Chapter Text
previously on Beomkai Roomates...
Beomgyu tilts his head in confusion. “Dad, what’s going on?”
“Her father and I were talking about expanding our businesses together and we’ve come to the decision to bridge this connection with our children.”
Beomgyu’s mouth drops in shock. “So what you’re trying to say is…”
“You and Hyejoo will be getting married to each other.”
and the story continues...
“WHAT?!” Beomgyu looks at his father in disbelief. “You can’t just do this to me!”
“What do you mean? It’s pretty normal in businesses for their children to marry together.” Beomgyu’s dad gives him a blank stare before continuing. “Plus, it’s not like you’re dating anyone at the moment, or is there something you’re not telling me?”
Beomgyu gulps visibly. He can’t say anything. He promised Kai he wouldn’t tell anyone about their relationship yet.
“I refuse to be a part of this.”
Beomgyu was about to head back when he suddenly feels a hand grip his arm.
“You will be a part of this whether you like it or not. I’m doing this for your own good.” His father spits out menacingly before letting go of his arm.
Hyejoo looks at him with sympathy. She feels extremely awkward being an audience to this father and son conflict.
“You will be partners for the activities by the way. So, at least try to get to know each other.” He tells the both of them before leaving with his bodyguard.
The air is thick with tension between Beomgyu and Hyejoo as they stand together in silence.
Beomgyu cannot believe this at all. He can’t just marry someone else, a stranger at that. He’s with Kai and as corny as it sounds, he can’t see himself marrying anyone else other than him.
“Well, at least you handled that better than I did.” Hyejoo breaks the silence, an amused smile forming on her face.
Beomgyu raises his eyebrow at her.
“Ah, I mean, in my case I threw a tantrum back at home. I think I broke about 3 vases, the coffee table and half of a window. Plus, I also threatened to run away.”
Beomgyu realizes this girl was not to be messed with.
He laughs at that for a split second before reverting back to his depressed state. He sits down on the ground, his back hitting the wall.
“Look, I know how horrible it sounds right now, but at least try to consider it. I know you don’t want to marry me and I feel the same way but…we really don’t have a choice.”
Hyejoo sighs, sitting down along with Beomgyu. “I’m scared of going against my father.”
Beomgyu snorts. At least they have something in common.
“But you threw a rampage at home?”
“Yeah, well look how that ended up. I got sent to this stupid camp to suffer with a bunch of strangers instead of waiting back home for a ‘formal’ meeting with you.”
Beomgyu buries his head in his hands. “It’s just…I’m already in a relationship.”
“Me too. Or at least I hope I still do.”
“What do you mean?”
“She uh… didn’t take the news so well. I got sent away here before I could patch things up with her.”
Beomgyu’s heart races. Now, he was seriously doubting about telling Kai.
“What’s the plan then?” Beomgyu looks over at Hyejoo. She looks down sadly before shrugging.
“I have no idea.”
Beomgyu walks back to his seat in silence. He was not expecting an arranged marriage at all.
He’s still appalled that his father wants him to marry someone just for the purposes of business. Does he think his son is like cattle? What kind of father would do that?
Beomgyu sits down, feeling defeated. Without hesitation, Kai grabs his hand and starts rubbing circles on his palm. He meets Kai’s eyes and immediately feels a surge of warmth and relief.
It’s going to be alright. As long as he has Kai, he can think of a solution to this. He’ll always have hope.
Kai leans to whisper to him. “Are you okay? You seem a bit spooked.”
Beomgyu intertwines their hands together secretly.
“I’m alright. Dad just gave me some reminders.” He lies, still thinking of a way to tell the other boy about the news properly. “Also, I uh may have to partner up with someone else at the activities though.”
Kai blinks, unfazed. “Ah that’s fine. I don’t like being teammates with you anyways, you tend to get a little too competitive.” He laughs heartily.
Beomgyu sighs in relief. “Yah! You know you didn’t have to say all that. You really had to expose me like that?”
Kai presses a soft kiss to his fingers. “I don’t mind you being too competitive. In fact, I think it’s quite attractive.”
Beomgyu flushes a deep red, stunned at Kai’s sudden confidence.
“So, what did I miss?” He changes the subject.
“Ah, they said they’re giving us some free time tomorrow after the activities. Apparently, we’re free to do whatever we want after 4 pm.”
Beomgyu grins widely. “Guess we have time to do our plans after all.”
They were split into different groups based on the company they worked with. The people that each worker brought with could also be given the chance to join. Since Beomgyu had Hyejoo as his partner for the activities, Kai had a different partner himself.
