"This was not how I wanted my life to be. Back in the old days, I would have thought that being a genius, I would be in a great job, jet-setting to all over the world, meeting new clients and impressing them with my charm and looks. Hey, I'm good-looking. I know I am. Maybe not right now, but I know I can be. Not to mention, I should have a wife by my side and 3 kids (no preference of the gender) to fill up my days with joy and laughter. It would be THE most perfect of lifestyles. However, life doesn't usually go the way you wanted it to. Even when you thought life will give you a break, IT DOESN'T. Why else would I, Choi Minho, ended up being married to a guy, not just any guy, but to KIM KIBUM, my arch enemy from childhood? Stuck in an arranged marriage with me being the 'wife'? How.. Just how did this happen?

 

 

Well, don't be shy. Take a seat. Trust me you will need to sit down for this. Any coffee or tea for you? Well, to let you have a clearer picture of what actually happened, I guess we will have to start from the beginning. It all started when......"

 

 

-Flashback-

 

 

Age 6...

 

"NO..Minne.. This is how you hold the baby. Umma say baby very deliket. We cannot hold like football. Umma say so. I donno what is delikat but I guess the baby is like a kat.. Bekaus Sooyoung noona say babies like milk just like a kat." Little Bummie instructed to his playmate, Minnie who actually rolled his eyes and whined. "Bummie... why are we playing this? I wanna go to the sandbox and make car go crash-crash. See, Changmin hyung and Kyuhyun hyung is there already. I wanna play with them..." whined Little Minnie again. "I don't care. I don't wanna play with your stoooopid doll. I hate dooollllsss." Little Minnie shouted as he accidentally kicked Little Bummie's doll, not caring that Little Bummie started to wail loudly at the destruction caused by his best friend, which then caused Minnie's mother to scold her son severely as it was an unacceptable behaviour and would not be tolerated While he was being scolded, he saw Changmin hyung snickering at him. Minho then decided that Bummie was the cause of his embarrassment and he will no longer be Bummie's friend anymore.

 

 

Age 15...

 

"CHOI MINHO....!!! Get back here. I swear, if I get my hands on you, you are going to regret it..."

 

A chuckle was then heard at the front door of a quaint, two-storey house situated at the corner of the junction as he was jogging away from his mother's voice. A reflection from a nearby car showed a tall, young boy with longish dark brown hair who was laughing over the fact that he had managed to outsmart his mother and escape from his house. He had been grounded earlier that morning when his mother overheard him discussing to his friend over the phone about how they were going to prank the DIVA club aka Kim Kibum and his posse by applying wet paint over their lockers, but no amount of grounding will make THE Choi Minho back away from executing the perfect plan to further torture his nemesis.

 

KIM KIBUM....

 

Minho's eyes narrowed at the sudden flashback of his nemesis' face. The bane of his existence. The thorn under his sole. The reason for his continuous need to break the rules. Kim 'freaking' Kibum was the perfect example of a 'good boy'. Because of him, Minho was forced to endure endless naggings from his mother who claimed that sweet, little Kibum from next door was such a perfect boy who never had to be called to detention and never made his parents worry for any reason whatsoever. Little Kibum was the model student in school, always acing his exams with great results. Well, Minho knew he was smart too and would have scores that rivaled those of Kibum's but Minho knew that there was no point in arguing his side with his mother. So, he never tried. This rivalry of theirs had been going on for so long that Minho forgot what actually had triggered it but it did not matter as there was no way in Hell, Minho will be friends with Kibum ever again.

 

 

Needless to say, after that day was over, Choi Minho earned himself another week of detention with his buddies from the school football team along with two months of being grounded. What made it all worth it was the look on Kibum's face when the paint touched his freakingly perfect face and his 'perfect' wavy locks of hair. 

 

"Yo, Kibum.. I need some new paints for my room. Do me a favour and let me use your head as the paintbrush. Hahahaha.. "

 

"Very funny, Froggy eyes. I'll be sure to jot it down and submit to the council of lame jokes. Don't worry, I'll personally direct the committee to your house when you win the award. By the way, the next time you and your slow-witted friends think of doing this childish pranks again, make sure you buy the proper type of paint. Water soluble paints??!! Oh, please, even my grandma knows that it will come off once you rinsed in the water." Kibum scoffed as he walked past the annoying froggie and his ape friends. There was just something in that tone which Kibum tend to use on Minho which brought out a weird emotion within him. Before Minho could think about his actions, his hands automatically grabbed Kibum and pulled him closer. "Really, Kibum... Gee, thanks for the tip. I'll sure to use permanent ones next time and just to be sure, I will make sure that every single inch of your body will be covered. Just wait and see." Minho whispered softly to his ear as he clenched his jaw. 

