“Noona!”

Aeyoung was in the process of taking off the pins on her hair when her brother jogged towards her.

“Hey~”

“Where were you, noona? I’ve been trying to call you.” He nagged, the girl sighed and put her purse down.

“You didn’t even bother to mention it to me.”

Jeno halted, confused at her words.

“What do you mean, noona?”

“You’ve seen me meet up with Kun several times already, and yet, you didn’t think to tell me?”

Jeno paused, and then he winced.

“I—I assumed you knew, noona.”

“I didn’t. Now, I feel bad for…nevermind,” She ran her fingers through her hair, Jeno was about to speak when their mother came.

“You!” She yelled at the girl, Jeno stepped back.

“After that trick you pulled, Jiwook has been fired from work!”

“Well, can’t say he didn’t have it coming.” Aeyoung shrugged at her, and then she was grabbed by the arm, the girl almost tripped on the floor.

“Ma.” Jeno stepped between them, Aeyoung shook her mother’s grip off her.

“How could you do this to me? First, the party, now~”

“No, how could you do this to our family? How could you,” Aeyoung said firmly.

“Choose the manwhore over me.”

The lady then struck Aeyoung across the cheek.

“Ma!”

Aeyoung started to smile and she shook her head.

“It’s on, mother.” She stated before going up to her room.

“A favor? What are you saying?” Yeoshin spoke, Ten his lips and crossed his arms.

“My family and hers have known each other for a long time, although as kids, Anqi and I were never close.”

“Well, if you two were close, Aeyoung would have known about her.” Yeoshin said, Kun nodded back.

“It was before I got assigned here, their company was having a rough time back home and things didn’t look so good for them.” Kun said, his tone soft and unsure. He leaned back on his seat before continuing.

“And then one day, her father came to me at my office, he..told me about their problems and that he was worried that they might not be able to recover from everything.”

“Was it really that bad? That he went to you and not your father?” Ten asked the male, Kun nodded.

“The reason why he went to me because, if he spoke to my father, he knew that pa would talk to me about it and try to persuade me.”

“Persuade you to what?” Yeoshin grew impatient.

“He asked me if I could marry Anqi, as it was going to be helpful with their company’s standing and he offered me a number shares~”

“Holy mother of~”

“Yeoshin.” Ten hissed at her, the girl closed and glared at the other male.

“So, you said yes? He basically sold his daughter to you, Kun. Ew.” She continued.

“At first, I said no. I told him that I couldn’t, and that I respected Anqi too much to do that to her.”

“Well, come to think of it, she might have enjoyed it. Girl looks like she~”

“Yeoshin. Please.” Ten sighed, the girl grinned and crossed her legs.

“And then things started to get worse for them, they had to move out of their ancestral home. So, I decided to help them out.”

“Kun, this is marriage.” Ten told him.

“I know, but that time~”

“That time, you were keeping tabs on her, huh? Don’t deny it.” Yeoshin said, Kun paused, his eyes widened.

“Yes, I was.”

“You believed the rumors.”

Ten blinked at the two, he grew confused.

“Remember that time when there was talk about Aeyoung being seen at a dress shop, people assumed she was looking for a wedding dress.”

Kun looked away, his brows furrowing.

“And, people thought she was getting married then. The next day she was seen with Jung Jaehyun of Jung Hotels. That’s how those two got in a sort of scandal together.” Yeoshin started to grow amused.

“You..believed all that?” Ten looked at Kun, the latter slowly nodded back.

“After what I did, do you think I had the right to call her up and ask if she was really getting married?” Kun replied, Yeoshin looked at him, she could sense how he was already loosing his cool.

Very un-Kun like. Kun never lost his cool.

“Well, I guess you kind of deserved that.”

Aeyoung exhaled as she stared at her reflection, her cheek was beginning to swell. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around it, how could her mother be so blind?

So blind that she was willing to believe a stranger and push her own daughter away.

