Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 5 - TUTOR

JACKSON

[Did you get the food?] I texted her since I didn't receive any news from her since I sent it few hours ago. I knew she told me that she would be busy today, but it was way past lunch time. Did she skip lunch again? Five minutes passed when my phone buzzed.

[I did. Thank you. Sorry didn't text you that I've received it]

I was about to reply to her when Jinyoung poked his head over my shoulder.

"Are you sexting now?"

I put down my phone, away from his prying eyes and rolled my eyes at him. "No. What do you I think of me? Some kind of idiot?"

"Then what are you doing?" he nudged me with his hips, telling me to scoot over to give him some space on the couch.

"Texting. I'm just texting. I sent her some food and I want to make sure that she got it."

He took the news slowly before opening his mouth again, "So, this time you two are serious?" I could see his face turned into a concerned one. Understandable though. Jinyoung was the one that knew about us. Well, roughly. He knew I fell into the deep pit when our relationship was in trouble back then, and then once again when I finally divorced her so I guessed he didn't want me to go through the same thing again.

"Yeah. She decided to give us another chance. This time I'll try to make it right," I answered with determination.

"Just be careful, man," Jinyoung patted my shoulder. "I've seen ..."

"Yeah," I cut him. "I know. I'll be better this time."

"What about her?" Jinyoung carefully asked.

"So far her response is good. She texts me back. She didn't reject the food that I sent her last night and then we ate while video calling each other. I guess she starts to open up to me and more familiar with the idea of being with me. But she still wanted to keep it a secret," I sighed. I actually hoped that we didn't need to keep it a secret this time. We both knew that we had feelings for each other and we both were single adults. Last time I checked, it wasn't a crime to date me, so I didn't know why she wanted to keep it a secret, but I honored her request.

"Maybe she still has some reservation about it," Jinyoung offered his two cents. "She works in a public area, obviously she'll have some worries how it could affect her job. And then, there'll be our fans. Even though they said that they want us to have a life, there will be some people that's delusional and want you for themselves."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I honor her request," I looked down at my entwined fingers in dismay, since everything Jinyoung said was not entirely wrong.

"Anyway, when will you get your own place? You're not planning to bring her home to my place, are you?"

Oh shit, he's right. I should find my own place.

ELLIE

I stretched myself before grabbing my clothes and headed to the shower. It was a long surgery but the patient managed to pull through. Now I only needed to take a hot shower and headed home. When I got home, there was a package hanging on the handle of my door. I checked the content and saw that it was another food delivery from Jackson. He really took this boyfriend deal seriously. This time, he sent me fried chicken. Did he try to make me fat? Fried chicken at this hour?

[Did you try to make me fat?]

[You text me first!] I rolled my eyes at his reply. He completely ignored my complaint and was more excited at the fact that I texted him first.

[And no. You're nowhere near being fat so stop fussing about the food] I scoffed. He dared to criticize me while he himself was self conscious about his weight.