 

Kibum, whose eyes had slowly became rounder, whose heart suddenly started to beat faster, whose senses had magically heightened during those few seconds of closeness, suddenly realised just how close Minho was to him.... and how affected this closeness made him. Fearing that he might do something that was totally unlike him...like ...like kissing, Kibum quickly pushed Minho away and walked off. "Jerk-face..!!" Unfortunately, the momentum of Kibum's action shocked Minho that he lost his balance and fell onto the rubbish bin nearby. Without saying, Kibum got himself another strike in Minho's eyes.

 

 

Age 21....

 

",man. Just kill me. What the hell is Lee seonsaeng-nim thinking? Pairing the two of us together??!! Does he really want World War 3 to erupt?? KIM KIBUM and me as partners?? Hah, when pigs fly.... Besides, I'm positive the "high and mighty princess" wouldn't want to soil "her" dainty fingers by being my partner. I swear, Lee seonsaeng-nim is one weird teacher. Do you see how much he eats chicken everyday. Every single day..??!! Doesn't he get tired of it?" Minho whined to his roommate in the privacy of their dorm. When he realised the dino-looking boy was not even paying any attention and focused on playing his guitar, Minho took his pillow and threw it right smack onto Dino boy's face. "Yah!! Kim Jonghyun. Pay attention when I talked to you!! I'm trying to about your cousin here."

 

 

"Yah!! Choi Minho.. Why did you do that for? Now I lost my muse. Anyway, whatever happen between my cousin and you is between you both. I'm staying away. What are you? 5 years old? Give it a rest,man.. This rivalry of yours had been going on for way toooo long. Don't you get tired of it?" Seeing how he won't get any sympathy, Minho just ignored his best friend and took his pillow back. Imagining that it was that "Perfect" Kibum's face, Minho started to punch that pillow until he was satisfied..

 

 

"Yah!! Idiot. Lee seonsaeng-nim said chapter 5, page 10. Not chapter 10, page 5. Didn't your huge froggie eyes see the blackboard? Is your brain even connected to you? Yah!! Idiot.. You don't zoned out when I'm scolding you...."

 

 

"You stupid cat. Who said I was zoning out?!! I was merely... um... merely concentrating on this. Now it's your fault that I lost focus. Before you throw any Diva hissy fit on me, be warned that I'm not someone that will stand it. It's bad enough you were there when I go back home for the holidays, now I have to tolerate you here. Of all the university in Korea, why... why did you go here?"

 

 

"Well, it up, lamp post. The faster you stop your whining, the faster we can get this dumb assignment done. Since this will be the last semester before we graduate, there's no way in hell we will meet again. So, stop being a baby and work on your part, , before I smack it."

 

 

"Ooooohhhh, the fiery diva has a secret kink. So, you want to smack me up,huh? Kibum. Wow, didn't realised you are into that?" Minho sniggered as the blush on Kibum's pretty face started to spread. "Oh, shut up!! You know what. I'm just going to leave. Next time we meet, YOU better be finished." As Kibum made his way out of the library, Minho just can't help but to observe the slight sway as he walked and wondered what would happen if that got smacked repeatedly by him. "Oh God, all this studying must be getting to me" Minho slapped his cheeks, trying to avoid thinking all those delectable stuff that threatened to make their appearances the more he spent time with Kibum.

 

 

Age 24...

 

" Ring.. Ding.. Dong... Ring.. Ding.. Dong.."

 

"Um.. H..Hello.. Who is this?" Minho answered sleepily. He finally managed to fall asleep abt 1 hour earlier after weeks and weeks of restless nights. It was a huge thing when the announcement was made and Minho could barely even process it when the big day had arrived. It's not everyday when you found out that you were practically married to your enemy since young due to a stupid promise that was made by the elders of the two families. To make things worse, since Kibum was the only child and needed to carry on the family name, Minho was forced to adopt the Kim family name. Thus making him the 'wife' in the marriage. Life sure had a funny way of making itself known, thought Minho. Who would have guessed that the tall, manly and handsome young man would be reduced to being the 'wife'? Minho's stomach churned each time he thought about it. Sure, he ranted and broke quite a few items in his parents' house and even threatened to move overseas, but in the end, Minho knew that he had no choice as his parents' health was not at their best anymore.

 

 

The moment Minho heard the loud, screeching voice over at the other end of the phone, he knew that he was in a deep . "CHOI MINHO!! You better be on the roads right now and about to enter the church even as we speak. What kind of groom are you to have forgotten that you are getting married today? If you are not here in 30 mins, I swear I will go there and pull your ears like when you were young." As a wake-up call, his mother's voice certainly did its job. Minho immediately did the quickest shower in his life before zooming out of the door in a frenzy, almost forgetting the most important thing that he was entrusted with : Their wedding rings.

