arranged wedding | GOT7 - Jinyoung
╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗
fandom: got7
pairing: jinyoung x reader
warnings: some cursing, some
drinking, a lot of bad
parenting.
word count: 5090
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝
From a very young age you learned that business were business and there wasn’t much you could do about it. In fact, while growing up, you came to realize that no matter how much you complained, disagreed and even cried, your family business decisions wouldn’t change.
You just never thought it would get to the point your personal life would also turn into business.
It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, they should have talked to you first, there was no way you’d let that happen - all those thoughts and more, some not so polite, ran through your head. Who your parents thought they were? Did they really think they could decide on their kid’s future like that, being almost always away from home as you grew up, barely talking to you for weeks and then that?
You were sure you’d never been angrier at your parents - not when they forgot your thirteen year old birthday, not when they lied about your dog running away, not when they decided to send you to another school on your last year of high school and didn’t hear any of your arguments. Those stuff happened years ago, and as angry as you were at the time, you were now over it. And they now seemed too small and not important.
“What do you mean ‘stop complaining’? I won’t! You haven’t talked to me in weeks, do you even care how I’m doing? You suddenly invite me for dinner and I thought we would finally have some family time, when- when was the last time we had that?” you were furious, face hot and red, and you could feel your eyes starting to burn. You were doing your best to hold your tears back.
“Don’t act spoiled, y/n,” your father started, stern face as if you were disappointing him. “This is for the greater good, after months of meetings and serious analysis both his parents, your mother and I decided that it’ll be the best way to unify both companies-”
“I don’t wanna hear it! It’s not just business you’re talking about, it’s my-”
“Enough” your mom, who hasn’t said a thing till then, raised her voice “It’s not up for discussion anymore, and I’ll excuse your manners for now because you were taken by surprise.”
Under the gaze of both your parents, you found yourself speechless. You wanted to keep yelling, arguing, doing anything you could to make they understand your personal life wasn’t up for negotiation, and they couldn’t just decide on an arranged wedding like that, without even talking to you once. Swallowing, you turned your head, getting up from the diner table - the food you had earlier with your parents now left a bitter taste on your mouth. You grabbed your bag and moved to get your coat, wanting nothing more than go back to your home.
“I’m leaving” you announced, not looking back to your parents once.
You felt so, so, so stupid. You really went there thinking they missed having some family time, what a joke! You didn’t even know why you still bothered, it was always business for them, even their own child. Business, business, business. How much you hated that word!
Finally back home, you found yourself laying on your bed, starring at the ceiling. You were mad at your parents, mad at their so called business, mad for not being able to fight against their choices. It was your life, wasn’t it? Not theirs. Not theirs.
You were your own person.
You felt your eyes burning. You wouldn’t cry in front of your parents, knowing they’d only think of that as something childish, as a spoiled kid crying because things wouldn’t go their way, but now, alone on your room, you let yourself cry, tears running down your cheeks and hiccups leaving your mouth till you fell asleep.
**
Despite all your refusal, a month and a half later you found yourself once again with your parents, wearing clothes too posh for your liking and with a sour expression on your face. You hadn’t agreed with them or forgiven them, of course, but you were tired. Talking to your parents... It was just like talking to a wall. And so you decided to act the same way, not talking to them at all.
It was a party held by one of the associates of both your parent’s company and the other company, full of business people just like you hated. The place was pretty, of course, a very clean salon with glass walls that lead to a well kept garden - the green outside striked to the minimalistic white decoration inside and it was much more pleasing to look at than the bright lights that made everything inside even more white. Your own red shoes constrasted angrily with the polished floor, mentally noting that you decided you liked that very much.
You heard footsteps getting closer, and as you looked at your own feet you saw three pairs of shoes stopping in front of the small group that consisted of your parents and yourself. A few words were exchanged before your mom pinched your sides, a clear way of her telling you to lift your head and look at the family - also consisting of three people - in front of you. With clothes equally as posh and expensive, the other two people that had no regard for their child personal life and choices, as well as the fact that no matter what your kid is not an object or some type of barter that they could use to get contracts with other company smiled at you, and you barely answered with a curt nod before your mom pinched you again, making you put up a fake smile and properly greet them.
