"I don't want to!"

"You have to!"

"It can wait!" Hyukjae argued for what seemed the millionth time. "It's one dinner Donghae. I highly doubt your mother would be driving us to your apartment and inspect our living arrangement after one dinner."

Donghae glared and crossed his arms childishly. "That's not the point! I don't want to risk anyone finding out about our arrangement."

"You're crazy," Hyukjae commented for also what seemed the millionth time. 

"Stop calling me crazy!"

"Fine! Insane! Paranoid! Completely our of your mind!" Hyukjae groaned and turned his back on Donghae. 

He was halfway through packing his luggage in his bedroom when his mother called to check in on him. Hyukjae made sure that door was closed and his voice was low so that Donghae wouldn't hear their conversation. As much as he hates keeping secrets from his family, he knew that everything else that he'd kept from them would be nothing compared to his little arrangeement with Donghae. His mother would take it especially hard and blame herself for not being a good mother that Hyukjae had to reduce himself into selling himself like this. Not that he saw it that way. Besides, it looks like Donghae and him were on the same page regarding the whole contract thing. It was srictly business between them. Almost like an acting gig - a really twisted and bizzare acting gig. 

In the span of that five minute phone call, Hyukjae's mind went into full panic mode. 

"Umma, you really don't have to-"

"Oh, nonsense, Hyukjae. I miss you." 

Hyukjae would usually feel all fluffy and loved when she says things like that except that right now, at this moment, he was expected to move out of his apartment and into Donghae's for a year. He wasn't really sure how he was going to explain that to his mother. Specially since he hasn't really come out of the closet to them just yet. 

"I miss you too, Umma, but I'm just really busy-"

"I know that, son. I just want to drop off some home made food I made."

Hyukjae wanted to cry. She was being so nice and caring but he needs to make sure she doesn't find out about his current predicament, so he tried to plead one more time for her to just save the money to fix their roof and that he'd be the one to visit her instead. To which she stubbornly declined saying their roof could wait but her desire to be with her son cannot, and that was where their phone call ended. Now, Hyukjae was tasked with another problem and that is to be more stubborn than Lee Donghae and get his way on this small matter of staying in his apartment. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel like he's always plagued by the worst problems that most people wouldn't normally face in their daily lives. But then again, who in their right mind would agree to a fake marriage just to get out of debt? Probably only him. 

"Why are you suddenly being so hard headed about this?!" Donghae asked, too frustrated about the sudden change in Hyukjae's attitude. "You said it wouldn't be a problem!"

"It's not!" Hyukjae argued back, voice wavering a little since he's always been a non-confrotnational person. "I just- I just need time."

"Time for what?" Donghae looked around his apartment and couldn't for the life of him figure out why Hyukjae would insist on staying here. He thought the latter would be more than happy to finally get out of this dump. "What's really going on?"

"Nothing!" Hyukjae lied. 

Donghae furrowed his brows together because even though he's only known Hyukjae a couple days he could already tell he was lying. The latter was a terrible liar and have an obvious tell. Several actually from what Donghae's observed so far. 

"Hyukjae," Donghae warned. "Tell me."

There was absolutely no reason for Hyukjae to be intimidated by him and yet hearing Donghae's authoritative voice had broken through his barrier. No wonder the rumors he's heard about the company CEO was always so scary. He figures this was probably the reason why as opposed to the crazy marshmallow he's grown accustomed to. 

"My mother is coming."

Donghae was confused by his answer. "What?"

Hyukjae sighed and tried to explain his situation with Donghae. "My mother will be coming to visit me so I can't leave the apartment."

"Is that it?" Donghae asked incredilous that such a small issue had them arguing for so long. "Just tell her you moved in with your boyfriend."

"I can't!" Hyukjae said wide eyed that Donghae would even suggest such a thing.

"Hyukjae," Donghae sighed, a little bewildered that he'd have to explain the notion of their contract yet again to the latter. "We're going to get married. I know it's not a real marriage but it'd be real to everyone else. Don't you think your mother would find out about us eventually?"

Hyukjae was speechless since he hasn't really thought that far ahead regarding their arrangement. He figured that since Donghae didn't want anyone finding out about this secret conract between them that their marriage would be less public and more elope-y. Donghae observed him closely and noticed him chewing on his lower lip, yet again another indicator that there was something else bothering him. He watched Hyukjae fidget in front of him and somehow he recognized that same look of bashfulness in his face and just a hint of...shame?

"Wait a second." Donghae was almost afraid to say his suspicion out loud. "Don't tell me...your mother doesn't know of your preference?"

Hyukjae blushed and kept his gaze on the floor - not particulary fond of being scrutinized by a stranger. He mentally cursed him in his head and his hyper observant and deduction skills. 

"It's not like I was hiding it," Hyukjae tried to say as an excuse but the way his voice faltered was anything but convincing. "It just never came up and I...never bothered to bring it up."

If Donghae was stunned or even a little surprised to hear that from Hyukjae, he did a really good job of not showing it on his face. It was actually more unnerving for Hyukjae that he couldn't read Donghae as well as he could read him. It was totally unfair that Donghae knows so much about him and he knows next to nothing about the latter. Just because he doesn't have "sources" like Donghae doesn't mean he can expose so much of himself to the latter. 

The silence between them would have gone longer had it not been for Donghae's phone suddenly ringing. 

"Hello?" Donghae's eyes quickly went on alert and took one look at Hyukjae before he also turned away from him to have some privacy. 

"Donghae! How are you my son?"

Donghae swallowed the groan that threatened to come out of him at his mother's childish endearments towards him. "I'm fine, Umma. Why are you calling?"

"I'm just making sure that you're not going to bail on our dinner tonight. How is Hyukjae doing?"

"He's fine," Donghae answered.

"You're not going to give me some lame excuse like he's getting cold feet are you?"

Donghae rolled his eyes at his mother's accusation. "No, Umma. We're actually on our way there now."

"Excellent! See you soon! Say 'Hi' to Hyukjae for me."

Donghae simply said 'yes' before hanging up the phone. Turning back around to face Hyukjae, Donghae took a deep breathe and decided to get back around the issue of their living arrangement later. The fact that Hyukjae was still in the closet to his family caught him by surprise. It didn't even cross his mind that the latter would keep such a huge part of his identity a secret considering that most of what he's read about Hyukjae indicated that he really close to his family. 

"Was that your mom?" Hyukjae asked meekly. 

"Yeah. She's really excited to meet you."

Hyukjae chuckled feeling a little ironic since he's never met any of his partner's parents before. Not that Donghae was his partner...well, they were business partners, he supposed. That counts, right?

"Are-Are you okay if we wait before I move in with you?" Hyukjae was anxious to ask since he didn't want Donghae to back out of their deal. No matter how weird or strange he may feel regarding their arrangement, it was still the fastest way for him to pay off their debt before his hair turn grey. "I just need some time to come up with an excuse with my mom. I could say you hired me as a live in helper or something."

Donghae frowned not particularly liking that excuse out of Hyukjae. 

"We'll talk about this again later," was all Donghae said before ending their discussion on that matter. "Right now, I need you to focus on being my fiancee because my mother can be a major headache if you're not ready for it."

"She can't be that bad."

Donghae gave Hyukjae a look and lightly shook his head. "Where do you think I get my strict attitude and intuition from?"

Hyukjae p