"We've arrived."

Taehyung roused awake at his dad's surprisingly gentle announcement and his mom's light taps on the shoulder.

It's about time.

He managed not to heave a sigh out of dismay. He shouldn't. He knew his dad agreed to marry him off to Mr. Bang's only child out of their dozens of years’ worth of friendship, and his mom had a hard time delivering this news to him last week told him enough how this situation was not that pleasant to deal with for them either. He knew he was not the only one in dismay, plus he already agreed to their conditions. He knew that he signed up for this willingly because his parents offered to help him with his own apartment once things settled.

They were told to enter the unlocked gate whenever they arrived because their doorbell system was broken.

The Bangs' humble house was located at the outskirts of Seoul, just a little farther from the university he was attending, but he imagined it would be decent enough to live in. Right off the bat, he could tell the owners must be tidy. At closer look, there was a whole little garden full of flowers and vegetables that seemed lively and well-attended. The lawns were nicely cut. The paved pathway that led to the front door was probably the most characteristic to this house. It was painted with real footprints that Taehyung immediately concluded, blue was the father, and red was the child, probably five to ten years old. He caught his mom's glance beside him, both amused by what they were seeing under their walking feet.

"I'm not marrying a minor, aren't I?"

"Keep the jokes if they aren't appropriate." His mom chuckled regardless, "Speaking of, I heard from your dad that Minah is a senior now."

Oh.

A senior and he also heard she attended the same university as he did. That meant she was probably two years older.

They were greeted with a girl (or should he say woman?) shortly after Taehyung's dad knocked on the door. Taehyung unconsciously gulped as he slightly bowed back at her. No need to look closely, she was pretty.

"Told you to dress up." His mom teased from the back, and he scoffed in return.

You could have told me twice, I guess.

The house they entered looked more spacious than it seemed on the outside, thanks to the tidiness of the interiors. He assumed it was tidy in nature, though more than likely they tidied up a bit more for their guests today. Tangerine walls, spice sofas, and golden-ish lights illuminating from the chandelier set a calm mood to the whole view.

So warm.

Just like her father, who was then sitting on his wheelchair, greeting them with equal warmness. He got sharp single-lid eyes, a bullous nose, his double-chin protruded outward slightly. His facial features screamed intimidating if he was not smiling at them like that, but Taehyung was most taken aback at how unsimilar the father looked compared to his daughter.

"Oh, how you take after your father! You must be Taehyung! Come and sit right here, everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit us. I know a wedding is a lot of work, but we could make it simple..."

The parents led the talk about planning for their wedding. Taehyung listened on for as much as he could remember until his mind drifted off unwillingly. No topics he could give his inputs in anyway.

He started looking around the living room again and Mr. Bang seemed to notice his subtle sign of boredom.

"Taehyung, would you mind talking with Minah a little bit? You might want to get to know each other before the wedding so you aren't too uncomfortable when you move in."

"Of course not, sir." Taehyung winced at how his voice raised a little more that he planned to. He was trying to be polite, not to sound like he was all for talking with Bang Minah. He felt relieved because Minah seemed quite content with his answer with no signs of mocking his easy-to-misunderstand attitude. She led him to the kitchen that was right at the back of the living room. He settled on the stool in front of what seemed to be a breakfast counter as told to.

"Nice to meet you, Minah-ssi."

"Nice to meet you too, Taehyung-ssi. I'm so sorry for the trouble." Minah quickly replied, her forehead wrinkled up slightly as a sign of concern.

"That's okay. I was told that your father really worries about you. Your mother passed away long ago and he... doesn't have much time left I heard?"

"He worries too much about me." Minah grimaced,  sighing subtly, "His condition has turned worse lately, I talked to the doctors. They told me that no more surgery can help make it better. He will get hospitalized again next week."

"I see... So, he had surgeries before."

"A few times. Without those former surgeries, he wouldn't be here today." Minah shrugged. She spoke about it as if she had come to terms with that fact, but her eyes were getting red and watery. It was at that moment that Taehyung felt his presence in her eyes were probably of no weight. Her agreeing to get married because her dad told her to even though she never met her future "husband" before, the way she opened about her dad so easily showed that her dad was her number one priority in her life.

