“Where’s my room?” she asked the moment she was inside HIS house. It was a simple, lone house built in an elevated land far from the endless bustle of the city. The interior was pretty simple too but she could tell every item was personally picked. For some weird reasons, she felt at ease, like there’s a calming force in the atmosphere.

 

“This house is actually my mother’s baby,” he told her. “My real mom, that is. She made some of the displays here. My mother always wanted a simple life and a simple house. We used to live here actually but when my mother died, my father decided to move to a new house. He-”

 

“Where’s my room?” she repeated.

 

“Oh, you mean OUR room?”

 

“No, I meant MY room,” she emphasized. “Look, since it’s just the two of us here, I think there’s no need for us to pretend and act like we’re a happily married couple because we both know we’re not.”

 

“Oh, so you’re not happy?”

 

“Of course I’m not!” she exclaimed. “Who would be happy to be married to a stranger?!”

 

“Then why didn’t you tell that to your family?” he inquired. “If my memory served me right, you were pretty okay with it. You even sounded like you were happy to be tied with me.”

 

“I did not sound like that!” she denied.

 

“Yes, you did,” he went on. It’s not really in his nature to tease girls that much but he wanted her to get mad, he wanted her to shout; he wanted to make her cry. He’s not a sadist but this skeleton-looking girl was pushing him to do things that he didn’t normally do.

 

“I did not!”

 

“Oh, really now?”

 

“Yes!” she gritted.

 

“I don’t believe you.”

 

“Well, I don’t care what you think!” she hissed. “The only thoughts that matters to me are that of my family’s!”

 

“Family?” he echoed. “You call them your family when they obviously don’t give a damn about you?!”

 

A resounding slap landed on his face. “You!” she panted. “You don’t have the right, none at all, to talk about my family like that! I’m a shame to the family! I haven’t done or achieved anything yet to make them proud of me. I’m a failure! I always fail them. It’s my fault so don’t you go on saying bad things about them!”

 

Jiyong chose not to contradict her. She’s obviously going through an emotional turmoil. He should have known better than provoke her like that. “I’m sorry,” he heard himself say. The girl stared up at him, looking surprised. Actually, she looked like it’s her first time hearing someone apologizing to her.

 

She cleared . “I’m sorry for raising my voice at you, too,” she said. “And. . . thank you. . . for sticking up with me a while ago.”

 

A smile curved his lips. “I’m your husband, it’s my responsibility to protect you.”

 

“I take back what I said,” she told him with narrowed eyes.

 

“Why don’t we make this easy for the both of us?” he then asked.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“If we’re to live together, I think it’d be easy if we PEACEFULLY get along with each other. And legally speaking, I’m your husband and you’re my wife, so-”

 

“So you want us to keep it real,” she concluded.

 

Silence.

 

“You’re joking!” she suddenly burst. “We don’t even know each other!”

 

“That’s pretty easy,” he grinned. “We have time to get to know each other better. As for starters, I’m Kwon Jiyong and you are?” he introduced, holding a hand out to her.

 

She looked down at his hand for a long time. Then, she lifted her eyes back to him. “You already know my name,” she snobbishly said. “Now, will you please lead me to MY room?”

 

“Fine,” he sighed. “If that’s what you want. But I’m telling you, it’s not really advisable to stay in separate rooms. My mother used to stay in the other rooms before she died. But if that’s what you really want, it’s your choice.”

 

For a moment, Dara froze. She was not used to people letting her do what she wants or give what she wants. She suddenly felt guilty for being mean to him, to think that he spoke up for her a while ago. As if backing her guilt up, she remembered her grandmother telling her to be a good wife. Try as she might not to think of it, the awful thought still brushed her mind. More than covering up for the shame and humiliation, she wasn’t that blind or stupid not to see how her family acted as if they wanted to get rid of her, to shoo her away from the house. Again, the feeling of loneliness crept inside her skin that even the thought of being with a stranger didn’t appear so bad.

 

Her hand went to reach for his arm the moment he walked past by her. “I. . . I changed my mind,” she thickly said. “I’ll stay with. . . with you.”

 

“Are you sure?” he asked.

 

“Yes,” she answered shakily.

 

“Okay,” he nodded. “Follow me then,” he said as he picked up her things to his room. Upon seeing her carrying her other bags, he told her to let them be but she stubbornly refused.

 

“You have a nice room,” she complimented as soon as they reached the room.

 

“This room used to be my parents’ love nest,” he said.

 

“How do you keep the whole place cleaned up?”

 

“I got some hired cleaners,” he answered. “They usually go here every weekend.”

 

“Do you know how to cook?”

 

“I do,” he answered as he started unpacking her bags and putting her stuff in the empty closets. “The closets on the right are yours, the left ones are mine.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Ooh, nice underwear,” he whistled. “And you brought a set of lingerie with you, too!”

 

“W-what?” she asked, paling up. “I don’t have lingerie and I definitely do not own that laced underwear!”

 

“Whose things are these then?” he asked, trying his best to keep a straight face.

 

“It’s not funny!” she snapped.

 

“I’m not laughing,” he denied.

 

“You’re not LITERALLY laughing but I know you are! In the first place, you shouldn’t have opened MY bags!”

 

“Just trying to help,” he shrugged.

