hiatus.

jay‘s house was spotless as well, there was no doubt, but whereas sunghoon‘s home had a lively character, his was devoid of any personality. not to say there weren‘t some incredible features because that would be a blatant lie. while roaming through the house she had discovered the indoor swimming pool long enough to comfortably swim a couple of laps. it was one of those really fancy ones with an inbuilt regulation system to manage the temperature and the light, which illuminated the calm waters in whichever color you wanted. a gorgeous purple light had been reflecting on the walls when y/n had peeped through the half closed door the first time she had come over.

one of those could be found right outside the house as well but there were so many more marvelous things to be found behind the backyard that made the heated pool look uninteresting in comparison. the garden was huge and obviously well taken care of. with its gorgeous array of flowers and trees, it came close to how you‘d imagine paradise would look like. the seasons were changing but the turning of the green foliage to vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges didn‘t take away from the obvious magic hidden on this land at all.

in the center of the grounds, stood a weeping willow of impressive height with a little swing hung on its strongest branch and a wooden bench stood in the shadow of the leaves. a square flower bed of roses surrounded the tree. each shrub was planted deliberately and carefully, not one stood out of line.

upon first glance, this is what your eyes fall on first. but if you let your gaze wander, you‘ll take notice of the huge orchard and the various vegetable patches scattered throughout the vast space. most notably, a glasshouse with white framework stood at the outskirts of the garden with at least a dozen watering cans in front of it.

y/n could tell that someone‘s heart and soul had been poured into the care of this space. the plants were neatly trimmed and in order, no weeds visible, and the furniture set near the pond squeaky clean.

she‘d never seen anyone tending to the garden and it made her wonder. with the amount of money jay‘s parents so clearly had, she had thought his estate would be swarming with servants, eager to respond to every request the young jongseong might have. but there was no one.

she shifted her gaze from out the window to the blond boy sitting opposite her thumbing through the biology book. was he the one taking care of all of this? was he really capable of such devotion and love to tend to living and breathing plants? she would have never imagined that a seemingly spoiled kid like jay could take on this kind of responsibility. the thought of him looking after the little plants and potting flowers seemed to clash with her entire perception of him but she couldn‘t think of any other explanation.

for two adults and a teenager living there, there was an excessive amount of space. there were so many rooms which, upon first entry, made it clear that this was the home of new money. aside from screaming ‚mega rich’, the furniture lacked character. some of the areas were barely furnished at all as if to say "look, we can afford to have twenty rooms but we don’t even need to use them.“ solitary footsteps echoed the loneliness trapped within.

jay’s room was unexpected when you look at the blandness of the rest of the home. it oozed personality and charm. y/n used to think he was a one-dimensional, flat character who's depth was about as deep as the mount everest, but she had come to realize that she might had been looking at the picture upside down and had been staring at the mariana trench the whole time.

aside from the obviously great and extensive harry potter collection, he also owned dozens of vinyls, most of them from taylor swift. on the window sill stood a couple of succulents and a cactus with a self-made beanie and scarf on - apparently his name was fred and he wore a cute floppy hat in summer. he had an acoustic guitar in the corner of his room and she had the bad feeling that he was a wonderful singer as well. next to the guitar stood a golf bag with a ryan head cover sticking out. but the thing that made her fume (read: melt) the most was that he had crookshanks as a stuffed animal carefully tucked into his covers.

even his book shelves surprised her. apart from the many mangas he owned, he seemed to like to read various genres, ranging from fiction to non-fiction, to educate himself on many interesting topics but also just to get lost in fun plot and characters. y/n was surprised to find that he even read books that she thought he‘d deem as "girls‘ literature“ and, judging from their spines, he picked them up rather often, too.

this was very different from the great family library. you might not notice it at first, too occupied with marveling at the beautiful collection of antique looking books but they were chosen just for show. y/n would bet her liver that no one had ever done so much as to open them even once.

jay was not who y/n had expected him to be and her world had turned upside down, making her plummet straight to the bottom of the mariana trench. who was he?

she found his room oddly attractive and so was its occupant, whose face she had been studying intently for the past minute. the corners of her mouth lifted slightly as a pout appeared on his face while he skimmed through the pages. but she‘d be caught dead before ever admitting that aloud. admitting it to herself was a hard enough task already.

