•♥•♥•♥•♥•

“You didn’t hear me?” Nichkhun yelled into my ears.

“My wife! I wanted you to be my wife!”

“…!” My mind went blank.

Nichkhun continued as I stood there in shock.

“So starting today, you and I are…”

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” I said in protest.

“You don’t want to?”

“No it’s not that.. huh? What…?” What am I saying? I’m stuttering!

“Are you guys punking me? Is this how you treat people who just arrived in Seoul?”

Calm down, Victoria. Do you think we’re all part of a prank?” Uncle Taec then finally spoke.

“…”

No one was smiling. In fact, they all looked solemn. No one was joking around or teasing Nichkhun. So he really means it?

“I guess it finally sunk in.” Nichkhun said quietly. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but you’re my wife now… And I’m going to be your husband.” Nichkhun bowed lightly.

The ice in my glass clinked as it fell.

 

 

 

“I need you to be my wife. So starting from today we’re married. Got it?” Nichkhun said firmly.

“…..!” My first day in Seoul, and a sudden public marriage proposal. My mind went blank not knowing what was going on, when Nichkhun continued to explain.

“Of course this isn’t a real marriage. You just have to pretend to be my wife.”

“Pretend?”

“Of course, did you think you were really marrying me?” Nichkhun frowned. “I don’t want to marry someone I’m not in love with.”

“Hey, you know what?”  I’d say that right back at you. I wanted to yell that at him, but I was speechless from all of these.

“So I take that as a yes? Great. Now our fake marriage is established.”

Why on earth are you smiling?

“Wait a minute, I didn’t agree to anything!” I said.

“What?” Nichkhun’s eyes widened as he looked at me. “What don’t you like about it? Let me know if something’s bothering you.”

“There are too many things to name! I don’t know where to start!” I said. “Anyway I can’t marry someone I just met for the first time today!”

“I said it’s a fake marriage. In other words, a role-play couple.”

“If you’re not legally married, you couldn’t call it a role-play couple.” JunK cut into our conversation. Then everyone else joined in too.

“What is a role-play couple?” Junho asked.

“Doesn’t it refer to couples whose married life is destroyed?” Chansung too?

“They’re not going to be legally married, so it would be weird to call them a role-play couple.” Wooyoung as well, okay everyone’s not taking this seriously.

“What should I call it then?” Nichkhun asked them.

“Faux couple?” Wooyoung suggests.

“Make-believe couple?” Junho said.

“A couple deceiving the world.” Chansung expressed.

“Oh, that’s more like it.” Uncle nodded in agreement.

“It doesn’t matter what we call it. Anyway, that’s what we’ll do. Got it?” Nichkhun looked at me like I should just agree to what he says.

“Why do we have to pretend to be married?”

“Huh?”

“Please tell me why. Or I can’t make a decision either way.”

“Is that important?”

“Of course! It’s of the utmost importance!”

“Explain it to her. Women like to understand the process of things.” Chansung said.

“I just want the results. I guess I’ll tell you.”

 Nichkhun sat up in his seat. I sat up too, to brace myself.

“I guess you’ve heard on the news that our family’s enterprise purchased a major software company.”

“It’s an exclusive-international deal. It will change the world… well at least his world.“ Junho said breaking the bit of the tension.

“As Junho said it’s an international deal. The rules are strict, the truth is: it’s not yet a done deal. It’s just one of the major purchases we will see through. The owners of the said company wanted to know if I can.. if I can oversee the latest addition to our company. They still own shares of the company, but majority is on us. Now, my father, the only person I respect the most. The man said, I’m…. I’m 'not stable enough'.  So I said I have a fiancé, but we haven’t gotten married due to personal reasons. I lied. I really want this. If they find out the truth, the deal’s off.”

“Deal’s off…?”

And to make things worse, the President’s brother, the co-founder of that company is starting to suspect me. He’s sniffing around. In order to get him off my trail, I need a wife. That’s what I need you to help me with.”

“…”

“I’m sincerely asking for your help. Will you be my wife?” Nichkhun looked straight into my eyes. Everyone else looked at me pleadingly. I thought for a moment and spoke up.

“No.”

“What?”

Nichkhun’s eyes got big as if he wasn’t expecting that answer.

“Of course not! Pretend to be married? That’s crazy.”

“What part don’t you understand? Tell me?”

“All of it! Don’t you think what you’re asking for is crazy?”

“You’re impossible.”

“I’d say those words right back at you!”