“Hello, I’m Lucas! I saw that you didn’t have a partner and was wondering if you would like to partner with me.” He apologetically asks, before motioning to his pregnant wife on the bench.
“My wife is pregnant and it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to get stressed from today’s activities.”
Kai nods in understanding. “I’d love to sir! I’m Kai. Nice to meet you.”
They shake hands and head towards the woods, getting ready for their first activity which was a knot untying activity. Kai spots Beomgyu from afar talking with a girl. For some reason, he gets a bad feeling from seeing them.
He quickly jogs up to Beomgyu and rubs his belly to alert him of his presence.
Beomgyu’s face light up upon seeing Kai. “Baby! How are you? You have a partner now, right?” He asks.
Kai nods, motioning to Lucas tending to his wife. “Yeah, how about you?”
“Oh right! Um, Kai, this is Hyejoo.” Beomgyu awkwardly steps aside for the two of them to meet close. “She’s uh from my father’s friend’s company. And Hyejoo, this is Kai, my boyfriend.”
“Nice to meet you, Hyejoo!” Kai beams at her.
“Um yeah, nice to meet you too.” She awkwardly replies, glancing nervously at Beomgyu.
“I hope you’re ready to be partners with this hothead over here.” He leans closer to whisper to Hyejoo. “It’s totally alright if you give him a smack on the head if he gets too much, I’ll allow it.”
She giggles. “Okay, I promise.”
Kai wanted to chat with her more but unfortunately, one of the camp leaders who will be watching over the activity arrived. He starts guiding the pairs to their proper stations as well as giving out the instructions for the game. Lucas calls Kai’s attention from afar.
“Guess I have to go now. I’ll talk to you guys later?”
“Yeah, totally. Goodluck!” Hyejoo replies.
Kai leaves the two of them alone making Hyejoo sigh in relief.
“What’s wrong? Did you not like Kai?”
“It’s not that. It’s just never not awkward to meet the boyfriend of your ‘to be’groom. When are you planning on telling him?”
Beomgyu turns away from her.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to break his heart.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to tell him soon. For his sake.” Hyejoo pats his back comfortingly. “Now, let’s go do this dumb knot activity to get it over with.”
She glares at the massive clump of knot in their table. Slowly, she starts fiddling in the middle to loosen it up. Beomgyu is in awe seeing their knot unfold easily.
“Shit, how are you so good at this?”
Hyejoo smirks, flipping her hair jokingly. “I’m good at everything.”
They laugh and start working on their knot together. From afar, Kai eyes them suspiciously. He works on Lucas and his’ knot but it doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. It seems like their lump of rope just kept on getting tighter and tighter every time he touches it.
“Kai, are you okay? Your mind seems to be somewhere else.”
He tears his eyes away from Beomgyu and Hyejoo in a not so obvious way.
“Uh yeah! Just focusing on untangling this stupid knot.”
“Are you sure? I caught you looking at Beomgyu and that girl. Do you know them?”
Kai nods. ‘He’s my boyfriend.’
“He’s my roommate.”
Lucas switches to a hushed tone. “You know, I prefer not to listen to gossip but…apparently those two are the children of two powerful CEOs.”
That catches Kai’s attention.
“Wait. Hyejoo isn’t just a worker from some other company?”
“I’m not exactly sure what her job is but from what I heard, she’s the daughter of a CEO from another big corporation.”
Kai was visibly surprised. Is there a reason why Beomgyu hadn’t told him that? He looks over to them again. The two partners were currently laughing hard, the knots draped over them and entangling them together. Beomgyu seems to be enjoying her company a lot.
He knows he shouldn’t be worried but something about this just didn’t sit right with him.
“Why do you think they’re partners?”
Lucas stands still for a moment, deep in thought.
“Don’t quote me on this but rumors are spreading that they’re being set-up.”
“Being set-up?!”
“Yeah, those two are getting set-up together for marriage probably.”
Kai’s heart stops. Marriage? Between Beomgyu and Hyejoo? There’s no way this is true. Beomgyu would never do that to him. He closes his eyes, touching his head feeling like its spinning.
“A—are you sure? ‘Coz Beomgyu is definitely already taken.”
“Ah really? Oh well, these are all just rumors anyways. It’s probably nothing, then.” Lucas shrugs.
Kai feels like he’s been holding his breath since forever. He tries his best to convince himself that this is just dumb office gossip. His mind is screaming to trust Beomgyu but some little part of him is saying otherwise.
He glances at the ropes in front of him. Somehow, his mind ended up being the messed up one. How ironic.
