Six years ago.

The boat ride to El Amado is a scenic journey to paradise. With the stretch of incredibly stunning and sparkling blue water and clear skies, Min Young should be enjoying the visual treat unfolding before her. But instead, she silently stews as the boat smoothly glides along, impatiently waiting for the ride to be over. She looks down at her hand. Or rather, their joined hands. The sight of Jae Wook’s large hand intertwined so naturally with her own makes her heart skip a beat. She doesn’t remember if it had been this natural with...she mentally stops her thoughts from going further and shakes her head. Why is she comparing?

Min Young draws a shaky breath as Jae Wook’s thumb suddenly starts tracing slow circles on top of her hand. She looks up at his face. He doesn’t seem to be aware he is doing it, as he continues to carry the casual conversation with Fernando. He looks so relaxed, compared to her tightly wound state. Is he really this used to this kind of situation? And by this situation, she means pretending to be in a relationship with a total stranger.

Of course, Min Young, he is an actor. To be honest, a very good one.

Min Young can fairly say she herself is a good actress. But not this good. Jae Wook is in a whole different level. He thinks on his feet as he answers Fernando’s thousand questions about them. Like how they met...was it love at first sight...how they manage their schedule together… Jae Wook answers all of them good-naturedly. Min Young feels she should at least listen to his answers just in case Fernando asks her the same questions. But she doesn’t. To be frank, she couldn’t. Her mind is too busy devising her escape plan as soon as they dock. Once they’re inside the island, she doesn’t think they’ll be able to kick them out, right? This pretend-relationship only needs to hold until they are inside the island. After that, they should be free to do whatever they want. And the first thing she’ll do is find her beloved cousin, and kill her. This whole insane plan has Lee Ha Na and her adventurous spirit written all over it.

Jae Wook looks down and finds Min Young staring at him. With what expression, she cannot be sure. But she is fantasizing of chopping off Lee Ha Na’s precious, long locks in revenge, so her face must be murderous. Gleefully contemplating murder. Jae Wook’s mouth quirks, and an amused look enters his eyes. He slowly leans forward towards her.

Min Young holds her breath.

His mouth stops near her ear. “Babe?” He angles his body so that from Fernando’s point of view, it looks like he is sweetly nuzzling the side of her face. “Are you really an actress?”

She stiffens at his question, her eyes narrowing at the insult.

“I am your boyfriend, not your kidnapper,” he continues in a deceptively tender voice. “Or is that too hard for you?”

Min Young grinds her teeth at his provocative words, her blood suddenly boiling. Too hard for me? Oh, Kim Jae Wook, you really want to play this game, huh? With her pride insulted, Min Young doesn’t waste time to retaliate. Deliberately, she turns her head and meets Jae Wook’s eyes, leaning towards him ever so slightly, and making sure their faces are just inches apart, their breaths teasing each other. Slowly, her lips break into a sultry, inviting smile.

Unprepared for the sudden change in her expression and body signals, Jae Wook only stares back at Min Young, mesmerized.

“Babe?” Min Young purrs the word of endearment in an overly sweet tone.

It only takes a few seconds before Jae Wook realizes it. Then as if waking up from a trance, he slightly jerks back as Min Young’s dangerously, sweet tone starts to register, and wariness creeps into his face. But it’s too late.

Without hesitation, Min Young pulls her hand away from his grasp...and smacks it right across his flat stomach as hard as she can.

A small grunt comes out of Jae Wook, as he doubles over, clutching his stomach in pain.

Min Young gloats as she watches him. She mentally gives herself a triumphant pat in the back. But for Fernando’s sake, she gasps loudly, and puts an arm around Jae Wook. “Oh no, babe. I’m so sorry! I—my hand slipped.”

Jae Wook groans. “For a very small person, you sure pack a mean wallop.” he grumbles under his breath, gingerly rubbing his stomach.

Smack.

She hits him again, this time on his arm. “Ooops, slipped again!” She hides a smirk. Sorry, but not really sorry.

Jae Wook gives her an incredulous look.

Min Young looks at him innocently. “You might want to watch what you’re going to say next.” She raises a hand to his face, and gently pats his cheek, an angelic smile carefully pasted on her face. “Babe.”

He snorts in disbelief, then shakes his head, his mouth quirking again in that y, barely-there smile of his. Before Min Young can remove her hand from his face, he catches it and brings it to his lips. “Remind me not to piss you off again.”

Surprised at his tender response to her not-so-tender punches, Min Young pulls her hand away as soon as she felt the graze of his lips on her knuckles. But Jae Wook doesn’t let her. Instead he brings them down to their side, again twining his fingers through hers, and continues his conversation with Fernando, as if nothing happened. He also doesn't seem to notice the unexpected warming of her cheeks. Min Young sighs in relief.

As soon as the boat docks on the shore, Min Young sits up, excited and antsy to escape Jae Wook and find her errant cousin. As embarrassing as it sounds, her only escape plan is to run away from Jae Wook. Literally. With Jae Wook’s presence and deep voice distracting her the whole boat ride, it's not possible to come up with something more elegant than that.

While deep in thought, she hears Jae Wook chuckle beside him.

With Fernando out of earshot, she doesn’t hide the annoyance in her voice. “What?”

“Your cousin isn’t kidding.” He drawls in amused tone.

“Kidding about what?”

“Your flight response.”

“My what?”

“You’re like a rabbit,” he states it like it’s a very common thing to say in everyday conversation.

Her eyebrows snap together in confusion. “If you think I know what that means, you’re wrong.”

“Rabbits are such cute creatures, with their unbelievably doe eyes, and fluffy ears. But their instinct to run away from any threat is incredible. And they can actually outrun most of their predators.”

Min Young just stares at him, dumbfounded. She doesn’t know what is more amazing, that he knows so much about rabbits. Or that he compared her to a rabbit. Or that he read her mind about running away from him. “Are you complimenting me or insulting me?” she finally asks, helplessly baffled by the turn of conversation.

Jae Wook’s response to her question startles her. He throws his head back, and suddenly, his laughter fills the whole boat.

Holy cow.

His laugh. Min Young looks up at him, now more stunned at her own reaction to his laughter than the reason why he laughed. A deep, rich, and yes, she grudgingly admits, an insanely y laugh. Her toes unconsciously curl at the musical sound.

“Okay, definitely insulting me,” she grumbles, trying to distract herself from thinking how beautiful his laugh is.

“No, no—” Jae Wook wipes the tears from his eyes. “I wasn’t insulting you. Yes, you are cute—”

“I already know that.”

He chuckles again. “And I see very humble too.”

“What’s your point?” She snaps.

“Well, your cousin did warn me that you will try to escape from me, so she asked me to keep a tight leash on you—”

“Leash?!” Outraged, Min Young stands up. “I'm not a dog!”

He grins. “I know, babe. I think we’ve already established you’re a rabbit.”

She throws him dagger looks. “Stop calling me a rabbit,” she says through gritted teeth. She knows she also need to ask him to stop calling her babe since no one is around. But for some crazy reason, she didn’t. And that crazy reason is one of the things that worries her.

Jae Wook ignores her threatening tone and continues. "So, you’re stuck with me, until she and Maxwell gets here. In her own words, she says: make sure she isn’t kicked out of the island for being stubborn before we even get there.”

“Until she and Maxwell—they aren’t here?” she asks incredulously, skipping over the stubborn comment. Yeah, yeah, everybody likes pointing out how stubborn she