Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He’s here again this afternoon.

Soo finds herself sighing dreamily like a schoolgirl at the sight of him. She could count on him to be here at least three times a week, and she certainly did count on it. If it didn’t make her sound like such a stalker, she’d admit she lived for these days.

In her defense, she’d started coming to the docks first. She’d soak up the warm sun, relaxing as she took in the picturesque view during her break time before rushing back to the boutique. He’d only started coming here when the leaves had begun to turn and the air began to get cooler, a canvas bag slung over his shoulder.

She’d noticed him the first day he’d shown up, spotted him striding close to the edge and sitting down without even a cursory glance at any of the people around him. He was handsome like a model, Soo could tell, even from afar. Tall and lean, dark hair tousled from running his slender fingers through it as he immersed himself in the nature surrounding him, recreating it with the strokes of his paintbrush. Perhaps that was the most attractive part of her mystery guy—she’d managed to get an up-close glimpse of him and his painting once, both beautiful works of art, and immediately gushed to Chae Ryung about both back at work. Studying him as he painted, even from a distance, was blissful.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself to him?” Chae Ryung had asked, as if Soo was an idiot for not doing this already. “Find out his name so you can stop calling him ‘Mystery Guy?’”

She was not an idiot. She was leaving it up to fate, which is exactly what she had told Chae Ryung.

“’Fate,’ right,” her friend had echoed mockingly, the teasing grin she had worn on her lips taking away any sting Soo had felt. Defensiveness, however—well, Soo had been drowning in that. “Just admit you’re too nervous to approach him—which happens to be ridiculous, by the way, since I’m sure your mystery guy would find you cute, if only you’d introduce yourself.”

“I’m not too nervous,” Soo had tried to be flippant about it, denying it with a scoff, and had remained entirely unconvincing. Because there was a large part of her that was exceedingly nervous. Her pulse fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings when he was twenty yards away, and at that rate, she wasn’t sure she’d survive an actual meeting with him—even if she had planned out her future with her mystery guy months ago.

Unless he approached her, making the first move like a gentleman would after it finally dawned on him that they were meant to be. Star-crossed lovers who were always destined to meet next to the lake he loved to paint and she loved to sit and enjoy.  They’d get married in the loveliest, most pristine of churches, beaming at each other with uncontained happiness. The future she’d mentally planned felt like a foregone conclusion; if only Mystery Guy would bridge the gap between them (quite literally) and make the first move.

As she stole another glance at him, his eyes fixed on the canvas he was working on, she couldn’t help but wonder—wish—that today would be the day she got to hear his voice. She would bet money on him having a melodic, sweet tone; his voice would be pleasing to her ears, she knew it. She practically shivered in anticipation just thinking about him saying her name.

You’re delusional, Soo. Stop living in dreamland. He doesn’t even know you exist.

And one second, she was turning away to whisper her love on the water, anxiously pulling on the sleeves of her cardigan, and the next she’s twisting her head back around to find her mystery guy…gone. Disappeared. His art supplies are scattered around where he’d sat only moments earlier. She finally grasps that he’s in the water, sinking, without a struggle, not even flailing, and it takes mere seconds for her to cross the distance as her legs carrier faster than she’d ever ran. She takes those seconds to frantically attempt to piece together what could have possibly occurred in that short amount of time, and thank any and every deity that she’d worn flats. Had he fallen? Had his artwork fallen and he’d foolishly dived in the water in hopes of salvaging it? Had someone pushed him?

The reason why doesn’t matter as she dives in after him without a second thought, because he obviously either can’t swim or was unconscious, her thin arms trying futilely to drag his dead weight to the surface as she screams for help, desperation ringing clear in each call. A man in a business suit finally rushes to her, two others flocking behind him willing to aide in the rescue.

“What happened, Miss?” one asks as he reaches to drag the precious body of her mystery guy’s back on the docks. There’s a gash on his forehead, bleeding profusely, and her heart stutters. Is he breathing? she wants to screech. “Do you know this man?”

She doesn’t mean to say it. It’s purely accidental; truly a slip of the tongue. And it’s said so softly, practically a whisper on the wind, that she isn’t sure how any of the men could pick it up. “I was going to marry him.”

Soo also doesn’t mean to continue on with the charade. Only the hospital obviously has policies about not allowing people who aren’t on a list or a relation of the patient to stay with them, or be kept up-to-date about any progress or changes in their condition. Plus, it wasn’t her fault the men who rescued her Mystery Guy—Baek Ah, she reminds herself, wishing she could say his name aloud a few dozen times without appearing to be clinically disturbed, wanting to feel how it rolls off her tongue—had introduced her to the paramedics as the fiancée.

“I think the poor miss is in shock,” one of the men had said, as Soo had trembled under a blanket that had been placed gently over her shoulders. Warm tears of worry had coursed down her cheeks as she stammered out a question regarding her mystery guy, her voice hoarse and croaky. “He’s going to be fine, just get in the ambulance and you can go with him.”

He clearly wasn’t fine. He was in a coma, and his immediate family that had been notified over an hour ago still hadn’t arrived at the hospital. Police had questioned her, and they seemed to think it had been a mugging of some sort, his wallet being tossed in some bushes near where he’d been pushed in. The wallet was how she'd finally known his identity. He’d been knocked upside the head for what she supposed was a small sum, since he didn’t strike her as a rich guy. Unfortunately, he hadn't woken up to confirm or deny that detail, or anything.

A few people suddenly shuffle in, and she automatically stands in attention, stiffening when she hears, clearly, “Who is she?” after a few murmurs of worry and concern.

A lady—likely his mother—is fretting over him, while every male (three of them) in the room is turned to her, the expressions ranging from mild curiosity to blatant suspicion. She tries not to take offense when one—probably his father, as he’s older and on the opposite side of the woman—bluntly asks, “Who are you?”

She can feel a nervousness simmering in her gut, and it’s going to bubble over in some panic-induced rambling that would immediately give her away as the fraud she is. “I’m—“

“This young lady is the person who saved your son,” a nurse interjects with an encouraging smile in her direction before facing the family. “I’m assuming since you don’t know her, that they haven’t broken the news to you yet.” The nurse pauses, because of the confusion that had settled over the group huddled at the foot of the hospital bed or to judge whether or not the news is going to be broken by the only person who could verbally break it, Soo isn’t sure. The nurse must read the clear panic on her face, and takes pity on her. “She also happens to be your son’s fiancée.”

