boyfriend for rent • kim yohan

029

Jinah, surprisingly quiet now after all the ruckus she had caused a few minutes earlier, followed Wooseok away without another word, leaving Yohan and Jiwoo to stand in the middle of the cafeteria.

"What are you looking at?" Jiwoo barked out. "Show's over, go back to your lives." She made a shoo-ing motion with her hands, and the crowd slowly dissipated, but not before giving the two friends one last glance.

Yuvin and Jyunhao made their way to Yohan and Jiwoo.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Jiwoo said, mostly to Jyunhao. The redhead had no clue about her renting a boyfriend, and he must've felt betrayed to not have known it despite all her other friends being made well aware.

"You shouldn't be the one to feel sorry." Jyunhao smiled sadly at her, patting her hand in a comforting manner. "You did nothing wrong."

Yuvin slung an arm around Yohan. "I don't feel like eating lunch here anymore. Wanna go to the convenience store outside?"

"Don't we have to sneak past the security?" Jyunhao questioned, tilting his head to the right.

"Smart boy."

———
"I'm sorry."

Wooseok's soft voice was carried by the wind that flew by. Jinah refused to look at him, her eyes solely fixed on the ground.

"If you want to me to be honest, I am in love with someone else." He continued when she didn't say a thing. " I'm sorry that I couldn't treat you with sincerity like a guy in love should have done. I'm sorry you thought I was really in love with you, but you have to understand that I was just doing my job."

Jinah adjusted the hem of her shirt, her eyes on her shoes. "You are one hell of an actor."

"Like I said, it's my job."

Jinah shook her head after a long silence, letting out a short laughter. "You know, I don't even like you that much. Honestly, it's the humiliation that made me lash out today." An apologetic smile slowly crept up her face. "I was more humiliated by the idea that my first love was for a guy who I rented to be my boyfriend, like a hunter falling into a trap he made himself, rather than the fact that you don't return my feelings."

"I was never my intention for you to go through with the humiliation." Why wasn't Jinah aggressively arguing with him anymore?

"Any girl would know that the moment they step into the company, they're just looking for love. Not true love, but just love and what that feeling stands for." Jinah shook her head again slowly. "I guess what I really need it was closure."

"Did I manage to give you closure?"

"You did the moment you said you were in love with someone else." Jinah walked closer to Wooseok, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for allowing me to experience what love really feels like. Even if I did like you, I guess I can say now that I don't regret it." She smirked a little. "Even if I threw a tantrum in the middle of the cafeteria five minutes ago."

"What tantrum? I'm pretty sure no one saw it." Wooseok countered dryly.

Jinah barked out a laugh at the snarky comment she would've never expected to be from him. "I guess I owe you an apology. I'll be sure to go fix the news."

"Thanks, but it probably won't matter anyway." He gave her a soft smile, feeling glad that he would be able to end this on a good note.

"Why not?"

"I'm planning on quitting Boyfriend For Rent."

"What?" Shock would be an understatement for Jinah. "But you're the best at it!"

"I think I've been spending too much time finding love for other people that I forgot to find my own."

The wistful smile on his face was contagious because soon, Jinah was smiling too. She extended a hand for Wooseok to shake.

"Here's to the both of us finding true love."

Wooseok softly smiled and shook her hand.

"True love indeed."

-----
Author's Note:

I absolutely love the quote that wooseok said.

"I've been spending too much time finding love for other poeple that I forgot to find my own."

It's somehow very heartbreaking, but also shows how much wooseok is willing to sacrifice for other people's happiness, even if it costs his own.

To summarise, I love wooseok. Please don't hate him in this story :(
That statement is based on some of the comments ive seen in the prev chapters.

blueswritess