"I said, I'm pregnant," Krystal repeated.
"Are you kidding?" Kai gave a dry laugh.
"Of course not. Why would I joke about something like that? I didn't think this would happen either. I did take birth control. Maybe this baby is just too lucky."
"But… I feel like it's all happening too suddenly."
At this, Krystal's face fell. She shoved Kai away.
"What is that supposed to mean? You want me to get rid of it? I'm telling you, I won't get an abortion. It's not good for my health. I'm an OB/GYN doctor so I know this better than anyone."
"That's not what I meant. Calm down."
"I can't calm down. Kai, just tell me this, are you going to marry me or not? If you still can't let that Lisa go, then go find her. I'll let you two be together."
"Krystal, what does this have to do with Lisa?" Kai replied, exasperated.
"Don't think that I didn't know that you're still hung up on that woman."
"No, you're overthinking it. Lisa and I broke up a long time ago."
"Then why won't you marry me?" Krystal pressed.
"I just feel like I'm not good enough. I'm just an intern right now, and my home was bought on a mortgage. I'm scared I won't be able to give you and our child a good life financially. Do you understand?"
Hearing him put it this way, Krystal's attitude immediately changed. She smiled, "I wouldn't look down on you because of that, Kai. I already have a condo and a car. My parents bought them for me. After we get married, you can come live at my place. You can save that place of yours for your parents. Your car, too. We'll get you a new one. My dad said he'll get you a Mercedes-Benz GLK. Also, you don't have to worry about your job at all. I'll go and talk to my uncle later and get you a permanent position right away. You can be in charge of the Asan's Optometry Clinic."
Everything Kai had dreamed of could be made a reality with one simple statement from Krystal.
He suddenly realized that it was true what people said: get a rich wife, and you can be spared at least ten years of toiling.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Krystal asked.
"It's nothing. I'm just a little embarrassed to ask you to help with everything. I'll look down on myself."
"Kai, don't overthink it. You're outstanding, and these things should be yours anyway. Did you know, I really admire you. You were born to be a prodigy in the optometry field. I read all of your academic papers and they are amazing. Even my uncle said you're a talented man, and you are sure to do great things in the future."
Hearing Krystal mentioning this, Kai's sense of unease grew.
This was because none of those acclaimed academic papers were written by him. Lisa had written all of them for him in the past.
Now that Lisa was no longer by his side, he wouldn't be able to produce any new material. He could only rely on the articles from before to attract people's attention.
"Kai?"
"Uh huh?"
"What do you think about my suggestion? Let's get married. What do you think?"
Kai paused for a moment. "Okay," he squeezed out from between his teeth.
Krystal's expression instantly brightened. She hugged Kai's neck tightly.
*
Just as Lisa was about to get off work, she received a WeChat message on her phone.
It was from Chaeyoung. The message said, "Lis, go check our high school classmates group."
To prevent herself from being distracted on the job, Lisa had turned off all group notifications. Unless she checked the groups manually, she wouldn't know about anything new that happened there. With Chaeyoung's prompt, she immediately opened the group chat window for her high school classmates.
There, she saw a photo. It was of Jungkook, sitting by a dining table.
The one who uploaded the photo was Eunha....
After the photo was uploaded, her classmates immediately exploded with questions.
"Eunha, what's going on? Are you and Jungkook dating?"
"Eunha, when did you have dinner with Mr. Hottie? Why didn't you invite me? Meanie."
"You're amazing, Eunha. How did you get Jungkook to go out with you? That's no simple feat."
Of course, they were all kissing up to her...
On the other hand, Chaeyoung replied with the following, "Did you take this photo yourself? You wouldn't steal someone else's photo, would you?"
Her question obviously infuriated Eunha. She tagged Chaeyoung and answered, "I was at Jungkook's house last night. My father and I paid his parents a visit and he happened to be there as well, so we had dinner together. Do you really think that I'm bored enough to steal someone else's photo?"
"Oh, I see, so it's a business partnership," Chaeyoung replied.
