If Yerim could describe her life in one word, it would be boring.

She grew up comfortably, as she would often say, which was a total understatement. She’s a part of the Kim clan. Not just any Kim, but the one that owns the ever-famous Lotte group. The whole world knows Lotte. You could say she was born with neither silver nor gold spoon in , that would barely match the amount of wealth she had. She was a baby born with diamond plated spoon in .

Ever since she was born, she had to engage in a lot of courses, learning foreign language, basically being prepped for the business world to continue to bring Lotte’s name high. Despite that, you could also say she was spoiled rotten. She was the youngest Kim of her generation, that explains that. She had not just one, not two, but three older brothers who doted on her.

Kim Joonmyun, the oldest one, 8 years older than her, was the model child. Docile and polite, did everything the elders told him to. Now successful in leading the Lotte Shopping Avenue in Japan, happily married with 3 kids.

The second brother, Kim Jongdae, the mischievous one. He was 7 years older and a breath of fresh air in their household. Besides having a knack for business stuffs, he had an astounding artistic and social ability, hence he was given a position as the CEO for Lotte Entertainment Company.

The youngest brother, only a year older than her, Kim Jungwoo. The closest one to her, and due to his talent and immense interest in technology, he’s now one of the creative directors for Lotte Electronic, alongside their quirky older cousin, Doyoung.

And Yerim? Despite wanting to pursue career other than Business, she had no choice to. She ended up choosing to work under her brother, Jongdae, as a creative director for Lotte Entertainment. She had a massive interest in music, she enjoyed dancing, singing, and composing, but nobody allowed her to pursue a career in the entertainment business other than being the higher up.

Sometimes she envied her two cousins, Kibum and Taeyeon. They were adamant on pursuing career in modelling and singing. It took a lot of struggle and convincing, but they made it. But that’s because their father is not the prominent one in the Kim Clan family tree.

Instead, her father, is the oldest heir, a direct descendant of the Kims, thus making their family more prominent in the business world.

And if being forced to work in a field that you’re not enjoying is bad enough, Yerim had a worse fate in store for her.

As a part of the Kim clan, you could say she was rich. Bloody rich, crazy rich, you name it. Basically, old money. And what did old money parents did to their old money children? Yes, wed them off to another old money kid to supposedly “guarantee a prosperous and comfortable life for their future descendants”. Blech.

And that’s how Yerim found herself tangled in a whirlwind of rapid romance. It was disappointing but expected. 2 of her brothers got married to a wife their parents pick for them. Except Jongdae, he got lucky his girlfriend who came all the way from Canada is the daughter of the Foreign Affair Minister. Of course, the family allowed their relationship to bloom.

Her 2 brothers were of a unique case. Joonmyun got arranged to Bae Joohyun, whose father owned a majority of the Hanwon Hospital chains. She was a doctor, kind, smart, and soft spoken, even Yerim liked her. Her personality matched Joonmyun so much, they don’t even have to try to make the relationship work. Yerin envied them.

While Jungwoo, he was set to marry the daughter of Mugunghwa corporation. Now that’s filthy rich. Their relationship didn’t start in a good note. Yerim could see herself in Herin. The latter was a year older than her, spunky, and free spirited. She hated the chaebol life. She hated being arranged. But after realizing that Jungwoo felt strongly the same way, they decided to make amend. Their relationship wasn’t nearly as sweet and romantic as the other 2 brothers, but Yerim could see they were reaching that point soon with a baby on the way.

And lastly come Yerim. She was wondering whom she was going to be arranged to. Is it going to be Samsung? Hyundai? KIA? SK? Or was it someone from the government? As a female, she was going to be wed off to someone to higher status, that’s a must. There weren’t that many options since Lotte is a very big and prominent company itself.

The answer came in the form of Jung Jaehyun from Hyundai. Yerim remembers him faintly from being in the same circle of friend as Jungwoo. He was one of the last to be married in their group since he was shipped to the US to manage the Hyundai office in L.A. And now he came back, not single anymore.

It took them 3 meetings before the parents decided on the marriage date. Jaehyun didn’t say much. He was fairly quiet and polite. Handsome, well-dressed, and charismatic. That was her impressions of him. After one final dinner meeting, both families were satisfied with the arrangement. And after that she could see her face plastered in front of newspapers and tabloids, and the whole internet possibly, for “The Wedding of The Year” between Lotte and Hyundai.

She nearly puked reading the fake story the PR team has created.

It was written that she knows Jaehyun through her brother, which was not completely wrong. But the story tumbles between falling in love due to the same passion for animals--not completely wrong but still--and they met often through volunteer works in animal shelters. She couldn’t bear reading through the rest of the lies spewed in the article.

She found herself standing in the stage on a glamorous gala dinner which announces her engagement to the taller man standing beside her, an arm wrapped loosely around her waist. To say that it was awkward was a complete understatement.