 

 

The whole event prior to the wedding vows had been quite smooth-flowing other than Minho almost being late for his own wedding, of course. His parents were seated near Kibum's, with both mothers suspiciously kept having dusts going into their eyes and needed their handkerchiefs to dab them. Kibum was standing at the altar, looking so dashing in his black suit that accentuated his slim figure. The moment Minho locked his eyes onto him as Minho slowly walked towards him, he could feel his heart beating rapidly as he recalled what had happened the last time they met.

 

 

~~Flashback in a flashback~~ (A/N:can this even happen?? O.o.. Oh well, it's a story..hehe)

 

 

"What the , Kibum? Are you serious? You really want to go through with his farce of a marriage?" The frustration of Minho's voice being evident as he ran his fingers through his hair angrily. " You really think we can work things out? I hated your guts for so long... What makes you think that whatever this is can work. Let's just call this thing off. I'm sure if we explained things to our families, one day they will accept it and not bug us anymore. I mean, they will have to accept it. There's no way in hell, I will marry someone like you.."

 

 

Kibum who had been sitting quietly on the couch, watching Minho pace the length of his living room as he rattled off his frustrations the moment Kibum opened his door then asked in a soft voice. "Why? Why do you hate my guts so much? All I ever wanted was to be your friend. I actually missed those days when you and I used to play together. What happened, Minho? How did things became so bad between us that you would hate my guts now? All these years, whenever you and your friends bully me, I always wondered about this. I never did anything to purposely torture you or even hurt you...." Years of having a dam around his heart finally broke as tears of sadness ran down Kibum's cheeks. "I never wanted this to happen too, you know.." Kibum whispered. "But I told myself that I would be strong enough to handle the hurt that will come with this marriage as I have enough love in me for us to survive this marriage. Now, to hear the hate from your own mouth, I don't think I can... This really, really hurts, Minho... Please just go... I will tell my parents the wedding is off... Just go.. GO.. I SAID, GO!!"

 

 

Minho just stood there,in shock, unable to bring himself to move. He knew he should be happy that Kibum is finally seeing it his way but the look of sadness reflected in Kibum's face broke his heart. It was a look of being completely broken.... And he hates it even more. Kibum had always been a spitfire, ready to fight back at anything which Minho threw at him. Minho realised now that he liked it. He liked it alot. Maybe, deep within his subconscious mind, the crazy reason why he loved to taunt Kibum so much was to see that sparkle in his eyes. Without him realising it, Minho walked over to Kibum and hugged him. "Bummie... I'm.... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you cry. I.. I.. Please don't cry anymore. It hurts when I see you cry. Scold me, roll your eyes at me but never, ever cry in front of me. I hate it even more than hating your guts. I'm so sorry I caused so much hurt to you. I was young and immature. Forgive me, please."

 

 

Leaning back, Kibum looked into Minho's eyes. Maybe to see for himself if this was another one of Minho's cruel jokes, because if it was, Kibum will personally pick up the butcher knife from the kitchen to castrate Minho for playing with his feelings. However, he saw none. Minho's eyes held something different from what he was used to. There was no scorn or hate in those eyes, instead, Kibum saw tenderness and possibly, a hint of love. Kibum's eyes then travelled down towards his lips, wondering if they were as soft as they looked. Minho saw Kibum's eyes shifted downwards and became dilated. Suddenly, Minho felt a slight tension in the air. He was shocked when he felt Kibum's lips pressed onto his. As fireworks exploded in his mind, Minho decided that he didn't mind this at all.

 

 

~~Flashback in a flashback over~~

 

 

Yup, Kibum and Minho finally came to a mutual understanding that night and feelings were exposed emotionally with promises of a better future along with more hugs and kisses. Minho could feel his cheeks burning up, the nearer he got to Kibum. Kibum, that sly bastard, knew exactly what was in Minho's mind and started to chuckle softly. When Minho finally reached the front, both of them turned and face the priest.

 

 

"Psst, Minho... I love you..."

 

Blushing deeper, Minho whispered back, " I love you too...."

 

-Flashback over-

 

 

"Well, that's the story of how the Great Choi Minho became a wife. Oops, sorry. It's Kim Minho now. You see, how unfair it is? See this photograph, just looking at this, you can see just who is the more manly one, right?? I should be the husband, not Key. By the way, that's his name now that he's a famous fashion designer with celebrities all over the world wanting to get their hands on his collections. Sigh, so proud of my baby. So... Any questions?"

 

 

"Er.. Thank you, sir for the tea and um, interesting story. I thought I was just here to deliver the parcel. Since you asked and I do admit, I'm a bit curious. Who topped?"