You couldn’t believe your luck.

If losing a bet to your dearest baby brother – Jimin – and being forced to sign up for a totally crazy, eccentric  yet elective class as your punishment wasn’t enough, the course’s assignments definitely topped it all. You were slowly losing your sanity.

Let’s start by saying that dating was not your cup of tea. You were usually the shy, introverted type, so you had a hard time striking a conversation with anyone, let alone with boys. If you happened to ask a question or initiate a not-so-awkward conversation, you couldn’t keep it going. You weren’t designed to talk to boys, okay?

You were good with animals, you loved nothing more than your adorable little sugar gliders at home (you had three of them), you could totally get immersed into an enchanting book, romantic comedies and sentimental ballads were your absolute favourite but interacting with others weren’t your thing. Maybe it was because you spent most of your time studying or reading, others didn’t like to bother you when you went over your notes before an exam or when you sat by your favourite café shop’s window with one of Camus’ books in your hand – looking like one of those typical intelligent (and socially awkward) girls from Korean dramas.

No matter how much it hurt your pride to end up in  Marriage and Family classes, you had to do it. A bet was a bet. You didn’t want Jimin to tease you for the rest of your life because you couldn’t attend half a year of useless and nonsense classes about relationships. On top of that, you needed those extra credit points and this particular course had one of the highest ones from this semester’s list.

In the end, you convinced yourself that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. In fact, you could learn something about relationships which were your weak points, so it would only do good, right?

Well, that was until you heard what you actually had to do for assignments.

“You got to be kidding me!” You snickered the moment you heard the professor telling you about the requirements.

“As I firmly believe that real life is experience is better than learning only from books, I want all of you to date three others by the end of the semester, go on dates and then write an essay highlighting both the good and the bad aspects of the relationship. Maybe you will even end up together and thank me one day for putting you two up.” The old man shrugged his shoulders and boosted a proud grin. “I can tell you that it happened multiple times before. Since the couples honestly shared with each other what problems arose from the very start, they could solve it only by doing their homework.”

Dating a totally random guy for a month for a university course was absolutely nonsense! You were sure that many people would have died to switch with you but you desperately needed those credits and dating someone was still better than sleeping with them. You were lucky you didn’t sign up for Education and was asked to practice what you have learned. Though you assumed that a course like this wouldn’t even cross innocent little Jimin’s mind as he didn’t dare to mention if he were in the same room with you. He was too scared to talk about it so openly and maybe it was because you were his big sister, so you were older than him. Though it didn’t necessarily mean that you had more experience but you didn’t really know.

The first guy you were asked to date was Xu Minghao ‒ the brand new exchange student from China. Due to the fact that he had poor Korean skills, he didn’t even know that he was studying Marriage and Family. At least not until you explained it to him in English.

“My friend told me that it was Business Economics.” He pouted like your little brother when he was a toddler, his blonde, slightly curly hair giving him a prince-like look.

“Who was that friend?” You furrowed your eyebrows in question. You already assumed that it was a jokester and sadly you knew quite a lot of those guys. They were literally everywhere.

“Soonyoung.” Minghao admitted sheepishly and you couldn’t help but click your tongue.

“Small wonder why you ended up here.” You giggled childishly, thinking of the said boy who was seriously the most carefree person you’ve ever met. He was a notorious troublemaker and if you had been in high school, you were certain that he would have been in detention far too many times.

Poor Minghao was trying his best but taking up Korean classes – which weren’t focused on the vocabulary of dating – weren’t enough to keep your conversations going and your English wasn’t as good as his. So you were talking in a rather peculiar combination of Korean, English and Chinese (as he sometimes talked to himself in Chinese), it was almost like a whole new language. No matter what anyone said – language was definitely a barrier when it came to love.

Your second partner was even better with the definition of embarrassment aka shy bunny Mr. Jeon Jungkook. He was known to be a very talented and intelligent guy but he wasn’t very good at dating. Oh boy, he didn’t even look at you for two weeks! How were you supposed to date when he avoided eye-contact and conversations were as awkward as between you and your neighbour after he broke your door knob?

You had no absolute idea why Jeon Jungkook wanted to take up a course named Marriage and Family and he didn't want to share the reason with you either. You guessed that he merely lost a bet like you did because there was no way he would voluntarily date someone, to be precise a female. He looked like he was allergic to girls.

You were almost sure that nothing worse could come your way. Well... you were dead wrong. The worst possible scenario happened and you didn't even want to cover up your astonishment when your professor announced the name of your next - and therefore last - partner.

"Kim Taehyung? Kim I'm-the-best-and-let-everyone-know-it-too Taehyung? That will be my partner?" You shrieked not caring if the said person was in the same room with you or not. Some of the students turned their head at your horrified exclamation that almost sounded like a cry.

