Jun Hyung and Jae Kyung finally landed in Seoul after their Jeju Island honeymoon and were in a taxi cab, on their way to their new apartment. Although it was customary for newlyweds to spend a night at the bride's parents' home after returning from their honeymoon, the tradition had to be pushed aside to another time, since both would be starting work the following morning, Jun Hyung at his father's company and Jae Kyung at Tae Hee's publishing company.

During the whole ride, Jun Hyung kept massaging his neck and fidgeting in his seat because of his aching back. Two nights of sleeping on a couch had really taken a toll on his body and he was in a sour mood. Jae Kyung could feel a dark aura emanating from him and chose to stay quiet, looking out the window as the taxi drove down the highway. She was excited to finally start her independent life and couldn't wait to get to her new home.

Finally in front of their new apartment, they headed inside and went up the elevator to the sixth floor. As soon as the elevator dinged for their floor and the doors opened, the two were greeted by Mrs. Yong smiling excitedly at them. "You're both back from the honeymoon, and right on time," she exclaimed as she took Jae Kyung into a hug, followed by Jun Hyung.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Jun Hyung asked, baffled by her presence.

"Well I know that we all promised to let you two start off your life without interference from either family, but I just couldn't resist," she confessed. "I'm just so excited to show you both how Mi Sook (Mrs. Song) and I have decorated your apartment." She turned to Jae Kyung with a pleading look. "Please don't tell your mother I broke our promise."

Jae Kyung amicably smiled back. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed," she said, motioning a zip sliding across .

Mrs. Yong beamed and took hold of Jae Kyung's arm as she led her towards their apartment, leaving Jun Hyung to drag both luggage bags in the back with a scowl. "Here we are, number 608," she said. "We actually chose this apartment complex because this number was available. It's the date of your wedding, June 8th," she explained. Jae Kyung and Jun Hyung weren't exactly pleased to hear that. Now they would be reminded of their wedding every time they saw the numbers on their door. "And the pass code is Jae Kyung's birthday, 1001. It's convenient, isn't it? Since it's the same backwards and forwards," Mrs. Yong continued.

Jae Kyung grinned in excitement at hearing that her birth date was their code, while Jun Hyung just rolled his eyes. His mother was taking to Jae Kyung a little too well for his own liking. What was wrong with using his birth date or even some random code that didn't have anything to do with each other?

"Go ahead, Jae Kyung. It's good luck for the wife to open the door to a couple's first home," Mrs. Yong suggested. Jae Kyung stepped up and pressed the numbers on the key pad. A melody played signifying that access was granted. Jae Kyung pressed down the handle to open the door, but before she could push the door open all the way, Mrs. Yong stopped her. "Wait! Jun Hyung will carry you in."

Both Jun Hyung and Jae Kyung jerked their heads toward Mrs. Yong. "What?!"

"You two don't have to be shy about it. Come on, I'll take a picture as commemoration," she said with a chuckle as she pulled out a camera from her bag.

Jun Hyung and Jae Kyung looked at each other awkwardly before Jun Hyung forced a smile. "She's right, Jagiya, I should carry you in to our home for the first time," he said in a sickeningly sweet way that made Jae Kyung's stomach churn in queasiness, but made Mrs. Yong smile in delight. Placing one hand behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders, he lifted Jae Kyung up, who reflexively put her arms around his neck. Jae Kyung looked away uncomfortably while Jun Hyung strained to not let the pain in his back show in his expression.

"Omo, you two look so cute," Mrs. Yong cooed as she continuously took pictures.

Jun Hyung pushed the door open with his back before turning to face forward and walk inside their apartment for the first time. As soon as they were inside, Jun Hyung roughly dropped Jae Kyung back on her feet, earning a dirty look from her that quickly turned into a smile as soon as Mrs. Yong entered the apartment after them.

