Mirae’s POV

“Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it, Mrs Lu?” Luhan whispered against my lips as soon as the kiss had ended. It had been my first real kiss in my entire life, and I would hate it forever, it felt great. “Smile, Mrs Lu.” He smiled widely himself. I felt his hand wipe my tear away and then he held up my chin. “Or else I’ll have to kiss you again.”

“I’d rather not...” I turned my head to the side and giggled the best I could to the crowd while wrapping my arms around Luhan’s waist; he held my waist too. The audience were clapping madly – mostly the women – but everyone looked happy. I could see that both Jongin and Mi Song clapped slower than the others, and both of their eyes were teary, I wondered how much they’d cried during the ceremony. Luhan took my hand and led me down the aisle, waving his hand as if he wanted to be Miss USA. I decided to head for a shyer approach, which would let me hide my face ‘in embarrassment’, allow me to hide behind Luhan – possibly form a perfect angle in case I wanted to stab Luhan in the back with a knife – and lastly, it might spare me uncomfortable questions. We bowed to everyone present in the church for over five times before we finally got out, and we could enter the car that would take us to the wedding reception. As soon as the car had driven off, Luhan snarled at me.

“You couldn’t have been a little bit happier, could you? Wow... Never seen such bad acting in my entire life.”

“Who are you to talk?” I retorted, “I saw how you sighed, rolled your eyes and oozed boredom! I cried and smiled. That should have been enough...” I crossed my arms over my chest, gazing out the window just to avoid looking at him; his mere appearance gave me nausea. Luhan tsked.

“Whatever. You’re my wife for the next twelve hours, after that, when we’re in China, I won’t care about what you do with your time.”

“What will you do?” I asked. I wanted to slap myself right afterwards: why did I ask such a stupid question?!

“Party, of course. Find better girls than you to sleep next to and spend my time with.” I gritted my teeth together, rubbing them hard against each other. For some reason I felt quite offended by what Luhan has just said. I couldn’t explain why, but I guessed that any girl that heard that must’ve felt the same – any normal girl at least, not necessarily those girls Luhan chose as one-night-stands. We arrived to the venue for the wedding reception, where we had to sit down in the car and wait for the other guests to arrive. It was dead silence between us, for a good while. I hated this silence. It caused my thoughts to be the only thing I could hear, and they weren’t helping me from stopping any possible tears, though I’d like to think I had no more left in me.

Therefore, it didn’t take long until I broke the silence. “Were those guys your friends?” I asked. There had been two guys that I’d noticed almost immediately. They were both blonds, had piercings and definitely did not belong to my side of the family, so it must’ve been his friends. I felt Luhan’s icy glare in my neck and turned to him, glaring back. “What?”

“What the hell are you doing?” he questioned, clearly annoyed by my sudden question.

“What? Nothing. I’m just wondering.”

“Yes, they are my friends. What? Are they too scary for you? Or do you like them more than me? Wanna marry one of them instead?” With each question, Luhan had gotten closer and closer to my face. By the time he’d stopped talking he was as close as I would ever allow him to be. I put my hand on his chest, trying to push him away.

“Get off me!” I demanded.

“Make me!”

“I’ll spit in your face if I have to!” I said, raising my voice slightly. Luhan looked like he would burst out in a fit of laughter.

“Ooh, scary. You don’t fool me, princess, you’re scared of me down to the bone. I have made sure of that long before today. Like I said, you are mine from this point onward. Get out of the car and smile like you’re supposed to. Be the little perfect girl your parents raised you to be.” Luhan opened the car door, disappearing for a brief moment, then re-appeared as he opened my car door. He offered me a hand, which I had no choice but to accept, and helped me out of the car. We went inside the big hotel that our parents had rented, taking the elevator up to the highest floor, where we then went out on a rooftop; it resembled a terrace almost, and with a glass roof.

“There they are!” Wow, what an original phrase... I smiled widely, holding onto Luhan’s arm. The guests broke out in cheerful clapping, whistles and all that jazz. I giggled again, looking down like the shy bride I was meant to be.

“Aw, can’t you kiss again?” my mother – who else? – squealed happily. Luhan made me let go of his arm and placed it tightly around my waist. I suppressed a whimper. Luhan chuckled lightly at the crowd, then he faced me.

“Wrap your arms around my neck,” he commanded quietly.

“Never.”