If there was any time Soo wished the floor could swallow her up, it would be now. They all look at her with wide-eyed disbelief, sputtering variations of denials.

“He wouldn’t!”

“Didn’t he swear off relationships after his last disastrous one?”

“He would have at least told, us! Wouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know! Don’t look at me!”

“She doesn’t look like his type,” a deep voice says from behind her, and she of course jumps about ten feet off of the ground, her nerves already completely shot. Obliterated.

“So, I’m glad you could come,” the woman exclaims, rushing over to the man. It’s clear from this guy’s lean figure and pretty features that good looks truly run in this family.

“I had to,” is all the man says, like it’s obvious he’d be here for the comatose guy in the hospital bed.

“This is Baek Ah’s fiancée,” the man Soo is assuming is their father tentatively introduces her, as if he’s trying the words out himself to see if they fit. So mumbles something about how he heard that as he approaches the hospital bed, the older gentleman giving Soo a proper perusal, squinting a bit. “What’s your name?”

“Uh, S-soo,” she manages to stammer out. Instead of, you know, clarifying the details of this extremely peculiar scenario. Especially the part where she's not his son's fiancée.

Only the words she’d spoken to Chae Ryung about fate are echoing in the recesses of her mind as the family introduces themselves—Baek Ah had three equally attractive brothers; Wook, So, and Jung.  His parents were also quite good-looking, had aged gracefully. And their reception was warm now, as they shed any lingering suspicions and accepted the girl who had saved their son was also engaged to him—as they accepted a lie.

Fate.

He wasn’t lying when he said the young woman didn’t seem like Baek Ah’s type.

It was an intuition more than her not fitting a checklist compiled of certain attributes of all of his brother’s previous girlfriends.

So eyed the girl again from his peripheral, both of them getting a snack from a vending machine outside of the waiting area. She had remained relatively tight-lipped, not offering any information or details, only answering a question about her profession. He would have been fine with letting her go out on her own, but Wook, ever the protective, oldest (nosy and can’t do his own dirty work) brother had given him a look as she mumbled something about a snack, hovering at the doorway.  That look had ordered him to trail her. He had a natural intimidating aura, his family had told him, and it was clear that while his parents and Jung had accepted Soo, Wook and he were still feeling things weren’t adding up.

She’s pretty and works at a boutique, had said something about being a professional make-up artist, too, and Baek Ah did like fellow artistic types. But there was something about her that seemed off, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. The last serious girlfriend Baek Ah had been in a relationship with had possessed a delicate sort of beauty, but So admittedly didn’t know much about her personality, with the exception of the good things Baek Ah had shared. Until they’d broken up, and then there hadn’t seemed to be good qualities. His brother had been left heartbroken.

And there was the quite significant fact that, while his brother was a private person, much as himself, that he surely would have announced it if he’d gotten engaged.

They didn’t talk as much as they used to before So had gotten involved in the family business and spent all of his time eye-ball deep in boring finances, but they were still best friends. He remembered how Baek Ah had said something, a few months earlier, about how he’d seen a beautiful girl near a place where he liked to go and paint.

Maybe Soo was that girl, but So couldn’t shake that wary, distrustful feeling as he continued to watch her shove a few chips in her mouth from the corner of his eye, even if he was incredibly thankful she’d gotten help and essentially saved his closest brother’s life. Her knee kept bouncing restlessly, though that could easily be chalked up to concern about the man she claimed to be engaged to.

But her hand was shaking. She was so clearly on edge, and not just alone in his presence. She’d had the same jittery, bug-eyed, panicked thing going on around the entire family.

In that moment, he made it his mission to find out why. Before his brother woke up.

Chapter Text

Baek Ah’s eldest brothers are immediately on to her, she can tell just by the way they remain thoroughly uninterested until she starts answering more questions their parents ask her. They aren’t eager like their parents or Jung, a skeptical gleam in both of their eyes when she swallows down the fear to steal a glance at their expressions.

“Got engaged quickly?” Wook asks, eyebrow arched and arms crossed. His sternness is unnerving. She’d bet he was the boss of a company with that disposition.

But she nods in agreement, because apparently she’s lost her mind. “It was a really short relationship,” she stupidly elaborates, and Mrs. Wang latches onto that.

“That doesn’t surprise me a bit. You artistic types are hopeless romantics, and my Baek Ah wouldn’t waste any time snagging a lovely girl such as yourself.”

The sour churning in her stomach only seems to grow worse, but it’s So who looks like he’s going to gag at the flattery, rolling his eyes as she flushes and squirms uncomfortably. She thinks she manages a smile at the praise, but she imagines it likely resembles a grimace more.

Jung takes advantage of any moment that his parents aren’t asking her questions to divert her focus to him. He’s animated and talkative, eager like a puppy for the smallest ounce of attention. He reminds her of Eun, if Eun didn’t spend every free moment he wasn’t playing video games in his apartment hounding her to go out on a date with him.

Baek Ah’s parents are kind, taking her at her word (or, rather, the nurse’s word that she hadn’t denied or corrected). Their lack of doubt in her causes the embarrassment she might’ve felt had she broken down and done the right thing once they’d entered their son’s room to snowball into a humongous ball of guilt. A wrecking ball of guilt that would eventually demolish everything in its path.

They’d already invited her to spend Christmas with them.

Christmas was a good two months away, and the thought of this perverted fantasy of hers unraveling actually makes her feel sad. They waste no time incorporating her in the family dynamic, and the fondness with which they do it makes her heart ache and swell simultaneously.  She already knew, without a doubt, that she’d miss this part of the mess she’d created just as much as pretending to be her dream man’s fiancée. Which is ridiculous, but the alternative was that her poor man would still be in a coma, and the very thought makes her want to crumble to the floor and weep.

But the oldest two brothers? Well, she’s pretty sure Wook doesn’t trust her as far as he could throw her, even if the gleam in his eyes made her imagine he’d probably like to throw her in some very deep, very treacherous water and be done with her.

And So? The guy with whose concern for his brother faded into a detached expression when he looked at her? The guy who also happened to be one of the prettiest males she’d ever seen? (Honestly, she’s a little jealous of his bone structure, and also would like nothing more than to get some makeup brushes and go to town on him.) The one who’d followed behind her so closely to the vending machines that she was afraid he’d step on her heels and then use the chance to stealthily murder her and dispose of her body before anyone even noticed she was missing? Soo was aware he’d been cataloguing her every movement, analyzing her every word, since he’d entered the hospital room. Whatever he'd observed made him dislike her. There was no way she was convincing him.