"It's too bad I can't share these pictures with your mother, or else she'll know I went back on our promise," she said with a sigh as she went through the pictures on the screen. Putting away the camera in her bag, she turned back to the two, clasping her hands together eagerly. "Okay, well time to show you around the apartment."

The living room area had a flat screen TV with a complete entertainment system. A large picture of both families together right after the wedding was hung on top of one wall. Mrs. Yong caught her son staring at it and softly smiled at him. "It came out pretty well, didn't it?"

"Almost picture perfect. Except someone's missing," he said with a dark, empty look in his eyes.

Mrs. Yong placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You know Jun Hyuk wanted to be there for the picture," she tried to defend. Jun Hyung didn't look reassured. "At least he stayed for the wedding."

Jun Hyung turned to her with a bitter smile. "Yeah, at least," he repeated.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crashing sound from the kitchen. Mrs. Yong hurriedly rushed into the kitchen, with Jun Hyung following close behind, to find that a plate had crashed on the floor, though it was still in tact.

"Are you okay?" Mrs. Yong asked in concern.

Jae Kyung nervously laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that." She picked up the plate and placed it on the table. "Good thing it's plastic."

"Yes, that was your mother's idea," Mrs. Yong explained, starting to understand Mrs. Song's insistency that they get plastic dinnerware rather than glass. "Come on, why don't I show you two the master bedroom."

The master bedroom had a modern, chic look to it with neutral colored walls and abstract-designed furniture. One side had large windows that could let in light during the day and there was a large bathroom with a Jacuzzi and shower. But what caught Jae Kyung's and Jun Hyung's attention was what hung above the king-sized bed: a picture of their kiss from the wedding. To anyone else, the picture was a work of art that really captured a sweet moment between the bride and groom, but to the actual bride and groom, it was an unwanted reminder of a technicality required to begin their contract.

"I just love that picture. I'm so glad the photographer caught such a good close-up of it." Mrs. Yong declared with a content sigh. "Well, let's finish off the tour with the second bedroom, which I'm still not sure as to why you wanted…unless," Mrs. Yong turned to them with a knowing smile, "you intended to use it as a nursery. Should I be expecting a grandchild soon?"

Jae Kyung's eyes bugged out and she frantically waved her hands back and forth. "No, Eomeonim!"

Mrs. Yong pouted in disappointment. "Well, I guess you two are still a bit young. But don't wait too long," she added with a wink. Jun Hyung pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation at his mother's incessant talks about a grandchild. She was only setting herself up for disappointment.

The second bedroom was much smaller than the master bedroom and could only fit a full-size bed. In addition, this room didn't have its own bathroom; it had to be shared with the guest bathroom out in the hallway.

"Okay, I guess I've probably overstayed my welcome. I should leave you two to get settled in," Mrs. Yong said, detecting her son's annoyance. He must have been eager to spend the first night in his new home with Jae Kyung, or so Mrs. Yong incorrectly thought.

"Good night, Eomeonim, get home safely," Jae Kyung politely bade her. Once alone, Jae Kyung turned to Jun Hyung with a challenging stare. "I call the master bedroom!" she exclaimed before trying to run to the room and claim it as her own.

However, Jun Hyung grabbed hold of the collar of her shirt and pulled her back. "Before you start claiming things, we need to get some rules straight."

Jae Kyung groaned and crossing her arms as she turned to look at Jun Hyung. "What rules?"

"The rules of this marriage," he said with a smirk.

Jun Hyung and Jae Kyung sat across from each other at the table in the kitchen, pen and paper in hand.

"We've both established that this is a marriage of convenience, and that we're business partners trying to get through a contract. But if we're going to do that, we need to create some ground rules. The first is the rent and bills for this apartment."

"That's easy, we just split it," Jae Kyung answered.

"Not so fast. We can split the bills in half since it's too hard to determine who uses more electricity or water, but as far as the rent goes, the one who gets the master bedroom pays more. 60/40."

