Chapter Text
You didn’t wake up to your alarm.
You didn’t wake up to the sound of Jaehee’s voice.
You didn’t wake up because you smelled her making coffee nor because the bed had gotten cold without her there.
No.
She’s still there, your arms around her, hers around you, even if it had gotten hot in the middle of the night, the both of you grumbling awake and one of you throwing the blanket off, practically onto the floor. It’s summer after all.
No.
You wake up to an excessively loud text ring from your phone. You groan slightly in annoyance at the text tones and reach to grab your phone, Jaehee also grumbling in annoyance at your sudden sluggish movements.
“What time is it?” you hear her say amidst a yawn, adjusting herself more into you as you lay back down, phone now in hand.
“9-“ you yawn. “like nine-ish…” you respond opening your phone.
Good morning. The text from Jumin said. Reminder you’ll be picked up at 10:15.
“Yeah, yeah.” You sigh, throwing your phone off to the side, going and cuddling with Jaehee for another 10 minutes.
“What was it?” she asks snuggling more into you.
“F’kin Jumin.”
She lets out an annoyed grumble and you cant help but laugh.
“(MC), I’m going with you today.”
“Jaehee-“
“I’m going.”
You sigh as you hug her tighter. “Ok.”
You wore your own polo shirt with the glorified underwear, and Jaehee packed you another pair of pants for later thank god. The driver arrived at 10:15 sharp just as Jumin said they would. There wasn’t a problem with Jaehee showing up, the driver knew her, and the people at the front desk of the club also already knew her face as Jumin Han’s chief assistant. She reassured you she would be hanging back at the main building the whole day, gave you a kiss and you were off to meet up with your employer.
Their Tee had already been in session apparently when you got there. You were greeted with bright smiles from both your friend and his father and grumbles of frustration from the women accompanying them.
“What a wonderful surprise to see you here Ms.(MC)!” Han Sr. commented as he went to pick out a good driver.
“I am glad you enjoy my company!” you smile back. “I’m glad Jumin invited me over for such an outing with all of you! I look forward to it!”
“Jumin?” you heard Glam grumble.
“Ms.(MC)-“ Sarah hissed. “Is that any way to speak to your employer? Calling him by his first-“
“Ms.Sarah, (MC) is now more a friend than an employee.” Jumin interrupts her as he takes his position in front of the ball.
“We all know she’s the side whore.” Glam offhandedly says.
“Glam, please.”
You glance over to Sarah after this comforting revelation that even Glam can’t put up with this bullshit anymore; she doesn’t notice you looking for a good couple of seconds. When she finally does, looking to you surprised, you beam a taunting smile in return. You watch her cheeks puff out and she whips her head away from you again, you’re surprised that ridiculous sun-hat of hers doesn’t fly off her wig.
“(MC), would you care to also play?” you hear your friend ask.
“Oh!” you gasp theatrically. “Really? Well, yes! But i… oh my I’m really embarrassed by this, but I’ve never played!” you say setting a cheek in a hand and cocking your hips a bit.
“Absolutely no issue, I’m sure you’ll pick it up fast.” He says, a subtle wink thrown in the middle.
You giggle some more as he hands you a driver and proceeds to place himself behind you- in order to show how to properly hit the ball of course! And it wasn’t your fault the first ball went flying over there! And the second went there! And the third went behind y’all!
“It seems she isn’t a fast learner.” Sarah says.
“Only a slow start, I’m sure.” You hear Han Sr. say in response.
“You need to stop taking her side.” Glam practically barks at him.
You watch his face contort to annoyance for a second in response to his fiancé’s sudden lash at him, before returning to a neutral bland expression aimed towards you.
“You seem to be having fun?” he asks.
“I am!” you smile.
He smiles with you- “Good, that’s all that really matters at times like these~ Let go a bit Glam! Even the secretary knows how to relax after a long week.”
There’s a slight huff from her and you barely notice when Jumin goes and hits the ball where it needs to go for you.
“Maybe driving isn’t your forte. I’m sure playing short range will be easier.” He says, quickly making his way to the golf cart.