Taehyung felt the need to find her a man as quickly as possible. Of course, he wanted a new apartment as promised by his parents after they "divorced", but not until this girl got a new well-deserved little family herself.

"Would you like coffee or bubble tea? We also got some juice in the fridge if you'd like." Minah added after a few seconds.

"Bubble tea?" Taehyung's eyes lit up.

"I used to work part-time at a bubble tea shop. I'm not sure if my mixing is the best, but we got peach, mango, and lychee, and..."

"Peach would be great," Taehyung quickly said, "Thank you."

Her swift movements made Taehyung wonder if she cooked well. Maybe he would be able to eat homemade food even after he moved out from his parents'?

"Here you go. I hope it's not too bad." She placed two glass cups of bubble tea on the counter and sat next to Taehyung.

Silence while they took their first sip on the drink.

"You should open your own shop." Taehyung exclaimed, giving Minah a toothy grin then quickly got back to his cup. She covered as she chuckled, a little embarrassed at the exaggeration.

"Taehyung-ssi... are you currently dating? I don't think living together is a good idea if you are. We can secretly work it out." Minah spoke up after they seemed to get a bit more comfortable being silent around each other.

"It's alright, I'm sure my girlfriend will understand. If she exists, I mean."

Another chuckle left Minah's lips. "Sounds great. I don't think I can find a partner that easily, but I hope you are okay with cohabitating with me for a while, I promise it will be no longer than two years though. I know my dad wouldn't want it, but I can't bear interfering in your life any longer than that."

"Don't be pessimistic. I think you will be able to find someone soon though, not that I'm rushing you, of course." Taehyung sincerely commented.

"I haven't dated in five years actually. That was my last and my first date. I don't really feel like getting back to dating anytime soon to tell the truth." Minah confessed quite hesitantly; her tone tinged of sorry.

Unbelievable.

"You don't enjoy dating?"

Minah shook her head slowly. "I guess I just like working more?"

Oh.

That was a selfless way to say, she had to work to pay her dad's hospital bills. He forgot they weren't the wealthiest for a moment there, not to mention the only parent she had was sick and needed medications and surgeries. He felt bad for making her bring up her hardships again.

"You'll like dating more when you find the right person." Taehyung stated matter-of-factly, breaking off the heavy atmosphere. "I think you'll even have choices at that."

Minah chuckled, more heartily than ever. "I love your exaggerations."

He meant it. He knew Minah was a nice girl, plus she got good looks. Guys would fall for her pretty easily, right?

They talked about planning to invite some close friends of theirs and let them know about their facade of a marriage, Taehyung's belongings he wanted to bring over when he moved in her house, and how Minah would arrange her room for Taehyung while she would take over her dad's room as unfortunately, he will stay hospitalized for the rest of his short remaining time. They had long finished their drinks when their talk dried out and resulted in them returning to the living room, where the parents were also wrapping up their discussions.

Thanks to his mom's endless chatting on their way back home, Taehyung found out that they got the wedding date set at the end of the month, which was three weeks away. The wedding would be held in a small wedding venue, with as few close relatives as possible to be invited. The suit for Taehyung and the dress for Minah will be separately prepared from each side for convenience. There would be no honeymoons. And after that, Taehyung was to move into the Bangs.

"The ceremony will be quiet and simple as we wanna save for your real wedding. You don't have to act like a married couple, you can take your wedding rings off. But as we have promised, no divorcing until Minah wants to marry someone."

"I know mom, I'm fine. Don't worry." Taehyung knew his mom worried about him more than anyone.

"You saw Mr. Bang's wedding photo on the wall, didn't you? Her mom looked beautiful too, but their child really looks nothing like them. Don't you think so, honey?"

Taehyung's dad cleared his throat, "She's pretty too."

"She is," his mom echoed, not paying attention to her husband's odd irrelevant remark, "she should be able to find someone soon, right? Poor little girl."

The three weeks passed by rather slowly even though Taehyung originally thought he would be busy preparing himself mentally and packing his belongings. He spent his remaining time hanging out with friends like always (while also telling them he was getting an arranged marriage). He couldn't help but look forward to the wedding day. Maybe he just wanted to get it over with, maybe he was tired of looking at his parents saying sorry to him even though he already told them it wouldn't affect his life that much (they were all for helping their good old friend out, but it was their son after all), or maybe, just maybe, his naive mind wanted to learn from the wedding experience for later use.

