It was noon and Jae Kyung was still lazing in bed in her room. She had been home at with her parents for a few days now, refusing to get up or do anything after her parents flat out denied her permission to move out.

"Jae Kyung, it's noon already. Are you still going to sleep?" Mrs. Song nagged as she opened the curtains in her room.

"Yeah," Jae Kyung answered defiantly as she pulled the pillow out from underneath her and put it over her head to shield her eyes from the bright sun.

"Don't you have plans for the summer? Or for the rest of your life? You need to go out and find a job," Mrs. Song badgered her daughter as she tried to pull the covers off her.

Jae Kyung heaved a big sigh. "How am I supposed to find a job when we live so far from the city center?!" she complained.

"Jae Kyung, are you still not up?" Mr. Song asked as he came in and saw her daughter still in bed.

"Why don't you go work for your dad at his company?" Mrs. Song suggested. "You still behave like a kid anyways so you'll fit in perfectly at the toy factory," Mrs. Song joked.

"Please do Jae Kyung! I've been waiting for you to graduate from college so I can show you the ropes at the company. You're my last hope at any of my children taking over," Mr. Song cutely begged.

"I don't want to work for dad," Jae Kyung whined.

"Why? You hate me?" Mr. Song asked as he feigned a hurt look.

"I just want to become independent from my family. I want to go out in the world on my own, find a job on my own, live on my own," Jae Kyung argued.

"We're okay with you living with your siblings. Isn't that worldly enough for you?"

"You have no idea what it was like living with them. Why else do you think I moved around so much during my senior year?" Jae Kyung complained

Mrs. Song sighed. "Why are you so adamant about leaving your family?"

"I just…I want to prove myself," she muttered. "Besides, I'm 21 and a college graduate. I'm an adult now! I don't have to be babied anymore!"

"Who says you have to live on your own to prove yourself? I mean this is a win situation for you since you won't have to worry about rent or food. You know how hard it is for recent college graduates to be able to support themselves? You're lucky that you have your family that's willing to take care of you for as long as you need," her mother responded.

Jae Kyung sat up in her bed and huffed. "I don't understand why you won't let me live on my own!" she cried out.

"Jae Kyung-ah, it's because we really care about you that we want you to live with your family," Mr. Song gently answered.

"But you let Seung Hun Oppa and Joong Gi Oppa live on their own," Jae Kyung complained.

"That's because they're men. It's dangerous for a young woman to live on her own," Mrs. Song replied.

"Mom, that's so ist."

"No, it's an observation gathered from various news reports. Do you ever hear about a guy living on his being ?"

"Then it's okay if I share with another girl? Su Ji said she's looking for an apartment mate," Jae Kyung asked with hope.

"No." Mrs. Song firmly answered.

"Why?!"

"Because two young women living on their own is still dangerous. erts will think of it as killing two birds with one stone if they find two unprotected women living together."

"Mom, do you really have so little faith in our country's men?"

"No, I have little faith in the world's men. They're all the same."

Mr. Song, who was quietly watching his wife and daughter argue finally spoke up. "Yeobo…is that how you feel…about me?" he asked with a quivering lip.

Jae Kyung snorted as she held back a laugh. Her mother rolled her eyes and sighed. "This isn't the time for jokes," she scolded her husband.

"Okay, okay," Mr. Song chuckled. He turned to Jae Kyung with a more serious expression, "Jae Kyung, I know that you feel suffocated by us sometimes, but please try to understand that it's really hard for us to let you out in the world on your own. You're the maknae of the family and your mother and I have a hard time letting our youngest leave us because we're afraid of being alone."

Jae Kyung looked down in defeat. "So there's no way you going to let me leave this house, is there?" she asked.

"Nonsense," Mr. Song answered. Jae Kyung's head shot up hearing that there was a possibility. "Of course you'll be leaving when you get married," he answered in matter-of-factly.

"What?! Marriage?!"

"Yes, the union of a man and woman by law," Mr. Song explained.

"Dad, I know what it is," Jae Kyung answered rolling her eyes. "So, you're saying the only way I can leave this house is if I get married?" she asked incredulously.

"Yep," he responded with a smile.

Jae Kyung fell back on her bed and started waving her arms and flailing her legs as she threw a tantrum. "You guys are so unfair!"

"Tsk tsk tsk. And she says that she's an adult now," Mrs. Song complained as she shook her head at her childish daughter.

Mr. Song laughed. "Still, it's a bit relieving to know that our last child won't be leaving us anytime soon," he said to his wife. Mrs. Song smiled. Sure, Jae Kyung still had a lot of growing up to do for her age, but at least they could rest assured that they still had one child living with them in their otherwise large and empty house. The two left their daughter to continue crying like a baby with their minds unusually at ease given the situation.

Jae Kyung finally calmed down and just lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

It's not that I hate my family, it's just...I feel like I really am the black sheep. I still don't really know what I want to do and my brothers and sister are all successful with highly respectable jobs. I hate that I'm constantly reminded of my lack of direction in life whenever I'm with them. And being at home only reminds me of how pathetic I am that the only job I'll probably ever get is the one that my dad gives me. I want to go out and find myself. But the only way out is through marriage? That's like basically telling me to give up one freedom for another.

She sighed and covered her eyes with her arm. She lay like that for a few minutes when she suddenly sat up and her eyes lit up as an idea came to mind. She called Min Jae to meet her at a coffee shop before getting ready and heading out.

