"Out of all the darn jobs, she just had to be the Editor-in-chief of a magazine. " Ara cursed, taking a puff of the cigarette that was between her fingers.

Ara her teeth in distaste as her eyes scanned through the long list of people she had to remember. Fashion wasn't her area of expertise. She would pretty much prefer sitting in an office planning long-term projects, like how she usually did, prior to the wedding.

Now she was acting as Areum, the thought of going to her sister's office and taking over her job tortured the living hell out of her.

"Is there anything I can do without reporting for Areum's work?" Ara frowned, still scrolling the never-ending list of Areum's colleagues.

"Aren't you Han Areum?”

"I'm not sure if you're pulling my leg." Ara claimed, hiding her cigarette from the stranger. The stranger pointed her fingers at Ara multiple times, "Pretty sure you're Han Areum, and I saw you on the news yesterday!"

“Well, it would be great if I was her. I wouldn’t need to work for the rest of my life! Now, shoo!” Ara rolled her eyes, made hand gestures to get the stranger to go away.

Ara took a quick glance, making sure that the citizen had left the place. Putting out her still long-lived cigarette and shutting down the computer, Ara quickly left the place and made her way back to the hotel.

On the way back to the hotel, Ara was relieved that the honeymoon would be ending, due to Baekhyun’s commitment to his company. The company couldn’t do without its CEO even for a day, so it was obvious that their honeymoon- her sister’s honeymoon with Baekhyun had been cut shorter.

“Just avoid it for one more night, it’ll be fine.” She said to herself, not liking what she expect to happen tonight when Baekhyun returns to work.

Areum was sitting right in front of her laptop, looking through the photos and file that she deemed useful for her sister. Looking through hundreds of photos got her a headache and a pair of dry and strained eyes.

It wasn’t until her phone rang that made her peel her eyes off the screen.

“Hello?”

“Ms Han! What to do? Mr Kim lost the files for tomorrow’s release!” a small frantic voice yelled.

“What? Get everyone to assemble, I’ll be right down!” Areum answered, getting out of her seat.

“Right now? Aren’t you in Jeju for your honeymoon?”

“R-right, I’m at Jeju,”

Areum bit her tongue lightly for almost blowing away her cover. She had to be extra careful around everyone, to make sure she won’t blow her cover the next time.

“Call the modelling agencies and get any available models down to shoot and find any studio for the shoot. I’ll send you the purposed theme in a minute. Report to me everything before 5. We need to print it by 6 or the magazines won’t be able to reach the subscribers on time.”

“Alright, I’ll do it right away.”

As soon as she hung up on the call, she sent an update to Ara on the situation before she forgot about the incident. Areum wanted to be as cautious as she could, as one mistake could make a fool out of two families.

Placing her phone back on the table, she heaved a deep sigh. It will take a huge amount of efforts for her to be able to go back there to work.

Since she forced Ara to take over her life, she had to let Ara work in her place while she worked in Ara’s place. The difference in their interest and their line of their career was so contrasting.

Areum didn’t want to change job, she hated the dull and painfully plain office work and preferred working with creative individuals and putting different workpieces together and selling it to the crowd.

It felt rewarding to see people along the streets reading the magazine that she handled just a day before. It took her a painful journey to reach the place of an executive Editor-in-chief of a magazine but due to her selfish actions, she had to let it go.

There was no way that any company would let Areum sit on the seat of an Editor-in-chief with Ara’s resume. All Ara did in her life was to do office work and get buried in her parent’s company.

Perhaps she could try, getting Ara to act as her and to strongly recommend her to work as her assistant. It wouldn’t be easy but she should try it.

Ara was freshly out of the shower when she heard the hotel door unlock. Her muscles tensed instantly, she didn’t expect Baekhyun to return that early, given that he took a flight back to Seoul for an emergency meeting.

“Y-you’re back?” Ara asked, drying her hair.

“Yeah, it was hella tiring,” Baekhyun smiled half-heartedly, loosening his tie.

Ara stared at Baekhyun, brains racking to find something to say to him. Her frown was more evident on her face as the awkward silence gotten longer. Until Baekhyun’s stomach growled.

Ara stifled her laughter, “Go get showered, we’ll get dinner.”

Baekhyun groaned, “I’m too tired to even move, let alone eat.” Ara snickered, “But your stomach says otherwise, so go get showered before I let you starve yourself to death,”

She could hear a loud, deep sigh from the bed. Baekhyun sat up slowly and dragged himself to the bathroom.

Baekhyun was out of the shower in a matter of minutes. Despite having a refreshing shower, his eye bags were prominently evident on his face. His eyes looked like it would close any minute.

Ara felt slightly sorry for not calling room service instead of dragging him out to eat. Restaurant food was always better than room-service.