 

“I can handle them myself,” she defiantly said. “Now if you may, get far away from my things. I can unpack on my own.”

 

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” he shrugged. “I wished you were this feisty a while ago. But oh well, I’ll just take a bath. Want to join me?”

 

Dara gave him her FIERCEST stare in response.

 

“Oh, come on, we already consummated our marriage.”

 

She turned red.

 

“Okay, I’ll take that as a no,” he then chuckled.

 

She shook her head when the guy stepped inside the bathroom. She suddenly paused, confused. What should she call him? It’s a bit rude for her to think of him as the guy but it’s also uncomfortable to term him as her husband while Mr. Kwon was too formal.

 

“Jiyong then,” she voiced out. “I’ll call him Jiyong. Just Jiyong.”

 

But somehow, it still felt odd to call him on his first name when they don’t even know each other that well.

 

Shaking the unimportant thoughts away, she went unpacking her things. It didn’t really take her that long, though she can’t help but grimaced at the sight of the underwear and the set of lingerie which were packed without her consent and knowledge. What does this mean, then? Why did they pack something like this in her luggage?

 

The ringing of her phone suddenly snapped her out of her senses. Fishing it out, she looked to see who the caller was. Upon seeing it was her mother, she clumsily accepted the call. “I had a change of mind. You don’t have to make any designs for my summer collection.”

 

“Oh, is there a problem?”

 

“Nothing,” she answered. “A friend recommended a very talented, young and new designer and I’ve decided to get her to work with the collection.”

 

“Oh, okay,” she mumbled weakly.

 

“And Dara?”

 

“Yes?” she hopefully replied.

 

“For once in your life, can you at least try to be good at something?” Eun Jo asked, sounding very tired. “Eventhough he’s not really our choice to be a part of this family, I don’t want to hear any complaints from him about you, got that?”

 

“Y-yes,” she stammered. “But Lady Eun Jo, this is only temporary, right? I mean, we’ll get a divorce after-”

 

“Oh, by the way. You don’t have to go to work this Monday. The press might swarm in and I don’t want that. I have to go. Bye.”

 

“But-” she tried to protest but the line went dead already. She wanted to cry again but she knew she brought this upon herself. If only she didn’t go to that bar, if only she didn’t get drunk that night, if only. . . there were too many Ifs in her mind right now but she can’t do anything about them anymore.

 

“Your family’s not here, you know. You can cry if you want.”

 

She looked up sharply, only to get tongue tied upon seeing him half AGAIN. He was only wearing a white towel around his waist. She blushed at the sight of him. Her eyes are not so innocent when it comes to men being half . She had seen male models bare more than that in photoshoots before, with well-built bodies compared to Jiyong, that is. But just by the thought of THAT body pressed against hers in that cheap motel room made her cheeks turned a deeper shade of color.

 

“I’m not a crybaby,” she then broke the silence when she noticed she was being too. . . engrossed watching some droplets roll down her tummy to God knows where.

 

“I didn’t say anything like that, did I?”

 

“No, but you were implying it.”

 

“I don’t get you!” he exasperatedly said. “Why do you always find some twisted reason in everything I say while you turn all blind, deaf and mute when it comes to your family?”

 

She didn’t say anything. She was quite tired of arguing with him.

 

“I’m sorry,” he then sighed. “I-”

 

“I want to take a bath myself,” she interfered. “You are done, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Can you step aside then?”

 

Jiyong stepped aside but instead of getting dressed, he leaned one shoulder against the wall near the door. “Take your time,” he winked as she walked past by him which was responded by the loud banging of the door. He chuckled lightly but it soon disappeared when he heard the sound of shower spray. He once again, felt pity for the girl. It was pretty obvious to him a while ago how her family was so eager to make her leave their house. The malicious act was worst then disowning her. Yes, she made a mistake, both of them did but the way the Parks acted, especially Dara’s mother was beyond abnormality. The way that Lady Eun Jo humiliated and discreetly insulted and belittled the girl, one would think that Sandara’s not her daughter but a low-life maid. Somehow, he was disappointed with the so-called lady, who’s the total opposite of his mother. The memory of his mother brought a sense of longing inside him. Alongside the memory of his mother came his father. A frown then creased his forehead. Eventhough he still hadn’t forgiven the old man yet for marrying someone without telling him, he was still worried over the old man’s health. Then, there’s the problem about the company. He sighed and leaned away the wall. He then went to get a cotton shirt and short.

 

He jumped to bed and was about to close his eyes when he heard the ringing of a phone. He lifted his head and looked around. On the other side of the bed, Dara’s phone was blinking. He reached out for it and looked at the screen but saw neither a name nor a number. He got to his feet and knocked on the bathroom door. “Dara?” he called. “You’ve got a call.”

 

When he didn’t hear any response, he knocked and called her name louder. For the second time, silence greeted him. Starting to worry, he knocked harder and called her name even more pronounced. Still, there was no response.

 

“Oh !” he hissed and went to get the set of keys from the drawer. He let out another curse when his hands trembled, slowing him to insert the appropriate key in the hole. After some fumbling, he finally got to unlock and push the door open. Storming in, he saw Sandara on the tiled floor with the spray of water running on her body – unconscious.