Behind them stood a man you only knew the name - the fancy clothes suited him too well, and with his dark hair parted to the side and bearing a polite smile on his lips, you knew that was the person in same situation as you. Until that moment you hadn’t felt any anger towards the son of the owners of the other company, knowing that life all too well you were sure he also had no saying in this. You felt some type of sympathy, maybe you hoped you two could form some type of alliance to put an end to this arranged marriage thing, but when Park Jinyoung looked at you, the polite smile nowhere to be seen and eyes colder than ice, as if he blamed you for everything that was happening, everything you previously felt about him turned into anger.
The four business people responsible for the utter anger and dread you’ve been feeling for the past month were talking between themselves, as always ignoring both you and Jinyoung in absolute silence when he put that stupid polite smile on his face again, lightly touching his father’s shoulder.
“I’ll have to excuse myself” he bowed slightly to both his and yours parents. His mother then, with the same polite smile on her face, nodded with her head, telling him to go.
“You see,” his father started, proudly “Jinyoung told us he wanted to talk to some of our associates himself, and this gathering came in perfect time. He thinks the relaxed atmosphere will make it easier for them to listen to him, since he is so young, and I agreed with that, so forgive me for he won’t be present as we discuss about that.”
“Non sense!” your father moved his hand as the four of them started walking towards a table, you silently moving right behind “It’s good for him to do that, he needs to be involved in his family business! Besides, Y/N is here, one of them is enough to be up to whatever we decide.”
You stopped listening after that, your stomach turning and making you feel like throwing up. It was really like that. You were just an asset, something to do what a bunch of greedy business people decided without arguing or voicing your opinion. And now, after meeting the person you were supposed to - yikes - marry, you knew you were alone in this, there was no way you could stop this arranged marriage on your own.
Your anger was starting to be covered up with something even worse: hopelessness.
The decisions and agreements about your and Park Jinyoung’s “relationship” were barely heard by you - maybe you should’ve listened to them, to know what they were up to and perhaps try to change something, but you just didn’t had it in you at the moment. Instead, you spent the excrucitating hours on that table drowning drink after drink, only opening your mouth to forcedly smile or answer something about yourself when your parents glared at you. They would give you so much shit about your manners later.
When you noticed their discussion finally drifting onto subjects that had nothing to do with arrenged marriages or relationships, you got up at once, the glass of whatever drink you had now still half filled.
“I’m leaving,” you managed say firm and loud enough so the four of them paid attention to you.
“Y/N-” your father started, eyebrows furrowed. No, no, you wouldn’t get scolded here.
“Forgive me for for my manners, I’m still quite nervous about this whole situation.” the sarcasm on your words was subtle, but it was enough to momentainly satisfy you. You gave them a smile before bowing and said “Excuse me.”, finally leaving that damned table.
You weren’t really sure of what to do now, and only after walking around for a few minutes you realized how tipsy you already were. Maybe you could lock yourself in a bathroom stall and play on your phone until the party was over? Maybe you could call a cab to take you back home? Either way your parents would be pissed, but it’s not like you cared much for that.
You were almost deciding on going to the bathroom when you saw him, Park Jinyoung, with his fancy clothes and parted hair, talking with two other men. You suddenly felt angry again, and your tipsyness only made you braver than you already were, so before you could even give a second thought, you started making your way to the trio talking in the garden.
Before you reached them, you looked at your shoes on the grass. You didn’t like how red and green looked together - it was too bright, too chaotic. Good.
You furrowed your eyebrows and left out an annoyed breathe.
“You!” moving as fast as you could on your lightheaded state and pushing through the other two men, you pointed your finger at your fiance-to-be. His expression, previously stone cold, were now slightly annoyed. Good.
“I don’t care what you think about this whole situation, Park Jinyoung-”
“Jinyoung, who is this?” one of the men asked, interrupting you. You didn’t like that.
“It’s no one-” Jinyoung started.
“I just want you to know” you raised your eyes and looked right onto his eyes “That I wanted to be here as much as you did. And heavens know how much I wish I was ‘no one’.”
You didn’t give him time to react, already turning on your heels to get as far from him as you could. Annoying bastard, did he think you choose that? To be forced to marry someone you didn’t even know? Did he think it was your idea? Annoying, annoying, annoying.
