pretend lovers ;
pretend lovers
chen/e-young
romance, comedy | 1,653 words
part o1 -
a/n: so i'm starting on this otp project, where i'll write all about my main ships. there are about 20, so here i have chenyoung starting it off. your support is greatly appreciated ♥
There might be a time, when Yiyoung was convinced she’d grow up into a beautiful princess, wearing a pink lushly gown that covers almost all of her body, with a sparkling tiara on top of her head. She might’ve dreamt wearing Cinderella’s glass slippers, running down the stairs as the clock chimes midnight while a handsome young prince chase after her until he falls to his knees.
She could’ve stop and turn around - or he might’ve even kissed her and they would’ve lived happily ever after (don’t all fairy tales work that way) but she would never know because of the sharp urgent poking that is relentlessly pulling her out from fantasy.
Yiyoung grunts in annoyance as her eyes flutters open slowly. The first image that greets her is of a fairly young man (couldn’t possibly be much older than she is) grinning, stupidly she must add, yet with a sheer of disgust in both of his sparkling eyes (wait - do boys’ eyes actually sparkle?)
“You’re drooling on me, my new shirt if I must say,” he speaks, with a hint of arrogance detected in his light tone as he wipes on a spot of his right shoulder with a wet tissue. “Food or porn?”
Her eyes widen. “Excuse me?”
He snickers, apparently finding her exaggerated reaction entertaining. It wasn’t her fault - he was the one who said the ‘P’ word, to a girl. Whom he doesn’t know. A stranger. A female stranger.
“When you drool while you dream - as in that sticky, clear liquid that trickles down the side of your mouth - “
“I know what drooling is!”
“Yes,” he clears his throat, still grinning. “Just checking. Well…ah, when you drool while you’re sleeping, it can only mean two things. You either dream of delicious food or you know…other delicious things that can’t actually be eaten but are still pleasurable enough - “
“You’re disgusting.” Yiyoung sits up in her seat and takes a look around the half empty cabin. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere in South Korea.”
She shoots him a glare.
“Well to be specific, about an hour away from Chuncheon. Why? Did you miss your stop?”
His answer made her stop short. How long had she been sleeping? She wasn’t supposed to fall asleep. She was supposed to think of a way out for her biggest problem. And now she only has an hour, give or take about 45 minutes left. What could she even come up with in such a short period of time?
“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier!” She knows it wasn’t his fault. She just needed someone to blame and at that moment, he’s the only one available. And he has been slightly annoying…
His two eyes blink innocently at her from behind the steamed bun he is shoving inside his mouth. Slowly, he chews and simply says, “I wasn’t aware I had to.”
But Yiyoung ignores him and starts to rummage through her backpack for her phone which was hidden deep amidst her other junks. After finding what she was looking for, she takes it out and quickly scans through the gazillion unread text messages.
Among them, one stands out in particular.
“Call us when you’ve reached here. Chansung will pick you up. Can’t wait to see you.”
Just one simple text from her mother is enough to make Yiyoung bury her face into her bag and let out a loud frustrated scream.
The last bit of the steamed bun nearly dropped out of his mouth. He didn’t think such an inhumane piercing sound could come from a petite, squishy (yes, he thinks she is) girl like her, but there he sits, hands covering both ears.
“YAH!” alas, he has to shout above her scream to get her attention. At once, the shrilling stops and she lifts up her head in dazed.
“ARE YOU CRAZY?”
“Why are you shouting!” her voice starts to get a pitch higher.
“You were the one who screamed first!”
“That doesn’t give you the reason to shout at me!”
“My eardrums are about to explode!”
“You’re just exaggerating!”
“Shall I dig my ears open for you to see?”
“SHUT UP THE TWO OF YOU!” someone else yells from a few rows behind. “People are trying to sleep here!”
Their mouths immediately clamp shut. Yiyoung eyes him angrily from the side, while he chose to throw his gaze out the window. For the next ten minutes or so, neither says anything. The only sound that could be heard from their cabin is the song playing from his orange headphones which is hanging around his neck.
“Aren’t you going to listen to that?” Yiyoung breaks the silence, eyes still fixed on the bare wall in front of them.
“I am.”
She fumbles with her hands. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I can still hear you now so I guess my hearing’s fine.”
