"I hate you!" Soojung hissed, her words slightly slurring.

"I already know that," Minho answered without a hint of emotion in his voice or facial expression. He turns to her and starts putting her seatbelt on. With that she began to struggle but her movements were too weak.

"Hyung..." Kai began from the backseat.

"I know you're tired, Jong In. Just go to sleep," the older boy ordered, his gaze trained on the road before him.

"Don't talk to me as if I'm a child, hyung! You know I'm not! Talk to me like a man should to another man. You know that I love Soojung and we both know that you don't. How can you agree to marry her? Please stop this selfishness, hyung. I don't want her to get hurt."

Minho narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Kai through the rearview mirror then at the drunken girl beside him who has already fallen asleep.

"Do you really think I would hurt her? Besides, she's already hurt thinking her father gave her away to a nobody like me. I'm not going to hurt her more. If it gives any assurance to you, Jong In, I swear I would never take advantage of her. She will be my wife in paper only until..." he trails off.

"Until what, hyung?"

Minho sighs. "You'll know in time."

"That's bull-"

"Watch your words, Jong In."

"Do you know how frustrating your silence is hyung? Why can't you just tell us the real reason for this marriage?" Kai's voice raised with every word he spoke.

In the passenger seat, Soojung grimaces and stirs though her eyes remain closed.

Kai glances at his best friend, afraid that he might have roused her. When he saw that she was not moving and her breathing stays even, he continued in a low voice.

"Look, hyung, if you don't want me to think that you're just after the Jungs' money, then at least make me and Soojung- especially Soojung-understand why you have to marry her when you're not even a bit interested in her as a person. That way you'd get her cooperation."

Minho shook his head. "That's not for me to decide," he paused before continuing. "If you could just wait for her if everything is settled Jong In, then maybe you could have that happy ever after you dreamed about with her."

Kai looked at Minho's face in the rearview mirror, trying to see if he was smirking considering the words he used to describe Kai's affection for Krystal. But Minho's expression remained solemn.

Realizing he couldn't get anything from his brother anymore than that, he finally decided to drop the topic.

........................................

Krystal didn't know whether she should feel happy or not with what she had just heard from Kai.

"Really? He said that?" she looked down at her fisted hands on her lap. They were clutching the fabric of her hanbok.

A divorce in about two year's time? Maybe it is better than being bound forever to the coldest man she ever met. Still, she felt angry. It sounded like she's a thing; after serving her purpose she is to be discarded. Would Kai catch her before she lands on the ground and be trampled upon? That doesn't make this whole crap of an arrangement better.

A knock sounded at the door, taking her temporarily away from her thoughts. 

"Come in," she called out in a monotone, realizing that she didn't even know who's on the other side of the door. But then she doesn't care anymore.

The door opened a bit and a familiar face peeked in.

"Soojung? Are you ready?" Aunt Ji-Na, her father's younger sister and Kibum's mother asked. 

Then her gaze fell upon Kai's form and she frowned.

"What are you doing here inside Soojung's room, Jong In? And to think she is about to be married to your brother!" 

Aunt Ji-Na went inside and closed the door softly behind her. She then faced both of the two younger people and clucked her tongue.

"I'm only here to talk to her for the last time before she gets married, Auntie. I'm sorry," Kai said but he doesn't feel apologetic at all.

The older woman sighed and nodded. "Go now. I bet your family is already looking