Min-jae's POV
I swear my soul was doing backflips in my throat because the way Jae-hyun stood there, shoulders tight, breathing like he was preparing to fight a demon, made me genuinely reconsider every decision I'd ever made in my entire miserable life.
"I…can't take this anymore," he said again, slower this time, like every word was chewing him from the inside out.
And then he did the worst thing imaginable.
He walked toward me.
Not normal walking.
That I'm-about-to-do-something-stupid-and-I-don't-care walking.
My back hit the wall. Soo-ah muttered "welp" and literally disappeared like smoke because apparently loyalty ends when the groom starts looking like he wants answers.
His eyes were locked on me in this scary, laser-focused way, not angry exactly but that kind of intense that makes your stomach drop like you swallowed concrete.
I tried smiling. It twitched. It died. I tried talking. My mouth flapped like a fish experiencing deep emotional trauma.
"Listen, I can explain…"
"No," he said, grabbing my wrist. "We're talking somewhere else."
"No we're not…HEY…"
Because he literally dragged me. Not roughly, but firmly enough that I had no dignity left. My heels clicked like they were begging him to stop assaulting the tiles.
"Jae-hyun, I'm fine, I swear…"
"Min-jae, I'm not doing this out here," he snapped, pulling open a random door that led to some empty prep room with chairs piled in the corner like dead bodies. "Inside."
"NO," I said, which was apparently hilarious to him because he pulled me in anyway.
Door slammed.
Silence.
My wig shifted slightly from the force.
Great. Beautiful,amazing. God hates me.
He stood there, breathing hard, staring at me like he was checking whether I was a real person or a glitch in his simulation. He ran a hand through his hair and for some reason that annoyed me even more.
"You need to tell me the truth," he said. "Right now."
Which was stupid because what truth? The truth that I was an idiot? The truth that my binder was stabbing me? The truth that I was about two seconds from crying because I'd been living on three hours of sleep and panic?
"I am telling you the truth," I said, voice squeaking in a way that physically hurt my pride.
His jaw tightened.
"Min-jae, you said you were pregnant."
"I panicked!"
"You think?!"
He stepped closer again and I swear my eyebrows tried to run away from my face.
"Why are you acting like you're being hunted?" he asked.
"I AM," I said. "BY YOU."
He blinked like he genuinely hadn't considered that.
And then…literally in the same second….I watched something shift in his face. Something snapped or unhinged or maybe rebooted, I don't know. All I know is his eyes moved from my eyes to my mouth, and THAT was when my soul decided to clock out.
"No," I said.
He didn't listen.
Of course he didn't.
He stepped in, grabbed my jaw gently but firmly and kissed me.
Actually kissed me.
There were no tongues, just his lips on mine, and ashamed to tell him this was how my first kiss happens,
I let out a strangled noise that sounded like a dying bird being kidnapped.
My brain literally shut down.
My entire body froze because WHAT????? HELLO????? Is this my life???? Why is he kissing me???? Why is he kissing me like that???? Why am I kissing him ba….OH MY GOD NO
I shoved him.
Hard.
He stumbled a step back, eyes wide, breathing hard, lips swollen.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I screamed, wiping my mouth like I'd been attacked by a radioactive pigeon.
"What's wrong with me?" he fired back immediately. "What's wrong with you?! You're acting like you're hiding a double life!"
I slapped him.
It wasn't planned. My hand just…flew. It left my body like it had something to prove. The sound echoed in the room. His head jerked slightly, but he didn't even look shocked. He looked…even more intense.
"I deserved that," he said.
"You DID," I spat. "You absolutely did! You don't just grab people and kiss them like you're some chaebol in a K-drama with no real-world consequences…"
He stopped.
His hand froze right where it was, then slowly moved back up to my waist like he'd just remembered he was on camera.
We were both breathing like we'd just run a marathon in hell.
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
He sighed the kind of sigh that sounded like he was fighting with twelve different emotions and losing badly.
"We need to finish the photoshoot," he finally said, running a hand down his face. "And then we're going to my parents' house."
I blinked.
"My…who?" I said.
"My parents."
I stared.
Stared harder.
Stared like I was trying to comprehend quantum physics on two hours of sleep.
"Your…parents," I repeated, because repetition sometimes fixes stupidity.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they want to meet you."
My soul left my body, flew to the ceiling, and started screaming.
I started shaking my head so fast my wig nearly flew off.
"No. No. No, no, no, no, you…you can't just…no. WHAT parents? Who are these people? Do they even exist? Why would they want to meet me? Do they know what I am? Do they know I can barely walk in heels? Do they know I'm not.."
"They're hosting dinner," he said, ignoring all my panic. "It's already planned."
"DINNER???"
"Yes."
"What kind of dinner?"
"The fancy kind."
I grabbed the doorframe for support.
"Define fancy," I said, because at this point I needed to know how quickly I should start digging my grave.
He rubbed his forehead like I personally caused him migraines.
"Min-jae…my family is…wealthy."
"I know you're wealthy," I snapped.
"No," he said, leveling me with that same serious, devastating look. "You think you know. But you don't know."
"Okay," I said, swallowing. "How wealthy are we talking?"
He hesitated.
Then he said:
"The type of wealthy where they own the building we're standing in."
I stopped breathing.
"You mean the hotel."
"Yes."
"The hotel with eight floors."
"Twelve," he corrected.
"The hotel with the private rooftop garden with the rich people who look like they sprinkle gold dust on their cereal."
"Yes."
"And you want to bring ME there."
"Yes."
"LIKE THIS?!"
He looked at me from top to bottom like I was some trembling chihuahua he'd accidentally adopted.
"You look fine," he said.
"I LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT WITH A WIG HELD TOGETHER BY FEAR AND A BINDER THAT JUST TRIED TO KILL ME." ps; he didn't hear this or I'd be six foot under.
"You look fine."