Two weeks later, Yongguk and his family including his younger brother, went to Busan again. This time, he would see his future partner for himself. The only thing he knew about the other was his name, Jung Daehyun. And he was 20 years old. He was a lot younger than him. Even Minsoo was older than Daehyun by a year. Because of that fact, Yongguk felt like he was going to marry a kid.

                In the Jung’s residence, Daehyun was trying to contact his boyfriend to inform him about his parents’ plan. But of course, Inguk wouldn’t answer it. The elder did tell him before that they could not keep in touch as often as usual. Daehyun knew but he better gave it a try than to sit back and do nothing about it, although he was afraid to hear Inguk’s reaction about it.

                Daehyun heard some knocks at the door along with a soft call of his name. “Yes, mom?”

                Mrs. Jung opened the door and smiled at his son. “Are you ready yet? They’re coming soon.”

                “A-Ah…yes… Just give me a few more minutes…” Daehyun stood up from the bed and put his phone aside.

                “Come down where you’re ready. Help me prepare some snacks for them.”

                “Yes, mom,” Daehyun sighed after his mother shut the door. If he was an ungrateful son, he would have rebel or run away but he always remember the promise he made with his grandmother before she died, to be a good guy when he grew up.

                After a while, the doorbell rang indicating the awaited guests had arrived. Mrs. Jung left the kitchen to welcome them leaving his son to do the rest of the work. As reality hit him, Daehyun could fell his heart beat a little faster than before because his partner-to-be was here.

                “Yes, welcome. Come in,” Mrs. Jung led them to the living room where Mr. Jung was already waiting.

                Daehyun could hear their faint voices from the kitchen. He fixed his appearance and went to join them while bringing a tray of drinks. All eyes were on him right now that he hoped he could safely reach there without dropping the tray.

                “Not bad, hyung,” Minsoo nudged his brother’s arms and wiggled his eyebrows.

                Yongguk grinned and whispered back. “I guess I’m pretty lucky.”

                Daehyun placed the tray on the low table and serve the drinks and snacks to the guests before taking a seat beside his mother.

                “Yongguk, introduce yourself,” Mrs. Bang said, making the two siblings turned their heads to the front.

                “Ah, yes. I’m Bang Yongguk. Nice to meet you,” He stood up and bowed. “I’m 27 this year. And I work as an architect in Seoul,” His gaze locked with Daehyun for a moment. Yongguk just smiled at him and it was returned by the younger.

                “Daehyun..?” Mrs. Jung patted his thigh as a signal to do the same thing.

                Daehyun slowly got up and bowed at his future in-laws family. “Anyeong haseyo, my name’s Jung Daehyun. I’m 20 years old and still studying in college.”

                “Really?!” Minsoo suddenly spoke up, making everyone looked to him weirdly.

                “Oh, sorry. My name’s Bang Minsoo, 21, college student,” He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

                “Where are your manners, Minsoo?” Mrs. Bang chided her second son.

                With that, Minsoo quickly stood up and bowed at them. “Please excuse my manners!”

                The Jung spouses chuckled at him. Daehyun covered his mouth with his hand to control his laugh that sometimes could be extra loud and embarrassing.

                “It’s okay,” Mr. Jung spoke up. “Maybe you two could be friends,” He looked at both Daehyun and Minsoo respectively.

                Minsoo bobbed his head in agreement before waving a little at Daehyun. The other carved a wide smile and the hand on his lap was raised slightly to wave back at him.

                “His eyesmiles are so cute,” Minsoo whispered to Yongguk as their parents continued to talk again.

                Yongguk looked at his brother annoyingly. “Why do you keep praising my future partner? I’m the one who’s getting married, not you.”

                Minsoo was taken aback by that. “And why are you so jealous? Is it wrong to praise my own brother-in-law?” He returned.

                Then, both of them started to bicker in low voices. Daehyun noticed it but he was unsure of what to do. He kept changing his gaze between the brothers and the parents who were still deep in their conversation. Because he didn’t know what to do, Daehyun just stared at them and eventually, he found it quite funny. It must be wonderful to have a brother. He wished he had one too.