I finally said it! I expected him to come back with a straight forward argument, but… Nichkhun took a spoon and tapped it against my empty plate.

“How dare you say that after eating my pilaf.”

“What?”

“Don’t you know the saying, ‘there’s no such thing as a free meal’?”

“I don’t need you to provide me a place to stay. And isn’t this frozen pilaf?”

“Of course not! I made it myself!”

“Really!?”

“Yes. I would never make a frozen entrée!”

“No wonder it tasted so good.”

“Well if you put it that way, I can’t get mad at you.”

“Victoria, you’ll only need to pretend to be his wife for a few days.” JunK said. Is this why he’s here for? Because he’s a lawyer? Nichkhun needed his lawyer friend for this?

“Oh, really?”

“Nichkhun didn’t explain everything, so there’s a misunderstanding.”

“Shut up. I like to talk from the end result.”

“You won’t need to pretend for years. You just have to get the CEO’s brother to stop investigating, so a few days… at most a month.”

“If it’s only a few days, it might be fun.” Junho said grinning at me.

“Experience being married...” Chansung beamed.

“…” Why are these guys encouraging…

“You’re still thinking about it? If there’s something that’s bothering you, let me know now.” Nichkhun asked me.

“Oh, I know! You have a boyfriend.” Wooyoung suddenly posed.

“No, I don’t.”

“That was a quick answer.” Wooyoung smiled.

“I don’t have one. But it wouldn’t matter if I had one or not. I don’t want to have a fake marriage!”

I puffed my cheeks in protest. Everyone looked at each other, and Uncle Taec finally spoke.

“I don’t want to say this to my adorable Vic, but…”

“Uncle?”

“Don’t you want me to help you get a job?”

“Huh?”

Uncle smiled as he said the dreadful words.

“Competition for a good job is tough these days. Especially for young women. I’m sure you know that by now, Victoria.”

“…”

“All you need to do is bear with it for a few days, and you can have your dream job. You’ll be able to make a comfortable living.”

“…”

It was true that I didn’t want to keep job hunting. The fake smile during interviews, wearing suits in this heat, the polite, but insincere rejection letters… I’d had enough of that already. So I only have to do this for a few days, right? He’ll help me get a job if I pretend to be Nichkhun’s wife for a few days, right? I thought about the pros and cons, and I made a decision.

“Allright, I accept.”

“Oh.”

“I really don’t want to do this, but I’ll pretend to be his wife.”

“She finally agreed.” Wooyoung said.

“Alright!” cheered Junho.

“Thank you, Victoria.” JunK said.

“Alright then.” Nichkhun spoke, “Let’s go before you change your mind.”

Nichkhun picked up my luggage and stood up.

“Go where?” I asked.

“My place. Don’t worry, it’s not far from here.”

“What are we going to do at your place?”

“We’re living together! What else?”

“I-I can’t do that! I can pretend to be your wife, but I can’t live with you!”

“Then how are we going to look like we’re married? Are you going to wear a sign that says, ‘Nichkhun’s wife’?”

This guy still got a time to be funny!? IS he kidding me!?

“Victoria, think about your job…” Uncle smiled at me. It seemed like the devil was smiling at me.

“IF you don’t do a good job, I won’t help you get a job.”

“Y-You’re intimidating me? This is human trafficking! I can’t believe you!”

“Don’t pout like that. It doesn’t make you look good.” Nichkhun said to me.

“Huh!?”

“C’mon, let’s go Pouty.”

“Pou...?”

Nichkhun walked quickly out of the bar. While everyone looked at me with hope, sympathy, and curiosity… I ran after Nichkhun.

 

 

 

Outside the street, I saw Nichkhun sitting on a bench.

“It’s close from here so I didn’t bring my car. I guess we’ll walk home.”

“Um…”

“You better remember the directions to the bar. I’m gonna have you come pick me up if I get drunk.”

“Excuse me!?”

“What is it, Pouty?”

“I have a ton of things I want to ask you.”

“I don’t want to answer all of them. Pick three.”

“Three…?!”

“We can talk while we walk.”

Nichkhun got up and started walking. I naturally walked to the right of him. My luggage must have been heavy because Nichkhun re-adjusted his grip a few times.

“Want me to hold them?”

“No, it’s alright.”

“But it looks like you’re struggling with it.”

“Shut up. Just stay quiet and follow me.”

“What th…!”

“Quit talking back to me, Pouty. So do you know which three questions to ask me? What’s the first one?”

“Why are you calling me ‘Pouty’?”

“You only have three questions, and that’s what you ask!?”

