be before Minhee looks up to him while holding her hand up. Jeongguk doesn't think twice before rushing to her, doesn't even look away from her face.

He cups her face and the other hand holds her shoulders, "Where are you hurt?"

Until he finally takes notice of her surroundings. The mixer grinder sits on the platform with a yellow liquid dripping from the jar, Minhee's blue t-shirt and his fridge— the wall beside it— the platform— everything had the mango juice splattered on it.

"Here." Minhee sniffs, bringing her finger up to his eye level. "I forgot to close the lid."

"Forgot?" Jeongguk raises an eyebrow. Minhee sighs, "Okay fine, I didn't know how to."

The hand that was cupping Minhee's cheek falls down, the one on her shoulder coming to check on the cut on her fingertip. "Put it in your mouth."

"I am not putting that in my mouth, Jeon. It must be so dirty—"

"It's your own blood, you would be fine." he rolls his eyes, feeling his patience running over the edge. "Why the fuck would you do something you don't know? Do you know all these— would have stains now— it would be difficult to get them off."

"Welp, sorry."

The apology is so bland, so insincere that it makes Jeongguk sigh. And then he sees Minhee smirk and wipes some mango juice off the jar, not caring if it stings her cut and immediately puts the finger in her mouth. "It was sweet."

The scene does something to Jeongguk— mainly his dick— as he exhales, closing his eyes. Minhee damn well knew what she was doing. She's doing it all purposefully, every move and word seems to be calculated in a way to piss him off. It hurts his pride but someone needs to take a step back from this. He doesn't want to come back to this daily, live in a manner that would exhaust him more than any other thing.

This won't do.

He looks up at Minhee, glaring, "Let's sign another contract."

"We would have too many contracts at this rate to keep track." Minhee laughs.

"I don't fucking care." Jeongguk groans. "This is my house, and if you wanna live here, we need rules. Consider it like you're staying at a hotel except you need to do some basic stuff on your own— and share it. But we need rules."

"Alright, Mr Rules, what do you need me to sign up for?" Minhee crosses her arms in front of her. Jeongguk sighs and then looks over at the platform.

"Clause number one, clean up your own shit."

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Bam is an important character here