"you know, if you paid just half as much attention to what is coming out of my mouth than just staring at it, you‘d be learning a lot more,“ jay remarked nonchalantly, eyes still fixed on the paper.

this snapped her back out of her trance, jumping a little as he broke the silence. blood rushed to her cheeks and she opened and then closed her mouth again, unable to find just the right comeback.

"ah, got it.“ he smiled triumphantly. he turned around the book and slid it across the table so she‘d be able to read it.

"from resting potential to action potential?“ she groaned. "but we haven‘t covered that yet.“ she pushed the book away from her and crossed her arms over her chest.

he put one finger on the paper and gently shoved it back. "i know but i thought it might be good to get a headstart. you‘ve been quick to understand the previous topics and i think you‘re all caught up.“ y/n proudly patted herself on the shoulder and smirked. jay rolled his eyes playfully.

"and,“ he continued and she let out a heavy sigh, "this way, you‘ll be able to actually understand what mr. choi is talking about. i know his explanations are complicated.“ what took jay one sentence to explain had taken mr. choi half an hour and much screaming at the confused students.

"if you can raise your hand at least once or twice he‘ll be able to see you‘re improving.“ he paused shortly. it pained him to say this. "and he might agree to stop these sessions earlier.“

the sudden pang in her chest threw y/n off. was it disappointment she felt? isn‘t this what she wanted, stopping the tutoring as soon as possible? so why did her heart ache?

"i thought you‘d be happy.“ her silence made him hesitate. y/n liked to complain about having to see him every single day so he had obviously expected her to be beaming with joy. he didn‘t know what to make of her stoic expression.

y/n blinked twice. "of course i‘m happy,“ she muttered.

her own behavior astonished her. why wasn‘t she jumping up and down and clapping her hands at the prospect of ending this soon? she couldn‘t actually be sad about this.

maybe it was because she‘d have to spend more time at home again, exposed to her mother‘s rage. yes, that must be it. i just don‘t want to see her.

a relieved smile made its way to her face. it had not only taken a lot of convincing on y/n‘s side to believe that this was a good thing.

jay had come to actually enjoy the time they spent together. he found himself looking forward to whatever weird insults or inappropriate flirting you threw in his way, clearly amused by your desperate attempts to make him not like you. spoiler alert: it wasn‘t working. he had already been living in denial for the past three years and now that he had finally come to accept his feelings, as questionable as they might be - considering the girl he had the hots for was a meowing maniac - nothing she did could push them down again. he was tired of keeping his heart underwater; he needed to let it breathe.

he knew better than to make any advances on y/n. y/n, who had clearly been struggling with figuring out her own emotions. for now, he was content with just being in her life as a constant. but even that was threatening to slip away.

normally, he couldn‘t be bothered to get out his books after training to study. instead he preferred to do some gardening or to try another recipe from his prized gordon ramsay cookbook. but he had actually sat down on his desk yesterday to teach himself the new material. he was putting in so much effort just so she‘d be able to distance herself again. of course, he did not want that but he couldn‘t be bothered about his own needs. he was down bad for her. as long as y/n was happy, jay was happy.

and that he wasn‘t very much seeing how her eyes looked dull and her face had lost all its color. he was talking to her about how action potentials came to be but she was clearly lost in thought somewhere else.

he leaned over the table and softly pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. she was burning up. her eyes widened to twice their size as his cool hand came into contact with her skin. his face now closer than before and his breath softly caressing her cheeks, she went into panic mode and slapped his hand away.

"what are you doing?“ she hissed.

"i think you might be running a fever. you‘ve been so distracted the whole time. how are you feeling?“ the genuine concern in his eyes took her aback.

"i‘m fine,“ she muttered embarrassed. great, she had gotten so upset about their earlier conversation that he mistook her behavior for being sick. what was wrong with her? why was her body betraying her like that?

"i don‘t think you are.“ he shut the book with force.

"let‘s stop today‘s lesson here. if you‘re not feeling well you should be resting.“ he put the book back in its original spot, tossed beside the giant bean bag.

"let me make you something for dinner.“ he gave her a harsh look that stopped her from protesting. "i won‘t let you drive home in this state.“

she was feeling fine, at least physically, but she couldn‘t bring herself to say no. her body was frozen still, unable to just get up and leave like she should have.

that‘s how she found herself seated next to jay at the kitchen island peeling potatoes. he had insisted for her to just sit there and relax but, oddly enough, she wasn‘t willing to let him do all the work. she could tell he was an expert by the way he held the knife and cut the vegetables with such speed and precision.

the sun had already gone down but there was still no sight of his parents.