“Come on, let’s go.” Ara said, casually dragging Baekhyun along.

It wasn’t until they entered the lift that Ara realised that she was holding on to Baekhyun’s hand. She clenched her jaw; she felt the disgust of her imagination. She was picturing herself and her brother-in-law looking at each other with loving eyes.

“What would you like to eat?”

“Do you like Italian?”

Baekhyun gave her a puzzled look, “I’m sure you know what I like.”

Ara smiled nervously, “I do, I just want to be sure that you were okay with Italian.”

“I’m fine with anything as long as you like it,” he assured, holding tightly to Ara’s hands and giving a light kiss on the back of her hand.

Ara fought the urge to roll her eyes, forcing herself to look away and pretend to blush.

The pair returned to their hotel room after the dinner. Their dinner was nothing but an awkward mess.

They only managed to hold short conversations with answers like ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Baekhyun returned to the hotel room with an evident frown, he found it weird to for his wife to not talk about all the things in the world today. Usually, Baekhyun would be the one all ears while she had blabbered away at how some celebrities dress like they came from outer space or picked up their clothing from the garbage. He realised that she was talking about the world economy for a few second before preventing herself from being carried away. There was nothing in similar in terms of the topic she discussed tonight compared to the ones he normally heard from her.

Perhaps it was the post wedding jitters, he supposed.

Ara sat at the dressing table, wiping off her makeup as she waited for Baekhyun to come out of the shower.

She was just wondering if she had time to light a stick when Baekhyun came out of the shower.

“Honey, it’s your turn.”

Baekhyun was fast asleep when Ara came out of the shower, busily drying her hair. Ara walked over to the bed, staring at her brother-in-law and wondered if she was supposed to address that way because the wedding vows weren't exchanged by her older sister.

Tired was an understatement after spending the day as her sister and having to constantly prepare herself to give reactions whenever Baekhyun said or did anything. She just could not let her guard down.

Ara wanted to crawl onto the bed and enjoy a good night sleep that she deserved, but Baekhyun was already on the bed and is very unlikely that she would want to join Baekhyun in bed. Sighing, she crept on the couch and switched on the television, to make it look like she had accidentally fallen asleep on the couch while watching the television.

The next morning came pretty soon, with Ara opening her eyes and having to greet the morning rays. Having flinched at the bright sun rays, she wriggled around the space she had to a more comfortable spot, effectively avoiding the rays.

It was strange.

The couch was surprisingly soft and smooth. The couch had space for her to toss and turn.

Ara gulped. Opening her eyes, she saw Baekhyun right in front of her, still soundly asleep.

Baekhyun’s face was too close for her liking that she sprang out of bed, landing her bottom on the floor with a loud thud.

She was wondering how the heck she managed to get into the bed with Baekhyun. It might have been Baekhyun, carrying her all the way from the couch back to the bed, either that, or she had sleepwalked her way beside Baekhyun.

The male stirred from his sleep, sitting up slightly as he rubbed his face. “Good morning darling,”

“G-good morning,” she greeted.

“H-how did I-”

“Sleeping on the couch is the fastest way to get a backache, darling. I brought you back to bed.”

“Thanks,”

“Time to wash up, we need to check out by noon,” Baekhyun informed, climbing out of bed.

Feeling the need to stay in bed longer, Ara went back to the bed. “Take five,”

Baekhyun chuckled, lifting her from the bed and headed to the bathroom, with Ara screaming with fright.

He entered the bathroom, still with Ara in his arms. Ara smacked him countless of times and he still refused to let her down. It was awfully awkward to have him carrying her. It felt wrong in all kinds of ways.

Baekhyun handed her her toothbrush and continued carrying her while he too, tried to brush his teeth. However, at the state he was in, with Ara in his arms, he had no other way to brush his teeth.

He handed Ara his toothbrush, “Help me with it,”

Ara looked away, “Unless you put me down,”

“Then you’ll have a husband with smelly breath to deal with,” Baekhyun leant in to kiss her on the lips.

It frightened Ara, as she pulled herself further away from Baekhyun and snatched the toothbrush away from him.

“Open your mouth!” she instructed, shoving the toothbrush into his mouth, making him choke.

“I’m so sorry!” Ara ended up in chuckles, kicking her feet excitedly. Baekhyun stumbled on his feet, trying to regain his posture.

“Now, put me down so I can really wash up.”

Baekhyun followed obediently.

“Good, now get out so.”

There was an increasing urge in Ara to slap Baekhyun’s hands away from her during the whole flight. He was super touchy to the extent that Ara was uncomfortable with sitting next to him. She wanted to change seats so badly but the fact that she had to continue acting as Areum made the urge go away.

