When We're Together [양정완]

42.

a/n: writers block + school is hitting me hard :,) sorry for less updates :,)

After a long explanation of what had happened, Chae Aera, trying  to find her voice again, finally spoke. "So let me get this straight, you misunderstood my dad and now he thinks we are dating or something?"

Her brows furrowed as she remembered all the times her father had reinstated his "no boys" rule in middle school. How come now he seemed okay with it? But either way it wasn't like it was true.

The female sighed. "I'll just try to explain to him then." She stood and grabbed her phone from somewhere buried under a tower of pillows and stood as it rang.

Aera?

Dad, let me explain; Jungwon and I-

Oh, Aera! Your mom and I were so excited we even told your grandparents and cousins already! We were honestly wondering when you would start dating. You know, you're at that age now...

The man's voice rambled on as Aera stood dumbfounded, staring at the confused brown haired boy who was staring back up at her. Her parents were happy?

As she listened to her dad rambling about how happy he was that she had "finally gotten out there," Aera began internally panicking. There was no way she could disappoint her parents by telling them it was all a misunderstanding. Judging by her dad's reaction, they would be heartbroken.

Oh- Okay, Dad. I uh, need to do... something. Talk to you later-

Okay, okay. Bye, daughter Chae.

"What did he say?" Jungwon sat beside Aera on the foot of his bed, where she had decided to sit to allow herself to soak in her father's words.

"Okay.. Jungwon? I have a plan." The female held her hand in a fist as she turned to the male with a determined expression. He tilted his head in response with an eyebrow lifted.

"We have to pretend to be dating."

"That's your plan?" The male stared at the female in disbelief, but quickly stopped after being hit with a flying pillow.

"Listen, Won. This is all your fault anyways, so you can't be complaining."

The nickname through the boy off guard, but he liked it. "But isn't us dating the opposite of what you want your parents to think?"

Aera sighed. "It's complicated."

He nodded, not wanting to risk being hit with another pillow.

"But, at school we're just friends okay?"

"So we are dating for your family, but friends at school? Isn't that the opposite of what usually happens?" The male chuckled, earning a small smile and shrug from the girl.

~~~

At 9 pm, Chae Aera finally arrived at her home, exhausted from the long day she had, but when she entered the front door, she immediately became alert again.

There, standing in front of her, were both her parents, her cousin Yeseo, and her brother Haru.

"So," Her elder brother began with a slight smirk, "Yang Jungwon, huh?"

Aera's face immediately started to become tomato red as she tried to wave her family members off while nervously laughing. "It's really no big dea-"

"AERAAAAAAAAA!" Yeseo suddenly shouted, almost bursting all of the Chae's eardrums. The little girl hopped like a rabbit in a circle around the older girl as she went on and on about how exciting this was and how much she wanted to meet this 'Yang Jungwon.'

"Yeseo, Yeseo, calm down," Aera laughed as she crouched to grip the girl by her shoulders, making her come to a halt. "You can meet him next time, okay?"

"Really?" Yeseo's eyes practically contained stars as she smiled widely at Aera, who nodded. "You promise?" Aera nodded again, earning another loud, joyful shout.

~~~

Yang Jungwon laid on his bed, facing the ceiling and staring so intently he could have burned a hole in it. The events of the day played through his head like a broken record. The entire situation was so bizarre; he honestly didn't even know what happened fully.

He rolled onto his side to face the clock on his bedside table. 11:00pm. How had it already been an hour since he had gotten in bed?

Suddenly a buzz sounded from his cellphone. The male lifted it to his squinted eyes as he tried to make out the notification in the darkness. Finally he managed to see what it was: chaera_04 updated their profile picture.

He opened instagram, curious to see what the girl had done, but the moment he saw it, his eyes grew wide. In the small circle below her username, Aera had selected her profile's photo to be a photo of the photo strip the duo had taken at the mall.

The male's eyes darted to his photo strip, which he had pinned to his desk, then back to the female's profile. Hadn't she said it was only for her family? With a profile photo like that, anybody who saw it would think they were together.

He was about to open his messages to text the girl, but his fingers hesitated. With his brow furrowed, Jungwon flipped onto his back once more, swinging his arm over his face. Too many possibilities were running through his head too fast.