"don‘t your parents usually eat with you?“ he halted in his cutting movement.

"they don‘t.“ his grip on the knife tightened but his face revealed nothing but his normal nonchalance.

"they’re always busy with work but i’m used to it.“ he turned to her to flash her a smile but it didn‘t quite reach his eyes. she hesitantly smiled back.

an awkward silence followed. only the sounds of the knives hitting the cutting boards and the salmon which was already sizzling in the pan accompanied their quiet work.

y/n was in deep thought yet again. it seemed she had more in common with jay than she had initially anticipated. she felt sympathy for the boy who seemed to have everything he wanted but at the same time nothing at all. she started to regret all the times she had called him spoiled. yes, his parents probably did spoil him, after all, he had his very own home theater and bowling alley, but that didn‘t make him spoiled. his loneliness resonated in her heart.

jay stood up and took her now cubed potatoes and the vegetables he had cut - he was much faster than her so he had already filled a huge bowl - and went to put it all into a pan.

y/n couldn‘t help but stare at his broad shoulders which were hugged nicely by his white shirt. the sleeves were rolled up, exposing his strong and veiny arms. a black apron was wrapped around his waist, accentuating his figure, and while she had initially thought of teasing him, he simply looked too good to complain.

she felt her initial crush from the beginning of freshman year come back and she didn‘t like it. at this point, there was so much more to thirst for than his draco hair and her thoughts made her want to dunk her head into a bucket of ice cold water. all the hard work to convince herself she hated him was fading into nothing the more time she spent with him.

jay opened the cupboard above the stove and rummaged through the containers which held various spices and herbs.

"i have to go to the garden to pick some rosemary. will you be fine here by yourself?“ she jumped up alarmed and stopped him in his tracks.

"I‘m going to burn down the entire house if you leave me here alone. how about you take care of the food and i go pick the rosemary?“ the only thing she knew how to make was ramen so leaving her in charge of the food didn‘t seem like a smart idea.

he raised his eyebrows and y/n had to mentally slap herself for the funny feeling stirring up in her stomach again.

"do you think me that unkowledgable?“ she huffed and rolled her eyes. "it‘s not an exotic plant, i‘m sure i‘ll be able to tell it apart from the rest.“

jay spent the next two minutes explaining its whereabouts in aggravating detail before reluctantly letting her go. if y/n were to accidentally bring back lavender he might have to reconsider his already questionable crush on her.

while he was stirring the vegetables, something in the corner of his eyes distracted him. her phone that she had left on the counter kept on buzzing. the screen lit up every few seconds and jay grew concerned. he didn‘t mean to invade her privacy but what if it was an emergency?

he glanced over to take a better look. the sender was listed as unknown but as the messages kept flooding in he soon figured out who was behind all of this. it made his blood boil and the strong grip he had on the spatula made his knuckles turn white. that bitch.

y/n entered the kitchen, proudly holding a batch of rosemary, but the huge smile on her face quickly fell when she saw him staring at her phone.

"jay, what are you–“

"y/n, what the fuck.“ his voice was scarily calm and collected.

"why is lia texting you?“ he held up her phone and she saw the incoming flood of messages. she swallowed hard.

his question didn‘t require an answer as lia‘s profanities and accusations made it clear enough what had happened. ever since heeseung had chased her around school to talk, his ex kept on texting her. she had accused her of having broken her promise and that she better stay away if she knew what was good for her. y/n had left her on delivered after one unsuccessful attempt to convince her of her innocence.

y/n expected jay to lose his temper again, just like he had when he had found her lying on the floor of sunghoon‘s basement, but he just sighed and pinched his nose bridge in frustration. he went to turn down the heat for the stove.

he propped his hands on the island between them and leaned forward.

"you can‘t let her treat you like that. you should have told someone that she‘s been threatening you.“ me, you should have told me.