"So what's the big news you have to tell me that you made me come here on such short notice?" Min Jae asked as he and Jae Kyung sat down at a table in a coffee shop with their drinks in hand. "Wait," Min Jae looked at her suspiciously, "don't tell me that you actually got your parents to let you move out?"

Jae Kyung sighed. "No."

Min Jae rolled his eyes at his stupidity for asking a question with an obvious answer. "Of course."

"But," Jae Kyung began with a mischievous smile, "I have a plan."

Min Jae eyed her with a bad feeling. "What plan?"

"Seeing how the only way they'll let me move out of the house is if  I get married, then that's what I'm going to do."

"What?!" Min Jae exclaimed a little too loudly, earning him stares from the people sitting nearby. He looked around in embarrassment and nodded his head at them in apology before turning back to Jae Kyung. "Yah, have you gone crazy? You're going to get married just so you can leave home?"

"Don't worry, there's more to the plan," she assured him. "It's not a real marriage in the sense that I'm going to be hitched to someone forever. I just need someone that's willing to "marry" me for a year so that I can move out and then after that year is up, we sign some divorce papers and it'll be like it never happened."

Min Jae stared at her, dumbfounded. "Jae Kyung."

"Yeah?"

"That is the stupidest plan I've ever heard," he stated. "There are so many flaws with it that I'm starting to question how you actually graduated from college."

Jae Kyung narrowed her eyes at him. "Name one flaw."

"First of all, why would anyone be willing to go along with that plan. Sure you get to move out, but what do they get by marrying you?"

"They could have a situation where they need to get temporarily married too," she shrugged. "I mean, you can't possibly know everyone's situation. Also, I think I have pretty good persuasion skills. I mean, I don't exactly have a lot of money, so I can't exactly bribe someone with that, but I'm sure I can find something they want that I can get them."

Min Jae shook her head at her response. "Fine, say there is someone whose willing to go along with your ridiculous scheme. What happens after one year? You'll no longer be married. Do you think your parents are still going to let you live on your own?"

"Well hopefully by the end of one year I'll have figured out something more permanent. Maybe I'll find someone I really want to marry or maybe my parents will be okay with me living on my own since I'll be a divorced woman and no one really wants to mess with a divorcee."

Min Jae face palmed himself. "You have no idea how absolutely no sense your making."

"Look I realize that this is a somewhat far-fetched plan," she began.

"Somewhat?" he questioned.

Jae Kyung made a face but continued, "but you don't understand my situation. My parents, they're so overprotective of me. I mean, sure I'm the maknae, but is that my fault? Did I choose to be the youngest? No. I'm tired of being babied by them. That's not all." Jae Kyung looked down with forlorn eyes. "I…I really feel out of place in my family. Living with my siblings...it wasn't hard just because of what I told you that night at the bar. When I was with them, I was constantly reminded of how much of a failure I am. Everything came easily to my siblings. They knew what they wanted to do early in their lives and that's why they're successful now. But me…I have no idea what my passion is." She looked back up at Min Jae with determination. "And there's no way for me to figure it out unless I separate myself from the thing that's holding me back."

Min Jae sighed and softened slightly. In his more than ten years of knowing Jae Kyung, he would constantly hear her complaints about her perfect siblings. But this was the first time she was admitting that she felt inferior to them. "Okay, let's say your reasoning is legit. How are you going to find someone to even go along with your crazy plan? You can't exactly advertise that you're looking for a temporary husband."

Jae Kyung grinned, glad that Min Jae seemed to be warming up to her idea. "That's where you come in."

"Me?" he asked pointing to himself.

"Yeah. I need you to find me prospective fake husbands."

"What?!"

"Just hook me up with some blind dates and I'll figure out if they're the right person for what I need or not."

"You do know most people go on blind dates because they actually want a real relationship, don't you?" he argued.

"That's why need to find guys that have commitment issues."

Min Jae rolled his eyes at her. "Why would I ever take part in this mad scheme?"

"Because you're my best friend and you love me," she shrugged.

Min Jae blinked at her, unconvinced.

Jae Kyung sighed. "And I'll hook you up with the newest Call of Duty before it's even released."

Min Jae quickly sat up with interest, "Really?"

"Yeah. Joong Gi Oppa has been working on it for the past few months so he'll probably let me test it out before it's release. I'll let you in on it too."

"Okay fine, I'll do it. " Min Jae quickly agreed. "Let's just see how well this plan of yours works," he muttered to himself.  Jae Kyung grinned in satisfaction. "But I have one more question. Why didn't you ask me to be your fake husband?"

"Because I already know you won't do it," she said crossing her arms.

"You know, just because we're best friends, doesn't mean you automatically know my answer," he shot back.

"Fine. Min Jae, will you be my fake husband?" she asked sarcastically.

"And face the wrath of your family for divorcing you afterwards? Hell no!"

Jae Kyung scoffed at him. "If you're done asking pointless questions, then I'm going to go now," she said standing up. "I suggest you get to work on finding suitable guys." With that last statement, she left the coffee shop.

Author's Note

Surprise! I'm back with an update sooner than I expected. The ideas were just flowing for this story while I'm at a roadblock for my other one :( Anyways, you guys are probably starting to see where the premise of this story is coming from. Things are going to get crazy from this point onwards so I hope you're ready for it :)

8/23/12 7:50 PM