“Oh! What a shame! The golf cart only takes 4 people!” You hear Sarah exclaim. “You’ll have to go and ride the cart with all the bags and everything sweetie.” She cackles waving a finger over to the other cart.
“Sarah, please, be a dear and accompany her in the other cart then.” You hear your friend say offhandedly.
Wait what?!
The air is awkwardly stiff with all of you except Jumin, who looks carefree at the moment. You think you hear his father whisper at him if he’s serious.
“You know what! Fine!” Sarah snaps throwing her stuff at the caddy. “Come on (MC), let’s be friends!”
You can’t help but gulp down at the sound of her saying that- You both were honestly just making up the details of this whole thing as you went along (as always goddamnit- why do you two always end up making this mistake?). But…Is this really ok?
You go and help the caddies quickly before getting into the cart, say a curt “good afternoon” to the driver and set yourself next to the, by legality, Mrs.Han.
“Just what the fuck are you doing?” she asks as the cart starts.
“Attending a casual golf outing.” (Well you’re not lying).
She groans and scowls at you. You admittedly for a second actually think she’s going to give a dignified, down-low threat, one that the caddies wouldn’t understand to be. But… this is Sarah we’re talking about-
“You ass needs to git and motherfucking leave before I fucking make you leave bitch.”
You see the driver and even see the two caddies seated behind you tense up and all you do is keep that sweet smile of yours plastered on your face.
“Ms.Sarah, come now; just what, am I doing to make you so angry?”
“Fucking my husband.”
“Ms.Sarah, please; we both know I’m in a relationship-“ say it real loud “with a woman.”
“Yeah, I know you- you- you’re like fucking gay or whatfuckingever now- but- but.”
You’re glad no one can see the taunting smile that’s plastered on your face. It’s most likely as ugly as what you’ve been doing to this woman these past months. But who cares- that doesn’t matter right now.
“And the both of you?”
“Don’t you mock me!” she hisses. “You know if it weren’t for you everything would’ve been normal!”
“If your husband hadn’t hired a secretary to help his chief assistant?”
“I swear- I hate you.”
You shift around in your seat, pretending to be uncomfortable and using all your energy to keep from laughing.
The next hole was like the last, and you were making an effort to make small talk with the caddies and drivers as time went along. It only seemed right to do so since Sarah was treating them like trash. Now, getting her angry and annoyed as fuck? Jumin was doing an outstanding job of that. You don’t know how he was able to press every single button of hers, and many of Glam’s too of course, it made you feel bad for Han Sr. who was caught in the midst of it. The man isn’t an idiot, he knows what’s going on. When you paused at one point to talk to him, you asked if he was worried about any of it all.
“Of course not.” He told you. “Sarah is Jumin’s problem, his issue, he can do what he wants. He’s not a child I can ground. I made him marry her for business purposes a year and a half ago, what he chooses to do with the deal after it’s been made, is his issue. I was content with having it my way then, now I’m excited to see who this new person he’s turned into is going to pull out from his sleeve.
You swear both these old men are literal fucking children- man, rich people are crazy. You wondered why in world this man really forced his son into a marriage- then again he’s never called it a marriage. Every time he’s talked about the both of them, he’s called them a ‘deal’.
The game ended at 3. Sarah’s hat fell into a pond, and she lost a glove. You hear Jumin throw a snide remark towards her, and she just groans more and throws herself into the golf cart after throwing the putter at the caddy. They don’t catch it, you help them with a smile and they thank you, and you thank them for all their help and efforts through this afternoon.
The cart starts up and it’s a 5 minute drive back to the clubhouse. 2 minutes pass and you feel you should say something-
“I… had fun.” You tell her.
You don’t really understand what the hell happens at first. You just feel her pushing on you and suddenly your rolling around on the green and the golf cart is still driving away (Thank god it wasn’t going fast). You hear various shouts amongst your own, but you’re quickly back up, out of confusion of what happened still-
You hear Jumin shout your name, and when you look to him he’s already stumbling out of the cart.