"what was i supposed to do when she was literally threatening me?“ she hissed and he rolled his eyes.

she sighed and sat down defeated. "i didn‘t want to involve heeseung. she is crazy and i don‘t doubt he already had to suffer enough when they were still together. there must be a reason they broke up after all.“

"you‘re right. she is crazy and that is exactly why heeseung deserves a warning and why you need to stay as far away from her as you can. the last time heeseung even so much as breathed in another girl‘s direction, lia made sure to get her expelled and in trouble with the law. and let me tell you, that girl was known for being kind to everyone and had never acted up before.“

y/n propped her head on her arms and closed her eyes.

"i fear that ignoring her won‘t help you. and ignoring heeseung won‘t either.“ she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. jay might be right. she inhaled sharply and looked up at him with red eyes.

"what do you suggest i do then? if i keep on hanging out with heeseung she‘ll destroy me and even if i don‘t then she‘ll still find a way to make me the villain.“ she buried her fingernails into the palms of her skin. jay had never seen her that vulnerable, had never seen her not pretending.

"getting her off your back won‘t be easy.“ she hummed in agreement and stared at him lost. jay paused, unsure whether to actually propose the idea that had popped into his head.

"whatever it is you‘re thinking, just spit it out. i‘m desperate,“ she groaned. "there goes nothing", jay thought.

"if she won‘t leave you alone because she‘s convinced you‘re stealing heeseung away from her then we need to convince her otherwise.“

"no shit, sherlock.“

"wait, you‘re not listening. showing is better than telling, right? so instead of just claiming you don‘t like him you need to show her.“

"so what, i push him down a cliff?“ jay had to stifle his laughter.

"what if we pretended to be dating?“ there it was. "we could be parading our relationship around on social media and in school. if she thinks you‘re already taken, she might finally understand you don‘t like heeseung like that.“ at least he hoped she didn‘t. the two of them were awfully close after all.

she just stared at him for a solid minute, her mouth slightly agape and her eyebrows furrowed.

"are you shitting my dick? no, wait, are you shitting my lady boner?“ was the final thing leaving her mouth as she kept on staring at him in utter dismay.

"what? scared you‘re gonna fall for me?“ he scoffed and did that damn eyebrow raise again.

"no,“ she blurted out quickly and he chuckled at her flustered expression. now why did she think he sounded kinda cute? STOP. god, she was losing her mind.

"i mean who is going to believe that we,“ she pointedly gestured between them, "are dating?“ no one would ever believe that the number one known enemies in school would suddenly start dating when just a few weeks ago she had hit him with her crutches. at moments like these, she missed them because she could have used them to knock some sense into jay.

"we can just tell our friends what we‘re planning to do. i‘m sure they‘ll be more than willing to play along.“ y/n felt like they were more likely not to believe that their relationship was fake which she could only thank herself for considering the way she had been acting on her private account but jay didn‘t need to know that.

"and as for lia,“ he continued, "she‘s been so preoccupied with anything and all heeseung, i doubt she knows about our history. as long as we make a consistent effort we should be fine.“

"not to say you‘re making any sense, but how would we even go about this whole dating thing? hypothetically speaking of course.“ she quickly added. she totally didn‘t like this idea. not at all. definitely not. negative.

he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "i guess the first step is to act all lovey dovey on twitter. you know, posting pics of dates and using terms of endearment and stuff. that should be easy enough since it‘s just online. the harder part would be being all over each other in school. i could drive you and take you to your classes. and i guess we won‘t be able to go without holding hands.“

"nuh uh, absolutely no hand holding allowed.“ she vehemently shook her head.

"but that is the bare minimum of what couples do. no one will believe we‘re for real if we can‘t even hold hands. i‘m not saying we have to kiss,“ she grimaced, "but we need to act lovestruck for this plan to work. showing simple displays of affection is the easiest way to do it.“

y/n gnawed on her lip as she pondered his proposal. it felt like she was about to fall into a trap but this might be her best shot at getting rid of lia. she wasn‘t sure if she could pull it off, especially now that she might be rediscovering her old feelings for her potential fake-boyfriend despite her desperate efforts not to, but it seemed to be her only choice. she took a deep breath.

"okay, let‘s do it.“

a/n: i worked very hard on this so i would be very happy about some feedback and to hear your thoughts!! 💖

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summary: y/n hates rich people and park jongseong is no exception. they have been academic rivals since freshman year (which he doesn't like to acknowledge) and always argue about the dumbest of things. but what happens when y/n's brother jungwon joins the dance team led by jay and their friend groups begin to mingle?

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