Brain Wash [JaeRi]

fifteen

"So this must be Yeri." the lady said as she sat next to Yeri. "I may not know Jaehyun that close, but seeing him post pictures of his lover was such a shock honestly. I mean, just until few weeks ago this man was nothing but work." she said laughing. Jaehyun sat on Yeri's other side chuckling while the lady's date sat next to her other.

"Oh let me introduce. I'm Chaeyoung. And this is my boyfriend, Chanyeol."

The man smiled & Yeri did so back. The couple settled themselves in their places, the women sat next to each other while their men on their sides. Jaehyun made small talk, mostly about casual business, while Yeri just listened. She stared at Jaehyun saying so many complex sentences, to her at least, wondering how does one remember all these words.

After some time they sat back silently and he noticed her stare & smiled. "What is it?"

"Nothing." she looked down shyly. Jaehyun held her hand tightly, an act he'd do with her as reassurance, to get her to open up and not bottle up whatever she had to say. She looked up and saw his eyes glinting, and smiled shyly again. "You sound so cool when you talked with them about work."

Jaehyun couldn't help chuckle and kissed her temple, catching the eyes of the other couple the lady fawning over the sight. "Why don't you be cute with me in public too babe?" she asked her boyfriend pouting. The man scoffed before closing in and whispered something, and by seeing her red face, Jaehyun knew he'd rather stay out of that conversation.

After a short while the event started, officials coming on stage and giving speeches one after the other. Jaehyun could tell Yeri was getting tired, her hand still in his while his thumb rubbed the back of it. He leaned in and whispered. "How about ice cream after this?" and she looked at him giddily.

Soon people were mingling, some eating some talking business. Jaehyun stayed with Yeri most of the time, only looking away to talk with others. After a while he recognised Chaeyoung's father approaching him and smiled as he stood up to greet the man. He had three other men behind him, all with drinks as he offered an extra to Jaehyun.

"This is him gentlemen. Jeong Jaehyun." he introduced proudly. Jaehyun as usual made small business talk with them, taking peeks at Yeri to make sure she was alright, which to his surprise she was as she seemed to have opened up to Chaeyoung.

Suddenly the elder man pointed towards his daughter while looking at Jaehyun. "There, my daughter. Wouldn't they make the perfect couple?"

Both mentioned were shocked, Chaeyoung standing up quickly and making way to her father. "Dad what the hell?"

"Language sweetheart." he scolded. "And what, you don't think so? I'm already setting you two up, how about next week Mr Jeong?"

Jaehyun stood speechless, the only thing in his mind was that Yeri didn't hear all this hopefully. "Dad seriously what the hell!" Chaeyoung spoke up. "I have a boyfriend already, and Jaehyun's literally engaged! How can you set two people up without their permission? You're disgusting." she yelled getting more attention before turning to grab her bag and walking out, grabbing and dragging her boyfriend along the way.

It became an awkward silence, and Jaehyun could feel the man's anger. He quickly turned putting his glass down and took Yeri's hand. "We're leaving." he knew she heard, but she kept quiet and emotionless and listened to him, grabbing her purse and letting him lead themselves out. Reaching his car, he noticed the other couple only a space away and saw the way the lady was freaking out while her boyfriend tried to calm her.

"I'm sorry baby. I hate him so bad! If I had known he wanted to do this sh*t I wouldn't have come with you an-"

"Hey it's fine. You stood your ground." the man hugged her. "We'll be fine, let's go home."

Jaehyun sighed as the two men exchanged sympathetic looks, when a loud voice took all their attention, Yeri immediately hiding behind Jaehyun's body shaking in fear.

"How dare you Park Chaeyoung!" her father appeared. "How dare you embarrass me in front of all those people!"

"You embarrassed yourself you idiot!" she yelled back at her father. "You didn't ask either of our consent, both of us have established relationships!"

"Please, you're both young and stupid and don't know what's good for you!"

Jaehyun was beyond mad, but feeling Yeri's shaking hands on his back he kept his cool and faced away. He opened the passenger door to his car and motioned Yeri to sit in, wanting to leave as fast as possible, when a high pitched scream caught their ears. They turned and to their horror saw that Chanyeol had been punched to the floor while Chaeyoung was being dragged by her hair, by her own father.

As much as he wanted to avoid it before, Jaehyun was not one to sit in silence about abuse. Letting go of Yeri's hand he ran to the scene and pushed the man away. He saw Chanyeol had gotten himself up, a bruise evident by his eye, when the man grabbed her again. The two men tried their best pulling him away, his hands now firmly gripped to her strap, ripping it off at one point.

It took a while before others got involved who helped grab and hold down the older man, one woman calling in security. Chanyeol held up his girlfriend who had long bursted in to tears, until her eyes caught something else and she froze.

"Jae- Jaehyun, Yeri..."

Jaehyun looked, his soul almost leaving his body at the sight of his fiance's figure on the ground as if dead.

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