sunk-cost fallacy. ᵖˢʰ

two.

Life isn't easy. But it is especially not easy for Chanelle right now.

When lunchtime rolls around, suddenly the whole school had their eyes on her. Or, to be specific, them. Just when Chanelle thought she could have some peace with Jia at lunch, the guy had already been waiting for her outside of their class.

Of course he would. Class 12-A is only next to 12-B, where Chanelle's class is.

She understands what each look means every time a student walks past them. There's I don't give a shit look from the guys, and a homicidal look from the girls.

Sunghoon's arm wrapping around her waist as they walk to the cafeteria isn't helping either. One thing that she notices is how good he is at this, even though they've never really talked to each other until today.

Even when they're already sitting at a table away from their friends, Chanelle still feels each look sent their way burning on her skin.

She ordered herself a hamburger with no pickles, and a lemon soda while Sunghoon went for his usual order—fruit salads, tiramisu, and bottled water.

He just laughed in Chanelle's face when the girl shoots him an are you serious? look and said "Diet."

"Is something wrong? You barely touch your food."

Chanelle turns to him the same time he shoves a strawberry into his mouth. "Well that's because there's at least 50 pairs of eyes looking at us now."

Sunghoon shrugs, "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't kiss me."

"Again, I did not—" she stops. There's no point arguing with him at a fucking cafeteria right now. "And you, seems to be enjoying this a lot."

Sunghoon didn't say a word for a second. Instead, he scoots closer to her and whispers into Chanelle's ear, voice pure venom as his breaths tickle the girl.

"Because, baby, we have to appear very in love in front of all of them if you want them to believe us."

Chanelle can easily hear Jia's voice in her mind shouting 'whore!!!' to her right now for the way her body reacts to his words. She softly pushes him away until she can finally breathe properly.

"Park Sunghoon."

"Yes, princess?" he asks, loud enough to make the two juniors walking past them gasps. His lips tugging into a smile, and it boils Chanelle into annoyance. Does he actually think this is funny?

"First of all, don't ever call me that ever again, because, ew, gross," she tells him. "Second of all, we haven't even discussed how we're gonna do this."

"Fine," he says, leaning back on his chair. "Let's just say one of us confessed first and then we started going out."

"And who might that be?"

Sunghoon flashes her a grin. "You, of course."

The girl stares at him with nothing but annoyance on her face. "Asshole," she curses at him, only for Sunghoon to burst into laughter. "At least come up with something interesting, bro. Your story is boring as hell."

"Forgive me, my lord, for I am no Shakespeare," he says while rolling his eyes. "Then let's hear your interesting made-up story."

"We can just tell them we helped each other with something—like I helped you with a History topic you didn't understand one day and since then we kept running into each other and developed feelings towards one another."

Sunghoon stays quiet for a moment before clapping his hands three times. Chanelle couldn't tell if he's actually impressed or he's just making fun of her right now.

"What are you? An author?"

Chanelle shrugs, "I'm just a girl."

He could only roll his eyes at Chanelle before shifting in his seat a little. "So that settles, then. But you still have to say you fell for me first."

"Excuse me?"

Sunghoon only grins. He's enjoying this a little too much than Chanelle expected him to. Like he's already so used to drawing all the attention to himself and himself only.

"Fine," she hisses. "We also need some rules if we want to make it work."

"Like what?" Sunghoon asks, half-heartedly. He rests his cheek on his palm.

And Chanelle goes on listing everything that should be listed. She's seen people do this mostly in movies. In fanfictions and books too. Nothing too wild, just the basic rules to a successful fake relationship.

She can tell Sunghoon is suddenly so invested in what she has to say. He keeps nodding every few seconds—which is really saying something.

"And lastly, no mouth-to-mouth kissing."

And then he raises his brow, pointing at his lips.

"What do you mean no kissing? Why? Are my lips not sexy enough for you?" he sighs, with his fake I'm so sad, please take that back kind of look. "I thought Dua Lipa was serious when she said one kiss is all it takes."

Chanelle looks terrified now. It hasn't been 5 hours yet since she agreed to do this, but this guy is already giving her headaches.

She wonders how long she'll survive this eventually. If anything, she wants it to end as soon as possible.

"Still, we have to put up a good show though."

Sunghoon tilts his head to the table where all the girls from Chanelle's class are looking at them like a spy. Including Jia. Chanelle turns to them and gives an awkward smile before turning back to Sunghoon.

"What show?"

"This," he says and reaches over to grab her wrist and kisses it. Chanelle closes her eyes shut when the whispers and gasps start getting a bit louder around them.

When she opens her eyes again, he's already grinning. He let out a laugh when the girl mouthed 'asshole' to him.

"So it's a deal then. Are you sure?" Chanelle asks again for the last time. "It's not too late to call this whole deal off, you know."

"100% sure," he says and leans back to his seat. "Now eat your hamburger. Those girls might think I'm such a bad boyfriend if you don't finish your food."

Again for the fourth time today, Chanelle says, "Asshole."