Or maybe he was looking forward to Bang Minah in a wedding dress.

He really had no idea how true it was to say the bride was always the most beautiful of the day. The white A-line dress did well in enhancing her body, the veil made her look like an angel, the makeup didn't change her face a lot but certainly did its job in beautifying her features. Taehyung couldn't help but divert his gaze almost every time their eyes met, because he was afraid his staring would make him appear prurient to her at worst.

It's just natural instincts. Just natural instincts.

"Wow. You are handsome." Minah murmured for him to hear as she approached him in the hallway and in front of the wedding officiant. His heart thumped even harder at that comment. He couldn't say she was beautiful because he was not sure if he could reciprocate the light-hearted tone in her voice.

"Only today?" He ended up answering, faking a pout.

"Of course not." Minah chuckled. And Taehyung reminded himself to joke a lot so he could hear that sound again.

Once they were done with vowing for marriage and putting their wedding rings onto each other's hand, the officiant grinned. Catching what the audience would expect from them, Taehyung panicked. He replayed this scene time and time again in his mind how to make the kiss seem real before the wedding, but he so regretted not communicating with Minah first about it.

His eyes frantically scanned everywhere but Minah until she latched onto him with a hug.

"Thank you so much again for helping me, for helping us out. My dad can't attend this wedding, but he asked if you could come visit him sometime next week, I'm really sorry for the trouble again." Minah murmured loud enough for him to hear, but not the officiant.

He found himself holding her back to return the hug. "Have you known? My parents promised to help me get a new apartment after we divorce. So if you worry about me, worry about your love life." He could hear her chuckle and a little sigh of relief escaped .

"And now for your first kiss as a married couple." The officiant announced, nice and clear, matter-of-factly.

"I think you'll have to prepare for your back, Minah-ssi." Taehyung hesitated for a moment, and when Minah uttered a sound that he interpreted as she had heard him clearly, he leaned forward while supporting Minah's head and back with his palms, and finally, closed the distance between their faces enough to make the crowd cheer. Their noses unfortunately bumped, making both shut their eyes tight. He could feel his cheeks heating up.

Humans and their petty instincts.

"Was that kiss real? Really, I was convinced that it was." A young man with full thick lips, defined nose and large friendly eyes approached them when they were taking photos with friends and family. He made sure no one else but the spouses heard him.

"Glad you were tricked." Minah chuckled and Taehyung suddenly paid closer attention to the man. "Taehyung-ssi, this is my friend, Kang Seungyoon."

Kang Seungyoon took a little longer than Taehyung wanted him to talk with Minah. He could see the way Seungyoon's eyes literally lit up when he looked at her, the way he reached out to fix her bangs, how he specifically requested to take a photo with just the bride (well, he was practically stranger to Seungyoon, but no one else pulled the same request during the whole session).

He could see that a heavy candidate for Minah's next marriage was found.

"Do you like him?" Taehyung asked Minah as soon as Seungyoon walked far enough from them.

"Of course." Minah answered, a bit stunned at his question, and Taehyung's eyes twitched, "You don't like your friends?"

"Scratch that," Taehyung sighed, but his lips pulled up to a knowing smile, "Would you like some K-drama tropes in your life?"

"What tropes?"

"Friends-to-lovers. Do you have any good ones?" Taehyung asked Jimin from across the table.

"What kind of romance? There's slow-burn, angst..." Jimin scanned Taehyung's excited face, he was glad Taehyung finally found interest in dramas, but at the same time surprised by his taste.

"The quickest progressed ones." Taehyung stated, eyes still twinkling.

"Dude, nobody falls in love with their friend overnight, even in dramas." Namjoon spoke over them. The other boys at the table nodded in agreement with him.

"How about movies?"

Jimin rolled his eyes and decided to ignore Taehyung as he turned back to continue whatever he was discussing with Jungkook and Seokjin. Yoongi and Hoseok and played guesses on who he was going after. He ignored them and looked over to the table at the very corner of the wedding venue across from his, smiling at Minah and Seungyoon conversing.

Minah would look perfect with Seungyoon, wouldn’t she?