You didn't want to believe that out of all people, you got Taehyung. The one whom you hated the most. The one who ruined your last year of high school. The one whom you didn't even want to see after that horrendous year yet it seemed that he attended the same university as you - although you never encountered him since you were at uni (Luckily though.) As a smartass he was, he probably wanted to get better knowledge about relationships and that’s why he attended Mr. Park’s classes.

He wasn't one of those typical popular, intelligent and rich womanizers you can see in cheesy kdramas. He was actually very real – with all his flaws and bad habits. Even though you didn't know about his family's status, it was obvious that he wasn't a womanizer. He may have wanted to flirt with anyone but he couldn't stand a chance. He was known to be especially inexperienced in dating, therefore he didn't know how to behave with a lady. He was too eccentric to girls. Not like you knew it from first-hand experience since you never gave him a chance and he never asked for one. You were enemies, not lovers.

"Maybe the girl who acts like this is more of an than a boy who happens to be smart." A familiar voice spoke up from behind you, making the air freeze for a moment. The professor opened his mouth to say something but before he could manage a sentence out, you were quick to respond. You turned around in your chair and came in sight with the one and only Kim Taehyung who was boasting a grin that you wanted to swipe off his face as soon as possible.

"Admitting that you only happen to be smart without working for it makes me so delighted, you can't even imagine." You counter-attacked as memories crossed your mind.

The flashbacks were so hurtful that you had to bite your lip. He was an then and an now. Some things didn't change.

"Having stereotypes about a new student and not being bothered to change your mindset is where you’ve made a mistake. It's not my fault that you never wanted to get to know the real me." He shrugged as if it was nothing but his solemn features said otherwise. He was dead serious about his words.

"Excuse me?" Your voice was a pitch higher as you had to hold yourself back from strangling him. How dared he come up with such a lie?

"I really don’t want to interrupt anything…” Mr. Park cleared his throat, motioning you to turn back to see his expression. “But I would like to point out that I am certain that this lecture hall is not the best place for you to discuss your shared past.” He gently asked you to shut up and turn your attention to him but neither of you could give up. Not yet.

“However, I do encourage you to continue this conversation outside the lecture in five minutes’ time. It seems that it's your chance to change the misconceptions you had, maybe Fortuna wanted you to be each other's last partner." The professor tried his best to dissolve the tension in the air but to no avail. You were still huffing and puffing when he called it a day a couple of minutes later and bid his goodbye.

You snorted remembering his words. Maybe Fortuna wanted you to be each other's last partner? Oh please, what nonsense it was! You’ve never believed in fate and such things, so your Marriage and Family course wouldn’t be first to break this habit of yours.

"I must have angered Fortuna then. I don't think I deserve such punishment." You mumbled to yourself, already ready to leave the lecture hall.

However, Kim Taehyung happened to overhear your comment since he sat behind you during the past hour and couldn’t leave without saying anything.

"You say?” He furrowed his eyebrows in question, pity clearly written all over his face. You weren’t one to back off, so you stood there face-to-face, your arms crossed in front of you. You felt like you were on the opposite sides on a battlefield and both of you were ready to show what you got.

“I'm the one who's going to come out of the whole dating thing badly. You are not the one who has to act like a gentleman and buy you stuff just because we are dating."

"Wow, you've planned it all out so quickly!” You unconsciously started clapping like he came up with the idea of the century. He didn’t seem amused though. “What do you have in mind if you mind telling your precious girlfriend?" You on purpose with an ironic edge to your voice.

"Well that's obviously not part of my plan, sweetie.” Taehyung emphasised the word, playing with the nickname as if it was his sort of pleasure. “You wouldn't get surprised if I told you everything." He said with a forced smile and cooed closer to your ears. You wanted nothing more than to get away from him as soon as possible but you couldn’t help a shiver running down your spine. There was something about his warm breath that made your heart leap.

"You are so bad." You took a step back, indicating that you weren’t up to such intimacy so early in your so-called relationship. Not even if he was your boyfriend for the month.

"Welcome to hell." He cooed like a silly evil character from a Disney movie. You immediately felt fury bubbling up inside of you and you had to clench your fists in frustration.

“You little‒”

“You are the little one in this relationship, honey.” He cut you off with a sly smirk as he towered over you with his height.

“Two can play this game, sugarplum.” You raised your eyebrows challengingly and your response earned a wry laugh from him.

Before he could counter-attack you, you your heels and swiftly left the lecture hall. You couldn’t help but pant in disbelief while you were exiting the building. You were sure that it was only the beginning for you two yet Taehyung was already getting on your nerves.

The show must go on.

You said that every single time you had to put on a show and pretend like you were the happiest person on Earth to share your precious time with Kim Taehyung. Literally all occasions were a part of your big show because you couldn’t find a single thing you liked about him. If you happened to meet up because neither of you turned d