Not that there’s actually anything to convince him of, she reminds herself as she walks home that night, wondering if it’s possible to somehow change her name and start over with a new identity on another continent. Her English was rusty, but she felt there was at least a seventy-three percent chance she’d make it, providing she relocated to a big city. Because no matter how she looks at it, there’s no way she’s getting out of the hole she’s dug for herself without spilling the truth.

Good going, Soo. You’re officially the world’s biggest liar. What an accomplishment, Mom would be so proud.

Now, no matter when she fessed up, or whenever Baek Ah woke up and shattered the screwed up illusion she’d inadvertently created, she was going to devastate an entire family. But maybe devastate wasn’t the appropriate term, a little too dramatic—perhaps disappoint would be better and more suited to the circumstances. And it certainly felt worse.

She’d also ruin any chance she ever would have had with Baek Ah, who would promptly receive a restraining order against her once he woke up and realized he had a crazy lady pretending to be engaged to him, the fact she was his sort-of savior be damned.

And all of this, just for a measly thing called fate.

She’s unlocking her door, breathing a sigh of relief when Eun isn’t anywhere in sight to pounce on her, when she recalls Chae Ryung mocking her lame defense as to why she hadn’t just introduced herself. Because then it wouldn’t be fate.

She groans, not bothering to change as she throws herself down onto her bed, hoping she'll pass out from the sheer exhaustion of lying. Maybe (hopefully) she’d wake up to find out this had all been a bizarre dream.

It’s (unfortunately) not a bizarre dream.

“I don’t wanna say it,” Chae Ryung tells her the next morning, amusement clear even through the phone. “But you've left me with no other choice. It's my obligation, as your best friend. I told you so.”

“I don’t recall you ever telling me that I’d end up pretending to be engaged to a comatose man and conning his entire family,” Soo tries to joke, but fails, since she’s a few seconds away from emitting a scream that would burst the eardrums of everyone in a ten mile radius. And Chae Ryung’s included.

“Way to be a smart ass. No, what I told you was that if you’d just introduced yourself, like a normal person who's interested in someone, maybe you wouldn’t have found yourself in this mess. But look at the bright side, seems like you’re a natural born con-woman, Soo. How many ladies can say that?”

Soo hangs up on her.

He’d found where she lived and felt like a stalker.

More accurately, Soo had offered her address willingly—if not begrudgingly—to his parents after Baek Ah’s condition had been explained to them by the doctor. His mother had wanted to know all of Soo’s contact information, that way they’d know how to get in touch with her if something happened while she was at work or home.

All he’d done was steal the tiny post-it from his mother’s purse. He didn’t feel a lick of guilt about it, either, considering his mother had definitely had ulterior motives that included him. Like surprising Soo on a Friday night and dragging her to their house for their weekly family dinner and occasional game night. He had no doubt he or Wook would be the ones doing the honor of chauffeuring her.

But as he observes her apartment building, he does feel a smidge of guilt, spying on her like this. He’s praying he’ll catch her off guard and figure out what she’s hiding, but he does have the decency to feel a bit bad for hoping that. That small amount of guilt might not be nearly enough to stop him from snooping, but he feels it nonetheless.

He climbs the steps of her building two at a time, and finds her number on the third floor. His knuckles rap against her door, hard enough that the sound echoes down the empty hallway, and he finds himself pressing his ear against it when she doesn’t answer his continuous knocking after a good minute. No sounds of movement, no talking, no noise whatsoever behind it. She’s not home, and she wasn’t at the hospital, as far as he knew. It’s then he notices a teenager glaring at him from down the hall, and So finds himself about to jump out of his skin.

He’s glad he’d declined Wook’s rare offer to tag along with him, because he can’t remember a time where he’d been caught off guard by a random boy. How had he not heard the kid step out of his apartment?

You were here to catch Soo off guard. Not be frightened by an adolescent.

“Do you know a Soo? She lives here,” he clarifies dumbly, shoving his hands in his pockets to appear casual.

I think that ship sailed when you tried to glue your ear to her door.

“Know her? I’m dating her,” the boy answers haughtily, his chin tilted up. “I’m Eun. And who are you?”

“Not her brother-in-law, hopefully,” he replies under his breath, striding away as he hears the boy yell at him to stop and answer the question.

“Why don’t you surprise Soo and bring her over for dinner tonight?” his mother asks on cue that very afternoon, in that tone of voice that says he either complies or doesn't get fed.

“How about we all go to the hospital and stay by Baek Ah’s side?” He's willing to risk giving up a meal, wanting nothing more than to mention what he’d found out only hours earlier. “I mean isn’t that where she belongs. By his side?”

“I spent all day at the hospital, and I want to cook my future daughter-in-law a nice meal.” It’s his mother’s way of saying she wants to make up for what she felt was lost time with Soo.

Too bad her future daughter-in-law was a cheater. With a guy who was likely underage, at that.

But he’d do as his mother asked, and bring her to dinner. And he wouldn’t say one word about what he’d found out. He’d grill her and let her give herself away as the liar she was.

He’s definitely going to make sure Soo’s double life is exposed when she somehow ends up smacking him in the nose with her door when he picks her up. He supposed that was why you shouldn’t show up unannounced to a woman’s apartment and then proceed to peruse said apartment when she tells you to wait outside as she got ready. He hadn’t known that was her bedroom door she was changing behind that he’d opened.

“Oh my God! Are you okay? Is your nose broken? Oh God, you’re bleeding! I should take you to the hospital! I—I don’t have enough money to pay for plastic surgery if I ruined your nose.”

The last part had been a panicked whisper, which was a nice reprieve for his ears after the hysterical, horrified shrieking she’d done. Without a shirt on, at that. He had been in too much pain to ogle her even if he'd wanted to.

Then there’d been a furious pounding on her apartment door, the owner of the voice demanding to know what was going on being her boyfriend down the hall.

“Go away, Eun,” is what Soo predictably yells back as she frantically shrugs a blouse on before trying to pry the hand he has cupping his nose away from his face.

“I’m fine,” he tells her between clenched teeth. "Back off."

“Let me at least fetch a towel to mop up all the blood.”

As she’d walked to her bathroom, he could’ve sworn she’d murmured something about not bloodying a guy’s nose since high school.

Baek Ah had truly picked a winner.

And now Soo sat beside Jung and across from him and Wook at their parents’ dinner table, his mother paying attention to her every reaction as she eats.

“It’s delicious, Mrs. Wang,” Soo smiles, and at least So knows this isn’t a lie. His mother’s food was always delicious.