Your steps were angry and determinated when you reached the bathroom, hearing the loud sound of your shoes hitting the floor with every moment on the first empty space you saw on that party. You realized you needed some time alone.
Throwing some cold water on your face, not caring for make up or anything, you took a deep breath. How much you wished to be no one right now.
**
“I... I really don’t know what to say. That... Sucks I guess? It sucks a real lot...?”
“Thank you, Mark. I appreciate it.” your answer came out more sarcastic than you meant, but neither you or Mark paid attention to it. You sighed loudly before shoving as much popcorn as you could on your mouth, not really interested on whatever was playing on the TV anymore.
You met Mark on your last year of high school, that year when your parents decided that they would send you to another school really far from where you used to go without even asking you about it. They were great at communication, as always. He was a really quiet kid back then, and so were you on the first weeks, when you knew no one and were too angry to bother knowing anyone. But then fate, also known as group projects, ended up pairing you with Mark Tuan, a quiet guy you didn’t even know was in your class, and Jackson Wang, loud and remarkable from day one.
You three became inseparable then.
They made that year fun and you even forgave your parents for that, you weren’t sure if you ever made friends as great as them. And years after graduating you were still as close, even if you couldn’t see each other everyday because of personal lives and adult responsibilites - hence why it was only you and Mark today, as Jackson was busy, travelling to deal with some of his fencing stuff. How much cooler than a corporate heir life is an athlete life?
“Hey! Hey, Y/N!” Mark had turned off the TV and seemed to have already called you a few times.
“Shit, sorry, I wasn’t listening. What do you need?”
“Yea, I noticed that.” he gave a light chuckle “We’re gonna think of something, ok? Jackson, you, and I, we can meet when he gets back and try to make a plan. Your parents can’t force you to marry that guy.”
“Thing is, babe, they can.”
Mark said nothing after that, neither did you.
“Shit, look at the time, I gotta go” you grabbed your stuff quickly, saying goodbye to Mark at the door. He had a worried look on his eyes, but you assured him you were fine.
Not really, but you would be.
**
The following morning was chilly, and you were to supposed to meet Park Jinyoung at 8:30am. It was already 9:15am.
You two were supposed to meet frequently now, to get to know each other and slowly show your - nonexistent - relationship to the public. And you were already 45 minutes late and Jinyoung’s patience was already 45 points lower.
When you finally showed up and mumbled a quick apology for being late, Jinyoung only moved his head, still not saying a word. To be honest, he felt a bit ashamed for being rude to you at first, of course the arranged marriage wasn’t your fault, of course you also had no saying in the decision and of course you too weren’t happy, he was also a bit angry at your drunk outburst at that party - angry at himself maybe, for stupidly blaming you. But after overthinking in the past days, he concluded he was mostly ashamed at his own behavior.
And now you two were walking around in a terrible awkward silence.
Anyone looking at your faces could see none of you wanted to be there, the stiffness on Jinyoung’s walk, the annoyed expression on your face, never that you two would pass off as a couple.
The whole morning passed without many words, after walking around for some minutes you two talked to each other for the first time only to agree to enter a coffee shop and drink something hot to help warm up. The atmosphere between you two was painfully awkward until the end, when each of you finalle got into your cars and went back to your own lives.
This routine kept going on for weeks, the silent walks and annoyance on both your faces, no matter what place you two were going - coffee shops, galleries, fancy restaurants - sometimes with both your parents, sometimes just the two of you, accompanied with bored answers and comments about whatever had previously been decided about your relationship -, and even a museum once. Finally, after a long time that seemed longer because of the atmosphere between you two, Jinyoung finally had the courage to properly talk to you.
“Y/N.” he started with a firm voice that sounded less confident as he continued talking. “Y/N, I owe you an apology. That first day I blamed you and... I know it’s not your fault, it never was, I had no reason for that. You don’t have to accept it, but I am sorry for that. Truly.”
You looked attentively at him, eyes fixated on his face and raised eyebrows.
“It took you long enough.”
After that, things between you started getting less awkward, and little by little you two started talking. You weren’t really close, of course, and there was still some type of grudge held against each other’s family, but none of you blamed the other at this point. Maybe with more time and some help, you two would de able to find the best way out of that arrangment.
