Both of us are now sitting opposite each other in a coffee shop near the vicinity. No. No one treated the other. He was the one who bought his own cappuccino. I was the one who bought my own melon shake.

“I have no choice but to let you stay in my house. You and Dannie.” He sighs as he places his mug back on the table. “Quickly gather all the things you need and bring it to my house, then we’ll do a bit of renovation to prepare the house for the child. Honestly, it’s less conducive for children, and as a single person living alone, you don’t expect me to have a child friendly house.”

“Yes. Yes. Coz basically it’s all messed up with all the banging and hardcore you do with random girls.”

“Excuse me?” I only shrug myself upon knowing he heard everything I said. I have no regrets. It’s the reality of his life anyway.

And ew – Can I really live in a place synonymous with motel?

His eyebrow somehow raised, but he cools down immediately, letting my words pass. “They won’t install any CCTV in your house, will they?” I ask referring to the idea that we don’t have to act like couples when we are inside the house.

“Of course, they won’t, but they would probably have their own walking version of CCTV.” He looks at me and smirks funnily. “Dannie. For sure she’ll be asked about all the things she sees inside the house. She’ll be asked about how it is living with us as her new family, and if she thinks we’re good parents, and also, if we’re good towards each other.”

I nod while giving him a suspicious look. “You seem to know a lot about being an orphan.” I blurt out without thinking again. It made him shut up and threw a glance on me. “Nah. I didn’t say anything.” I quickly closed my mouth and looked away, taking into consideration the fact that it might be too sensitive for him already. I’m not that rude, you know.  

“So we need to sleep in one room – share one bed and all the other things couples share.”

“What?! Share bed?! I’m going to sleep beside you?!”

“Well, Song Rae In, for your information, it’s out of my will to share my bed to you as well. But I have no choice! Dannie would doubt us if we sleep in different beds!”

I breathe heavily. It’s seriously going in the way I never expect it to be. I thought it was only for papers, but now we are talking about sharing the same bed. Agghhh… this is impossible!

He then stands up as he finishes his mug. “I’ll text you my address and you go there immediately after packing up.”

“Drive me home and wait for me. Let’s go back to your house together.” I stand up, completely willed that he should do as I say. I don’t want to be under his power then entire time I’m living with him. No way. I need to set my stand as early as now.

He looks at me. “No way.”

“Someone might see us getting on separately. Do you want to disappoint the ahjumma? You seem to owe her a lot.” I cross my arms in front of me and smug as I see the change in his expression. So? This is my advantage, huh?

“Fine. Follow me.” He leaves ahead and I smile secretly in victory. Now in my own little way, I can handle the Stubborn Lee.

*** *** ***

“Oh. Jeez.” I utter as soon as we stop in front of our house. “I have no plans on telling them about that marriage because I didn’t know it will be like this.” I look at Taemin and he shakes his head. “How can I just leave the house telling them I just got married so I need to move away?”

“Just go there and tell them. Easy as that. Or don’t tell them at all. Just lie and say you’re going to live with a friend for a while.” He suggests but it’s not as easy as that.

Of course it’s mandatory to be honest to parents. I don’t know about him but in my case, I can’t hide serious things like this to them. This is MARRIAGE, people. We’re talking about two people having long term commitment/responsibility/loyalty towards each other. My parents are traditional style. I definitely can tell all the things they would say to me when I tell them what just happened.

“Alright, I’ll just – oh gosh.” I literally freeze for a bit and get in panic when I saw my father and my mother walking together towards the house. They have some plastic bags with them. I’m guessing they just arrived from the supermarket to buy some groceries and other things for the house. “Why now, jeez.” I whisper and look a bit sideways trying to cover my face with my hands. I see my mother starts to notice me, as she stops for a while and looks at us through the windshield.

Taemin’s car is parked just in front of the house, so it’s really easy to notice us from there.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing? Are they your parents?”

