Contract Marriage 18+ [A Hopekook Fanfiction] ✓

3.2🥀

After finishing the unappetizing meal, she headed for the bright, sunny attic which she had transformed into a workroom and put on some music while she immersed herself in her work. She so often lost herself up here, loving the serenity that usually came over her when she was working but today she just couldn't concentrate. She had an image in her mind, knew what she wanted but she just couldn't put it down on paper. She sat in front of her drawing board, staring at the fifth blank sheet of paper in half an hour, resting her elbow on the tilted board and her delicate chin in one hand as she stared at the paper and willed the image into existence. She raised her pencil, resting the nib on the paper, before sighing resignedly and shaking her head in frustration. She dropped the pencil and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

"Hobie," the quiet voice coming from behind her sent her flying out of her seat in alarm, she half-turned, half-crouched in a defensive position before she realised that it was Jeon's voice. Of course that didn't make her feel any safer than an unknown intruder would have done. He had both hands up, palms facing her, to keep her calm.

"Relax... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he soothed.

"Well, you did," she retorted furiously. "Why on earth are you skulking around at home this time of day anyway? Usually you don't get home until seven or eight." He always left for work before seven in the morning and usually returned well after the time most "normal" husbands would come home.
"I thought that we could spend the afternoon together," he muttered distractedly while his keen eyes absorbed every aspect of the room. He was walking around now, barely paying her any attention, lifting things, fiddling with her tools, until Hobie couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't touch that!" She snapped impatiently when he lifted a pair of cutters that had cost the earth to import.

"You design jewellery," he whispered in astonishment, his eyes finally lifting to meet hers and Hobie's own gaze fluttered away, while her cheeks fired with embarrassment.

"I know they're no good," she ventured nervously, waving at the large portfolio he had lifted from one of her other workstations: she had the drawing board for designing, a work table for actually making the jewellery, a small cutting table for cutting wire and shaping semi-precious stones and her desk which housed her laptop, for paperwork and correspondence. "And I know that I should not be wasting my time with it. But it's just a hobby... so..." her voice petered off as he continued to flip through her portfolio with an absorbed frown, occasionally lingering on a page before moving on. She stood in front of him, fidgeting nervously, waiting for the scathing set down that would undoubtedly follow. He suddenly turned the open book toward her.

"This is your cousin's engagement set," he observed, tapping at the picture of the diamond and white gold earring, pendant and ring set she had made for Eunwo a few years before.

"Yes but they're Eunwo's design. I just made them."

"I can tell they're not your design. Your things are more..." he paused and Hobie braced herself.

"Raw... elemental... why don't you work with real gemstones, instead of semi-precious stones?"

"Uncut precious stones are insanely expensive. Semi-precious stones are cheap and easy to find and if they're damaged in any way while I'm setting them, it's no big deal." He grunted again, obviously barely hearing her as he went back to flipping through her portfolio.

"And this is what you do all day?" He looked back up at her for confirmation.

"Well I can hardly sit around and twiddle my thumbs all day, can I?" She challenged and his eyes flickered slightly. She snorted disdainfully as she realised that that was exactly what he'd thought she did all day. He probably thought she spent her days shopping and lounging around in beauty salons.

"Why did I not know this about you?" He asked quietly and she shrugged.
"Just one more thing you never bothered to learn about me," she said dismissively.

"Just one more detail you didn't offer about yourself," he responded fiercely and her eyes snared his in challenge.

"Would you have been interested if I'd told you?" He was honest enough to avert his gaze at the question and remained silent in response to it.

"How many of these have you sold?" He changed the subject, indicating toward her portfolio.
"None," she shrugged. "The only jewellery in that portfolio that I don't still have is the set I made for Eunwo and even those were just a favour."

"But why keep them hidden?"

"They're not good enough. Just a silly hobby, a waste of my time, really, I couldn't compete with the real designers out there anyway."

"It's uncanny, I hear your voice but it's like listening to your father speak. He told you that you weren't good enough didn't he? And you believed him?" He seemed uncharacteristically furious about that.

"No... yes... no... Look, I know that I'm not good enough; I have received no formal training. I printed stuff off of the Internet, did a bit of reading and started experimenting. I'm the only one who ever wears these and then only around the house!"

"I think that you should have Bryce Palmer or Pierre de Coursey have a look at these," she fidgeted slightly, not entirely sure what to make of his sudden interest and praise.

"I wouldn't want to waste their time, they're busy men." The two men he had referred to co-owned one of the most exclusive jewellery companies on three continents.

"I hardly think you'd be wasting their..."

"Look Jeon... just drop it, please," she interrupted harshly and his eyes snapped up to her strained face. His own expression remained impassive and he shrugged carelessly before slowly closing the portfolio and placing it back onto her desk.

"Suit yourself," he muttered, before continuing his amble around the room. She watched as he picked things up, inspected and replaced them. She remained seated, swivelling her desk chair every so often to keep him within sight. He eventually stopped his restless pacing to come to a standstill directly in front of her. She lowered her eyes to his expensive size eleven Korean loafers and fidgeted with the pencil she had picked up again.