“For scolding you.”
“I’m okay with that too. I’m used to people’s wrath.”
She sighs. “I’m just really stressed out. I don’t know what else to do.”
This time, he turns to look at her. “So did the screaming helped?”
“No.” She laughs half-heartedly. “Well I guess, just a bit.”
“What is it that got you so worked up?” he asks quietly.
She refuses to return his gaze. “It’s stupid.”
“Try me.”
She inhales deeply. Why not? She will not be seeing him again after this. It might be good to unload on someone who isn’t personally concerned in any way. It doesn’t give her a solution, but he might have some opinions to offer.
“My…my parents are marrying me off to someone I do not like.” Slowly, she braves herself to meet his eyes. She expected him to break into a laugh - the kind where he’d grab both sides of his stomach and roll over the floor in hilarity. Because she’s convinced that this situation is stupidly hilarious to anyone who is not going through it. Like, arranged marriages? Seriously? In this kind of era? Her parents are really the old-fashioned type.
And it’s not like she is against marriages. Or a husband. Of course she’d love it - of course she would want to spend the rest of her life with a special someone who owns her heart. But now is not the time yet. She isn’t ready. She is still young. There are many more things she wants to explore. Many more places she wants to travel to. Many more experiences she wants to gain.
Most importantly, the person she’s going to wake up to every morning, share a bed with, exchange secrets with, cook dinner for, get into childish arguments with - has to be someone she actually loves. Someone who’s able to make her fall in love with him every single day of their lives together, and that person is certainly not Hwang Chansung, her older cousin of two years.
She doesn’t hate him, but she doesn’t love him either. At least - not in that way.
“Why?”
Yiyoung blinks in surprise. “I-I’m sorry?”
“Why don’t you like him? The guy your parents want you to marry.”
She thinks about it for a moment.
“I just…don’t have any feelings for him.”
“You know you should always listen to your parents.”
“I do, okay. I do,” she grumbles. The train is almost reaching its next destination and Yiyoung knows that it means her time is almost up. She needs to face the music. Unless…
She doesn’t know why she didn’t think of it sooner. The plan isn’t mastermind brilliant, and it will need a lot of convincing to do - but it is all she has now and she’s willing to take anything out of sheer desperation.
She suddenly grabs hold of his arm and smile broadly. “Help me.”
Startled, his eyes fall on her hands (which are now touching him) and he gives her an incredulous look. “Help you, how?”
“Be my boyfriend.”
If he was drinking, he would’ve spat out the water directly onto her face.
“This is the second time I’m asking this - but ARE YOU REALLY OUT OF YOUR MIND?”
“Oh come on, please,” she begs, displaying her puppy look for a sense of sympathy. “You don’t seem like you have any girlfriend either and - “
“EXCUSE ME?”
“ - it’s not for long. As soon as I’ve convinced my parents that I’m more than capable to find my own partner, they’ll relent for sure - “
“What do you mean I don’t look like I have a girlfriend?”
“…we can go our separate ways and I’ll forever be indebted to you - “
“Are you saying I’m not good looking enough?”
“and I’ll make sure that we won’t cross paths again after this whole thing…”
“FINE!”
“…I promi - what did you say?”
He lets out an exasperated sigh. “I said fine, I’ll help you. I’ll be your pretend boyfriend.” He makes sure he deeply emphasized on the word ‘pretend’.
“Oh my - you will?” her smile brightens and her almond pearls lit up. “Oh my god, thank you so much!” Out of happiness and relief, she throws her arms around his neck and hug him tightly, he feels as though a bone or two might actually break.
Not knowing what to do, he awkwardly pats her back and cringes.
“ONLY until your parents are convinced, okay? After that, we can say we’ve broken up or something but at least they know - “
“Yes, yes!” she yelps excitedly. “Definitely, don’t worry about it. I’m sure this will work.”
“Yeah well okay…” he unravels himself free of her suffocating hug and set a small distant between them. “Then…shouldn’t I know what my girlfriend’s name is?”
She immediately extends out her right hand. “I’m Yiyoung. Noh Yiyoung.”
He takes it hesitantly, hoping with all his heart that he wouldn’t regret his decision of helping her.
“I’m Kim Jongdae.”