“Oh dear! What happened to you, Woohyun?” As soon as Woohyun stepped inside the house, Mrs. Nam spotted her son who was covered in bruises.

“Just fell down from my bike. I’m okay, Mom.” Woohyun tried to reassure his mother that he was indeed fine, but she still didn’t feel at ease seeing her child in such a state. She then ushered him to the couch as she examined the injuries once again, only to notice that it had been treated.

“Did you treat your wounds by yourself?” She questioned

“No, someone was kind enough to help me earlier.”

“Thank goodness there’s still some Good Samaritans exist in our community. What would have happened if you were just abandoned earlier? That’s why I want you to get married as soon as possible so that she can take care of you. You can’t expect me to do it until you’ve grown old.” He was in absolute bewilderment by how his mother had managed to talk about marriage in almost any situation he was in. Nonetheless, he made sure that his facial expression didn’t show as he calmly shared his opinion.

“Mom, you know I’m still preoccupied with my career.” Woohyun failed to further substantiate his point when his mother interrupted.

“I had enough of you trying to avoid this. I’ll make this clear for you. Either you find a girl within this month or I’ll set you up in a date and when I said I’ll set you up, I’ll make sure you come for it. If you dare to evade, you can say goodbye to your job. Don’t make me barge into your workplace and ask your boss to fire you.” Her voice remained firm as she came up with the options.

“Come on Honey, cut him some slack. Let him succeed in his career first before he settle down.” Mr. Nam suddenly emerged as he took a seat beside his wife.

“You’re not even helping me Dear! He’s getting older, you can’t expect the ladies out there to marry him when he’s aging, right?” Woohyun was getting up from his seat as he used this little argument as an opportunity to escape. However, Mrs. Nam didn’t let him get away as he was pulled back to his seat.

“We’re not even done yet, Nam Woohyun.” The said male knew he was in deep water when his mother called him by his full name. When he thought he was going to get a scolding, his father luckily stepped in.

“Alright. We’ll give you exactly a year to find your partner then we’ll decide from there. There’s some truth in your mom’s words because you’re not young anymore. We hope you can consider that.” Mrs. Nam eventually agreed to her husband’s idea and words couldn’t describe how thankful Woohyun was at that point of time when his father actually gave him ample time.

For the past few weeks, Woohyun hardly could concentrate on his work. He kept mulling over his parents’ words even when he was having his lunch currently at McDonalds’ which was near to his workplace. He reluctantly chewed on his burger as he tried to force the food into his system even though he rarely had the appetite these days. Even Hoya who was working at the fast food restaurant could notice the change in demeanour in Woohyun. When Hoya had confirmed with his colleague, Dongwoo, that there was no delivery at the moment, he took this chance to converse with his former high school friend.

“What’s wrong? It’s very unlike you to actually waste your time here when you usually rush your lunch so that you can quickly go back to work.”

“My parents just want me to get married as soon as possible.” Woohyun simply stated while Hoya raised one of his eyebrows.

“That’s it? It’s not that difficult to be honest.”

“It is for me. When will I have the time to actually develop an interest for love? I bet my future wife will eventually leave me since I prioritise my work more. Yet, my parents insist that I should get married. If only I could just get any girl from the streets who wouldn’t be emotionally attached with me… That way, I can focus more on my work without having to worry about neglecting her.” Woohyun finally expressed his frustrations as he ruffled his hair wildly. Hoya, however, was so deep in his thoughts that Woohyun had to wave his hand in front of Hoya’s face in order to gain his attention.

“Are you even listening to me in the first place?”

“Definitely. It’s just that… I think I can help you.” Of course, Woohyun’s pupils went dilated when Hoya had found the solution to his problem. Hoya, however, was uncomfortable by his reaction because Hoya found it a bit exaggerating.

“You see… I need to find a guy who’s capable of taking care of my younger sister. It’s not necessary for him to love her though, as long as he treat her right, I’ll be happy to marry her off. Would you... Would you be her husband for me?” Hoya was hesitating on asking a favour from Woohyun, but he knew it was a perfect timing to bring up this topic.

“But why me? Is it because of your father?” Not only did Woohyun knew about Hoya’s family situation, his close friends in high school were aware of it. They are also the ones who came up with the clique’s name, INFINITE, believing that their friendship will be an everlasting relationship.

“Yeah… He became more like a monster ever since my mom died. I want to protect my sister as much as I can, and this seems to be the only solution that I have. So what do you think?” Woohyun couldn’t resist the temptation of his offer, because he was able to solve his own problem and help Hoya’s situation at the same time.

“Okay, I’ll accept your proposal. But let me meet your sister first.”

A/N: What do you guys think of the story so far? Feel free to comment your thoughts ^_^