**
Time seemed to fly, but it also seemed to move slowly - like it was swimming on something even more sticky than honey. For how long had everything been going on, anyway?
In between all the many events you two had to attend, Jinyoung and you learned to bear each other’s presence and sometimes even enjoy it - and your talks evolved to more than twenty words. You learned that he liked white, and he learned that you liked red. You told him about the dog you had as a child, and he told you about how at some point he dreamed of being a pre-school teacher. You two realized your taste in movies, books and even food was more similar than you’d ever think. One time, late at night before going to sleep, you caught your mind wandering about Park Jinyoung and how you two could have been close if you had met under different circunstances, a lot closer.
Jinyoung had, unbeknownst to you, thoughts like that too. When you first met he was mad, and then things got awkward and now they were getting better and he realized he really liked that. He had no need to be the always prim and proper heir Jinyoung, he could be just Jinyoung, but it wasn’t only that. Being with you was easy because of there was no need to keep an image, of course, but it was also genuinely good.
Not that different from the schedule you two shared lately, that night you had a dinner planned with the companies’ partners. Each of you arrived with your family and greeted the people present, who were, presumably, families just like yours and Jinyoung’s. Of course, Jinyoung didn’t know everyone there to assume they all would be capable of architect their children’s lives like they were just another marketing plan, but knowing that life all too well, he knew most of them were capable of doing that.
With an annoyed sigh, Jinyoung put his usual polite smile on his face and after some words, finally left the small conversation group his parents had dragged him in. The dinner was being held in a pretty place, the warm golden color, predominant everywhere, gave it a rich aura, just like the fancy chandeliers. It was suffocating, though - a wasteful beauty, he concluded.
After a few minutes he found you boredly looking out of a window and decided to approach you, propping his elbows on the windowsill as he stopped by your side.
“So, what’s so interesting about this empty street?”
“Nothing much,” you scrunched you nose, voice sounding as bored as the expression on your face “But I heard something interesting.”
“Shoot it.”
“Apparently Mr. Nam and his wife were cheating on each other and their oldest daughter found out some days ago.”
“Oh. That... really is something.”
“Right?” you both still were looking at the empty street, that really had nothing much to see besides the walls of the neighboring buildings and the night sky. “It seems like we’ll have some drama going on on the next dinners. Wanna bet how long it’ll take for them to divorce?”
“That’s low. But Mr. Nam really is an ass.” you both looked at each other and chuckled a bit louder than the tone you two used to talk, earning a few glares from the people around. That made you two chuckle a bit more. “I’ll pass though.”
“Boring!” you and Jinyoung finally looked at each other, closer than you’ve ever been “Wanna play a game to kill time?”
With your eyes looking at his that close, Jinyoung thought he’d agree with pretty much anything without even thinking twice.
The game consisted of choosing a theme and saying a words related to it in alphabetical order. Pretty silly, but there really wasn’t much to do there.
“Gerbil”
“Horse”
“Iguana”
“Jinyoung”
“Koa- My name doesn’t fit the theme, you lost.”
“Jinyoung, I was calling your name.”
“Oh.” you were having fun with his distraction, laughing a bit while putting your phone down to look at Jinyoung again.
“One of my friends is throwing a birthday party today and another friend can drive us there, I’m sure it won’t be as boring as here. Wanna ditch this dinner?”
Jinyoung accepted without thinking twice.
No more than a couple of minutes later your friend was waiting for you two down the street. You left the party without saying anything to anyone, and Jinyoung wasn’t sure if anyone even noticed you leaving - as it seemed, not everyone was as bored with that dinner as you two.
You introduced your friend when you reached the car. Jinyoung had heard of him before, you mentioned Mark Tuan as one of your best friends, and Jinyoung had the vague memory of him from business dinners and parties and even from a few of summer courses he remembered going when he was younger. Corporate heirs seemed to have pretty similar lives, and it seemed like the world was pretty small.
“Hey.” Mark said quickly, with some type of look on his face. He looked at Jinyoung - who suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable - and then at you. You waved your hand as you entered the car.
“It’s okay Mark, I told you. We’re okay now.”
“If you say so.”
