Minho

The heavy front door of the Lee estate clicked shut, finally cutting off the relentless noise of the press waiting by the gates. For the first time in weeks, Han Jisung felt like he could actually take a full breath.

As the only son of the Han family, he had always been an easy target. When competitors started feeding the press ugly rumors to ruin his reputation and crash his family’s stock, his parents had to act fast. An arrangement was made with the equally powerful Lee family, followed by a simple joint statement announcing their engagement.

To make people actually believe it, they had spent the entire evening at a formal dinner, smiling at shareholders, dodging invasive questions, and pretending to be completely taken with each other. It was incredibly draining, but the sudden engagement was loud enough to drown out the rumors, at least for now.

Now, standing in the center of Minho’s spacious, dimly lit living room, the absolute silence felt almost jarring. Jisung’s bags were already piled in the hallway. He lingered near the entryway for a moment, suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands without a champagne glass to hold or Minho's arm to politely cling to.

Minho walked past him, tiredly pulling at the knot of his tie. He ran a hand through his hair, immediately ruining the polished style he had kept up for the cameras all night.

— Well, that was five hours of total bullshit, Minho said quietly, tossing his suit jacket onto a nearby armchair. He looked over at Jisung with a faint, dry smile. — We barely got a word in at the table, so... welcome to your new home, I guess.