Beautiful, Dirty, Rich (Monsta X Fanfiction)

Chapter Ninety One: Ceasefire

Wonho's POV (Ten Hours Earlier)...

Three was starting to be a cursed number for me. 

It had been three days since Yuri and I first fought. Three days that I dealt with my problems alone, keeping my head down and working late. And only three girls who passed our three days of auditions.

'All this work and we only have three trainees?' 

I arrived home that night, still stressed from the day's work. And I was going to be late, something I knew Yuri would probably chew me out about. 

It was unexpected that our auditions would run late, seeing as how we were only testing three girls. Jooheon and Kihyun made the final picks. In months of company being established, we only found three capable girls: Lisa and Rose (who both auditioned thanks to Yuri), and a newbie named Jamie. Many others auditioned, but none passed.

At this rate, we wouldn't be ready to debut a group within the year. Which would look terrible for us, because we had the press breathing down our backs. Expectations were high for this joint venture between the Sohn and Lee conglomerates. 

If we failed...

No, we couldn't fail. Failure was unacceptable. 

I took a deep breath, loosening my tie as the elevator doors slid open. 

It wasn't a relief to be home. Because my work struggled followed me 24/7. This should be my safe haven, but it wasn't. 

A year or two ago I would have relieved my stress very differently, with many women and drugs or alcohol. But I was changing my ways, becoming a better person. There were better, healthier, ways to cope. 

So instead of that, I would cook.

'Maybe I'll make fried chicken?'

That seemed to be Yuri's favorite dish of mine. 

It would be the perfect lure to make her talk to me, because we needed to talk.

First I showered, getting out of my stuff suit. Once I was dressed in my loungewear, I felt like my real self again.

Once I started cooking, my mind went in to autopilot. My thoughts weren't tied up in the minutia of my responsibilities and life problems. All I had to worry about was how this food turned out.

As a child, it was my responsibility to cook for my mother and I. When Mom was sick, she rarely smiled at anything aside from that old portrait for my father. Until I got good at cooking. When I served her something delicious, she smiled. And for a moment Mom was proud at me. 

Thirty or so minutes later, perfectly cooked fried chicken was ready to be eaten.

"Yuri," I called, setting the food down on the table. I was surprised that the sheer smell of it hadn't attracted her. She was still holed up in her room, despite the tempting aroma. 

When there was no response, I became suspicious.

'She must be giving me the silent treatment.'

I walked into her room, feeling nervous. 

"Yuri?"

The lights were off. There was no sign of her anywhere.

'Maybe she's just showering?'

Her bathroom door was open but the lights were off. 

'Where the hell is she?' 

I knew that I was late coming home, but that meant Yuri was extra late. (Which was suspicious because she wasn't going to school and didn't have a job.)