Her fingers started to shake as tears rolled down her cheeks, she didn’t even hear the door creak open behind her.

“Noona?”

Jeno panicked as he saw that the older girl was crying, he set down the ice pack he was carrying and dashed towards her.

“Noona.”

Aeyoung wiped her cheeks an faced him, Jeno frowned at his sister.

“Noona, ma didn’t mean that. She was just as shocked when~”

“It’s done, Jeno. She’s hopeless, I bet she doesn’t even see us as her kids anymore.” She replied, Jeno paused, there it was.

A certain darkness in her gaze.

His sister was hurting and she was very angry.

Jeno grabbed the ice pack and gently pressed it against her cheek, Aeyoung’s eyes focused on his brother.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. That man won’t be able to do anything.”

“I heard Yeoshin noona and Ten hyung talk about him, he…he smells like trouble. Makes you think that there’s a lot of things we don’t know about him.”

“Clearly, he’s not the most honest man out there.” She shrugged as she took the ice pack from him, Jeno nodded back.

“Should I be worried? Your talking in light tones.” Jeno said, trying to lift the mood, Aeyoung looked at him and shrugged.

“I feel like, I have to move faster. Now, go to your room and do student stuff.”

“Student stuff?” Jeno chuckled at her words, but he knew how the girl was boiling inside. And that started to worry him, his sister was someone you did not want to mess with. And definitely, you do not want Aeyoung to be angry with you.

“Let’s go out for dinner, I don’t want to see them.” She said before shooing him away from her room, Aeyoung exhaled and shut the doors behind her.

She shook off her jacket and noticed that her phone was ringing, she padded towards her purse to search for the device.

She looked at the screen and her forehead creased.

Qian

Aeyoung shook her head, she put her phone back in her purse.

“I have no time for this.”

Kun sat back on his seat as Anqi walked in the room, he put his phone on his desk and looked up.

“I didn’t know we had plans for lunch.” He begun, Anqi smiled at him.

“I know, I should have called before going here.”

Kun glanced at his phone before nodding back at her.

“Were you in a meeting?”

“I was, but it’s done now. Do you need anything?” Kun asked her, his tone a little cold.

“I was thinking, if we could go get lunch together or if you’re busy, we can just order in.” Anqi spoke, she noticed how Kun kept on glancing at his phone.

“Kun, is everything alright?” She spoke, Kun was about to reply when his secretary walked in.

“Sir, you asked an update regarding the shed at the Lee house,” He spoke in Mandarin.

Anqi’s eyes turned to the male, her brows rose.

“How’s the shed going along? I’ve been planning to visit myself.”

“They will be finished by next week, sir. They also asked if you could come and check the results, I also reached out to the young miss about this.”

“Shed? Aeyoung’s house?” Anqi voiced out, the secretary nodded at her.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Kun,” She turned to him, Kun was looking at his phone again.

“Tell them I’ll come by this weekend.” He spoke, the other male nodded back before quietly leaving the office.

“What are you doing? Are you still fixing their house?”

“The shed? I promised I’d fix it.” Kun replied, he set his phone down and leaned back on his seat.

“I know that, but you don’t have to personally go there just to~”

“Just what is your point, Anqi? You want me to stop being friends with her?”

“It’s not that, I just think it’s wise if you stop…being too friendly with her. People might misunderstand, plus, news of our engagement will be out soon.” She explained.

Kun’s eyes went to her, he paused.

“With your opening coming up in Ulsan, I think it’s best~”

“You just decide on your own? You weren’t planning on asking me.” Kun spoke, Anqi paused and she sighed.

“When will we announce it then?” She asked him, she was beginning to lose her patience.

“Is that really important?” Kun met her gaze evenly, Anqi flinched on her seat.

“Are you angry right now? Over this?” She asked him, Kun exhaled, he stood up and grabbed his phone.

“Next time, set an appointment. I’m quite busy.” He stated before walking out of the room.

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