Nichkhun stopped walking and gave me a puzzled look.

“Wouldn’t you want to know about my place or what kind of life you’ll have? Aren’t you worried about those things?”

“I do want to know that too, but I couldn’t let it go.” I said to him.

“Alright. I call you Pouty because…”

Nichkhun grabbed my left cheek and pinched it.

“Wh-What are you doing!?”

“You pout so easily. That’s why I call you Pouty. Isn’t it a cute nickname?” Nichkhun let go of my cheek.

“That’s mean!”

“See. You’re making that face again. And we seem more like a married couple if we have nicknames for each other. So I’ll call you Pouty.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t need one. Nicknames aren’t my style.”

“So I should just call you Nichkhun?”

“That makes us sound distant.” Nichkhun thought for a moment.

“You decide. You can call me anything you’d be comfortable with.”

“I decide?”

“Sure.”

I thought for a moment, hmmmmmm… let me humor him.

“How about ‘darling’?”

“What couples call each other that!?”

“Then how about ‘My sweet darling’”?

“That’s way too long. And corny.”

“Then how about simply ‘Khun’?”

“I guess that’ll do. So make sure call me ‘Khun’ in front of others.”

“I’ll try.”

“First question down. What’s your second question?”

“My second one is…”

We started walking side by side again. It was getting late. But several cars passed by us on the road.

“Why me?”

“Huh?”

“You look like you wouldn’t have any trouble getting women. I’m sure there are plenty who would happily agree to be your fake wife.”

“Well, I won’t deny I’m popular with women…”

He doesn’t deny it. This guy really…

“But I don’t want it to go from pretend to real.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want someone who’ll want to say. I don’t want to argue over it later. And you don’t look like you’d be clingy. Plus Taec has something over your head, so you’ll listen to him.”

“I see.” I spoke.

“What?”

“You’re not going to say we look like a good couple?”

“Oh, yeah, that too.”

“Huh?”

I was just joking with him. I didn’t expect him to answer like that, and my heart skipped a beat.                

“I’m sure I’ll marry a woman like you.”

“…”

“After dating plenty of beautiful women, I’ll realize people aren’t all about looks. And I’ll lean towards a safe and relaxing woman like you.”

“Isn’t that a little rude?”

“I only speak the truth.”

“Oh I’m sure you’ve dated a lot of women.”

“I dunno. I’ve never counted. What about you?”

Okay I’ll level with this guy. “I’ve dated lots of guys.”

“Honestly?”

“That’s right. Is there something weird about it?”

“Do you mean three total?

“What?”

“I thought you meant three at once.”

What kind of relationships have this guy been in? He won’t know so I’ll just exaggerate a bit.

“Fi… Six guys.”

“Five or six? Which one?”

“Six.”

“Well, a girl with no romance skills gets to pretend to be married to me. You ought to be thankful.”

“You’re being condescending.”

“You have a problem with that?”

“No, it’s refreshingly honest.”

“Right. Honesty is my greatest asset.”

Nichkhun laughed light-heartedy. I was starting to realize something. There’s no sweet talk at all between us. And even with all this bickering, we can keep talking forever. Actually, it’s really fun. And another thing I realized, cars had been whizzing by us and Nichkhun had been walking on the street side the entire time. He does it naturally. I can see why he’s popular with women.

“We’re almost home. You think you can keep going?”

“You live in an area with all these high-rises?”

“It’s more convenient around here. So what’s your final question? You get three questions so you have one more left.”

Oh, right. There was something I’d been wondering about from the start. I decided to ask Nichkhun what I really wanted to ask him.

“You said it’s just one of the many purchases your corporation will sort out. But then you lied to get this one in particular.”

“That’s right. That’s why I need you to pretend to be my wife.”

“Why did you pick that company?”

“Huh?”

“There are a lot of companies out there. Is there a reason why you chose that?”

“…”

Nichkhun stopped walking abruptly. And a smile on his face quickly disappeared.

“Khun?”

“…”

Uh oh. He stopped talking. I wonder if I said something wrong? Nichkhun stood there quietly looking ahead. I was about to say something when he slowly turned to look at me.

“Pouty.”

“Yes?”

“…”

Whoa!? Nichkhun reached around my back. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me towards him.

“H-Hey… let go of me.”

“Just stay still.”

I thought Nichkhun was joking around, but he had a serious look on his face. Holding onto my shoulders, he leaned his head against the top of mine.

“Pouty.”

 

Wh-what’s going on!?

 

 

 

 

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