A month later she found herself standing in front of the altar, dryly reciting vows of forever more, sharing a loveless kiss, and later flied to Maldives for a supposedly honeymoon which was more of a solo vacation for both of them.

And now she was standing at the balcony of their house, staring ahead at the tall buildings in front of her, musing about her life.

Jaehyun is not a bad guy, he was kind, he was polite, basically a taller version of her oldest brother, which she supposes is a great character. They have been married for 3 months and she didn’t have the chance to be awkward with him since he’s always flying back and forth, US and Soukor.

It’s early in the morning, and truthfully, Yerim enjoyed this serene moment a lot. Early morning is probably her most favorite time. She had time to start the day in peace before having to work and go home to an empty house.

She was about to go to the kitchen and start on breakfast when the door to her room opened.

She turned back in shock, only seeing her husband--it still feels weird calling him that--entered the room. He was carrying his coat, the tie around his neck loose, the sleeves of his designer shirt rolled around his elbow.

“Oh, you’re awake,” he mused.

Yerim composes herself before speaking. “I’m always awake at this hour, Jaehyun-sshi. Want me to fix you breakfast? Or are you going to sleep?” Yerim asked.

Jaehyun raised his brow. “Oh, the cook didn’t come?”

“I stopped him from working. I prefer cooking for myself. The cleaning lady still come once a week, I can handle the rest of the housework by myself,” She reasoned.

His mouth gaped in confusion. Yerim offered him a soft smile before exiting the room to start in breakfast.

She settled down with making some steamed eggs and with rice and soup. It took her half an hour to finish cooking and when she finished plating her food, he already came out from their bedroom using a fresh set of clothes.

“Here, enjoy. I don’t know if it’s up to your taste since I never cooked for you. Just tell me if you want anything else,” she smiled. He nodded, muttering a soft jal-meokgesseumnida as he picked up his spoon and chopstick.

Yerim felt glad that he seemed to enjoy her cooking.

“Why did you choose to cook by yourself?” He speaks up, breaking the silence between them.

“I always loved cooking but I could never do them often in my household. I sneaked in to the kitchen to learn cooking. And my eldest sister in law secretly cooks too and she taught me lots of recipes. Now that I live away from my parents, I want to experience freedom,” She explained with a sad smile.

“Oh.”

“Are you going to work after this? Just left the plates on the sink, I’ll wash them before showering,” Yerim said.

“I just got home from L.A, I’m going to go straight for a lunch meeting later,” he informed.

Yerim nodded. She went to the sink to wash the dishes, feeling a bit uncomfortable because she knew her husband is watching her from their dining table. She sets the clean plates aside before wiping her hand dry.

“I’ll go take a shower,” she said before going to their bathroom, bowing her head as she goes. Jaehyun politely return her bow as he sat on the couch.

Today was the longest time she ever spent with Jaehyun which was weird. So weird. She finished showering quickly and changed into a blouse and some jeans. The perks of working in the entertainment industry, despite not being able to be the performer itself.

“I’ll get going,” she informed as she picked up her guitar case.

“You’re driving alone?” He asked.

She nodded again.

“Uh… Yerim,” he spoke up.

Yerim froze in front of the door upon hearing her name being called. It’s the first time.

“Yeah...?”

“Will you be cooking dinner again tonight?”

What?

“Of course, I do. You’ll be home for dinner?” Yerim asks.

He nodded, “I’ll make sure I am.”

“Any request? I’ll hit the supermarket before going home,” she said.

Jaehyun was looking at her weirdly, probably confused at her personality. Too normal for a Kim clan.

“Well?”

“Uh, nothing. I’ll eat anything,” He said again.

Yerim nodded before leaving.

♦♦♦

His wife. Feels weird calling her that. His wife is one weird creature Jaehyun must say. He grew up as a spoiled chaebol kid with a much older brother and 2 proud parents. He grew up being prepped as a successor for their business. He spent most his teenage and early adult life in the States, handling the L.A branch of Hyundai before coming home for marriage.

He was told he was marrying a Kim. Specifically, Jungwoo’s sister. He imagined a spoiled, high-maintenance, fussy, lady, but what came in was a short little lady who loved to do normal stuff. And apparently very good at cooking.

Growing up rich, he was used to have everything offered to him so he was definitely shocked upon seeing her. Jungwoo never told him much about his sister other than she’s pretty, smart, good at music, and is working for Lotte Entertainment. He imagined her partying with singers and artists but she was in fact just a plain girl.

He rarely came home because he had to finish some remaining contracts in the US so he rarely saw her. But now that he had settle everything down, he cannot wait to discover just what kind of woman his wife actually is.

byuntaefangull here. thank you for reading! please do comment if you have any suggestions or if you found any mistakes! see you on future chapters^^