Ara was beyond delighted when Baekhyun told her that he needed to report back to work early, he pressed his lips against Ara’s forehead, before leaving to hail a taxi heading to the company.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’m returning to the studio to do some stuff too,” she assured Baekhyun when he told her that he felt back about leaving her alone right after their honeymoon.

She was more than happy to be left alone; she wished she could tell someone that. There was no one to turn to at the moment, Seulgi would be too busy at work, Jongin was busy travelling, unreachable at the moment.

Ara decided that she should head to the studio to tender her resignation letter, scratch that, it was Areum’s resignation letter.  She was willing to give up her own name for her sister, but not her career.

Ara stood outside her house, taking few deep breaths. She supposedly guessed that Areum had already been notified about the resignation letter and was fuming mad about it, considering that she was the one who called Ara over for dinner.

“I’m back,” she announced, slipping into a pair of comfy home slippers.

Areum came storming down to the living room, dragging the younger one to her room. The younger one pulled away, standing right in front of the door.

“What were you thinking? Resigning from the office? I spent years there just to get to the position!” Areum lashed out, eyes wide glaring at Ara.

Ara blinked as if nothing had happened, this was a mild reaction. She gave a smile, “Then what do you want me to do? Report to work in your place and ruin your name?”

Areum’s glare faltered, she was disturbed by the fact that Ara managed to smile. Ara noticed that too.

“You were the one who wanted to change your destiny, don’t whine like a baby when things don’t go your way.” Ara replied, looking disinterested.

“You should have discussed this with me,” Areum answered.

It sounded like they had a choice, but in their reality, they had no other way to settle this mess. Ara frowned, she doubted her sister’s ability to look at things. There was clearly no other way to approach this identity swap.

Ara frowned, different emotions were flooding her and she didn’t know which one to show. It was a bother. She wasn’t sure if she should ridicule her sister or be sorry for the fact that she isn’t bright enough to think it through.

“There’s nothing to be discussed. Figuring out how I should deal with your husband is already much of a headache, don’t make it worse.” Having said that, she has no idea how she should break it to Baekhyun that she won’t be able to consummate their marriage.

There’s no way she’s going to give away her ity for a lie.

It was obvious that Areum was dissatisfied by her answer. Her lips were pressed thinly while she paced her heavy breathing. “I’m going to tell the higher ups that I’m retracting the resignation letter,”

That was it.

“Don’t tell me how to live Han Areum’s life because you were the one who didn’t want to live as Han Areum,” Ara spat, glaring at the latter with fury.

Areum was taken aback by her words, she tried to defend herself but she couldn’t come up with the words because she knew Ara was right. Clamping shut, she tried to distract herself by turning away.

“Don’t act like a spoilt brat. You’ve got what you want in life- you used to have your dream job, a good husband, a happy family, until you exchanged it for Jaehyun. You took away my right to decide what I want in my life, too.”

Areum flinched, Ara could tell she was hurt by her words but the words that came out were nowhere near what she truly wanted to say. Areum’s lips began to tremble, her eyes watering.

“I don’t think you have the right to cry. After all, you are the one who stole away my life in exchange for your own love life. You’ve never changed, have you? Still, the same, young selfish little girl who wants everything to go in your favour,”

Ara looked away, if she had seen her sister’s tears, she wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue further. She was this close to snapping. She heard sniffles, from her sister. Biting her inner cheeks, she resisted continuing further.

“I need to talk to mum and dad,” and Ara left.

It would be a lie to say that Ara was alright after saying those terrible words to her sister but her emotions got the better of her. She needed a hug from her sister along with an apology and something along the lines of ‘I understand the reason behind your decision’ but things turned the other way. The mess soured their relationship. Ara was sure that the relationship was not going anywhere better in the meantime.

Ara talked to her parents, without them knowing her identity. She expressed the interest in starting working at the company and saying that her sister wanted to pursue something other than business. Her parents were saddened after hearing about ‘Ara’ wanting to leave her position, being that she has not been in that position for long, only for a week before the wedding.

However, joy was something Ara saw in her parents as she asked for permission to enter the company, in the name of Areum. It was something that ticked Ara off. Adding on that, she had to hear her parents calling her Areum the whole day and hear a bunch of compliments that she never heard from her parents when she was still Ara.

It made her lethargic, she wanted to be alone. It was no surprise that Baekhyun decided to come over to fetch Ara home.

“Mother-in-law, father-in-law, I’ve come,” he greeted as he took off his shoes and entering the house. 

Ara spent the next half an hour sitting in between Baekhyun and Areum while her parents chatted with Baekhyun.

“Areum,”

Ara yawned as she looked at the door. She wondered how long the conversation would continue before she actually stood up and walked off.

“Darling?” Baekhyun called, scooting closer to Ara as he placed his arms around her waist, wondering if there was something troubling her.

