keeping up with the lees || svt

twelve: family meeting

after breakfast, the hong family left for a moment due to some circumstances leaving jihan and her father alone. it has been five minutes and nobody has said a word. it wasn't awkward, it was intense.

"good job keeping your first rank" her father finally spoke. "it must always stay that way"

"thank you, father"

"woozi keeps getting fourth. not bad but i may have to send in some private tutors" he said. "however, you twins are doing excellent in school, i must say. keep it up. how is chan?"

"he's doing well, second in rank. he somehow manages to balance his extra classes and school. he's doing very well"

mister lee nodded, satisfied.

"would you like to know how seokmin is doing?"

mister lee laughed, shaking his head. "he got fifty sixth in rank, that's all i have to know"

"seokmin is an amazing boy" jihan said, ignoring her father's answer. "he has no horns"

"well that's a disadvantage"

she hummed in response.

"i'm glad i have you and woozi" her father surprisingly said. she looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "i created and molded two perfect children"

"only two?" jihan raised a brow. "you have four legitimate children"

"chan and seokmin were raised by your mother. she messed up badly with seokmin, but you two, " he looked at jihan. "you and woozi are perfect" 

-

"we're flying back to korea with you" mrs. hong announced out of the blue.

joshua looked at jihan, confused. jihan clenched her jaw and looked at her father who was just smiling.

how fake, jihan mentally scoffed.

"why?" joshua asked.

"i think it's time to announce what we've been working on for months" mister hong said. "aren't you two ready? i'm sure we gave you two enough time"

joshua uncomfortably shifted in his seat. jihan looked at her father who was already shooting her 'that look'.

sighing, jihan nodded. "yes, we are"

"when do we leave?" joshua asked.

"we're leaving at eleven in the evening" mister lee replied. "aren't you two excited to make the announcement?"

"sort of" joshua smiled.

"your party will be in a week or two, we've already worked on everything" mister lee informed.

"why weren't we informed beforehand?" joshua asked politely.

"we wanted it to be a surprise" mrs. hong said excitedly. 

"wow, i'm absolutely surprised" jihan said, and her father was able to pick up the little sarcasm she injected between her words since he eyed her.

-

many thoughts flooded jihan's mind during dinner. so much that she couldn't focus on anything. all she thought about was how she would break the news to her brother.

their father was coming home. he hasn't visited korea since he sent jihoon and jihan there which was a pretty long time ago.

jihan didn't know whether he would stay in their house or not, she hoped he wouldn't. the tension between her separated parents would be too much for her to handle.

"is anything bothering you dear?" mrs. hong asked jihan who seemed to be zoning out.

snapping back to reality, she apologized "i'm sorry, i guess i'm just tired. would you mind if i head out for a bit?"

-

she didn't know how to feel about the situation. she wasn't sure about a lot of things, how to break it to her family and how to get out of it. she wasn't sure how she would get through it but she was sure of one thing, and it was that she hated it. no, she loathed it.

she could already imagine the disappointment and shock on her brothers' faces once they find out, especially jihoon's. she worried about her mother the most. she worried about how her mother would take the situation.

her mother already hated her father with a burning passion, her father had just given her mother more reasons to hate him. he took jihan and jihoon away from her and basically nearly turned them into heartless beings, he refused to sign the divorce papers to keep his reputation and now he bribed her only daughter for his company's expansion. jihan found it ridiculous. absolutely ridiculous.

"hey fiancée"

jihan turned around and saw joshua hong standing behind her.

"don't call me that, hong" she sighed. "go away, i'm in deep thought"

joshua ignored her words and took a seat beside her on the bench anyway. "an engagement party, huh. looks like we're really stuck in this situation until who knows when"

"an engagement is just an engagement, but as long as they're alive, we're not getting out of this" jihan said. "and i'm sure they won't be dying anytime soon"

joshua chuckled and lightly hit jihan, "that's not funny"

"but you're laughing" jihan pointed out. "things are still awkward for us, huh"

"i mean considering we've never talked to each other before our engagement makes it understandable. our situation's pretty messed up"

"an engagement is an honorable pact between two companies" jihan told. "we should be honored"

"i know" joshua said. "it just sucks. i never thought i'd marry such an outrageous female"

jihan rolled her eyes, "it's just an engagement, anything can happen"

"you yourself said that as long as they're alive, we're stuck here"

"then will you help me hide the body?"

joshua's eyes widened, "don't.. don't say that! that's a dangerous thing to say"

"i laugh in the face of danger" jihan deadpanned with her usual, indifferent expression.

"in all seriousness" joshua said, making jihan look at him. "do you like someone?"

"i wish i did" she rolled her eyes as she replied. "that way i would have more motivation to get out of this damn pact–"

she stopped talking as realization dawned upon her. she looked at joshua who already had his eyes on her, "do you?"

joshua hummed, thinking of ways to put this thoughts into a full sentence. "yes but no"

"yes but no?" she raised a brow at his absurd statement.

"i do like someone, but i refuse to allow myself to like someone else"

jihan totally got what he meant but she still wanted him to continue.

"i'm engaged whether i like  it or not. having another affair would still be counted as cheating. we wouldn't want that, would we?" 

jihan looked away from joshua, "don't act that way. you're making me want to be nice to you"

joshua chuckled. jihan found his laugh charming. everything about him was charming, she just didn't like him romantically.

"what do you plan on doing?" joshua asked.

she shrugged. "don't you think it'd be convenient if we just fell in love"

"it would be" joshua replied. "but do you want to?"

"i'll try my best to get us out of this mess" jihan stated. "but if i fail, i guess i'll have no choice but to love you"