it's tough, being eternally committed to someone you don't even love. or worse, someone you barely even know. but that's how life is when you're from a family of elites.

you don't have a choice.

and that's how two complete strangers ended up marrying each other, not because of love, heck no. it was merely for the sake of their family's status and reputation.

the miyawakis, a well known elite family residing in tokyo, japan, and the kims a well known elite family residing in seoul, south korea.

and the sacrificial lambs of each family? their eldests, miyawaki saku and kim chaewon.

it was all sudden, there wasn't even a warning or anything. it just happened, you know? when chaewon reaches twenty, her parents surprised her not with a birthday greeting but a news that she's going to get married with japan's highly anticipated bachelor.

and in one snap of a finger, voila, those two who are nothing but mere strangers are now living under one roof. even so, saku and chaewon have their own worlds inside their house.

sure, they sleep on the same bed, eat the same food, share the same bathrooms, and everything like how most married couples are, however there's not a single exchange of conversation when it's not needed.

the pair didn't think about getting to know each other simply because, they didn't think they have to. there's not even just a tiny bit of feelings involved in their relationship anyway.

but then again, they're still human beings with needs, and because of that, their five year old daughter, miyawaki wonyoung was born. the sole reason why the couple are still together, as they didn't want her growing up with a broken family.

originally, they were going to have divorce after three years of being married. but on the first year of their marriage, saku got his wife pregnant and their little bundle of joy was born on the last day of august, opposite to her mother's which was the first day of august.

"daddy." the little kid utters as she cups her father's face with her two cute little hands, pulling him closer to peck his lips. you could say that wonyoung is one clingy kid, she would always show her parents affection and she often wonders why the couple wouldn't do the same to each other.

from her peripheral vision, chaewon caught this moment and this made her turn her neck to watch her daughter and husband being sweet to each other. this brought a smile to her lips because never did she imagine she'd ever see this side of her husband, ever.

back then, the married couple barely had any interaction. there's always been a fine line drawn in between them, an invisible line which determines how distant they are to each other. the closest they've ever been to each other was every time they have , right after, they'd roll back to their own sides of the bed and sleep without another word being uttered.

but now through their daughter, they were able to see this side of each other they haven't seen before. she was left in a trance, admiring the lovely sight of the two being sweet, until the japanese tore his eyes from the kid and landed on hers.

with that, the couple swam through each other's orb, not noticing they've been staring for far too long until the lass felt the need for air and that's when she realized that she was holding her breath.

recollecting herself afterwards, chaewon walked to their cart and put down two boxes of cereals before they carried on with their grocery shopping.

however, the thought of her husband having a moment with their daughter never left her mind, and she always did love seeing that.

today is saku's birthday, and as per usual, he's spending his special day together with his family. this year, they've decided to celebrate his birthday in their private beach together with their friends.

right now, the guys were drinking in celebration of his birthday while the girls are taking care of the kids. feeling the need to pee, chaewon excused herself to go to the bathroom, granting wonyoung a chance to ask eunbi a question.

"auntie, why can't mommy and daddy be more like you and uncle hyeseok, auntie yuri and uncle yehan and- and everyone else?" the little kid blurted out, catching the older woman in a shock. the look on wonyoung's face shows sadness and jealousy, clearly she noticed how distant her parents are compared to the other couples.

"wonyoungie what do you mean by that?" eunbi asks, taking the little girl to sit on top of her lap so as to ease her up from the sadness she's trapped in.

"mommy and daddy are not sweet..." wonyoung frowns and seeing this, the lass immediately drew small circles on her back so as to console her. while doing that, she racked her brain on how to explain the kid about her parents' situation, she then locked gazes with minjoo who gave her a nod indicating that it's best if wonyoung were to know about it because maybe, just maybe, it'll change something.

"you know how people get married right? they have to genuinely love each other first before they could get married. the couple should know everything about each other before their relationship grew into something bigger and deeper." the little girl nodded her head in understanding of what eunbi was trying to say, and with her response, the latter continued.

"well your mom and your dad didn't exactly go through that phase. instead, grandma and grandpa introduced them to each other, and they got married because of that." hearing that only caused wonyoung's frown to go worse, although she's only four years old, she could grasp to things a bit quicker than an average four year old kid.

"then mommy and daddy don't love each other? but auntie... what about wonyoungie... they don't love me too?" the little kid's eyes started b with tears, 

"yes they do, or else cute little miyawaki wonyoung wouldn't be here right now. it's just that your mommy and your daddy are too arrogant to admit it, but do you know who could make them realize it?" eunbi wags her eyebrows, making the little kid curious so she immediately asked who.

"wonyoungie." the raven pointed at the kid whose face brightens up the instant she heard her name.

"really?"

"of course, all you have to do is talk to your dad." right at that very moment, chaewon came back from the bathroom, putting a stop to wonyoung and eunbi's conversation.

"what are you two talking about?" the fairy asked as her daughter returned to sitting on her lap. the little girl looked at eunbi as if questioning her and the latter responded with a wink.

grinning from ear to ear, wonyoung looked up to her mother and stuck her tongue out, "it's wonnie and auntie's secret mommy." and chaewon couldn't believe that her very own daughter is now keeping secrets from her.

"yah i'm your mommy, you can't do that to me." the pair, who now agreed to being partners in crime only laughs at the poor lass who could only watch them in disbelief.

when the laughters died down, wonyoung's gaze suddenly landed on her father who was having fun drinking with his friends.

"mommy did you give daddy his birthday kiss yet?" the little girl innocently, causing the short haired girl's eyes to widen in surprise as she was caught off-guard with what she just said.

it took her a couple of silent seconds before she snapped back from her trance and responded to her child, "not yet, i'll give daddy his birthday kiss later." hearing that, wonyoung's lower lip jutted out in a pout and she was giving her mother the eye thing.

chaewon contemplated whether she would do it or not, because for goodness's sake, why the hell would she kiss him out of nowhere, they don't even talk to each other, nor even know each other at all. they were merely just two married strangers.

but seeing the look on wonyoung's eyes, the fairy heaves a sigh before standing up from the floor, "alright, let's give daddy his birthday kiss together." that being said, the mother and the daughter approached the father whose head immediately turned to their direction as he caught their frames from his peripheral vision.

wonyoung climbed up tp his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck before pecking his cheeks and smiling warmly.

"happy birthday daddy." this brought a smile to saku's face, he thanked his daughter and kissed her forehead afterwards. the kid then locked eyes with her mom and with that, chaewon bashfully leans down and planted a kiss on her husband's cheeks.

"happy birthday." she whispered when she drew back, feeling all shy and her eyes were everywhere except on the lad, because of that, she failed to realize the redness of his ears.

"t-thank you." he utters, thinking it was all over but that's where he was wrong because the next thing that wonyoung blurted out, left him speechless.

"nooo, mommy you should kiss daddy on his lips." the little girl whined, leaving the couple unmoving from their position. seeing this as a perfect opportunity for a tease, yehan coughed to earn their attention and said,

"she's right, you should kiss him on the lips chaewon-ah." the light haired guy said, with both hyeseok and chaehyuk nodding to support the kid's request, acting like it was casual thing for them to do.

"but wonnie-"

"no buts mommy, on the lips now." wonyoung demanded firmly as she crossed her arms. having left with no choice, chaewon sighs.

"cover your eyes." that being said, the little girl covered her eyes and when she did, the fairy closes in towards her husband.

"you don't have to-" saku was about to tell her that there's no need for her to do that, but he w