His mother beams at the unnecessary praise. She knew she was an excellent cook and took pride in it. “Well, thank you, Soo. And call me Mom, I insist.”

Soo seems speechless by that insistence, and no matter how delicious the food was, he was going to be sick.

“How’s that boyfriend of yours doing?” he asks suddenly, and he can feel Wook grinning slyly beside of him as everyone else squinted at him in baffled annoyance.

“Don’t joke like that, So,” his father admonishes. "You'll upset your mother."

“I’m not talking about Baek Ah. I’m talking about the guy who lives down the hall from her,” he smirks at Soo, who narrows her eyes. “I’m sure if Baek Ah had introduced you to the family sooner, you would have wasted no time pursuing Jung. He seems to be in the age group you’d be interested in.”

He chooses to ignore how Jung perks up from his slouched position in his chair at that.

“Who are you—Eun?” Soo breaks out into laughter, like the very idea is ludicrous. “That man-child? You think I’m dating him?”

“According to him, you are,” he states calmly, even if his parents are definitely glaring at him.

“According to Eun, he’s secretly a millionaire who creates video games instead of playing them all the time and being a compulsive liar,” she quips, and she actually has the gall to appear smug.

He’s pretty sure his mother would slap him upside the head had she not been there, too, so he supposed he’d let her win this round when Jung changes the subject to announce it's game night.

Soo wins that, too. (And he wasn't letting her, that time.)

The family visits the hospital that night for a brief visit and she tags along, guilt eating her up. Mr. Wang orders So to walk her home when she yawns exaggeratedly with a stretch and announces she should head home.

So attempts to make conversation as he walks her home, and she can’t determine if he’s still got it in his head that she’s two-timing his brother or if this is a truce of some type. He’d probably push her out of a moving vehicle if he knew the truth; two-timing his brother wasn't even possible. “I could’ve sworn you said you were also a makeup artist.” A corner of his lips is tipped up slightly, and she thinks it’s the beginning of an actual smile.

“No, I said I wanted to be one. As in ‘aspiring,’ which was the word I used. You know, like, it’s my goal.”

“I know what aspiring means, thanks,” he says dryly, and she can’t help but giggle. “I must’ve heard you wrong that night.”

“Well, that’s understandable. It was an eventful night. And I tend to ramble when nervous, so who knows how it might’ve slipped out of my mouth,” she jokes, bumping his elbow with hers. He does crack a grin then, and the burst of happiness she feels at such a simple accomplishment is crazy. “Now, thinking I’m dating Eun is the real unforgiveable assumption.”

“I wasn’t assuming!” He defends. “I was taking the kid at his word.”

“Then that's the unforgiveable act: taking Eun at his word,” she nudges him again, and he breathes out a chuckle. “The fact that you called him ‘kid’ is exactly why you shouldn’t have believed him. And what about you?” she asks abruptly, eager to deflect their conversation onto him.

“What about me?”

“What’s your job?”

“Oh, I work at my father’s business. Lots of boring number-crunching and stuff. Finances,” he specifies with a frown.

“You don’t look all that enthused about it,” she says, half regretting it once she does. This probably wasn’t a subject broached with someone you’d met only a handful of days before, even if they were under the impression they were eventually going to be related to you by marriage vows. He also didn’t seem to like her all that much—as a person or a prospective sister-in-law.

Something about that particular line of thought makes her cringe internally.

“Truth?” he asks, waiting for her nod to continue on, taking a deep breath. “I think saying I don’t enjoy it would be a very tame understatement. I hate it, really. Wook was supposed to be the one working with Dad, but he quickly bailed out to do his own thing. And my younger brothers…” he trails off, smiling softly. “Well, Baek Ah was only ever interested in painting, and Jung, well, I think that’s self-explanatory.”

She laughs because it is, and can’t contain the weird sense of admiration she feels for him. He clearly loved his brothers and father if he was willing to sacrifice his happiness as long as they had theirs, and was a rare, good person for it. She tells him so, and he looks a little taken aback by the compliment.

“You should tell your dad, though,” she encourages, even though he doesn’t look back down at her after masking his obvious shock. Had no one told him that before? “He loves you so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. It’s not fair that you’d suffer just because your brothers don't want to be a part of the family business. I've learned from my mom that life’s too short to spend it doing something your heart isn’t fully in.”

"How did your mom teach you that?" He asks, peering down at her with curiosity.

"She wanted to own a flower shop," she says softly, fixing her eyes on the stars twinkling in the sky. "But she kept putting it off and got sick before she ever did. She passed away a few years ago."

His expression turns empathetic. "I'm sorry. Your father?"

"Never met him," she laughs without humor. "But you know, it's been nice not feeling so alone, these past few days."

And if her voice happened to crack with emotion, neither of them mentions it. 

He likes Soo.

So likes how she humors Jung no matter what he's talking about, and puts up with all the taste-testing his mother puts her through. He likes how she listens to his father’s rants and makes Wook genuinely smile every now and then. He likes how she sometimes falls asleep by Baek Ah’s bedside. He likes how she makes him feel truly proud of himself somehow, for the first time.

He likes how she’ll sometimes laugh so hard she snorts, and how she always wears bright shades of eyeshadow that would look ridiculous to him on any other woman.

It’s scary how fast she manages to get under his skin and stay there. To worm her way into his life—his family’s life. But he likes how his family is when she’s around, and she fits perfectly in their little unit.

He shares that with her one night, outside of his brother’s hospital room, and he’s horrified at the tears that well up in her eyes.

“No, no, don’t feel bad,” she soothes when he starts apologizing. “It’s just, it’s nice feeling like someone’s daughter again, you know? Having a family.”

He recalls how she’d shared that she’d lost her only parent a couple of years earlier, and berates himself internally. He doesn't think twice about throwing an arm over her narrow shoulders, pulling her into his side. He comforts her as a brother would comfort a sister, his thumb tracing the delicate line of her collarbone, and he finds himself helplessly drawn to her, wanting to kiss away the sadness in her eyes and the frown on her lips, and…

Shit.

“This is a disaster,” Soo groans, wanting nothing more than to slam her head repeatedly against the glass counter she was behind. She’s sure that would scare away their customers, so she refrains for their sake.

“Of course it is. Lying tends to create disastrous consequences,” Chae Ryung replies, grinning at her.

It’s annoying. “I have feelings for him,” she admits, having to admit it out loud to someone.