“You take the left and I’ll take the right.” Beomgyu advises, taking light steps to the right. They were currently doing a nerf war activity and was one of the few pairs remaining in the game.
They continue stalking this pair they found and had followed deep into the forest. Beomgyu sits behind a tree to call their attention and bait them. The two fortunately take the bait and turn their backs to check on the noise.
Hyejoo quietly comes out from the other side and shoots one of them square in the back, holding up her nerf gun menacingly. Once the remaining one in the pair take off running, Beomgyu aims at him and shoots with his own nerf balls hitting the target on his back.
“Good job!” They re-group and high-five each other.
“Man, I still can’t wrap my head around how good you are at this.”
Hyejoo shrugs. “Playing a lot of FPS games definitely helps.”
“Yo that’s sick! We definitely need to play together online one of these days.”
“Sure, but not before you tell Kai about the truth.”
Beomgyu stops in his tracks, sighing. Throughout the day, Hyejoo has been pressuring him to tell Kai about their current situation. Beomgyu, of course, wouldn’t listen. He moves closer to Hyejoo, now speaking in a hushed tone.
“Why do you keep pushing me like this?”
“You know you can’t just ignore it. You’re gonna have to tell him the truth sooner or later.”
“I know! It’s just hearing you say that your girlfriend didn’t take it so well is making me nervous.”
Hyejoo straightens up her gun and points it at Beomgyu jokingly. “Yeah, that’s true that she didn’t take it so well. Who in the world would take a news like that lightly? Kai seems like a nice person. I just hope he’s going to be hearing the news directly from you.”
“What do you mean? Where else would he get it from?”
“Who knows? Rumors spread fast. Especially with how office workers usually are. I just hope that you will be the one to clear things up with him.”
“Fine, jeez! I’m gonna plan a time to talk to him soon. Now, can we talk about something else now?” Beomgyu pouts, kicking a branch on the ground. “How about you tell me about your girlfriend?”
“Hmph. I hope I can still call her than when I get back home.” Hyejoo smiles bitterly. “Her name is Chaewon. She’s a bit shorter than me, blonde hair, beautiful and is also the funniest person I have ever met.”
Beomgyu smiles at that. “How long have you known her?”
“We were both childhood friends. She’s been with me through thick and thin. She was there for me when nobody was. She even helped me figure out my sexuality, and when I found out she feels the same way as me, it was like finding out you won the freaking lottery.”
“You seem like you really love her.”
“I do, which is why I want to make it up to her immediately when I get back home.”
She grabs a branch and hits Beomgyu with it.
“Ouch! What the hell was that for?”
Hyejoo laughs at him. “Nothing, the air was just getting too…mushy. Needed to change it up a bit.”
“Oh yeah? Well about we play a game then?” He motions to his gun. “First one to get hit by the nerfball has to do an embarrassing dare later.”
Hyejoo smirks at him, shaking his hand.
“Deal.”
The both quickly take off running in opposite directions, giggling to themselves. Unbeknownst to them, Kai was watching them from far away the whole time. He couldn’t help but investigate why the two was in very close proximity together. He even overheard a tiny part of their conversation.
‘Beomgyu-hyung is gonna tell me the truth soon? What does he mean by that?’
As the day’s activities went on, Kai just can’t help but keep on noticing how close the Beomgyu and Hyejoo seemed to be. Those two are seemingly always never apart and whispering to each other. Kai knows he can’t let rumors ruin his perception but when it’s obvious in front of him, he can’t help but get suspicious.
When it finally hit nighttime, the pairs in each company formed groups of their own to make their own camping fire. Of course, Kai and Lucas grouped with Beomgyu and Hyejoo. The four huddles up together around the fire, clutching their flasks of hot drinks.
Suddenly, Lucas stands up and grabs his bag. “Kids, I’m gonna go check up on my wife. I’ll be back much later.” They all nod and settle back comfortably.
The night air passes through them, chilling them with its icy breeze. Kai moves closer to Beomgyu and grabs his hand, intertwining them under the blanket.
“You cold, baby?”
Kai blushes. He nods and grips Beomgyu’s hand tighter. He trusts his boyfriend. He does. He promises he won’t let any dumb rumors ruin their relationship.
“So, how was the games today? I was shocked seeing you too doing so well.”
“That’s because your boyfriend was playing, baby. I told you how good I am.”
Hyejoo snorts. “As if. I basically carried all the games on my back.”
All three of them laugh at that.
“Yeah fine, I’m not even gonna deny that. Believe it or not but Hyejoo was better than me at everything. Can you believe that? Someone better than your boyfriend?”
