'Have a good day.'

Jongin stared at the sticky note on the mirror. He didn't really know what to think about this new development, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit warmer inside. He was probably just really lonely, Taemin had been spending nearly all of his free time with Minho (so much for not being his boyfriend), so any attention, no matter from whom it was, made him feel better.

He read the note over and over again while he brushed his teeth, and each time it gave him an itsy bitsy jolt of energy. He was starting to believe that this could actually turn out to be a really good day. He found a pen and added his own message below.

'You too'

He smiled to himself and left for school.

For the first time since he moved in, he didn't hesitate in punching in the code to unlock the door, he didn't have to prepare for the sinking feeling in his gut the moment he opened the door and entered the darkness. No, today he was hungry and curious what was for dinner. He hoped he had again left him something amazing on the table.

He flew inside and went straight to the kitchen. It was an instant disappointment. There was nothing there. Not even a spec of dust. He pouted, mad at himself for getting his hopes up. What had he been thinking? Just because that one time he had given him leftover food didn't mean he was going to start giving him food every day. This wasn't a homeless shelter for lost dogs. He sighed, ready to go wallow in his mistake, when he saw something bright orange flash before the corner of his eye. A sticky note! There was a sticky note on the fridge! For no apparent reason, he got all excited.

'Please empty the dishwasher'

Oh. His heart lost its bounce for the second time. He had been expecting something sweet and encouraging. But in all fairness, Kyungsoo was the one doing all the heavy lifting cleaning wise. He didn't know how, but he kept this place spotless. Too spotless if it was up to him, a house had to look a little bit lived in to feel like a home. He always felt a little bit like he was crashing an IKEA installment after hours, like he was not supposed to be here, like it was just for show.

To prove he wasn't such a bad housemate, he quickly emptied the dishwasher, throwing everything into the cabinets above. He fished the pen he was now in the habit of carrying around out of his pocket.

'Done.'

Brushing his teeth, it was kind of lonely to watch himself in the mirror, the empty mirror, with no sticky note. He was weirdly obsessed with those notes, and he didn't really know why. Deep in thought he headed to his room, screeching to a halt in front of his bedroom door.

'Sleep tight :)'

He could feel his face contort into a ridiculously big smile. He took the sticky note with him into his room and stuck it on his nightstand. A smiley. He had included a smiley. He giggled to himself. He burrowed a tunnel under the covers and snuggled up inside it, reading the note over and over again until he fell asleep.

He was late! He ran into the kitchen to grab a banana to eat on the way to school, but he could have never prepared for what greeted him there. A more colorful kitchen was hard to find. The cabinets were covered in sticky notes, they were all over. What was going on? He read a couple of them.

'Large white round dishes'

'Medium white square dishes'

'Clear small straight glasses'

'Gray cups'

'Blue cups'

Uuuhm. Kyungsoo had marked in excruciating detail where everything was supposed to go. Apparently he had taken issue with how he had emptied the dishwasher last night. Wait, how early did that guy wake up to have done all this before breakfast even? Sure, Jongin liked to sleep in, so he always went to school at the latest possible moment, but still, Kyungsoo must have gotten up really early. That guy was intense. He had everything sorted by size, shape and color. Jongin had just checked which cabinets had dishes and which had glasses and then just thrown them all up there in no special order. Maybe Kyungsoo was a bit crazy. After all, you had to be a bit cuckoo to marry somebody you hardly knew. Huh. So what did that make him? It took two to get married.

He skipped the afternoon solo practice, which he never ever did, since it was the best time to get in some real, focused practice, and went home early. Maybe, just maybe, he was trying to come home early enough to catch Kyungsoo in the act. He was getting really curious about that guy. He felt like a zoologist, researching nocturnal, burrowing animals, trying to catch them off guard just to see them in action in their natural habitat.

He entered the apartment swiftly, trying to make as little noise as he could, but the keypad always did that sound when the door opened. Kyungsoo was in the kitchen, cooking. He stood absolutely still, looking at him with two wide eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights. Jongin could see he was contemplating whether to run away or not, looking at the food that still needed cooking and then at him, and then back again.

“You cook?” Jongin threw his bag of sweaty dance clothes on the floor and sat down on the other side of the kitchen island.

“Mm.” Kyungsoo nodded, timidly continuing whatever it was that he was doing.

“Wait... you didn't cook that thing you left for me, did ya?” he peered his eyes, not finding it very likely, but he had to ask.

Kyungsoo looked furtively at him and then nodded as he stared down the chicken he was in the middle of dismembering. “Was it... bad?”.

“Are you kidding me?!?! It was amazing!!! Wow... I can't believe it... you're like, a proper cook then!! I had no idea...” he gasped, genuinely shocked and impressed.

“No... no... heh...” Kyungsoo waved his hand modestly, his face turning into a fireball. Jongin chuckled, it was kind of cute.