“I know, I know, he’s perfect, your dream man, yada, yada, ya—“

“No, you don’t get it,” Soo interrupts. “I have feelings for his brother. Whatever I felt for Baek Ah was a fleeting, juvenile infatuation. An obsession. I knew nothing of substance about him. Less than nothing."

Chae Ryung has the decency to look appalled, gaping at her like a fish. “Not that I’m not happy that you finally realized  your feelings for a man whose name you didn’t even know were shallow,” her best friend eventually says, “but don’t you think you could have come to this conclusion without pretending to be engaged to him and falling for his brother while he’s in a coma?” Chae Ryung pauses, eyes growing wider. “And which brother are you referring to?!”

“So,” she replies, but Chae Ryung still looks puzzled. “The one whose nose I accidentally hit.”

“Of course it’s the one you injured,” her friend murmurs, shaking her head.

“It was an accident. And he opened the door while I was changing.”

“You hit the man in the face with a door while topless, and now you're falling for him.” A wicked grin settles on Chae Ryung’s lips. “How’s that for fate?”

“Have you told your father you’d like to leave the business?” she asks So that night as he's walking her home again. It's become a habit, only their pace seems to get slower every night, their strides shorter.

She wonders if he notices.

So sighs heavily, before shaking his head. “Nope. I’m not even sure what I’d like to do.”

“Well, figure it out,” she replies cheekily, grinning up at him. “Follow your heart.” They're walking so close, she's practically plastered to his side.

“If you insist.”

He’s leaning down now, and Soo can honestly say she’s never wanted to kiss anyone more. Did he feel the same as she did? How could he, when he thought she was engaged to his favorite brother? Did he know she’d been lying the entire time? Or, was he trying to somehow to prove she was some two-timing hussy, cheating on her comatose fiancé? Or—

“Soo, stop over-thinking this,” he orders, eyes fondly roaming over her features, leaning even closer, his warm breath caressing her lips as a smile curves his own. All she’d have to do is lean up on her tip-toes to press her lips against that smile.

“How do you know I’m over-thinking it?”

“By the expression on your face, and you're tugging on your sleeves,” he murmurs, like the answer is simple, the pads of his thumbs brushing over her knuckles as her fingers clench the fabric. “For the record, I think I’d let you do anything to me right now.”

The way he says it, so husky and suggestive makes her cheeks flame in the cool air, and well, she’d like to do anything to him right now. Specifically kiss him. But she can’t. So she ends up saying the first thing that comes to mind, after kissing, to break whatever spell they’re under.

“Would you let me give you a makeover?”

He doesn’t reel back like she expected, just blinks his eyes like he can't comprehend what she said. “What?”

“A makeover as in like, putting some makeup on you because you have fantastic bone-structure—which I’m sure you know—not as in, you need a makeover,” she rambles, pausing when she runs out of breath. He’s watching her in amusement, but he finally steps back. “Because you…don’t,” she concludes lamely, biting her lip to stifle any other nonsense that might make its way out of her mouth.

The intensity he’d been regarding her with fades into something more playful, but there’s a dimness in his eyes that gave away what he really felt. Rejection.  “Is that your way of saying you find me good looking?”

She wants to tangle her fingers in the fine hair at the nape of his neck and pull him down for the kiss they both wanted. She wants to tell him the truth about everything. She's exhausted, so tired of lying, but doesn't want to let go of him. His family. Not yet. “You got me,” is all she says instead, when she can find her voice. 

“You know, I’ve never actually been jealous of you. A little envious at how you had an obvious talent you got to pursue, sure, but never truly jealous. And now…” So stares at his brother’s serene face, feeling a stab of guilt. “Now I’m jealous of you and you can’t even defend yourself. Wake up already.”

Of all people to surprise her at work, it’s Jung. He’s alone, the bell above the door chiming when he saunters in and right up to where she is.

“It smells really girly in here,” is his greeting, and she has to laugh. “And everything is pink.”

“Imagine that,” Chae Ryung drawls as Soo asks Jung why he’s here. Her heart's in her throat, wondering if Baek Ah had woken up. “And not everything.”

“No reason,” he shrugs with a smile, and the tension and panic drain from her. “Wanted to see where you worked. Soo’s marrying my brother,” he tells Chae Ryung, who feigns ignorance.

“How could you not tell me, Soo? Are you pregnant?” her best friend accuses with a teasing grin.

“Yes, of course I am,” she replies sarcastically, turning back to Jung, who…is gone.

“Maybe all the pink scared him away.”

Jung rushes in, panting. “Soo…is…pregnant!”

So had always heard about your heart dropping into your stomach, but had never quite understood how that sensation must feel. He imagined it was what one felt when they were dropping from some insurmountable height to the ground. How one would feel when they went on a rollercoaster.

Now, he truly understood what that expression meant, everything inside of him, every fiber of his being wanting to reject those words. Pregnant. How could Soo be pregnant with Baek Ah's child and…and, what?

Make him fall in love with her? She hadn’t made him do anything. He’d done that all on his own. Sure there had been that almost-kiss. But what was an almost-kiss? Nothing, that’s what.

Jung must have misheard. Of course Soo wouldn't drink if she were pregnant. He should have known better.

“What are you trying so say?” she asks, and her voice is suddenly brittle. She looks seconds away from being broken by his answer, her eyes glimmering wetly in the moonlight.

He wants to turn back, from the conversation, from her. Turn back time and tell himself that he'd be crazy to fall in love with the only girl utterly unavailable to him. To fall for any woman in the span of a couple of weeks. Like that would’ve helped. He’s positive he could have met Soo any time, any place, and would have found some way to fall for her. It was impossible to spend a few good hours in her presence and not fall for her.

For the first time, he feels sympathy for Baek Ah rather than the immeasurable jealousy he’d been wallowing in.

“Huh? Are you gonna say it?” Soo is challenging him even though her voice is cracking and she’s already so hurt by whatever conclusion she’s come to in her head. “Say that there would be no way your brother would ask me to marry him unless he knocked me up?”

That wasn’t what he’d been thinking at all, but the words start flowing out. “Like I said the first time I saw you, you’re not Baek Ah’s usual type,” he confirms. “Sure, he likes girls who are pretty and sweet, but he likes them with a little mystery. You know, those types who look like damsels in distress but have a mysterious aura,” the explanation sounds ridiculous to his own ears, but the way Soo’s face falls is what really makes him pause, taking a deep breath, his hands on his hips. “Listen, I’m not explaining this very well, but Baek Ah generally likes a challenge, and it’s not like any of this even matters, since you are engaged to him.”

