She opened the window – the weather was nice. The morning breeze softly caressed her face. It was refreshing. It had been a long time since she had a free time during morning; on weekdays, the pile of works were waiting for her at the office and on weekend, she usually slept until the sun was right on her heads because of tired. Today, she got to feel the morning breeze again. She wasn’t that busy lately and last night she went to bed earlier than ever.

She headed to the bathroom, taking a shower before going downstairs for breakfast with her family. She heaved such a huge sigh; she didn’t the like the topic that’d be talked during breakfast. As usual, it was about her marriage. She would be okay if they just asked her about when she would be getting married, but her mom actually set a date for her. She didn’t know how to refuse that so she just said yes every time her mom asked her to meet someone.

Her parents were already at the table when she went to the dining room. She gave them a sweet smile and greeted them before taking a seat in front of her mom.

“You woke up early today,” her mom said once she sat.

“I slept early last night,” she answered with a smile.

“I arranged another date for you. You'll meet him this evening, have dinner with him. You’ll like him, he’s different from all the guys I set you up before,” her mom continued, looking at her who was eating.

She nodded, but heaved a heavy sigh inside. She knew it – because the previous date wasn’t a success so her mom set another date. This one too, would fail. No matter how many dates she went on, it would never result in a marriage. Every time she back from a date, it would always be ‘mom, he’s so rude. I don’t want,’ or ‘he insulted me just now’. In short, she just talked bad about the partner. She made a deal with her date to talk bad about each other. Of course it wasn’t good for the relationship between the parents, but as long as their parents didn’t blame them for ruining the date, then everything else didn’t matter. So far, everyone she met agreed with her idea.

“What if, I already have a boyfriend?” she hesitantly asked but at the same time still eager to know their respond. She never brought this up but today she felt like it. She needed to know what they thought about it; she was curious.

Her parents chocked, were shocked with her question. It was a question that shouldn’t be asked during meal time, she guessed.

“No,” her mother stated firmly after drinking water. “Marriage is not something you can do with just anyone, Oh Hayoung.”

“I understand. I’m going to my room first,” with a smile, she got up from the chair. “Oh, I’m going out with my friend later at two,” she informed her parents before going upstairs. She wasn’t in the mood anymore. Her mom’s words killed her mood. Just when she thought it would a very good day, her mom ruined it.

“Just anyone?” she talked to herself while closing her room’s door. She slumped herself on the comfy bed. “It’s your choice that is just anyone. You ask me to marry him just because he is from rich family, you don’t even know him. At least, I know what kind of guy Jaehyuk is. I’ve known him for months. He’s not just anyone,” she continued while looking at nothing but the tiny air.

Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if her parents knew she already got a boyfriend. It was indeed he wasn’t from a high class family like them, but at least he got a pretty well-paid job. No, it was really a well-paid job; he was an architect at a well-known company. She really didn’t care about status and all but her family did and that was where the problems came from.

Maybe her parents would agree with her choice, but of course she needed to work hard to convince her mom.

-

She looked around, searching for someone. It had been ten minutes since she was here but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the ten minutes of waiting felt so long. He was never late before, so maybe he had some works; he knew she hated waiting the most. Wanting to kill some time, she went on the internet, searching for the guy her mom set her date with.

Not even 15 seconds, a lot of photos appeared. He wasn’t that bad, and he was kinda good looking. There was nothing much about him that she could get from the web except all the photos and news about he was the successor of their family company. He was clean from any scandals – indeed, her mother picked out the best of the best chaebols’ son out there but still, she didn’t want them. Why couldn’t her mother understand that?

“Sorry, I’m late,” a voice came from the back.

She quickly put her phone into her handbag upon hearing the voice and gave him a smile when he took a seat in front of her.

“Are you just coming back from work?” she asked, looking at his appearance. No wonder he was late, she thought to herself.

“I had a meeting with client before.”

“You should tell me, we can meet later,” she honestly blurt out. Now she felt guilty for asking him out – she thought he was free today. He didn’t say anything about meeting a client. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked out of concern.

“It’s okay, I’m sure you’re bored at home,” he chuckled. “Not yet, let’s order something,” he told her before he called for a waiter.