“Uhm... I ... uhm.... I just have to finish this... and then I'll get out of your hair.” Kyungsoo added, stirring faster than before, oddly nervous.

“Can't we just have dinner together? It smells good.” Jongin smiled. He wasn't usually this forward with people he didn't know that well, but Kyungsoo was so introverted and non-confrontational that it kind of made him curious and drew him in, making him braver than he normally was.

“Uh... Okay.” Kyungsoo answered firmly, and got even more serious about his cooking. That was one weird little nugget of crazy.

“I'll just take a shower while you finish up, I smell.” he chuckled apologetically. In order to be home early enough, he had skipped the shower and just hurried on over as fast as he could. Come to think of it, there was no reason for him to think Kyungsoo would be home in the middle of the day, he had just acted on instinct. He could have easily been at work. Or school. Or... what did he actually do? He realized he knew absolutely nothing about him.

When he got out of the bathroom, all well groomed and nice smelling, Kyungsoo had already set the table, and just sat there, waiting for him.

“Wow, it looks nice.” he grinned, looking at the feast that Kyungsoo had created. There were a myriad of different dishes, some he didn't even recognize.

Kyungsoo started getting red in the face again, using his chopsticks to carefully select the biggest piece of chicken. Jongin couldn't help but start pouting, it was the piece he had had his eye on. Sure, Kyungsoo had the right to pick the best of everything for himself, since he was the one who bought the groceries and he was the one who magically turned them into a gourmet meal, but Jongin had really wanted that piece.

Then something incredible happened. Instead of stuffing it into his mouth, Kyungsoo put the chicken attentively on top of Jongin's almost overflowing bowl of rice. Jongin just stared at it, sitting there on top of his mountain of rice. He could feel his heart turn into mush. Never had anyone done anything like this for him before. He had seen it in the movies, but he didn't really think anyone did this in real life. His parents weren't really very hands on in his upbringing and rarely did anything that resembled caring for him. And he and Taemin usually had such little time to eat, since they wanted to get the maximum time possible for practice, so on breaks they just dug in like crazy and swallowed their food whole.

Not really knowing what to do, or how to act, his eyes accidentally met Kyungsoo's. For an awkward second they just stared at each other. Kyungsoo looked concerned, breaking eye contact to inspect the piece of chicken he had just given him, as if there was something wrong with it. Ah. Jongin grabbed it before Kyungsoo had a chance to take it back, and stuck the whole thing into his mouth. He felt a slight pang of regret, since he wanted to treasure it a bit longer, that special piece of chicken. But as the taste filled his mouth and made him realize just how hungry he was, he ate with gusto.

“This is amazing! Wow! Sooo good!” Jongin said with his mouth full, busily tasting everything.

Kyungsoo looked down, digging randomly with his chopsticks in his rice bowl until a sweet smile broke its way out and shone on his face.

“You know... you can sometimes come out of your room in the evenings, you like... don't have to be cooped up there like you're in prison or something...” he commented absentmindedly, still stuffing his face.

“Heh, it's not... it's not a prison.” Kyungsoo let out a feeble giggle. “I like my room... but, I thought you wanted... uh... everything separate....” he added, apprehensive.

“Eeehh... I didn't mean like... eh.. whatever...” Jongin didn't know what to say. He hadn't meant for them to live like the other one didn't exist. Or maybe he had meant that, but he didn't mean that anymore. He actually kind of enjoyed Kyungsoo's company. Even though he was weird and extremely shy, it was oddly nice to have him around. He was usually the shy one, but Kyungsoo took the shyness to another level, which somehow made Jongin feel less shy.

“How did you get so good at cooking?” he changed the subject.

“I'm a professional chef... or at least I'm going to be...” Kyungsoo confessed. Jongin believed him, his food spoke for itself.

“So uh... do you go to cooking school or do you work at a restaurant or... like... what do you do?”. Operation 'getting to know your husband' had officially started. Usually, people knew what their spouses did for a living before the actual wedding took place. Well, they were a bit different. Better late than never?

“I'm going to start my own restaurant. I'm just perfecting some recipes and making the preparations, finding the appropriate space and stuff like that.” Kyungsoo's eyes lit up, he was clearly very into it. “Uhm, it's actually the reason I said yes to the marriage...” he shyly confessed.

“Say what?” Jongin did a double take.

“My parents agreed to finance my restaurant if I got married to you.” he explained. Ah, that made sense. He had been wondering what led him to do it, and it was actually a pretty sane reason, better than anything he had come up with, yet he felt kind of disillusioned. He had convinced himself that Kyungsoo was gay and in love with him, and that was why he was so willing to agree to this union. But it couldn't have been further from the truth. He had married him for the most practical reason of all, his career. He probably had no interest in him. Which was actually great for him too, because then he wouldn't have to worry about sharing a house with a guy that was into him. But he wasn't as relieved as he had expected.