“Are you alright- are you ok?!
You’re still dazed, and looking at the cart you were just on a couple of meters away.
“She fell off!!” you hear Sarah shriek. “The stupid thing fucking fell off! I swear she even threw herself off!”
You look back to Jumin, having stopped a meter or two away from you looking scared. Damn, even Glam looks worried.
“I’m… Fine!” you say quietly more to yourself, before repeating it louder to reassure everyone else you are. “A small accident!” you laugh nervously hobbling back to the cart that Sarah is still in.
You go and take your seat next to her again, gripping a lot more tightly to the side railing than you were before.
“You hurt?” you hear a caddy ask quietly.
“I…” you mumble. Shit. “My knee is bleeding…”
“God, get the fuck away from me, I can’t have you staining my dress. It’s Vois Luiton i I just got it for this date. Although I should throw it out after this, it’s ruined after all of this anyways.” She groans pushing you away from her.
The awkward cart ride ends shortly after, the caddies ask if you want any help to get to the restroom to wash up, Sarah says she’ll show you where it is and… help you?
Glam stays behind with Han Sr, and Jumin, and you shoot a text to Jaehee on your way there.
“I was hoping for a broken arm.” She says when the both of you enter the restroom.
Why can’t you say anything?
Why aren’t you able to say anything?
Where is all that confidence you had an hour ago?
You pat a wet paper towel on your elbow that was also bleeding, and then clean up your knee and shin. When you stand back up, you’re met with Sarah leaning on the counter, arms crossed, wig crooked.
“How much do I have to pay you to leave?”
You can’t say anything back.
“Who do I have to fuck up in your life to make you fucking leave us alone?”
“Us?”
“Yeah, us. Me and my husband. Me and Jumin Han.” She sighs, not even bothering looking at you. “I’m trying to get used to you, but the both of you just love rubbing yourselves in my face, and I need a break, preferably I would actually love to end this right now. It’s not exactly in the bud, but I never had problems cutting off flowers that weren’t in the right spots”
She goes and turns, facing you, her arms uncrossing. You see her hands ball into fists. “Why?!” she asks. It’s quiet and it’s calm, but you can see how she’s holding back every emotion behind that thin layer of control of hers.
“What?”
“Why? Why are you doing this?!” She asks, but they sound like cries. “Why do you have to do this?! This was my only fucking way out!” She splutters out, desperately. “Unnie said it was going to be fine!” she’s practically shouting. “Unnie said I just had to smile! I just had to be nice! Well I tried!” she shouts, her voice so shrill you think it will break the mirror. “For months I was nice I was perfect- I am perfect! I’m everything I’m supposed to be so why am I still getting fucked in the end?!” she devolves into crying.
“Sarah… I-“
“But you!!” she shouts, grabbing onto your shirt. “You little slut! Fucking your way to the top unlike us who always had to work for it our whole lives!!” she cries, continually pulling on your shirt as you try to back away. “Why me?! Why you?! Why only after we married! Unnie said he was messed up- that he was probably gay! I! Was! Fine with that!!”
Why does she keep talking about her sister?
She has a sister?
You end up falling back as you try to get away from her and she follows onto the floor with you, gripping to your shirt with both hands now, covering it in her tears.
“I just- It’s just… Jun-ho.” You hear her sob out. “He got married… he got fucking married last week! 4 years- 4 years with him- gone! Because I’m a fucking idiot! Because I can’t even keep a grocery chain open!” she keeps crying. “What do you have that I don’t?! What’s so fucking great about you?! You’re nobody! You’ll never be anybody! I’m supposed to! I’m going to be somebody!”
“Are you?”
Did you just say that?
It was almost a whisper.
She looks back up, straight to you, surprised you even said anything.
“Are you going to be someone?” you irk out, taking in a breath of air. “Sarah, you’re basically 30… But… But you can still change who you are. Choose something else, do something else. You still have time. It doesn’t have to be like this. It shouldn’t have turned out like this...”Shit you’re crying too. But is it because of her plight? Or because you’re scared of what can happen?. “You’re like anyone else, you- you can… Sarah, it’s not the end of the world that this happened. You don’t have to be somebody. You’re like anyone.”