“Where do you want to go after this?” he asked her after the waiter done taking their order.

“Are you not tired?” she shook her head while smiling. “I want to shop for some clothes,” she continued. The sweet smile turned into a grin.

“Let’s go after we eat.”

“Are you sure? Do not complain later,” the grin continued.

“I see. We are going to explore the whole mall for only like two or three dresses but it’s okay,” he claimed. He knew her so well to know what she meant by shopping for some clothes. But then, all girls were like that.

She smiled in satisfaction. That was what she liked about him – he was nice. If only her parents knew how nice Jaehyuk was, but came to think about it again, she was sure her parents wouldn’t agree with her no matter how nice he was, no matter how smart he was, because for her parents, status came first, before anything else. She really needed to find a way to convince her parents real quick.

-

The restaurant almost half-filled with people. Her eyes looked around as she walk, looking for the guy her mom set her up with. Just then, her eyes caught a glimpse on a guy who was sitting alone at the corner. He looked better in person than in the photos she saw on the internet this afternoon. Not wanting to waste much time, she headed straight to where he at.

She pulled out the chair in front of him and sat. A smile plastered on her pretty face. Her mother was right; he was different from other guys before but she didn’t think she would like him. The guy was sitting there, not saying anything and it was so quiet at their table. Somehow, it made her thinking if the guy was mute or something. The worst, the guy didn’t even smile back to her. He gave a cold vibe and she didn’t like a bit.

“I don’t think we like this stupid date, right?” she started when it had been about three minutes of silence. These three minutes felt longer than those ten minutes she waited for Jaehyuk this afternoon. How she hated this meeting.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

She tried to keep her cool; she was still smiling looking at him when in the inside, only god knew. Why couldn’t he answer her properly when she politely asked him? This jerk, she wanted to end the meeting with him quickly and hoping that they wouldn’t meet each other anymore.

“Well, you know, I already have a boyfriend but my mom keeps telling me to go on date. So, what I’m saying is let’s tell our parents that thing between us will never work out. You can say anything bad about me to your parents and so do I, okay?” she went straight to the point. There was no point on slow talk with this kind of guy. It was just a waste of time.

“Are you making a deal?” He asked with a smirked.

She nodded.

“No. You have the advantage. If we do this, I still need to meet other girls she set up for me. Let just tell them we will continue meeting each other,” he bluntly told her.

“Are you crazy?” she almost shouted at the idea. Why would she meet him again? If she had to meet anyone from the guys she had a blind date before, this Oh Sehun guy would be the last. Maybe not even on the list. She was trying to avoid him with any means, and yet he suggested that? She must be crazy if she agreed to that.

“I don’t know if you’re pretending to be stupid or you’re indeed stupid, but think about this, if you tell your mom you’re going to meet me again, but we’re not actually going out,” he emphasized the words, “do you think she will set another date for you?” He raised one of his eyebrows before sipping his drink.

“Shouldn’t you order me drink too?”

“Order by yourself,” he yet again sipped the drink.

“So annoying,” she grunted, “but gotta admit, what you said make sense.”

“Right? Then, we don’t have to go for another date with other people and you can date your boyfriend as much as you want too. Let just pretend for only three months,” he stopped, thinking for a while, “I think three months is enough,” he nodded to himself.

“But another blind date will continue after that,” she sighed thinking of it.

“I guess you’re really stupid. You can tell your mom to stop looking for a partner for a while, reasoning you’re still heartbroken because of the break up. The best is, you can blame her and thus, you can ask her to stop that. You can say you will find on your own now.  Brilliant?”

“You really got the brain! Deal!” she took back her words before. He was a genius; it was really worth it to meet him today. Why didn’t she think about this before, if not she wouldn’t have to go through only god knew how many dates.

“I’m not that smart, you’re just plain stupid.”

She hissed at his sarcastic remark. He could just say ‘thank you for the compliment’ with smile on his face but he went sarcastic? That was the third time he said she was stupid. So annoying. Why he was the one who suggested the idea? Anyone but him would be nice. What a bad luck she had!

“Let just use each other. Comfortably,” he continued with a smile.