                Mr. Bang cleared his throat when he realized his sons were making a ruckus as guests in his friends’ house. His wife was continuously shaking her head because of embarrassment. Both of Yongguk and Minsoo immediately turned back to their polite selves. Yongguk looked up at Daehyun who was hardly holding his laugh at them.

                “Yongguk, why don’t you take a walk with Daehyun?” Mr. Bang suggested and it was highly supported by Daehyun’s parents.

                “Yeah, sure,” Yongguk nodded and got off the couch.

                Daehyun was hesitating at first but seeing Yongguk was waiting for him, he slowly made his way to the latter. Both of them walked to the door and left the house together.

♥♡♥♡♥

                Yongguk and Daehyun reached a small park within five minutes. During the time being, none of them uttered a word. The elder kept taking a glimpse at Daehyun as he was thinking on what to say. Daehyun was intently looking at his phone without bothering to look up. Yongguk thought maybe he was shy with him.

                “Who are you trying to call? You’re busy with your phone since we stepped out of the house,” Yongguk broke the awkward silence between him and Daehyun.

                Truthfully, Daehyun was really into his phone that he completely ignored the elder by his side. He put the phone at his ear for the umpteenth time but the result was still the same. Although he knew that Inguk would not answer his calls, he remained unwearied and kept trying because this arranged marriage was going to be a big problem in their relationship.

                Yongguk sighed as his question was left unanswered. This was actually the problem in an arranged marriage that people were talking about. It was the disagreement and unwillingness. He tapped his chin to think of something that could get rid of these problems between them. When he saw a bench by the sidewalk, he pulled Daehyun’s hand and brought him to sit there. Daehyun yelped while frantically tried to secure his phone from falling down.

                Yongguk took a deep breath and looked at Daehyun straight to the eyes. “Listen, I know you didn’t want this marriage, right? Actually, me either. I just wanted this marriage to get away from my ex. She kept chasing me and I hated it. So, please get married to me for the time being and after everything’s fine, we’ll get a divorce.”

                Daehyun was dumbstruck. It took a while for him to respond. “Seriously? What about our parents?”

                “They’ll be okay with it since I’m the one that asked for this,” Yongguk reassured.

                Daehyun bit his lips as he was still surprise and uncertain of the response he should give. “F-For how long?” He asked.

                “I don’t know…two years…tops?” Yongguk hesitated and Daehyun narrowed his eyes at him. “Okay, I promise you it’ll be less than two years,” He confirmed.

                Daehyun looked down to his lap, thinking whether he should just helped Yongguk and satisfied his parents’ request and Inguk didn’t even have to know about it. And after two years, he would be divorced and got back together with Inguk. Well, that sounded easy.

                “If we got married later, will we live in Seoul?” Daehyun asked.

                “Of course. I work there.”

                Daehyun’s eyes twinkled. That was what he wanted all this while, to go to Seoul. His boyfriend was there and he really wished to see him after these three years being apart. And now, there was a golden opportunity offered freely to him. He sure wouldn’t let it go that easy.

                He turned to Yongguk with burning eyes. “Let’s do this! I’ll help you!”

                Yongguk almost laughed seeing Daehyun’s cute determined face. His lips were pursed and his eyebrows were furrowed. Yongguk just nodded at him with a broad smile. “Thank you.”

♥♡♥♡♥

            “Did you two get along well?” Mrs. Jung asked as soon as she saw both of Yongguk and Daehyun walked into the dining room.

                “Sure,” Yongguk answered and took a seat at the table. Daehyun proceeded to help his mother to prepare the dinner together with Mrs. Bang.

                “Then you two can get married in six months,” Mr. Jung uttered happily.

                “Why don’t make it three months?” Yongguk said, startling all of them including Daehyun. “The faster, the better.”

                The parents looked at each other. Minsoo just stayed silent in his seat. “What do you say, Daehyun?” Mr. Bang asked.

                Daehyun glanced at Yongguk. The elder was true. The faster they got married, the faster Yongguk’s problem will be settled, and the faster they can get divorced. “I agree.”

♥♡♥♡♥

Fate will find a way.

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Saranghae~ ♥♡♥♡♥