Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 25 - TROUBLE IN PARADISE ALREADY?

ELLIE

I believed he practiced magic. After all, he called himself a Magic Man once. If he wasn't one, then how come I agreed to his request? I sighed, watching boxes of my stuff in my living room. That night, I agreed to his proposition, even though that meant he would come home, watching me looking at horrifying images of the human bowel system, with all the blood and its other glory. And him throwing out his gut content into the toilet bowl. He said that it was called adjustment. We both needed to make some adjustments if we wanted to be in each other's lives. Including me getting familiar with his manager, his stylist, his publicist, and every other staff. He warned me that there would be a lot of people going in and out of our place because of his work. There would be his team, his bodyguards, and not forgetting his members. Though he would keep his members away from me for now. They did know that he was in a relationship with me, but he would like to keep me for himself. He didn't want me to get drilled by his members, especially from Jaebeom and Jinyoung who knew how bad he was after our divorce. Well, to them, it was a break up, but we knew the truth. And he said he wasn't ready to explain it all to them.

And now, I was waiting for him to pick me up. His staff would take care of my stuff later. Again, since there were so many people coming in and out of his house, it would be easy to disguise me as one of his staff. Even the concierge wouldn't be suspicious of me.

"He will be if you're holding my hand in the lobby," I shrugged his hand that was grabbing mine after I got out of his car.

"Sorry," he apologized immediately. "Somehow my hand has a mind of its own."

I smiled back. I knew he started to become accustomed to being with me. His protective nature came out often now and I also became accustomed to his touch. The way he insisted on opening my door, how he never skipped reminding me to eat, and the way he would show his affection through little touch. Holding my hand, putting his hand on the small of my back.. and stuff like that. I used to complain whenever he did it, but lately, it became natural between us.

My jaw dropped when I finally looked at his apartment properly. The last time I was only roaming around his kitchen and living room and I didn't feel like looking around his place since I thought it would be rude. But today, I had no choice but to look around and the place was .. incredible. Then I noticed something. "Why is there only one bedroom in this big apartment?" my eyes widened when I found out that there was only one bedroom.

"Because I convert the others into a studio and an office," he answered nonchalantly. "Any problem?"

My face went red because it seemed that I was the only one that felt disturbed at the probability that we might have to share a bed. Again, we had shared a bed before, but by law, we were husband and wife at that time. But this time? There was no string attached.

"Oh, and I will clear out the office tomorrow. You need a place where no one can see whatever file you're looking at privately, right? Then I will move my stuff out so you can use the office for your work," he continued, completely oblivious to my predicament about the sleeping arrangement. Though I was grateful that he was being thoughtful and preserved a room for my office. I thanked him and was about to leave the room when I remembered one of his interviews. The one where he said that he wore nothing when he was alone in his house.

I turned around to look at him again. "You still wear something when you're sleeping, don't you?" I waited in horror as a sly grin appeared on his face.

"Well, you can figure it out yourself, tonight," he answered diplomatically.

JACKSON

For a doctor, she was pretty gullible. However, I felt like walking on the moon when she revealed that she knew stuff about me that I said in various interviews. Even though she didn't have any social media, apparently she still followed news about me during our time apart. That should mean something, right? She cared about me so much that she watched my interviews and remembered it, right? She knew about my shirtless pictures. She knew about what I said about not wearing anything when I was alone in my house. I said them all when we were apart, so there was no way she heard it from me. She must've heard it because she searched for me. I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot, thinking about how she would react tonight, when we had no choice but to share a bed.