Everyone knew that Chaeyoung was best friends with Lisa, so it was natural for her to act hostile towards Eunha.
"It wasn't a partnership; my father wasn't there on business. Our families are close. Jungkook's new car is awesome, and he even took me on a ride with him."
"I'll believe it if I see it," Chaeyoung replied coldly.
"I'm not going to send you all the photos. After all, it's a private thing between me and Jungkook," Eunha gloated.
When Lisa saw this conversation she felt uncomfortable at the sight of this…she felt burning sensation in her chest.
Last night, Jungkook came home late, and he looked weird when he hugged her…
Was it because he took Eunha on a ride in his car…?
As Lisa was lost in thought, Chaeyoung shot over a WeChat message to Lisa in private. She asked, "Lis, is what she said true? Did Jungkook really have dinner with her? That woman's disgusting."
"I don't know either, I never ask Jungkook regarding his whereabouts."
"What do you mean? Aren't you guys married?" Chaeyoung asked.
Lisa smiled bitterly and replied to her via voice message, "You know our relationship, we're not the lovey-dovey kind. Anyways, it's weird."
"You need to keep him on a tight leash! Aren't you afraid that someone will steal him from you? Jungkook's quite a catch."
"I can't do anything about it. If something like that really happens, then I'll have an excuse to get divorced. It'll work out nicely."
"Lis, is that what you really want?"
"Chae, let's forget about him. Let's talk about you. I haven't seen you in days, and I miss you already! Let's go out for food."
"Sounds good, I'll make reservations. What do you want to eat?" Chaeyoung agreed right away.
"It's my treat today, so you pick the place."
"Awesome, Mrs. Moneybags! I'll see you in a bit."
Lisa put down her phone and began changing, although she felt uncomfortable in her heart, she decided not to think about it anymore.
As she was leaving the hospital, Chaeyoung sent her the location of the restaurant.
- The Seafood Restaurant at Hilton Hotel -
Lisa took a cab there and arrived at the same time as Chaeyoung.
"Mrs. Moneybags, I plan on eating you poor today."
"Sounds good, eat as much as you can." Lisa smiled.
"Jungkook treats you well, he provides you with an endless cash flow!" Chaeyoung exclaimed.
"His monthly salary is transferred onto my card. Although I didn't earn that money, I don't think he'll mind me spending a little bit of it here and there." Lisa smiled.
She and Chaeyoung were both seafood lovers. In the past, she was poor so Chaeyoung always treated her.
Now that she had money, she was going to pay her best friend back by treating her to a big feast.
They ordered a giant platter with all kinds of seafood. In the middle of the platter was a 4-pound Australian lobster.
Lisa and Chaeyoung both dug into it in unison, too busy eating to engage in small talk.
After their stomachs were stuffed with seafood and wine, Lisa wiped the corners of her mouth and asked, "What's going on with you? We haven't talked in a while, have you been busy? Are you still selling stuff online?"
"No, I'm not. I've been busy being in a relationship."
"A relationship? You have a new boyfriend?" smiling, Lisa looked up and asked curiously.
Chaeyoung laughed mysteriously, "Oh yeah, and I like him a lot. But now's not the time for you to meet him. Once we go public with our relationship, I'll tell you everything."
"Okay then, good luck on your relationship." Lisa held up her wine glass.
"Thanks, Goddess Lis."
Lisa's heart sank a bit when she saw the bill…
Although she had already anticipated that it would be an expensive meal, 150,000 won was a little over the top, and it shocked her…
"What, are you regretting now?" Chaeyoung nudged her elbow.
"Maybe if I were treating someone else, but definitely not you. I just think that we've been ripped off. This meal wasn't worth that much. Do you know how much food we could buy with this amount of money at the seafood market? We'd be able to buy a couple giant buckets of shrimp."
"Haha, that's not the same. This is the Hilton Hotel, Miss Lisa." Chaeyoung laughed.
After leaving the hotel, Lisa got onto Chaeyoung's car.
