Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 29 - CNY

A/N: The second half of this chapter will be Jackson's POV on my one shot Proposal (Jackson). 

JACKSON

"What do you mean you won't stay at my place? That's silly!" I groaned when I heard her plan of staying at Sophie's place instead of mine during our trip back home for CNY. "Even my mom knew that we're living together already, so why??" I practically whined at this point. This was ridiculous.

"No," she shook her head firmly. "Your mom might know about our living arrangement, but mine don't. And I plan to keep it that way."

I pouted and tried to give her my best puppy look, but she didn't budge. "Seriously? Whyy??"

"Well, it might be okay with your mother because of our history, but in my family, I already have a bad reputation because I'm the first one in the entire family that got a divorce. Not to mention that I was adopted. That seems to paint my family in a bad way, especially my late grandfather who brought me up. I don't want to tarnish the family name by staying at your place when we aren't even married yet."

I sighed. I knew how much her late grandfather meant to her. I never gave a damn about my reputation but I would surely feel bad if she thought she had tarnished her family name because of her choices.

I decided to agree to her request though I didn't like it one bit. I pouted throughout the flight back to Beijing. I was excited when she agreed to go back home during CNY, but now my good mood vaporized since I wouldn't be able to cuddle her all night.

"Come on, are you going to pout all day?" she nudged me and I gave her a side-eye and ignored her completely. She tugged my sleeves but I shrugged it off. After several tries, she gave up and kept silent throughout the flight. Once we landed, I kept up with my little drama and went our separate ways since she was staying at Sophie's.

I sighed once I arrived at my place. I reached out inside my pocket and my fingers felt the velvet box that was in my pocket the whole time. Sometime during last week, I walked past a jewelry store. I didn't know what went into my mind so I decided to take a look. I was just looking without any specific purpose, but when I spotted that ring, I knew that it was the one. Luckily, I still remembered her ring size so I bought one in her size. However, that week was a rough week for both of us. She had just returned back to my place and I was still walking on a thread around the house. I didn't want to make her upset again by making rash decisions. That was why I kept it in my pocket and brought it with me everywhere. I didn't want to risk her finding it before I found the perfect place and time to execute my plan.

The first time, there was no proposal because we were basically forced into a marriage. But this time, we decided to be in a relationship willingly, so I had to do the proposal right. It only happened once. It was supposed to only happen once, so I had to make it right. I owed it to her that much. But the occasion never arose. Since I wanted to make it memorable, I wanted to do something grand, but I remembered that she always preferred something simple. She would probably kick me rather than accept my proposal if I did something grand. I was torn. What should I do? I kept fiddling with the box in my hand but nothing came to my mind. I was getting frustrated so I shoved it back into my pocket and turned off the lights.

Tonight was the new year's eve. I would be having dinner with my family while she had dinner with hers. It was customary that we ate with our family at new year's eve, that was why I didn't want to disturb her even though I missed her. Yeah sure, we just parted ways several hours ago, but that couldn't stop me from missing her. And my mother didn't make it any easier for me.

"So, have you told Ellie that we're coming to her uncle's place tomorrow?" my mother opened her torture with a seemingly innocent question.

"Yes, I've told her," I answered curtly. How could I forget about it since my mother never failed to remind me before my flight and after I landed?

"So, when are you going to take the next step with her? Are you even going to marry her?" she continued and suddenly I lost my appetite. My father seemed to pick up my annoyance so he nudged my mother and told her to stop bothering me and just ate dinner. I briefly shot a grateful look toward my father and picked up the chopsticks again. But the food now tasted bland in my mouth.

I did have some ideas, but all of them were ... not Ellie's taste. I had some ideas of proposing at Namsan tower, maybe clearing the place out for an hour? It sounded romantic, but then again, Ellie didn't want to be seen in public because of her profession, let alone being proposed to in public. I thought of doing it with fireworks, but then Jinyoung told me that it was nothing new. There were some dramas that portrayed romantic scenes with fireworks, so it wasn't original. The same thing with planes and banners. There were some other people already proposed to their loved ones using the same method. I honestly had no other ideas. I decided to sleep on it. Perhaps the idea would come to me in a dream. Ha! I wish..

I couldn't sleep that night. I tossed and turned until it was near dawn. As a result, I woke up late. My mother glared at me when I got out of my room the next day. We were supposed to go to Ellie uncle's place in the morning to pay some visit. It was customary to visit our relatives' places to greet them happy new year as well as exchanging hong baos. You know.. the red packet with some pocket money inside? Talking about hong baos... I became excited suddenly since I might be able to get some hong baos, now that I am single again. Plus, I knew I could be charming if I wanted to. Those grannies didn't stand a chance when I gave them my puppy look.

We visited our relatives first before finally we arrived at Ellie uncle's place. When we arrived, the kids crowded us immediately. They were quick to greet us at first, but one of them bluntly asked for hong bao. Ckckck, kids nowadays really had no shame.

"Sorry kids, no hong bao from me, since I'm not married yet," I answered them, showing them all my fingers which had no ring on them. Their faces fell immediately and I chuckled at their reaction. Didn't want them to be disappointed for too long, I pointed them to my parents and they rushed to their next targets. I spotted the face that I wanted to see, laughing at me.

"Ain't you supposed to be the one that's giving hong bao already? You already had some earnings," she pointed out but I shook my head.

"Nope. Thanks to you, I get back to single, hence, on the receiving ones, rather than the giving ones," I showed her my hong baos, wiggling my eyebrows to tease her and she couldn't stop laughing.

"Seriously? You got hong baos?" I knew it was ridiculous to get hong baos at my age. But, the tradition said that all singles could get hong bao, they didn't actually state the age restriction for the receiver. Only the one that got married couldn't get it anymore. But some of us, who already worked, decided not to receive them anymore. Even some gave out hong baos even before they got married. Our conversation was cut short when my parents approached us. Ellie quickly greeted them and served them some food. I noticed my mother glancing at us several times, luckily she didn't say anything. My mother quickly pulled Ellie by her side, probably interrogating her for some more. I didn't want to hear their conversation, so I decided to join the kids. I told them since I was the oldest one around there, I would be the captain. I said I would help them to get more hong baos since I knew which one that could give hong baos. The kids were excited and agreed to the arrangement without any objections. We started our hong baos hunt and the kids were laughing endlessly.

Our hunt got paused when the lion dance crew came and the kids stopped hunting hong baos because they wanted to see the lion dance show. Once the dance show ended, my parents left their seats. They told me that they needed to visit our other relatives, but I was free to stay behind longer. I decided to stay behind longer since I had yet to have proper conversation with Ellie yet. I saw Ellie see my parents out and raised an eyebrow at me so I pulled her away from the crowd.

"So, how much did you get?" I teased her and she looked at me with a puzzling look.

"Are you talking about hong baos? No, I don't get them," she shook her head. There was a mix of amusement and uncertainty in her face.

"What? Why? You should make it the most while you're still single, like me," I showed her my pile of hong baos proudly and she scoffed at my earnings. "After all, this is probably the last time to get it again," I said it casually but my heart beat faster now that the words had come out from my mouth. I was sure that she heard it.

"What do you mean?" she turned to face me but I tried to prolong the time. I put back the hong baos into my pocket, then my fingers felt it. The box in my pocket. A reminder of my end purpose with her.