boyfriend for rent • kim yohan

011

When Jiwoo finally got home, she quickly went to find Yohan to tell him the good news. She was quite surprised when she couldn't find him in the kitchen, and the living room was empty too, so she hurriedly climbed up the stairs. With such great excitement, she had forgotten to knock the door to his bedroom and immediately slammed it open.

"Yohan! I-" Jiwoo abruptly stopped what she was going to say, and Yohan looked just as equally surprised to see her there.

"Why..." she scrunched up her nose in confusion. "Why are you packing?"

Yohan ran a hand through his hair before looking down at his small bag, not daring to look at Jiwoo in the eye. "I know there's two more days, but I'm just packing now so that it's easier to leave when the time comes."

The girl's heart broke into small pieces at those words so she quickly shut the door behind her and walked up to the taller boy, putting a hand on his arm.

"You don't have to leave."

He looked at her, confusing written all over his bright eyes. "But the contract is only one month, of course I have to leave."

"I extended it."

Silence filled the room, before the boy let out a loud gasp. Soon after, a big smile stretched across his pink lips. "You extended my contract?"

"Yeap. Yuvin would cry if you had to leave."

A sly smile formed on his face. "Are you sure this is about Yuvin?"

Jiwoo playfully punched his arm. "Shut up. I was hoping that us three can graduate together." After seeing his doe-like eyes widen in shock, she quickly added. "If you don't mind, of course."

"No, no. I don't mind." He was becoming speechless. "I-it's more than I can imagine." His eyes softened. "Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it." She grinned. "Only on one condition, though."

"Name it."

"You have to stop pretending to be someone you're not, okay? Make all those stupid, unfunny jokes you make, and blabber like you always do. Be the Yohan we know and love, alright?"

A wobbly smile came over Yohan's face. "O-okay."

Jiwoo patted his head, watching as tears pool around his eyes but decided not to ask why.

"Don't cry, sweetie. You're going to make me feel like an absolute jerk even when I did something nice."

"I'm not crying!"

"Sure." She agreed easily, patting his head soothingly. "Let's go get some ice-cream, shall we?"

———
It didn't come as a shock when Yuvin decided to visit her house on a Sunday afternoon, but it did come as a shock when he specifically asked to speak to her without Yohan there.

"Yeah, what's up?" She said, dragging him to the living room couch. Yohan was in his room doing his homework.

"Um, I know I said that I didn't want Yohan as your fake boyfriend in the beginning." Yuvin said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "But is it possible you make him stay for one more month?"

Jiwoo had to use all her restraint to stop the large grin from spreading on her face. She didn't know Yuvin would actually put in an extra effort to talk to her about this. "Oh? Why is that?"

He sighed. "This is probably selfish of me, but..." he lowered his voice into a whisper. "You know how you're my only friend at school right?"

Jiwoo lowered her voice too. "I think everyone knows that."

The boy growled and hit her head. "Shut up. But yeah, Yohan is a pretty great dude, too."

Her lips tilted upwards despite her self control. "I don't know what you're trying to say."

In fact, she did. Oh, she did. It must take a lot for a guy with great pride like Yuvin to admit needing more company. On one hand, she was proud of him. On the other, she wanted to make fun of his embarrassment forever.

Yuvin rolled his eyes. "You know what I'm trying to say, okay? I just want to have one more friend, at least until graduation."

The girl in front of him feigned hurt, placing a hand above her heart. "Am I not enough for you? After all I've done?" She sniffled dramatically. "Ungrateful brat."

"It's different having a girl friend and a guy friend, you know?" Yuvin lightly tapped her cheek to make her shut up. "With Yohan, I can talk about guy things."

"Oh, can you?"

This time, it wasn't Jiwoo who had said that. The two best friends turned around to see Yohan sitting down on the last stair, watching the whole exchange in amusement.

Yuvin paled. "How much did you hear?"