boyfriend for rent • kim yohan

028

"Excuse me?" Jinah showed surprise when an unexpected person suddenly decided to speak up.

"I said," Yohan lips twitched in annoyance. "Who do you think you are?"

Wooseok took hold of Yohan's arm, trying to stop the boy from complicating this situation. This was Wooseok's last day anyway, but if any trouble were to happen, Yohan and Jiwoo would have to be the ones to stay back to clear the mess, and Wooseok definitely didn't want that to happen.

"No," Yohan shook Wooseok's hand away, before looking at Jinah once more. "Do you think you can just announce to the whole world that Wooseok breaks hearts for money? Do you think you can just publicly humiliate my friend without knowing his side of the story?"

"You have no idea how much pain I was in." Jinah hissed.

"That's something for you and Wooseok to resolve on your own." Jiwoo said, drawing the other girl's attention to her. "Not in the middle of a cafeteria."

Jinah glanced at the two guys beside Jiwoo, before a smirk appeared. "I was trying to protect you from having your little heart broken by Wooseok, but I should've known better." She shook her head in amusement. "Why wouldn't a girl like Park Jiwoo rent not one, but two boyfriends at the same time?"

Loud whispers spread across the room and the three people's names were thrown around in the midst of it all.

Jinah walked over to Jiwoo, towering over the girl, but the shorter girl was unfazed.

"Why not?" Jiwoo gave Jinah a cocky smile. "I have the money."

Yuvin looked like he wanted to facepalm from the sidelines, but struggled against it. Given that Jiwoo's statement wasn't exactly the right thing to say, it was so typical of Jiwoo to say unnecessary things during a heated argument, especially one where she wasn't thinking straight. But even so, moments like these were rare.

Even though Jiwoo didn't rent Wooseok, she didn't want to put unnecessary attention on him anymore. Jiwoo didn't really think that money could solve everything, but at this point, she was just trying to rile the other girl up out of immaturity.

"I bet you enjoy flirting with these guys as much as they do. Why not go earn money from it?" Jinah was positively livid.

"Hmm... but I'm already rich." Most of the times, Jiwoo didn't know when to shut up.

"So rich that you had to buy boyfriends with money. Are you that socially inept? Are you that lonely? The moment you stop renting them, these people will leave your side and look at you like you're trash. Do you think they like you for who you are?" Jinah scoffed. "They like your money, Jiwoo. That's it."

The word lonely struck a cord in Jiwoo, but she didn't let her pain show. Was that why she decided to rent Yohan for one more month? Was that why she agreed to having Wooseok around? Perhaps, deep down, Jiwoo was just another lonely child seeking company with money, and her 'boyfriends' were just guys sticking around her until she ran out of money.

Yohan glanced at Jiwoo, and one look at her face, his hand immediately reached out to hold hers. She looked at him in mild surprise, a mixture of comfort and reassurance washing over her with one simple physical contact. It was as if his hold told her that he wouldn't leave her, no matter what, and that fact warmed her heart in ways that she couldn't describe.

"Stop." Wooseok finally said, unable to stand the argument anymore. "Jiwoo didn't rent me. The company allowed me to be with her for one week as an apology for the miscommunication that happened."

"Oh, so you flirt for free now?" Jinah bit back.

"You bi-" Yohan immediately covered Jiwoo's mouth, knowing that if the word escaped her, Jinah would rage even more.

"You're not in a position to say anything." Yohan told Jinah. "You, like Jiwoo, rented a boyfriend from BFR. But unlike Jiwoo, you do not understand that flirting with you is their job. The moment you signed the contact, you knew what you were getting into."

The tall girl went silent. Because deep, deep down, Jinah knew that. She knew that it was Wooseok's job and she was well aware of the consequences, but to hear it from another person's mouth was different. It dragged her back to reality, almost harshly.

Jiwoo took the silence as a lack of comeback, so she grabbed Wooseok's arm. "Come on, dude, let's get out of here."

Unexpectedly, the boy gently pulled out of his friend's grasp, ignoring her questioning look. He went up to Jinah, who was staring at her toes, standing height to height, and circled his hand around her wrist.

"I think it's about time we talked."
———
Author's Note:
I shouldn't have named the character Jinah. Now I get confused every time I see a 'J': Is this a Jinah or a Jiwoo?

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Blueswritess