Jae Kyung's shoulders slumped in disappointment. His argument was reasonable, but since she was just starting out as an intern, and barely had much money saved up already, she couldn't afford to pay 60% of the rent, just so she could have the bigger bedroom with its own bathroom. "65/35," she countered. "That room is almost twice as big as the guest room."

Jun Hyung smirked in success. "Fine by me. Next is food. We can each fend for ourselves on that, right?"

Jae Kyung didn't particularly like cooking. Her mother had made sure to teach all four of her kids the basics, but among the four, she was the worst. Even Joong Gi was a more decent cook than her. She didn't realize that she would have to provide for herself when she moved out of her house. "Yeah," she reluctantly answered with a sigh.

"On to cleaning. I don't care how you keep your room, but I don't like seeing any mess so we keep the common areas such as the kitchen and living room tidy at all times."

Another thing Jae Kyung hated, cleaning. She didn't have to worry about that when she lived with her parents, her mom always took care of that, even though she would badger Jae Kyung to help. "Okay," she lifelessly answered.

"Last thing, guests. Having people over will only complicate things, especially if they see that our rooms are separate, so don't think you can invite your friends over whenever you want."

What was the point of this marriage? Jae Kyung was starting to forget, given all these rules and conditions. Now she couldn't even hang out with her friends in her own home. She didn't have the energy to answer in words and just slowly nodded.

Jun Hyung smiled to himself in success. "That's all I have, do you have anything you want to add?" Jae Kyung shook her head, keeping her eyes downcast in dejection. "Okay then, we just need to sign the contracts and we'll each have a copy to keep."

In addition to the clauses they had listed when they made out their contract marriage, the rules they had just established were listed out on the papers:

1. The marriage will last one year from the date of the wedding.
2. No feelings can be developed for one another
3. The existence of the contract marriage cannot be exposed (exception: Kim Min Jae)
4. Each will perform the required duties to keep up the image of husband and wife
5. No intimacy is allowed except when necessary to prove their relationship
6. Bills will be split evenly, rent split 65/35 with tenant of master bedroom paying more
7. Each will provide their own food
8. Common areas will be kept tidy and presentable
9. Guests cannot be invited over
10. If the contract should ever be breached, the one at fault will take all responsibility, as per the wishes of the other party

After signing each other's copies, Jun Hyung held his hand out for Jae Kyung to shake it. Jae Kyung rolled her eyes at the formality but took his hand anyways. "Nice doing business with you, partner," he said with a cordial smile.

"Yeah, yeah. If we're done, I'm going to my room now," she said, taking her copy with her and going to wallow in her room.

With a smile of success, Jun Hyung went into his own room. His smile immediately fell when he saw the picture above the bed. He took it down and went over to Jae Kyung's room, knocking on her door.

She opened the door with an annoyed look. "What?"

"You have to get your stuff out of my room, and I don't want this picture," he said, holding the large frame of their 'kiss' out to her.

Jae Kyung scrunched her nose at the picture. "I don't want it either. It came with the master bedroom so you figure out what to do with it," she said before heading in to his room and grabbing her clothes from the drawers and closet.

Jun Hyung decided to just put the picture under the bed for now. No need to let such a small thing ruin his mood. He lay down in his bed, putting his hands behind his head. The soft memory foam mattress underneath molded to his body, giving him the comfort he needed for his back and neck. It felt good. Finally, he had regained the upper hand in this 'marriage'. If things continued to go smoothly like this, one year should pass by quickly.

He got up to take a shower, and as he did, the mattress returned to its original shape, as if he hadn't just lain on it. Jun Hyung was soon about to find out that like his impression in the memory foam mattress, keeping the upper hand in this marriage was only temporary.

Author’s Note

I'm sure most of you have already checked out Yo Seob's solo debut mini album The First Collage, which was co-produced by Jun Hyung :). If you haven't already, here is the music video for the title track "Caffeine", and Jun Hyung even makes an appearance ^_^.

11/30/12 3:30 PM