Donghae heaved a deep sigh. After hearing his parents’ plan to marry him with Yoora, he had been calling her so many times but she seemed to insist not to pick up her phone. And he decided to call her for the last time. Yes, for the last time. If she still didn't pick up her phone, he would directly go to her house. He wasn't joking at all. Especially at moments like this.

"The number you've dialed–"

"…" he cursed under his breath as he heard the operator's voice instead of Yoora's. He quickly ended the call and directly made his way out of his room and house, still with his shirt that he wore since the morning. He didn't have time to get changed as he had been so busy calling Yoora wherein she never wanted to answer his calls. He wondered why she refused to answer his calls? If she didn’t like the idea of this arranged marriage then why did she agree in the first place?

"Where are you going, Donghae ah?" His mom's voice was heard from the living room.

"Meeting Yoora," he briefly answered before he slipped out of the house.

Once he reached in front of her house, he gently knocked on the door even though he really wanted to bang the door loudly at the time. After a few knocks, the door opened to reveal Mrs. Park, Yoora's mom.

"Oh, Donghae sshi. Why are you here?" the woman asked softly.

"Uhh, auntie, I would like to meet Yoora. Is her home?" Donghae said politely.

"Oh, yes. She's in her room. She's not feeling well," Mrs. Park told him.

"Oh, really?" Donghae couldn't help but feel a pang of guilty as he had been mad at her just now for not answering his calls. Now that he knew she wasn't feeling well, he guessed it was the reason why she didn’t answer his calls just now.

"She's having a headache. If you want to meet her, I'll call her for you?" Mrs Park spoke.

"Uhm, it's okay, auntie. Let her rest. I’ll come back later," Donghae flashed a small smile at the elder and was about to turn his heels away when suddenly Mrs Park spoke.

"If you really have something important to discuss with her, you can go to her room." The elder offered.

Upon hearing that, Donghae somehow knew that the elder knew what his purpose to meet Yoora was. What else if it was not about their arranged marriage?

“Thank you, auntie,” Donghae said as he stepped inside the house heading to Yoora’s room.

Donghae knocked on the door of Yoora's bedroom a few times before he heard her faint voice saying "Come in". With that, he quietly peeked inside the room to see Yoora was lying on her bed. She looked shocked upon noticing who was behind the door of her room.

"Donghae..." she mumbled as she quickly got up and sat on the bed. She didn’t expect Donghae would come to her room. She thought it was her mom.

Donghae beamed. "Can I come in?"

"S-Sure."

With that, Donghae came in and sat beside her on the edge of the bed.

"I heard you're not feeling well. Are you okay now?" he asked in concern.

"Well, a bit dizzy but I think it'll get better soon," she replied, smiling faintly.

"I called you just now. Why didn't you pick up your phone?" he asked softly.

"Huh? Uhh...I...m-my phone has no battery," she answered. "By the way, why do you come here?" She quickly changed the topic.

Donghae didn't reply immediately but paused for a moment, staring intently in her eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Yoora blinked. "Huh? Sure about what?" she asked even though she somehow knew what he was talking about.

"About marrying me. Are you sure you want to marry me, your own best friend?" Donghae looked at her without blinking as she hung her head low, playing with her fingers on her laps. Just by looking at her action, he somehow knew her answer.

"If you don't want to marry me, why do you agree to this marriage?" he asked softly.

This time, she looked up and looked at him with a serious expression. "What makes you think I don't want to marry you? I agreed of course because I want to marry you. But if you don't want to marry me, then don't agree to it. No one forces you," she said calmly.

Donghae went silent. There was no way he didn't want to marry her. And there was no way that he wouldn't agree with this marriage, especially when he knew that the one he would marry was her, the girl he had been loving for years.…nope, for more than a decade. But her...she had agreed to this marriage and she said she wanted to marry him but did she love him like how he did?

"You want to marry me but you don't love me," Donghae stated.

Yoora fell silent. She took a deep breath and heaved a sigh. “Donghae, listen. I agreed to marry you because it’s my parents’ wish to see us getting married—“

“But you don’t love me,” Donghae cut off.

“You don’t love me either,” she interjected, silent Donghae. “So you don’t need to agree with this arranged marriage. If I’m the only one who agreed and you don’t, the wedding still won’t happen, right?” she said rather calmly.

“So you want to marry me without love?” Donghae questioned.

“Yes. Because I believe with love after marriage. Because I know that my parents’ choice is the right one for me. So if you don’t agree with me then don’t agree with this marriage thingy."

That night, Donghae couldn’t sleep as he couldn’t stop thinking about what Yoora had said. He just didn’t know what to do; whether he should agree with this arranged marriage or not. The fact that this marriage arranged him with the girl he had been loving ever since forever made him unable to think of any other answer other than to agree with this marriage.

But still, he felt like there was something off. He felt like there was a reason as to why Yoora could easily agree with the idea of their parents marrying them off. And that was only because he had known her long enough to notice it. But maybe it was just his feelings. Maybe it was true that she believed with love after marriage, that her parents’ choice was the right one for her. But…should he agree to this marriage even though he knew that she didn’t love him? But this is the only opportunity for him to get married with the girl he loved. He believed there was no other opportunity other than this.

“Aishhh!” he raked his hair in frustration. No matter how long he thought about this, he didn’t think he would get the answer right at the moment. ‘Rather than spending the whole night thinking about this, I’d better sleep now. I need to wake up early tomorrow,’ he thought, remembering that he still needed to go to work tomorrow morning.

Heaving a sigh, he pulled the blanket up and closed his eyes. Maybe he should get his other best friend’s opinion about this tomorrow.

“WHAT?” Eunhyuk looked at him in shock after hearing what Donghae had told them regarding the arranged marriage between him and his long-time crush, Yoora. Besides Yoora, Eunhyuk was one of Donghae’s closest friends in school back then. He was also like Donghae, coming from a chaebol (rich) family which owned a business of five-star hotels throughout the country. And it wasn’t that long since his family business expanded up to the international level.

“Then what are you waiting for? Just get married already,” Eunhyuk said after recovering from shock. Of course he knew about Donghae having been crushing on Yoora for God knows how long.

Anyway, they were having lunch together in the restaurant inside the hotel owned by Eunhyuk’s family.

“But she doesn’t love me.” Donghae said gloomily.

“Ayee, that’s not important,” the latter replied.

“What are you talking about? Of course love is important in a relationship. Especially when it’s related to marriage,” Donghae interjected.

“But she had mentioned her belief in love after marriage, right? Then why should you worry about it? Come to think of it, this is the only opportunity for you to get married with her. If you don’t grab this opportunity, you know you’re not going to get any more chances. So grab it before it’s too late.”

Donghae was silent upon hearing the latter’s advice as he was thinking about it over and over, trying to filter anything that could possibly turn into a bad decision.

Seeing Donghae merely remain silent, Eunhyuk added, “My advice is, get married first, Donghae ah. Then, you can think of the ways to make her fall in love with you. With your handsome face, I’m sure there’s no woman who won’t fall for you. But of course, you can’t win over my handsomeness,” he managed to crack a joke which finally brought a small smile in the corner of Donghae’s lips.

Eunhyuk got a point there. He was just overthinking, he had to admit it. If she didn’t love him, then he could make her fall for him though. Why didn’t he think about it before? Aishh, he knew that only his friend could help him with this matter.

“So, Donghae ah, what’s your decision regarding your marriage with Yoora?” Mr. Lee asked when they, one family, were having dinner in the dining room. Mrs. Lee looked at Donghae in anticipation, anticipating Donghae’s answer.

Donghae slowed down his chewing in