Chaeyoung drove a red Mazda Atenza. Lisa used to joke that it was a typical homewrecker car.
That's because it was a popular car and everyone was driving it, especially young women.
However, with Chaeyoung's monthly salary, this car was luxurious enough.
"Lis, I hate that bitch Eunha, can you think of a way to make her life hell?"
"Um… how?"
"You can upload your marriage certificate to our group, then she'll have nothing else to say." Chaeyoung smiled evilly.
"I don't think that's a good idea. If word gets out, my mom will be the first in line to chop me in half." Lisa sat in the passenger seat, sipping coconut water as she sighed.
"Is your mom still not over what happened seven years ago? Technically, she can't really blame Jungkook for what happened, since he was already abroad by then. His god-damn parents committed the crime, and it had nothing to do with Jungkook. Your mother is too traditional. If it were up to me, you and Jungkook getting married is a great thing! He's good-looking, rich, treats you well and, most importantly, he is completely lovestruck by you."
"It's not as easy as you think. If it were, then none of us would have anything to worry about."
"You're right, but your mother will find out sooner or later. You'll have to brace yourself for when that moment comes."
"I still think that it would be best if Jungkook and I got divorced before our relationship is exposed," Lisa sadly murmured.
"But what if you guys accidentally spend the rest of your lives together?"
"Is that even possible?" Lisa couldn't imagine the scenario Chaeyoung set forth.
"This is a big world with endless possibilities. You shouldn't burden yourself too much."
Chaeyoung drove Lisa to the entrance of Imperial Park.
After a heart-to-heart, they said goodbye to each other, and Chaeyoung drove away.
As Lisa headed into the residential district, she casually took out her phone, and was immediately shocked by what she saw…
In her high school group chat, Jungkook, who had never participated in any of their conversations, sent, "I had dinner with Lisa last night."
This one sentence blew the chat up like a bomb.
"Huh? Didn't Eunha say she had dinner with you? She even sent us a photo."
"Yeah, did she photoshop that photo?"
"The man-in-question already denied it! What a smack on a certain somebody's face. Pa pa!"
"Hey Prince Charming, did you get back together with goddess Lisa?"
"Eunha, what really happened?"
Everyone discussed amongst themselves, but Eunha didn't reply…
She sent a photo to the group to show off, but in the end, all she got in return was the embarrassment.
Furthermore, she didn't expect Jungkook to actually send a message to the group.
She thought that he never went on WeChat. If she had known, she wouldn't have made a fool out of herself with that photo.
At this thought, Eunha added Jungkook as a friend; in the greeting message, she wrote, "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
Jungkook just ignored her and exited the group chat.
When he was added to the group, all he cared about was what Lisa was up to.
Now that she was by his side, he was no longer interested in that group…
After Jungkook left the group chat, his classmates began making assumptions…
The gossipiest of people tagged Lisa and asked her, "What's going on?"
Not knowing how to reply, Lisa decided that it would be easier to just exit the group chat as well.
Truth be told, aside from Chaeyoung, she wasn't close to anyone else in that group.
Especially after what happened with Taeyong, things became more awkward for her.
Now that Jungkook had left the group, he had created a perfect opportunity for her to leave it as well.
When Lisa opened the door to their condo, she saw Jungkook standing by the living room window, with a glass of red wine in his hand.
"You're home," she casually said.
"I went home last night. Eunha and her dad were there. I was with them for a little bit but didn't have dinner. I had dinner here. I also didn't take her out for a drive."
She was surprised that Jungkook explained everything that happened last night; he was obviously aware of what was happening on WeChat.
"Oh." Lisa nodded, acknowledging that she understood.
Jungkook turned around to place the empty glass of wine by the wine cabinet and walked towards Lisa.
Then, he picked up a box on the coffee table and handed it to her.
"What's this?"
"I bought this for you." Then, Jungkook turned around and went upstairs.
Lisa wanted to decline it, but he was already gone.
Lisa slowly opened the rectangular gift box to see a brand new, black iPhone.
So it was a phone...