She just stares as you, looking scared and hopeless, you feel you should just shut up now but-
“Sarah, you must be able to do something else. You… you can always go back to school and-“
“and start over?”
You nod.
“Start over?! START OVER?! NOW?! YOU’RE TELLING ME- SARAH CHOI- SARAH FUCKING CHOI- TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL?! NOW?!” she shouts getting progressively louder, you never thought she’d actually look this intimidating, you never thought she could grow like this and actually come to scare you like this.
You didn’t think you’d let her
You don’t want to.
It’s already happening.
But… you were expecting this,
Weren’t you?
You’ve been waiting for this to happen,
Haven’t you?
The moment-
That moment-
This moment, when she just-
Snaps.
It was hurt a lot more than you thought it would- it was cleaner than you were expecting too, especially from her. A quick right hook right to your face.
You scream, but she screams louder than you and she pulls you by your hair before you can do anything back, she’s shouting something but you cant make out what she’s saying. You don’t even know what you’re shouting, what you’re feeing. You’re livid, but you just want to run out of this fucking place- its all a fucking mess.
There’s another sharp sting somewhere along the same place she hit before and you taste blood. She’s crying something about her nails. You feel a pressure over you and you see she’s placed herself over you, hysterically crying, hysterically shouting- you cant breath-
She wont stop shouting-
You can’t breathe.
She wont stop fucking crying-
You can’t breathe.
You can’t do anything- It all hurts—
You can breathe.
Everything is heavy. Your face feels like it’s going to melt off.
You prop yourself up as much as you can and you see Sarah shouting at someone, pushing them, and she keeps pointing at you-
Great she’s blaming it on you.
Wait-
“Jaehee!”
You’re instantly in her arms, and you cant help but burst into tears the moment you latch onto her.
“What are you even doing here?!” Sarah shouts.
“I came to pick her up!” Jaehee barks back, helping you up.
“If you tell my husband I’ll have you fired!”
“I don’t have to tell my boss anything in order to press charges on you, Sarah.”
“Charges of what?!” she shrills as Jaehee starts walking out with you.
“See you in court.”
It went smoothly. Well as smoothly as a big tabloid article about how the wife of the international C&R director being charged with aggravated assault from his secretary could go. He was right, it was a big circus, a big orchestrated messy circus. He was right about you not being able to show your face at work after it all went public too; Jaehee didn’t even try, and he understood. You admittedly tried to go to work, but he immediately fired you before you could, said it was better for everyone this way. If you say so.
He was definitely right about you being with Jaehee only strengthening your side of the case, and reading about Jumin’s whole act to the media was hilarious. He would tell them how he “never expected this from his wife” and that he wouldn’t be able to stay with her now knowing she was so insecure and willing to get physically violent with innocent people that were around him like this. It was surprising how everyone started talking about it- but that also makes sense, she had spent all this time since she married the man trying to make a name for herself; and in the end, it only came back to bite her in the ass. Oh, and that detail about her actually being Glam’s sister sure made the whole thing even more scandalous. Poor Glam, you guess, but that’s her and Han Sr’s business.
You couldn’t pay attention to all that too much actually because Seven- my bad Saeyoung had some crazy shit go on too apparently. He ended up finding his long lost brother? And got married to some nice girl?? You didn’t really understand, but the wedding was nice. You’d heard it had something to do with Rika, but that’s also not your business. You and Jaehee were too busy with opening the coffee shop towards the end of the court case (which helped it get publicity), to go prodding into it. The little information you got from Yoosung was that she was still alive, but she’s really sick.
Alive?
It got too weird to ask anymore after you found that out and you threw out any other curiosities out for another day when this all blew over, and things are calmer. Because after all, the shop is open and it’s busy, you and Jaehee have barely any time to breathe. But it’s different from C&R. She’s happy and you’re glad she is.
You don't want to be anywhere else.
It’s a good end after all.
Who are you kidding?
Now’s where it really starts.