Fair Trade

>He looked like an ordinary office worker in his mid to late 20s.
He had an average height and appearance.
His vague and ordinary features reminded him of Sei’s roommate.

Yuri turned his head, frowning at the funny feeling he just had.
His eyes rested on the picture of the two women on the shelf.

The blushing man kept walking in circles around the door with an excited look on his face.
He seemed to be practicing some lines and organizing what to say.

Yuri turned around with an amused expression.
The man appeared to be a blood relation of Chloe Johnson.
Seeing his behavior, it seemed he most likely had a crush on Jang Sei.

He took off his jacket and laid it on the back of the sofa, feeling an unfamiliar discomfort scratching his skin.
His eyes, as he unbuttoned his shirt one by one, turned to the front door again.

* * *

“Justin…?”

Sei couldn’t hide her embarrassment when she saw Justin standing in front of the front door when there was a high chance of Yuri Petrov being in the house.
Justin, with a beaming smile, picked up the bouquet he had placed on the floor and shouted loudly, “Happy birthday, Rose.”

Yuri Rose.

People called her Rose.

And today was Yuri Rose’s birthday.

Grasping the long straps of her bag, she hurried forward.
Chloe’s brother, Justin, had been pursuing Sei for a year.
He said that he fell in love with her at first sight in a shopping center where they had met by chance.

“I have booked a restaurant.
It took me four months just to get a reservation at that place.
Let’s celebrate your birthday today.”

Sei looked at Justin’s bouquet of flowers with an embarrassed expression.
Receiving this would mean accepting his invitation to dinner.
But today was not even her real birthday and she had a lot of work to do.
Besides, hadn’t she already rejected Justin’s advances many times in the past?

“Oh, that… I’m sorry, Justin.
I have a prior engagement.”

Justin’s eyes widened at her words.

“Prior engagement? You never told me this…? Didn’t you say you celebrate your birthday with Chloe every year? Rose, if Chloe is the problem, don’t worry about her.
She has already said she would support us.”

No way! Chloe couldn’t have said that.
She had even warned Sei to avoid her brother’s advances if he approached her.

“Umm… It’s with my boyfriend.”

“What…”

“I’m really sorry.
Oh, why don’t you go to the restaurant with Chloe instead of wasting the reservation? Her shift ends early today.”

It wasn’t a lie.
Giulio and Yuri monopolized all of her time nowadays.

“All of a sudden, a boyfriend…”

Justin, holding a bouquet of flowers, squinted his eyes with disbelief.
Sei stood in front of the door and took out the key.
Just when she was about to insert it into the keyhole, she saw the door handle turning, and the door suddenly opening.
A hand suddenly stretched out and grasped hers.

“That prior engagement will be with me.
Miss Rose.”