“But you're so good! You could've easily started a restaurant without your parents' help. If you would do a tasting, investors would be lining up to back you!” he told him in full honesty, even though he was basically telling him he didn't need him.

“Ah, yeah, I know. But I don't want to work at a popular fancy restaurant that is fully booked around the clock, hustle and bustle, people and chaos everywhere, not to mention the stress in the kitchen.” Kyungsoo shivered just thinking about it. “My dream is to have no more than 2-3 tables in a tiny, cozy restaurant in a quiet neighborhood. That way I can do my very best for my customers. I'd rather have few but happy customers, rather than serve something unsatisfactory. That's my worst nightmare. But nobody is willing to invest in a small restaurant, they only care about money.”.

“I get it. I get it.” he nodded, not sure he completely got it.

“I'm studying to be a dancer. Modern dance.” he told him. “I might not be good at a lot of stuff, but I'm a really good dancer.” he added, proudly.

“I know.” Kyungsoo nodded in agreement.

“You know? How do you know?” he caught his jaw right before it fell to the floor.

“I've seen you dance. My dad took me to a show you were in once.” Kyungsoo explained.

“No way! Do you... believe in the prophecy? Do you think that if we hadn't gotten married, we'd bring ruin to our families?” Jongin asked, curious to find out what he thought. Some hundred or so years ago their great grandparents were supposed to get married to each other, Kyungsoo's great grandfather and his great grandmother. An arranged marriage, which was the norm at the time. However, it was standard procedure to go to a fortune teller before tying the knot, to make sure the match was a prosperous one. According to the story, the fortune teller went into a dark trans, communicating with the forces of the universe, that not only strongly opposed to the marriage, but foretold that if they obeyed and didn't get married, both families would come into great wealth. But, there was a catch. In order to keep their good fortune, their families would have to join their bloodlines come the fourth generation.

Now, their families might have been blessed with great wealth, but not with great fertility. Kyungsoo's father was an only child, and he and his wife had tried and tried again to have another baby, to no avail. Jongin's mom had two siblings, but they were both killed in a car accident before he was born and had no descendants. His mom believed their death was a warning from the universe, and that they had to do as the prophecy told in order to ensure both families' safety. Jongin had never really bought into it, believing that his mother's grief was clouding her judgment. But it was hard to be a hundred percent sure, and there was a lot at stake if he was wrong.

No matter how it happened, the fact remained that he and Kyungsoo were the only members of the fourth generation, and so they were destined to be married ever since they were born. And Kyungsoo's father, a very powerful senator, had been the leading force in legalizing gay marriage in Korea, a necessary step in order to fulfill the prophecy. His mom hadn't told him any of this until his 18^th birthday, where she told him that not only could he not choose his partner in life himself, but that he had to marry a man! He had not taken it well, and he and his mother had been fighting ever since.

“I don't know.” Kyungsoo shrugged. “But I don't really want to find out.”. Kyungsoo was a better son than he was.

“But how long do you think we have to stay married? The prophecy just says 'join the bloodlines', are we even sure they meant marriage? It's not like we can have babies! And they didn't say anything about what should happen after 'the joining', I mean, we've been as joined as two men can be... I mean other than like... you know... doing.. that... which is obviously not happening! So there's nothing that says we can't divorce each other later, or even right now!.” he wondered, thinking aloud.

Kyungsoo's eyebrows sank, a dark shadow taking up residence in his eyes. “It's late.” he simply said and stood up, starting to clear the table.

Jongin jumped up to help him, figuring he was just tired after a long day. He took his rice bowl, which had almost been empty, and put it in the dishwasher.

“It's okay, I'll do it. You just go relax or something.” Kyungsoo said, looking more weird and cringey than normal. He must be really tired.

“No, it's fine, I'll help!” he assured him brightly and put some more stuff into the dishwasher.

Kyungsoo stood there, horrified.

“What?” he had no idea what was going on. Kyungsoo looked like he was watching a horror film.

“That doesn't go there.” Kyungsoo said with a very serious voice.

“Huh?” he took another look into the dishwasher. He wasn't really used to doing stuff like this, they had always had a housemaid at his home who did all the cleaning, but it really didn't look all that complicated. “There aren't any marked places, I'm pretty sure you can just put anything anywhere.” he assured him.

“But that doesn't go there.” Kyungsoo's voice was slightly pained.

“Uuuhm...” he grabbed the bowl, not sure what to do with it then, but Kyungsoo reached for it at the same time, the edges of their little fingers grazing slightly up against each other. Jongin felt a tiny electrical jolt, like the one you get when you touch your car on an especially cold winter day. It felt weird. Unsettling, somehow.

“...Okay, you do it then.” he pushed the bowl harshly into Kyungsoo's arms, frustrated and uncomfortable. It was not like he enjoyed doing chores, he had just been trying to help. He pouted, irritated, and went to his room in a huff.

The next morning he halted in front of the door on his way out. Another sticky note.

'Dinner tomorrow at 7 PM?'