You sat on the front seat and Jinyoung on the back, a song he didn’t know was already playing on the radio and he spent most of the way to the party looking out of the window. You did most of the talk, easily making sure both he and Mark said something from time to time. The ride wasn’t that unconfortable, and Mark wasn’t giving Jinyoung looks when he left the car.
“Wait a minute,” you put your hand on Jinyoung’s shoulder, motioning for him to lower his head. You hands moved quickly on his hair, messing the parted hairstyle he always had. “It was too formal. And this kinda messy hairstyle suits you... I think.”
“Ah, thank yo-”
“You guys are gonna move or...?” Mark interrupted Jinyoung, and he now had an amused expression on his face.
“Yes, we’re getting in now!” you answered quickly, shooting Mark a glare.
Inside the place was dark, iluminated only by colorful lights and a loud, hyped music played in the background - much different from the dinner you two were before. It seemed to be a more private thing, and almost everyone there seemed to know each other. The atmosphere there was much more welcoming than the one at the dinner, as weird as it could seem.
Once again you introduced Jinyoung to your friends and aquaintances there, including the host of the birthday party, a guy with dyed red hair called Younghyun. It wasn’t hard to talk and have fun with them, Jinyoung noticed, he was actually enjoying himself and feeling comfortable around people he had just met.
As time went by, he started feeling a bit dizzy from the drinking and hot from moving around too much, so Jinyoung decided to sit down on a sofa that was already half occupied by a guy he didn’t really remember the name deep asleep. At some point you went dancing with your friends and Jinyoung hadn’t seen you since then, having gotten distracted by games and talking with other people. After closing his eyes for a few seconds, he pushed his hair back ad unbottoned the first buttons of his shirt, longing to feel a bit refreshed.
Then, after minutes just looking up without doing much, Jinyoung looked around and noticed the state of the other guests. The birthday boy, Younghyun, was passed with other two people he remembered you calling Chan and Sana, all three on top of each other on a sofa that barely fit two people. In front of them, Jaehyung and Nayeon were laughing loudly and snapping pictures of everything. Not so far from them, another group formed by Sungjin, Mina, Woojin and Dahyun sang a drunken redemption of Barbie Girl accompanied by a guitar. And then finally looking at you, dancing with Mark and other guy - Jackson, probably? You did mention that he was your best friend along with Mark and had recently came back from a trip -, laughing and smiling all through it, and you looked stunning doing so, being carefree, having fun and genuinely enjoying something for once. Of course, your hair and clothes were messy after all that time on the party, but there was something about you that made it impossible for Jinyoung to stop looking at you with a stupidly soft smile on his face, and a small voice on his head wondered about how nice it would be to be by your side like that.
You knew Jinyoung was looking at you.
You locked eyes with him and kept dancing and smiling, behind you, Jackson was his usual loud self and Mark was distracted dancing with someone else, and you decided that you were getting tired of dancing and wanted to sit down. Your feet were starting to hurt anyway.
“Hey” Jinyoung said as you got closer, smiling softly at you “Having fun dancing?”
“A lot. But I don’t feel like I can stand much longer.”
Quickly he scooted over, opening as much space on the sofa as he could while a guy slept next to him. You gladly sat down.
“So” you started “are you enjoying the party? Much better than that dinner, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s a tough decision, I think sitting for hours with my parents complaining about my shoes not being up to their taste would actually be really nice but-”
“Oh come on, just say it” you playfully hit his shoulder with yours.
“Fine, fine, the party’s been great. Your friends are nice and-”
“Told you so!”
“-it’s good to see you with them, it’s the first time I’ve seen you that happy.”
You felt something warm up inside you. It was funny to think Jinyoung noticed how happy or unhappy you were, a good funny that made you want to giggle.
“That’s kinda cute of you.” the words came out of your mouth before you could even process them, and it was Jinyoung’s turn to feel warm and funny.
The look on your faces was silly and both started to laugh after realizing that, when did being around each other became so confortable? And when did you two went from strongly disliking to... whatever was going on now?
The guy next to Jinyoung mumbled something in his sleep, startling him a bit. You, once again, thought it was cute.
The tiredness was getting to you and you decided to keep the mood between you two going on and rested your head on Jinyoung’s shoulder.
You still felt troubled, but a least a few things were finally starting to work out. You felt better than you had in ages that night - you noticed, closing your eyes for a bit.
You would be fine.