She stays silent for only a few furious beats of his heart, but it manages to feel like an eternity to him. Her typically guileless face is a blank slate. The only thing that gives her away is her small fingers tugging on the sleeves of her cardigan.

“You know, I was going to yell at you for implying I’m easy, but you’re absolutely right and I’d just like to go to bed. Goodnight.”

He watches her climb her apartment steps, and he foolishly hopes she might turn around, see him watching her, and go back to him. Maybe they could just talk a few hours. Maybe he could convince her that he was better for her than Baek Ah.

Ask her if Baek Ah really knew her like he did. If his brother knew how she got easily flustered. If he knew how easily her temper was riled, how fiercely and passionately she cared about others following their heart. If he knew how much she longed for love, if he knew how her dream was to be a makeup artist. If he knew how she rambled on when nervous, how she tugged on her sleeves when she felt worried or was holding something back.

He never wanted her to hold anything back from him, but he didn’t have that privilege in her life. He was just a friend she’d known for less than a month, just one of the men who would be her future brother-in-law.

Perhaps what grated on him most was that he didn’t even have the right to tell her he did notice all of those things, and was enamored by every single one.

Chapter Text

Soo manages to unlock her door when Eun sidles up to her, seeming to materialize out of thin air.

She doesn’t bother swallowing down her groan of annoyance to spare his feelings, upset enough from the events of the night that she’s beyond playing nice and humoring him.

“What do you want, Eun? I’m tired and want to go to bed.” She lets her head fall forward against the door, the thump punctuating the end of her sentence. She’d become proficient at lying ages ago when avoiding the unwanted attention of her neighbor, had become a master of lying the past couple of weeks, but this isn’t a lie. She wanted nothing more than to lie in her bed, music in her ears drowning out the world around her as she tried to ignore the charade she’d let her life become.

She already knew that plan would fail—apparently Eun was merely speeding up that outcome.

“Why are you sulking? Is it over that guy? I knew he’d end up disappointing you, and I—“

“Eun,” she interrupts, twisting towards him and straightening up to look him in the eye as she holds a finger up. His eyes flicker over it warily, which nearly makes her crack a smile. “One, I’m not sulking.” Totally a lie, she was, but as far as she was concerned, that wasn’t any of his business. “Two, that guy makes me happier than you ever could, even when he’s implying his brother would never date me. So, I’d really appreciate if you got the message and left me alone.” The way his face falls, smug grin sliding right off as if she’d delivered a devastating blow does make her feel a pang of guilt. She sighs, blowing her bangs up and avoiding watching his reaction as she attempts to explain herself. “Listen, it’s nothing personal, okay? And I’ve been in your shoes, trust me. You think you like me, but believe me, you don’t really know me. You’re just desperate for attention and I’m here, and available, and you like the idea of me—“

“Okay, okay, geez, I don’t need you nagging me.” It’s the first time she’s ever witnessed Eun backing away from her, appearing as if he’s standing down from a showdown of some sort, his hands raised up in surrender. “If I wanted that, I’d call up my mother.”

She does crack a smile at that, and his hands fall limply to his side.

“And I will admit…” he pauses, his expression strained. “That guy does seem to make you really happy.”

“Really, what gave it away?”

“The way you look at him. Like, I don’t know, there’s a midnight release of the most anticipated game and you’re first in line to get a copy.”

The laugh that bubbles out of her chest is too shrill for her liking. It’s such an Eun-way to describe falling for someone, but she thinks it’s somehow pretty damn fitting. “That’s, uh, beautiful Eun. Now, goodnight.”

His mother calls him the morning after a restless night, her joyous, ecstatic screeching nearly bursting his eardrums. “He’s awake! Your brother is awake! Get to the hospital!”

He’s equally thrilled that Baek Ah is awake and coherent, that he’s okay, yet…

The nauseating mixture of disappointment and guilt he feels knowing the night before could potentially be the last time he and Soo speak alone causes bile to sear his throat. He lets cool water run over his pale face, eyes roaming his reflection in the mirror, wondering if Baek Ah will be able to take one look at his face and detect the shame and self-loathing there. He was the older brother, the one who was supposed to protect and be there for Baek Ah—hell, he had always been more of a friend than a brother after they’d gotten older. And he’d betrayed Baek Ah by taking advantage of his distraught fiancée and falling for her.

But he must be a masochist, because instead of rushing to the hospital, he rushes to call his mother back and offers to accompany Soo to the hospital. It’s the last thing he should be doing, she likely doesn’t want to be alone in his presence for any extended amount of time after the night before, but he’s desperately grasping for a valid excuse to speak with her one more time.

He stands outside her building waiting, the time lapsing longer than she’d made him wait in the days before. Her expression is somber when she finally comes down, her fingers fiddling with her sleeves. He’d like to reach out and attempt to calm her nerves, grab those fingers in his and assure he that he’d never intended to hurt her and everything would be fine, but instead he motions for her to walk beside of him. She follows his lead without making a sound and making sure to maintain a respectable distance between them. She’d foregone makeup today, faint dark circles that mirror his own under her eyes.

And even now she’s still so pretty his heart aches.

She’s never been so nervous in her entire life. Worst, she feels more unsettled over walking next to the guy beside her than when she’d answered her phone an hour ago. It has almost slipped from her fingers at the news of Baek Ah being awake, but her heart had skipped a beat when Mrs. Wang told her So was coming to get her.

It’d been on the tip of Soo’s tongue to tell her to call him back. That she’d walk there alone. But she couldn’t voice the refusal.

Because no matter how he seemed to make every one of her nerve endings alert to his presence and bounce around with anxious energy, she’d wanted this time alone with him. The last time, she thinks, hyperaware of his arm brushing against hers.

“I’ve never seen you without makeup,” he says out of the blue, and she reaches up to touch her face involuntarily, as if shielding herself from his gaze. But his eyes are trained ahead, not even sparing a glance down at her, and she hates how dejected that makes her feel.

“Yeah, I’m pretty religious about wearing it. Not because I have self-esteem issues—I got over those in university—but, you know, it’s fun. I mean, of course you don’t know since you don’t wear makeup, but, guys seem to think we wear it to cover flaws or to look good for them, when mostly we wear it for our—”

A warm palm settles over her lips, muffling her rambling.