Ara snapped out of thoughts, looking confused. “Yes?”

“Mother was asking if you wanted to bring her kimchi back since you’ve always liked eating the kimchi she made.” Baekhyun reminded, caressing her cheeks with a pair of loving eyes.

It took a huge amount of self-control to not flinch at the contact. Ara had the urge slap his hands away from her face.

“I’ll come back and get it from you another day, mother. We have yet to tidy up our house,” she answered.

Ara slid under the bed covers, joining Baekhyun in bed. She looked lethargic and unwilling to talk; she had already shut her eyes and was ready to drift off to sleep anytime.

“Darling,” Baekhyun called out, sliding his hands into hers, gently squeezing her hands. Ara hummed, accompanied by a deep sigh.

“Is there anything bothering you?”

“No,” she replied, taking a deep peaceful breath. “I’m just worn out,”

“Alright, but if you have something bothering you, don’t hesitate to tell me. I don’t want you to keep it to yourself only to have yourself frustrated.”

“It really helps a lot knowing that, thank you Baekhyun.”

He crept closer to her in bed, whispering into your ear. “You don’t have the need to be so formal with me,”

Ara shut her eyes tightly, praying with all her might that Baekhyun won’t do anything else tonight. She stopped praying the moment she felt the slight itch at her ears.

She shifted away immediately, earning a shock from Baekhyun. She turned and looked at him, forcing herself not to yell at him and scream molest.

“Not tonight, Baekhyun. I’m on my period.”

There was an obvious deflate on Baekhyun’s shoulders. It was quite hilarious, having Ara let out a chuckle. Baekhyun raised his eyebrows, “You’re laughing?”

Sealing away her laughter, she pulled a long face, “Nope,”

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around Ara and gave her tickles, making her squirm. Ara resisted the tickles, keeping the laughter inside. However that barely held on and she burst out in laughter and occasional yelps of agony.

Ara could not muster the strength to speak, tickles were her ultimate weakness.

“I’ll stop if you promise me a kiss,”

Without even thinking twice, Ara nodded furiously, wanting the tickle attack to stop.

It took her a moment to realise that she was not struggling with the tickles anymore. Sighing, she turned over and gave a peck on Baekhyun’s cheek before returning to her usual sleeping position. Baekhyun opened his mouth to protest and ask for more but Ara beat him to it.

“We have work tomorrow, hurry up and sleep.”

Ara could hear a groan of protest while having her eyes closed but it was best for her to ignore it. The peck on the cheek barely affected Ara, even though it was worse than holding hands with Baekhyun. It was a quick and simple contact on the cheeks, she convinced herself.

Fast forward the time to two in the morning, Ara was unable to fall asleep, eyes fixated on the ceiling. Over the few hours that she has been lying in bed, she had kept her eyes shut for most of the times but she was still unable to fall asleep.

She was slowly growing frustrated with her inability to adapt to different beds. There wasn’t a problem when she was in Jeju. She should really fall asleep right now, she needed to report to her company at eight and she didn’t want to turn up for work looking like a disaster.

There were few unpleasant incidents that happened when she was lacking sleep. She tripped on her own feet multiple times, one after another. Having coffee running down your white blouse unknowingly and having to have the wrong words coming out of during an extremely important presentation, which landed her into trouble and Seulgi and Jongin had to smooth talk their way to get Ara out of her troubles.

Counting sheep did not help at all and neither did humming softly to classical music help. She probably had tried most of the solutions she has heard of, but none of them worked.

Beside her was Baekhyun, sleeping ever so peacefully.

Ara faintly recalled when she was young, her father would lull her to sleep while she rested against his chest and slowly drift off with the sound of his calming heartbeat.

Looking at the clock at the bedside, it was nearing three. She had to get some sleep.

Breathing deeply, mustering her courage, she lightly shook the sleeping male. “Baekhyun,”

The male stirred from his sleep, shutting his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them to look at Ara. “Yes darling,”

Ara looked at him, trying to hide her embarrassment to herself. “I can’t fall asleep,”

Faint laughter came out from Baekhyun’s mouth as checked the time, “You should have woke me up earlier,”

He pulled her closer, having her face buried in his chest as his head rested on her crown. He gave Ara light pats on the back, like a parent lulling his baby to sleep. She felt exceptionally comforted by his actions, and his heart beat was like a lullaby for her.

Only for a night, Ara reminded herself. She could feel herself growing red with the sudden closeness.

She reprimanded herself for creating chances to have close contact with Baekhyun but it was not stopping her from falling asleep. Listening to Baekhyun's heartbeat worked wonderfully, she was beyond comforted.

“Sleep tight darling,” Baekhyun whispered before she drifted off to sleep.