Landed on Us

The Fiancé

Chapter 5: The Fiancé

The day was way past noon when Jeong Hyeok and Seri finally reached the military village. They had headed out from Pyongyang Hotel just before 9 this morning, and Jeong Hyeok immediately ushered her into the rented taxi he booked to get them back to Mu Hyeok's house. He didn't want to experience another train malfunction and extended their travel into another day, but he also didn't want to subject Seri the torture of riding an obsolete truck as he did when he came to the village.

So, he settled to hire a taxi, which cost him an arm and a little bit of left leg. He was really tempted to cash in Yoon Seri's offer to pay off her debts; it should be a drop in the bucket of the supposed wealth of Yoon Seri, CEO of her own company and apparently an heiress to a conglomerate corporation too.

The woman herself had been her usual solemn hang-over self after the beer and chicken they had the night prior. Currently, she was sitting quietly beside him in the backseat of the taxi, with head firmly planted on his shoulder and eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" he asked her and offered her another sip from his bottle, "do you want to have another pill again?"

Seri shook her head and only grunted her thanks.

"I'm fine," she said, but added, "that woman's perfume still makes me sick" causing Jeong Hyeok to smirked. The encounter with Jin Sook, his old high school's friend was indeed funny; though could be potentially troublesome when he thought about it more.

This morning, they had woken up a bit late; which was understandable given the late time when they came back from the bar. Both Seri and Jeong Hyeok was each nursing mild hangover, and they took their time with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. But when they went back to their room to take the bag, they met with the woman whom he knew from his high school time.

To say that the woman was chatty was an understatement. Even with grunts from Seri (who tried to speak very little, given her South accent) and Jeong Hyeok sparse response, she still managed to take 10 minutes of their time. Jeong Hyeok tried to be very economical with Seri identity, for obvious reason, and also because Jin Sook was known for her capability to spread rumors across Pyongyang in a matter of hours.

So after that encounter, he immediately ushered Seri out of the hotel and into the waiting taxi.

Jeong Hyeok sighed as he saw outside the window and realized they must not be far from the village. He turned towards Seri, who was now sleeping on his shoulder and his mind went back to last night.

~Last night~

After finished taking her photo, both Jeong Hyeok and Seri retreated to their shared room. Jeong Hyeok offered to have two different rooms, but Seri said it wasn't necessary if they could just get 2 single beds. Besides, she knew that the hotel must not be cheap, so after a hesitation from Jeong Hyeok and Seri's insistent, he went ahead and paid for the one room. Jeong Hyeok gave Seri time to wash up in the bathroom first while he laid back on one of the beds. He felt fatigue still plagued him, given the fitful sleep on the field the night before. They had arrived at Pyongyang earlier that afternoon, after the train finally got its power again and they rushed to the hotel.

Which was just in time, because another hour and the photo would have been closed. Seri didn't even bother to fix her hair, she just wished to get it over with so she could take a shower.

Which she had been taking since 30 minutes ago.

Before got into the room, Jeong Hyeok had swept the room for potential bugs thanks to Mu Hyeok's warning. And he wasn't surprised to find 3 of them in the room and bathroom. After making sure the room was safe, he opened his jacket and almost threw himself onto the bed while Seri took their overnight bag and disappeared into the bathroom.