“Nervous?” he asks with a small smile, eyes fixed on her now, moving his hand away after a few seconds pass. Though not completely, because his thumb is sweeping over her cheekbone tenderly—the lightest of touches, but her skin tingles and warms at the contact. She should’ve ripped his hand away immediately, should order him not to touch her, but she’d frozen the second his skin touched hers. “You have a beauty mark, here.” The pad of his thumb presses down softly. “It’s usually covered up.”

Oh, that mole on her cheek. Her mother had also referred to it as a beauty mark. She recalls a boy in grade school teasing her about it looking like a gnat had landed on her cheek. The insult had been terribly childish, but she’d held herself back from slapping him. She had told her mother about the incident, who in return had said it was beautiful. “There’s beauty in what others think are imperfections,” is what her mother had lovingly said. The memory makes her want to weep.

It’s not like she intentionally covers it—that was simply what makeup did and she tells him so.

“Don’t hide it anymore.”

Soo would like to step on his toes for ordering her to do anything, but something about how soft his tone is as he says the words is a stark reminder. A reminder of how everything’s about to change. He’ll never use that tone with her again, like she’s someone special to him. Like she's so precious that he's not able to fathom her keeping any detail, any facet of herself, from him. She’d be lucky to see his face again after she did the right thing and fessed up. Her throat clogs up. “Hey, uh,” she stumbles, voice hoarse, clearing her throat. She’s unable to look at him without tearing up, so she fixes her eyes on her shoes, pulling at her sleeves. “No matter what happens today, I want you to know I really care about you.” Truth. “You’ve become an invaluable friend, and I wouldn’t trade your friendship for the world.” Semi-truth. She could think of at least one thing she’d trade his friendship for. She imagined after tonight, their friendship would be traded for a piece of paper ordering her to always stay at least a small island’s distance away from his person.

She convinces So to go in first, begging off with the excuse that Baek Ah should see his brother before her, and someone’s hand tugs her away and in the direction of the elevators before she’s able to enter the hospital room a while later. Under normal circumstances she would attempt a struggle, but she really doesn’t want to enter that room ever again, so she allows herself to be manhandled up to the elevator doors.

She would like to be shocked by the person who presses the button and waits patiently beside her, the tight grip on her wrist betraying his solemn features. Because if anyone was to expose her as the liar she was, it’d be him.

If they weren’t in a very public place, the probability would be very high that he pulled her away so he could murder her—especially if he’d realized her farce. And he knew, she could just tell. Worst, she wouldn’t have fought him if he was about to murder her for lying to his entire family and taking advantage of his defenseless, comatose brother.

She was a psycho and she had no doubt he’d relish her removal from his family that she’d never belonged in.

Wook waits until the elevator doors close to release her manacled wrist, and it’s just her luck that they’re all alone in this enclosed space. He had at least a good minute to either threaten or strangle her. “Would you stop looking utterly terrified? I’m not going to hurt you.” He shakes his head, like he finds her reaction to him so silly.

“You did drag me away,” she points out a bit defiantly, lifting her arm up. “Forcibly, might I add. I think fear is an appropriate reaction.”

He brushes her off with a mumbled, half-hearted apology, unwilling to be deterred. “I know you’ve been lying—that you fabricated your entire history with my little brother.” He takes advantage of her stunned silence to barrel on with a slight smirk. “My brother is private, but he’s never hidden a girlfriend away. If he were going to secretly propose, he’d have gone the romantic route and eloped. I haven’t known you for long, but I’ve had plenty of time to determine what kind of person you are—your character. And you know what I realized? You’re not the type of girl who wouldn’t know your fiancé’s birthday or a mundane detail like his favorite color. You’re that type who would obsessively trace over his handwriting if he wrote you a note. No matter what, I couldn’t ignore the fact that you didn’t know anything about Baek Ah. Then I started to notice how So kept offering to walk you home…”

Her heart thumps wildly in her chest.

“And as much as I couldn’t stand you at first, I don’t want to expose you as a liar. I don’t want my family hurt by the truth any more than I think you do. But,” he pauses, eyeing her speculatively, “I’m also not willing to see you hurt my brother over a lie.” She doesn’t have to ask Wook to clarify which brother he’s referring to, and they’re both aware of it. “Here’s my deal: you tell So the truth and you deal with the consequences, or I confess all of the lies you’ve told my family before you have a chance to explain yourself.”

“Could I have one more day?” she finds herself asking, not able to fathom facing So or his family tonight.

“One more day,” he concedes.

She almost expects him to hold out his hand to shake in agreement. He doesn’t.

“That’s insane. You have to tell that family the truth,” Chae Ryuing advises her the next day. “If he were the one to do it, you might not have a chance at salvaging a—“

“I know,” Soo interjects. “I don’t know how to broach the topic, that’s all. ‘Hey, Baek Ah? Remember me? Of course you don’t. Only, I’ve been pretending to be your fiancée. Also, I sort-of fell in love with one of your brothers while you were in a coma. Oops, silly me. You want a restraining order? I understand completely.’ I’d almost prefer Wook telling them.”

Wook was the only person in the family that she’d not upset with the truth. Because even if he’d given her an out, she somehow felt it was more of a disguised trap. There was no way she’d be forgiven, least of all by So.

 She’s never seen Chae Ryung appear genuinely concerned, but it’s swiftly masked it with a lighthearted nudge to Soo’s side as her friend reverts to her usual self. “Yeah, I’m not sure that would go over well. Maybe be a more delicate. Hey, maybe all that’s needed is some alcohol. Get smashed, then you’ll have some liquid courage. Problem solved.”

What she needed was a time machine to undo all of this.

The doctor believes Baek Ah has transient global amnesia. Baek Ah believes he has transient global amnesia. His memory will likely return soon, his doctor has assured the family.

It would be simple to break this off cleanly and without admitting to her lies, Soo muses.

There had been a time that she believed she couldn’t be in his presence because he was too overwhelming to her senses—surely she’d wither away under his perfection. But then he’d been drowning, and then he’d been in a coma, and then she’d gone and fallen in love with one of his brothers as she pretended to be his fiancée. She hadn’t had a chance to wither away under his anything.

But now, as he regards her with a kind, open smile, she feels woozy with guilt. He’s friendly and charming, and it wasn’t supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be snooty and unlikeable, so then it’d be easy to walk away. Easy to walk away from him, at least. Walking away from his family and So would be the equivalent of reaching inside her chest and handing them her heart.

“I’ve heard we’re engaged,” and who would’ve guessed his voice was as melodic as she’d once imagined. “You do seem familiar, somehow.”

If she opens her mouth, she’s going to end up blowing everything.

