𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 | 𝒍𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒚𝒖𝒏𝒋𝒂𝒆

6

You woke up with a start, having experienced a pretty weird dream you couldn't recall anymore. Sitting up, you looked around to gage your surroundings and found Hyunjae shivering on the couch as he flinched and mumbled in his sleep.

Realising that he was having a bad dream, you quietly got out of bed and collected the blanket you brought from home to use on the plane from where it sat in your bag. Kneeling next to the sofa, you covered Hyunjae with the blanket over the thin sheet he had as a blanket to warm him up better. Then, you gently combed your fingers through his hair until he stopped shivering and his expression softened to a peaceful smile.

Fatigued, you trudged back to your bed and soon fell back asleep.

The next morning, Hyunjae woke up to the sound of the shower running. Sitting up, he realised that you weren't in your bed and connected the dots in his tired state. Rubbing his eyes, he felt around the sofa for his phone an realised that a soft blanket was covering the sheets he was using last night. Realising that you had covered him after he had fallen asleep, a smile appeared on his lips.

The thought of you going out of your way to make him more comfortable caused butterflies to rise in his stomach. Hyunjae leaned back against the sofa, letting out something like a giggle as giddy emotions overwhelmed him. Your scent on the blanket was so comforting that he could have fallen back asleep again. Instead, he got up to make your bed along with his, and stepped out onto the balcony to look at the view.

"Morning," you soon joined Hyunjae outside, your hair wet from your shower as you were dressed in your clothes for the day. Most of the day would be spent during the wedding rehearsal and other family activities, so you had put on a semi-formal little blue dress so you would be set for the evening as well.

"You look nice," Hyunjae complimented in return, opening his arms for a hug. You chuckled, stepping into his arms and wrapping your arms around his waist. After being friends with Hyunjae for years, you knew that he was always in the mood for skinship in the morning when he was still waking up. "What's the occasion?" he joked, perfectly well knowing the occasion was your sister's wedding preparations.

"You're hilarious," you replied, pulling away and admiring the view during the day for the first time. "You should wash up. We have to be at brunch soon, and my family is going to be so much worse if we're late."

Hyunjae nodded, going to wash up. Knowing that he wouldn't have the chance to change for the rehearsal dinner that evening, Hyunjae decided on a pair of jeans and a more formal shirt so that he didn't stick out too much amongst your family.

For the majority of the day, you had helped your sister with her wedding rehearsal because you were the maid of honour. Hyunjae stuck around for a while to help, but you soon sent him off to have fun at the beach or do something else, feeling guilty that he was just sitting there helplessly. Once rehearsals were over and it was time for the rehearsal dinner, you and Hyunjae trailed off to the dining room, giggling as you kept trying to tickle each other.

"You guys are so cute," your sister pouted when you entered. "Seriously. I can't believe we've never met Hyunjae," she added. "I mean, I've heard about you since Y/n went to college and yet this is the first time we're introduced."

"That's my fault," Hyunjae said. "I'm horribly shy." Even after meeting once, your sister could tell this wasn't true, earning a loud laugh out of her.

"Y/n," one of your cousins greeted. You and Hyunjae had just taken your seats to eat at the large table your sister and her fiancé were to sit on the evening of their wedding. "Is this that boyfriend your mother's been telling me about?" she asked. You greeted her, and the rest of your family, before confirming her question. "It's so nice to meet you! After all this time, none of us have ever met you. Even the ones that live in Seoul..." she trailed off, eyeing Hyunjae with curiosity.

That's because Y/n says you're old-fashioned, rude, judgemental jerks, Hyunjae thought to himself, masking his thoughts with a smile and a vague introduction. "My job keeps me pretty busy," he said vaguely.

"Of course," your cousin nodded, her tone disbelieving. As dinner was served, you couldn't help but laugh as Hyunjae confusedly used all the different sets of cutlery for all the wrong reasons. It didn't matter to you at all, and the surprised looks from your family were priceless as well.

"Here," you handed him the outermost fork. "You work your way in to your plate with each course," you explained.

Hyunjae only smiled, grabbing onto your hand. "What would I do without you?"

"The two of you are just precious!" One of your favourite aunts exclaimed as she passed by. "How did the two of you meet?" she asked, smiling encouragingly.

"At college," you told her simply, not having come up with a fake story beforehand. This was one of the reasons that you had invited Hyunjae; the two of you had a history and connection that you didn't have to lie about. You only fibbed a little about the nature of your relationship.

Hyunjae laughed. "That's a story you won't want to miss," he said, inviting your aunt to sit in the vacant seat next to him. "The first time I met Y/n was in the coffee shop on campus," Hyunjae began. "I saw her leave a textbook in the cafe when she left. Later she came back for it and I told her that I had seen her and held onto it in case she came back."

"How romantic," a different aunt of yours cooed.

Hyunjae shook his head, an amused glint in his eyes as he remembered the story. "That's what I thought," he said, remembering how badly he wished for you to return so he had an excuse to talk to you. "I told her that the only way she could have her textbook back was if she agreed to go on a date with me," Hyunjae continued.

You raised an eyebrow at this. You had always thought that when Hyunjae said he wanted to get coffee with you that day, it was a casual invitation. Now that you thought about it, you could have interpreted it as a date as well. You wondered what Hyunjae thought it was.

"She told me I could keep the book," Hyunjae added, making your family complain around you. "She left and I held onto her book, hoping that she'd change her mind. A month later, I get a call from the University library saying that Y/n's book was rented and that I owed them $100 for keeping it past the rented time."

You laughed at this, remembering how you had purposely let Hyunjae keep the book to teach him a lesson about ultimatums. This caused all of your family to scold you. Still, they were completely hooked onto Hyunjae's story.

"Eventually, Y/n found out about the $100 I had to pay and felt bad. So, she reached out to me and said that she wanted to pay me back because she didn't realise how much the fee would be. I told her that I'd just settle on getting to know her better. The rest is history," Hyunjae finished, looking proud of the way he had intrigued your relatives.

"I don't like ultimatums," you defended yourself. "I thought I should teach you a lesson for trying to force a poor girl to go out with you."

"Lesson learned," Hyunjae nodded. "Now, I'll only ever force you to go out with me," he winked. You felt your face warm at this, your family's attention on the two of you not helping with your embarrassment. Somehow, Hyunjae was perfectly executing his position of fake boyfriend; so well that even you were momentarily convinced by his act.

"Alright, let's stop hounding them," your sister interrupted, taking her seat with her fiancé in tow. "Hyunjae, I'm glad that you didn't give up on my sister," she added, sending him an encouraging wink. Hyunjae smiled at her, pleased that your family seemed to warm up to him.