Strawberries and cigarettes

9

~head lights on me~

Hongjoong  ignored and disregarded seonghwa's existence for the next two weeks. whenever the older would try and talk to him he would put In his headphones turning the music as loud as he could get it.

whenever he would cook he would fix himself some and if seonghwa would come out of his room he'd pick it up and go into his own. he would purposely leave the house early to go hang out with his friends just to come back close to midnight.

ignoring the older and going to mind his own business. seonghwa felt slightly guilty for his words. had he known the younger would react this was he wouldn't have said it.

though today wasn't one of those days where either male could ignore each other. hongjoong's father walked around the apartment arms tightly folded across his chest. if seonghwa thought he had a permeant scowl, he was dead wrong. kim hyo-jin wore a permeant scowl and he had the wrinkles to prove it.

seonghwa wondered if hongjoong had actually ever seen his fathers smile.

whose smile did hongjoong have? 

why did he just think of something like that?

hongjoong's eyes stayed on his father, watching every move the old man made with boredom on his face. he could be with yunho and yeonjun instead of here.

" how has this last month been?" hongjoong's father smirked looking down at the two.

"peachy." hongjoong scoffed out not even bothering to look at seonghwa who sat beside him.

" well thats wonderful news. I need you two, to go on dates"

both boys looked up and then at each other. no. this was not going to happen. "sir, no disrespect but is that entirely necessary.." hyo-jin scowled at seonghwa, scoffing before looking at his own son who was out of it.

" entirely. we need publicity. my son marrying park enterprises lead model and heir holds no standing if people don't actually see it." that caught hongjoong's attention.

" father, no one knows who I am. I like it that way. if we go doing this people are going to-" hongjoong's words were cut off when he father roughly grabbed his face. his hand harshly digging into hongjoong's soft pale skin. he lifted his son's face so they were now making eye contact.

" you do as I tell you joongie. understand?" his father taunted waiting for hongjoong to nod his head. he roughly pushed hongjoong's head out of his grasp. the strawberry haired boy massaging his face trying to get the pain to calm down a bit.

hyo-jin further explained the point of the publicity dates . making sure both seonghwa and hongjoong understood they had to be affectionate with one another pretending this marriage was natural. if anyone would ask how long they had been together they would say for two years.

if they asked who proposed obviously they would say seonghwa.

there were rules and guidelines for both males in this. once hyo-jin left seonghwa turned to look at hongjoong. the red haired boy playing with his fingers a deep sigh leaving his mouth. seonghwa could still see the bright red mark on hongjoong's face. it would probably bruise the following day.

he paced himself slowly walking in front of hongjoong. the younger not even sparing him a glance. " are you okay?" seonghwa asked

hongjoong looked with an eye roll. "don't pretend to care about me now." hongjoong stood up, his shoulder brushing past seonghwa's as he went to retrieve his keys from the hook beside the door. he wasn't in the mood for this.

-_-_-_-

"mr.park this way"

" smile mr.kim "

" could you two stand a little closer."

the two listened to all the photographers. going as far as hongjoong placing a soft kiss on seonghwa's cheek. the younger immediately pulled away with a dusty hue of pink icing over his already warm skin. seonghwa would hold him by the waist and pull him into a small side hug.

all with a small smile tugging his lips upwards.

its all pretend. hongjoong reminded himself multiple times.

this continued for a total of five minutes before seonghwa pulled hongjoong's wrist escorting the red haired boy into the restaurant. chandeliers, classical music. men wearing suits with bowties lightly resting at the bases of their necks. silver or gold jewelry taking up more of their beings than their personalities.

women in pretty sleek ball gowns. corsages decorating their left wrist. red bottom heels painfully snug on each one of their feet. the finest diamond chokers for the finest of women who didnt age like the wine they were so slowly sipping.

fake smiles and forced laughter. money being discussed and thrown around.

hongjoong had never felt so...out of place.

and he couldn't ignore it.

it was like a mosquito buzzing and flying around his head feeling his ears with a non stop annoying sound. he couldn't get away from it no matter how hard he tried. not with camera's watching their every step. not with his fathers expectations weighing him down like cinderblocks tied to his ankles.

not with seonghwa's eyes ever so rarely glancing up at him even when he conversed with the people and painfully smiled at nothing but fakes.

"try not to look so uncomfortable." seonghwa leaned over whispering in his ear before returning his smile to the couple in front of him. hongjoong sighed. a fake smile wouldn't hurt for the night.

he sat down at the table he and seonghwa requested. a small little table with a window that gave u a skyline view of Seoul.  hongjoong  looked out the window and remembered how he'd much rather be spending his Saturday night anywhere else with anyone else.

" this doesn't make YOU uncomfortable ? " hongjoong asked, leaning his head on his hand while his eyes looked over the brightly light up Seoul night sky. seonghwa sighed.

"I suppose it does. i'm used to it." hongjoong looked up at seonghwa. " then" he lifted one of his eyebrows " why do you do it. why dont you ever do anything YOU find entertaining"

seonghwa softly smiled. " I never got a chance to find out what I found entertaining. business is all I know ."

hongjoong clicked his tongue and nodded

" then how about we go find out?"