Chained | Bang Chan

f i f t y - t w o

I spent all about a week and a half off of work before I started feeling like I just might go crazy. Kunwoo was back at school, Chan was back at work and even when he wasn't working, he was usually off doing something without me.

This left a pretty large gap in my day.

The way my life had been, with Byung-chul, practically raising Kunwoo myself, I never really had down time. I realised that I didn't really have any hobbies or special interests outside of work. I also realised that I didn't really have any friends.

That was something I was going to have to work on. But, in the meantime, I decided to return back to work.

If I was being one hundred percent honest, I just wanted to spend more time with Chan. Which felt pretty pathetic to admit.

He had been avoiding spending any proper alone time with me. He was more than happy to be around me when Kunwoo was there but when he went to bed or school, Chan suddenly had to go be literally anywhere else.

It didn't surprise me. But it did hurt me. A lot, if I'm honest. This was his hot and cold act once again and I was really starting to wear thin for it.

I had absolutely no idea what he was up to. Part of me was just absolutely terrified that he might be off seeing other women. He had always had a taste for having as many women as he possibly could. A false marriage wasn't going to suddenly stop him.

I pulled my car into the parking lot and spent a good fifteen minutes just sitting in silence. I was worried about how Chan would react to seeing me.

I knew he was avoiding me so when I suddenly showed up at work I doubted he would be happy. But I worked here, so I had every right to come back to work.

I had texted Chan to tell him I was coming back but he hadn't replied, so either he was ignoring me, didn't see it, or just didn't care. Probably the latter.

I sighed and grabbed my stuff, heading into the building. My heart dropped to my feet when I was Sang-hoon standing by the elevator.

I had forgotten about him, or more like I had tried to. It hadn't really ended well between us and I had absolutely no idea what to say to him. I wasn't sure if I should apologise for 'leading him on or get angry at him for even suggesting that I had done that.

Surprisingly, his face lit up when he saw me which calmed my nerves a little bit. "Mina, you're back."

"Uh, yeah, I am. I missed being here."

That wasn't a lie. I actually did miss having some sort of purpose. I felt pretty useless just sitting alone watching movies in Chan's mansion. Well, our mansion. I guess.

"I...I mean, we missed you being here too. We thought you'd be on your honeymoon? Are you two back already?"

I was incredibly confused by this. Me and Chan hadn't went on any sort of honeymoon. How wouldn't they know that? Chan had told me he'd been at work every single day which means....

He lied. He completely lied to me.

I tried not to show it on my face that I was upset by this. I didn't want anyone to know anything was wrong.

Chan had warned me that paparazzi and journalists would try their best to get gossip or information from people around us. They would offer people in this building insane chunks of cash to just tell them anything juicy about me and Chan.

They would even publish it anonymously. So nobody would even have to fear losing their job if they gave up information. It was a pretty good deal for them.