Kai giggles, sipping his coffee. “Oh I absolutely do.”
“You’re both such meanies.” Beomgyu pouts cutely.
Hyejoo snickers at that. She tends to their campfire, pushing the logs around. She flashes Beomgyu a look, which means he should tell Kai soon. His face contorts in panic.
Before he could make a move, Kai stirs beside him. “Baby, where’s the bathroom in this place again?”
“It’s inside the assembly hall to the right I think.”
“I’ll be right back, keep that butt warm for me.” Kai sneakily plants a kiss on his cheek, winking at him. Beomgyu feels pressured from Hyejoo’s gaze again across from him.
“Hyejoo? Can I ask you something?”
Hyejoo nods.
“How did it go with you telling Chaewon about the..y’know? I know you told me it went bad but if it’s okay with you, I want to hear exactly what happened.”
The girl was silent for a while. This question was basically like opening an old wound. But she feels like this was going to be the big push that Beomgyu needed for him to tell Kai the truth.
“We were at my place, just hanging out.” She finally responds. “I knew something was wrong when my father’s bodyguards appeared at my door. So, I told Chaewon I was gonna be back in a while. Then, at my father’s place, he told me all about the arranged wedding and etc., so in return, I trashed the place.”
She jabs the firepit angrily. “I was so mad at him that I immediately stormed back home. But then, I found Chaewon weeping on the ground. Turns out one of my father’s bodyguards had told her the news beforehand.”
Beomgyu looks at her in pity, his heart breaking.
“She uh looked so small and fragile—” Her voice cracks, prompting Beomgyu to rush to her side to comfort her. “Thanks.”
“So uh, she asked me immediately if it was all true. Tears was streaming down her face and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t lie to her, especially when she was already hurting. So I just decided to be honest. After that, she broke down even more.”
Hyejoo sniffles, covering her face with her hand. Beomgyu wraps his arm around her comfortingly, grabbing her other hand.
“After that, she was gone. Blocked me on everything. I don’t know if I’m even going to have the chance to fix anything when I come back.”
“I’m so sorry that happened, Hyejoo. I shouldn’t have asked you to open up.”
Hyejoo shakes her head, wiping her tears.
“No, you have to hear this. This is why I keep reminding you to plan properly and pressuring you to tell him soon. I don’t want your situation to end up like ours.”
“I completely understand now. I promise to do it as soon as he returns.” Beomgyu guides her head to lean on his shoulder as she continues to weep.
“Man, the line for the bathroom was way too long…” Kai mutters to himself as he blindly tramples back to their campsite. Suddenly, a familiar figure stops him in his tracks.
“Kai! What are you doing around here?” Lucas asks.
“Oh, I just went to the bathroom. How ‘bout you? How’s your wife?”
Lucas motions to two large grocery bags he’s carrying. “Well, she had a lot of… requests but she’s doing pretty well. In fact, she even spent the whole day just chatting it up with the other workers.”
“Oh really? What did they talk about?”
“You remember what I told you about that girl and your roommate?”
Kai blinks back, stunned. Was there really more to that rumor?
“Y—Yeah. What about it?”
“Apparently, they really are going to have an arranged marriage. The other workers overheard them talking with Beomgyu’s father this morning when we had the assembly and orientation.”
Kai feels tears springing to his eyes. He bites his lip down enough to draw blood. His nightmare had come true. This cannot be real. It was just his imagination right?
Lucas continues, oblivious to Kai’s reaction. “I guess that’s why they were being so lovey-dovey during the group activities. They were even the talk of the whole camp. Ha! Good for them. Anyways, I gotta go to my wife now, I’ll see you guys later!”
He leaves Kai alone in the dark to process everything. Kai stumbles to the ground, tears trickling down his face. He pauses, forgetting one major fact about all of this. Beomgyu was back at camp. He could clear things up. He could explain everything to him about how this is all just a misunderstanding right?
He hurries back to their campsite but stops midway in his tracks upon seeing the scene in front of him. Beomgyu and Hyejoo were currently cuddled up by the campfire, with Hyejoo’s head resting on his shoulder. Kai notices them holding hands as well.
“B—Beomie-hyung?” He pathetically blubbers out, catching the attention of the pair.
“Why…?” His own heart breaks at the sound of his pained voice. “Why did you betray me?”
Beomgyu quickly stands up. “Kai, it’s not what you think—"
Before he could finish, Kai immediately takes off deep into the forest, the look of panic on Beomgyu and Hyejoo’s face the last thing he sees.