“I’m sorry I can’t remember you,” he apologizes sincerely as she sits down, and he wastes no time grabbing her hand. “I wish I could. Everything my family has told me, I have no doubt I was head over heels for you.”

“Don’t apologize,” she blurts out, shutting her eyes tight when his expression turns from remorseful to puzzled. “Please don’t.”

He gently squeezes her hand once, as if to comfort her, before releasing it. “You know who told me the most about you?”

Her immediate thought is Wook must have told him, but then he says the name she wanted to hear the most—the name she wanted to not hear at all.

“So. He told me so much about you, you’d think you both had been best friends for years. I asked him that actually—if he had been the one who introduced us.”

“I love him,” she bursts out. “I made up this entire fantasy of me and you being together, because I helped rescue you that day, and I had this obsessive, insane crush on you, but I fell for him.”

“He loves you, too.”

“I know I’m an awful person, and I totally understand if—wait, what?”

“He loves you, too,” Baek Ah says with a smile. “I’ve never seen him describe a woman like he described you. His face, well, it wasn’t hard to see he was in love with you. I’m flattered you had a crush on me, and I’m glad that crush was likely why you helped rescue me. No hard feelings.”

“You’re…crazy,” she breathes.

He chuckles. “Maybe. Or maybe I like knowing my brother is going to be happy. He hasn’t had a lot of that, you know? We can even keep the lie a secret, if you’d like.”

“No, that’s not an option,” she refuses emphatically, shaking her head. “He deserves to know.”

“I’ll tell him then,” Baek Ah offers, his kindness shattering her already broken heart. “He told me he wants to stop working with our father and travel. Travel, Soo. If you knew my brother, you’d know how shocking the notion of him quitting work and travelling is.”

 “I’m not sure what to say,” she confesses, pressing her lips together so she won’t let a sob break through. “I don’t deserve his love.”

“Don’t you think he should be the one to decide that?”

She’s stunned to see him, he knows she is. Any rage and betrayal he felt when Baek Ah had confessed a week ago to him that Soo made up their entire relationship melts away at the sight of her. And maybe that’s why he stalks right up to her, ignoring her flinch even though it makes him want to yell out that he’d never hurt her, and presses his lips to hers. The kisses are brief and tender, doesn’t build into anything passionate before he pulls back, but the force of the emotion he feels is like a punch to his gut.

“Y-you kissed me.” He thinks she means for it to be an accusation of sorts, but her voice has taken on a dazed, dreamy quality.

“I did,” he confirms. “And you kissed me back. I’d like to do it again. But first, there’s something else I’d like you to do for me.”

“Hmm?” Her fingertips trace the line of his jaw as she licks her lips, and he wants to lean down to brush his lips against hers again, already addicted. But he won’t allow himself to be distracted.

“Say you’ll marry me.”

That seems to snap her from whatever daze she’d been in, and her frame stiffens, hands falling to her side as she takes two steps away from him. He forces himself to keep his feet in place, to not crowd her space. “Why would you ever ask that? Are you crazy?”

“Because I love you, and it’s what I want.” It’s a simple answer, but it’s the only one that makes sense. “It’s what you want, too.”

“Y-you,” she stammers, eyes filling with tears. “You should be making me suffer after everything I did! It doesn’t matter what I want!”

“I think we’ve made each other suffer enough, don’t you think?” He keeps his tone light though he's never been more serious, but he’s afraid she’ll look more horrified by the notion of his forgiveness and love than she already does. "The past week has been torture."

“I lied to you. I lied to your entire family. You should think I’m clinically insane and never willingly be within the same country as I’m in. Don’t make this easy for me,” she pleads, begs, her fingers clutching her sleeves as if it’s a lifeline. “Don’t you hate me?” she asks in a small voice. “You should hate me.”

He can only shake his head, not knowing how to reply. “You silly woman,” he reaches out, pulling her tense body into his arms. “I couldn’t hate you even if I wanted to. You could walk away from me right now, and I’d have a hard time hating you. Are you going to marry me, or not?” Her body remains stiff in his arms, even as her flowery scent he’d missed calms him as he presses his nose to the crown of her head. “Plus, it’d be extremely difficult to avoid living in the same country, and I’d rather not move. Unless it’s moving in with you, if you’re offering?”

She softens in his embrace, arms now squeezing him tight, and he thinks he has his answer.

“Wait,” she pauses, narrowing her eyes in thought. “What’s your favorite color?”

The sudden question is odd but so her. “Why?”

“Because, I can’t marry you if I don’t know your favorite color.”

“Ah, so that’s the deal-breaker? Today,” he notices her theme is a pink shade she wears more often than any other shade or color. “It’s pink. A light pink, if you want me to be specific. I don’t know the name, but you wear it at least four days out of the week.” Her brown eyes grow wide, and he wants to kiss her lips, smear the lipstick he’d watched her reapply meticulously after they’d eaten lunch. “I’m willing to bet money on it being your favorite color, too.”

The look she’s giving him is so incredibly suspicious that his lips twitch in amusement. She sighs, resigned. “Good guess. I didn't know you paid that much attention.”

Her cheeks are pink now, too, but the skin is warm under his thumbs, so he doubts the flush is from anything she applied. She purses her lips and he can’t resist dipping his head down for a kiss.

“Are you sure your family is okay with me coming to dinner tonight?” she asks for the fifth time that day.

“I thought I’d kissed away all your worries,” he sighs dramatically, slinging an arm over her shoulders as she rolls her eyes. But she doesn’t push him away or resist how he squeezes her closer.

“All you kissed away was my lipstick. I’m being serious!”

“So am I,” he defends, dipping his head down to sneak in another quick kiss. “I can try harder, if you’d like. I’m willing to sacrifice my lips for the cause.”

“How noble of you,” she says dryly, and he knows she’s biting the inside of her jaw to keep a straight face.

“What can I say? I’m a regular Prince Charming.”

Her lips twitch at the joke before she pulls him down for a kiss that leaves him a little breathless when she pulls away. “Well, I don’t know about Prince Charming. But you’re definitely my prince.”

Everyone is silent when they enter the home, and for a second, Soo’s earlier panic returns in full-force. She’s about to make her exit when Jung’s voice rings out.

“I just want to know why I wasn’t the first choice after Baek Ah.”

When Mr. Wang breaks out into hearty laughter after Wook smacks the back of Jung’s head and proclaims him to be an idiot, Mrs. Wang and Baek Ah joining in as So smiles down at her, she knows everything is going to be okay.

Like the ring on her finger, she belongs.