Lisa looked down at her fairly old iPhone; it was the phone her brother Haruto had used before her.
She had given Haruto a new iPhone, so Haruro gave this black old iPhone model to Lisa.
Lisa thought it worked very well, so she had been using it for quite some time.
She didn't know that Jungkook was aware of all of this and would buy her a new iPhone.
She thought she shouldn't accept it; however, if she refused, she might seem too picky.
She had already accepted Jungkook's monthly salary, so should she really be hesitating whether to accept a phone, which was only worth a few thousand?
At this thought, Lisa brought the phone back into her room and then took out the sim card.
She replaced her old phone with the new one...
Then, to try out the camera, she even took a selfie on her bed.
However, she had no clue that this phone's ICloud was already linked to Jungkook's phone.
This meant that every photo she took on her phone would automatically show up on Jungkook's phone.
So, Mr. Jungkook, who was sitting in the other room, saw Lisa's silly selfies in her pajamas.
The corners of his lips curled into a smile…
Lisa then logged onto WeChat, and saw that someone had sent her a friend request.
She clicked on the request and saw that it was Jungkook.
She tapped on 'approve', adding him to her contacts.
Her first words were to ask, "How did you find my WeChat account?"
To her surprise, Jungkook immediately replied, "We were in the same WeChat group."
Oh true.
Just then, she received another WeChat notification.
Jungkook sent her a money transfer, it was 8888 won.
Lisa tapped on accept, and then replied, "Thanks."
Jungkook never replied...
- The next morning -
When they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked at Jungkook, and said, "I'll be taking night shifts starting this week, so I won't be back at night."
"Why are you taking night shifts?" Jungkook's furrowed his brows, clearly upset.
Lisa smiled unwillingly, "I don't want to either, but it's the hospital's policy."
"I can call Director Jung and ask him to cancel your night shifts."
"No, don't do that. If the director really moved me to the day shift, the other colleagues would have to take the night shifts. Then I'll be guilty of not pulling my weight in our department, and I don't want to be like that."
"Fine, whatever makes you happy."
Jungkook didn't say anything else after he saw that Lisa refused.
"Ahem... thank you for the phone..."
"Then I'd like to thank you for the breakfast," Jungkook oddly replied.
Lisa didn't know how to respond after what he said.
The two didn't say anything as they drove towards the hospital.
Jungkook wore his Bluetooth earphones; it seemed like his assistant was talking to him about work stuff, so Lisa did not dare say anything.
When they arrived, Lisa saw that Jungkook was still busy, so she opened the door in an attempt to get off without a sound.
However, Jungkook suddenly grabbed her left hand...
Surprised, she turned around to look at him.
Jungkook took off his earphones and asked, "How long will you be taking the night shift for?"
"For about a week."
"You'll have time off during the day, right?"
"Yes, I'll be sleeping at home during the day."
Jungkook didn't say anything else and let go of Lisa's hand…
"Then I'll be off, drive safe." Lisa waved at him and then got out of the car.
Jungkook's gaze followed her until she entered the hospital, and then he drove away.
- At the morning meeting at JC Headquarters -
After every department director finished their report, Jungkook looked around and slowly said, "I've something to announce."
All of the senior executives snapped to attention and began listening intently, in fear that they would miss something important.
"Starting tomorrow, for a week, every employee will rest during the day and come to work at night."
(a/n-🤦♀️)
Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this…
"President Jeon, this…?"
"Whoever feels that they're not suited to do this can hand in their resignation letter. That is all."
Jungkook stood up to leave after he finished speaking...
Assistant Lee quietly followed behind the president and, once again, was overwhelmed by his boss's willfulness.
"Uhm… Mr. Jeon, I wanted to ask, are you doing this because you want everyone to get used to the time difference? Just in case our headquarters moved to the United States, and people won't be accustomed to the time zone?" asked Assistant Lee as he suddenly thought of this.
Jungkook looked at him nonchalantly, and said, "You're overthinking things."
No one knew that Jungkook made this sudden decision only because he wanted to be with his wife during the day.