My main problem now is them seeing me with a guy. Jeez. It’s my mom’s nature to ask me and bug me with this kind of thing. For sure she’s curious by now, not about why I was here inside the car, but rather with the identity of the man sitting beside me.

“What? Aren’t you getting off to get your things?”

“Fine. Fine. Just wait here and don’t come out, okay?” Without much plan in my head, I open the car door and come out, closing it immediately as I look at mom and wave naturally. “Omma!”

“Oh, Rae In, who is he?” I know that’s what she’s going to ask first, but I almost run to hold her and push them back into the house. “Hey, hey, aren’t you going to take him inside, it’s not polite to-“

“It’s okay, mom. Let’s talk inside, I have something important to tell you.” I say and try my best to divert my mom’s attention off of Lee Taemin. I don’t want my parents to meet him. No way.

Fine. I know this is going to be hard but I have no choice but to tell them what happened and what to expect in the future. I gather the both of them at the living area while they are still confused of my every movements. “Omma, appa, I really have to make this quick but promise me you will understand.”

“What?” My father asks, obviously in a rush to know what’s happening.

“Taemin-oppa is a good friend.” I say, acting like I’m really super duper mega friends with him. “He’s a sunbae from highschool and we used to hang out a lot before and after class. He taught me about some of my school works and I think somehow, he had become my mentor, too.” Ugh, seriously, these are obviously lies but I think I don’t have enough time to get their trust anymore. I need to do this. I really need to.

“So the point is?” My mom raises her eyebrow as she looks at me.

“We saw each other in the orphanage. He’s a paediatrician now and I asked him to help me about Dannie.” I reveal but their faces show that they need more information – as if waiting for me to say more. “Marriage.” I bit my lips hardly and close my eyes after letting that word out of my mouth.

“Again?” My father frowns and tilts his head a bit like he doesn’t believe what he heard for the first time. Reluctantly, I repeat it again. “Am I getting you right, Song Rae In? You married someone impulsively just because of the child’s custody? And what? Are you going to tell us now that you need to live with that man starting from today? Is he here to get your things with you?”

Oh. Crap. How did my father just guess that? But seriously, there’s nothing I could do but look at the ground. I know and I understand why they’re being like this, but the thing is… it’s here already. I already married him and the only way to get through this is to accept what they have to say.

I hear my mother sighs. “Is he a good man?” She asks and for some reason I can feel a lump on my throat – as if I didn’t want to say anything about that.

Is he a good man? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO. Never. But should I say that? Of course, not.

“Yes, he is, mom.” I just told her the biggest joke, but she is not supposed to laugh about it. “He’ll help Dannie recover, too, since we know she just had a very painful experience. I may have to live with him for 2-3 months, and after that, I’ll go back here with Dannie. A year later, we’ll get a divorce. That’s the plan.” I tell the both of them including the fact that some eyes from the council might be looking out on us so we need to execute a good acting as possible – even asking them to cooperate by thinking like I’m really married, for real.

“I’ll trust you on this, Song Rae In.” My father stands up and walks towards me, placing both his hands on my shoulders. “I know how much you want to have Dannie yours so, fine, I’ll count on you on that, but no matter how you tell us that he is a good guy, I will still doubt about it. Keep an eye on him, and don’t let yourself off guard, okay? If he ever lays a single finger on your hair then tell me. Appa’s gonna crush him apart.”

“Appaa~~” The little girl in me appears as I hear that protecting words from my father. I hug him tightly and smile. It’s because of them that I grew up like this. Oh yeah, I may have a really sharp tongue at times but I’m proud to say I lived and grew up well because of my parents.

“Don’t ever walk around with his house wearing just a huge tshirt with no bottoms on, okay?” Mom reminds and I give her an angry look. “Hey, you always do that! It’s fine in this house because we’re not with someone else, but in his house, HE is someone else.”

I chuckle, and nodded in assurance to the both of them.

I know how to guard myself from this guy, okay, like I know this Stubborn Lee from his head to toe.