Love Under Pretenses | Winrina

4.

“Jimin! Wake up already!”

“Jimin!”

“Ugh, Jimin, just because my bar’s open 24 hours doesn’t mean you can stay here for all day and night. Get up!”

I groaned, rubbing my temples as Ryujin’s voice pulled me out of a heavy sleep. My head was pounding like crazy—probably had way too much to drink last night.

“Isn’t it too early to be up?” I muttered, blinking my eyes open and glancing to my side.

Oh, right. There’s that guy I was flirting with last night. How could I forget?

His hand was still casually draped over my thigh. I cringed a bit and slowly lifted it off me. He smelled amazing last night, enough for me to entertain him. Now he reeks of alcohol—totally ruining the vibe. Gross.

“It’s early, sure, but you always left here at 6 a.m. before,” Ryujin said, leaning on the counter with her arms crossed.

I frowned. “What time is it now?”

“It’s 8:30 a.m. I’ve been trying to wake you up for ages.”

FUCK! I HAVE A MEETING AT 9 A.M!

Panic surged through me as I grabbed my phone off the counter. Of course, there were a ton of messages from Minjeong—spam after spam, reminding me about the meeting.

How the hell did I forget about that?

I jumped up, almost tripping over the guy next to me, still passed out. “Crap, Ryujin, I need to go! I have a meeting in half an hour!”

FEW MOMENTS LATER

Where the heck is Jimin? The stakeholders have been waiting for ages!

I reminded her early and even spammed her, but she's still late!

I can’t sit still either because they keep glancing at me. They probably realized I'm both Jimin's assistant and her (fake) girlfriend.

"Is Miss Yu still not here? It’s 9:15 AM; we should’ve started at 9!" one of the clients said, clearly annoyed.

"S-sorry, sir. No updates on Miss Yu yet. I’ll try to call—"

"Sorry I’m late! Had a little emergency earlier," Jimin said, rushing into the conference room but still managing to smile at the clients.

"It's fine, you're here now, so let’s get started," one of the stakeholders said, nodding, while Karina took her seat.

Am I the only one noticing that Karina is wearing the exact same dress she wore yesterday?

And that smell! I can’t even describe it—it kinda smells like alcohol.

After what felt like an eternity, the meeting finally came to an end, and the clients filtered out of meeting room.

“Ugh, my head is pounding. Hey! Grab me some medicine from my bag” she ordered, and I immediately went to get it.

“Where have you been? They were starting to get really antsy back there,” I said, but she just brushed me off.

“Wow, i appreciate the response,” I replied sarcastically.

“Forget it. I need to go home for a bit. If anyone looks for me, just tell them it’s an emergency,” she instructed.

“Wait, you just got here! You can’t leave already!”

“I smell like alcohol, and I look like a mess. I need to freshen up. I’ll be back, so don’t miss me too much,” she said

I shot her a disapproving look. “Sorry, but you’ve got it all wrong. Sure, I’m into girls, but you’re definitely not my type,” I retorted, crossing my arms.

She turned to face me, eyebrows raised. “You like girls?”

I just nodded, unsure where this was headed.

“Is that a problem? Are you homophobic?” I asked, feeling a bit defensive.

“Nope, just got the sense that you might be into girls,” she said nonchalantly while tidying up her stuff

I raised an eyebrow at her, curious. “What do you mean?”

“Because the way you look at me is pretty intense. Honestly, if you keep staring like that, I might start feeling like I’m about to be undressed,” she teased before strutting out of the room.

I was left speechless, completely taken aback. Wait—am I really that obvious?

But seriously, what the fuck! Undressed? She’s making me sound like a total creep!

--------------------------------

“Where are you off to now, Jimin? You’ve been leaving here way too much! You’ve got no respect,” Dad said, his tone strict, but I ignored him.

“Sweetheart, can you at least talk to us?” Mom added.

Honestly, it’s only Dad who’s always been super tough on me.

I still remember when I was younger, he constantly pressured me to do well in school because I was his only child. He’d say that I was going to take over his company once I graduated from college. He didn’t want a clueless kid running his business.

That’s why I’ve had this simmering anger toward him for a long time.

Mom didn’t even try to stand up to Dad’s strictness with me.

“I’m just going shopping. Are you guys happy now?” I replied, grabbing my car keys.

“Who are you going with?” Dad asked, locking eyes with me.

“No one. Why do you need to know?” I retorted.

“I’ll text Yeonjun and tell him to go with—”

“I changed my mind! I’m bringing my girlfriend instead!” I cut in.

“No way! That’s not happening!”

Dad is really testing my patience today.

I quickly grabbed my phone and sent a text to Minjeong.

to Minjeong🐶
-Hey love! I’m on my way to your place now, so get ready. We’re going shopping together <33

As soon as I hit send, I showed my phone to Dad.

“Too late! I already messaged her. See? Bye!” I called out, rushing past them and jumping into my car.

Instead of shopping solo today, I’d be stuck with that girl—how annoying!