Junho was already at the office at 7:00am on the dot and typing away on his computer screen. He was about to take a sip of his coffee when his secretary barged into the room.        

   "Sir!" she said, almost in a shout. Junho sighed and put his coffee down without drinking 

from it.  "What is it this time?" he said quite irritated.  

  "Your mother said she would be here at 10 o'clock sharp." 

Junho sighed once more and nodded his head indicating to his secretary not to worry and to prepare for his mother's shouting.  

 

Junho hid his face in his palms and, god knew when he was going to reveal himself. All the stress of his mother on top of everything else started to really pile up in his mind, and to make things worse, today was his - 

 

"Happy Birthday!" Junsu shouted as he came in with a cake. 

  The rest of 2PM walked in casually without a commotion while Junsu made a huge fuss. "We bought you cake!" Junsu said as he put it down on Junho's office desk. 

     "Actually it was just Junsu who bought you cake. We knew you didn't like cake to start with, so we didn't bother buying it for you." Nichkhun replied. 

  "He got too excited." Taeceyon added

"Way too excited." Chansung added even further. 

"Is it wrong to be thrilled about a close friend's birthday?" Junsu replied to all the comments. 

  "Maybe to an extent." Wooyoung said as he laughed. 

 

"So are you all set for tonight?" Nichkhun asked Junho as he made himself some tea. 

Junho got up from his desk and sat himself on one of the chairs joining the rest of his friends. 

"To be honest, I don't even know what going on. My secretary just told me that my mother is coming down to see me at 10 o'clock." 

  "You ask the wrong questions Nichkun, the question you should be asking is if he's all set to be married for the rest of his life." Wooyoung chuckled. 

Junho laughed at his friend, "You're such a sleaze bag." 

  "Hey I'm just trying to be supportive and asking if you're okay." Wooyoung responded. 

 

"Since we're on the topic of your wedding, who's the best man?" Chansung asked. 

   "We all know the answer to that." Junsu smirked as he took the cake out of the box and situated it on the coffee table. 

"Thank you for knowing in advanced that I will be playing that role." Taeceyon grinned. 

  "In your dreams that is." Wooyoung retorted back. 

"Guys, we should all calm down. It's already stressful enough for Junho." Nichkun said with a concerned face. "We all know anyway that the best man is obviously me." Nichkun finished off with a smirk. 

"Hey, hey, I'm pretty sure that he'll pick someone of great standards and looks." Chansung stated. 

  "You're not seriously saying that you're good looking right?" Wooyoung laughed. 

"Yah!" 

 

All Junho could do was smile at the chatter amongst his friends. 

It was 7:15 in his office, and yet they were all here suit and tie just to celebrate his birthday. 

To Junho, they were his real family.

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

Soeun finally walked out of her room with a heavy heart, and by now it was already 8:00am. She finally had an answer that would both fix her problem and save the company from downfall. Although it mightn't have been what everyone would want, it was the closest answer to what she had wanted. 

Soeun knew very well that part of this plan was selfish towards her side, but sometimes you had to be selfish in your own time of need. She walked down the stairs to where Mrs. Jung was. 

Mrs. Jung was by now cleaning up the kitchen and placing the food on the table. 

 

"Mrs. Jung" Soeun called her name. 

Mrs. Jung looked up to find Soeun already neatly dressed up, almost as if she was going out. "Yes Soeun-ah?" 

Soeun smiled awkwardly as she played with her fingers. "As much as I do want to eat peacefully and have a chat with you, I have a few errands to run, and it seems as if I only have a short time since I do have to stop by the company to meet Mrs. Lee in the afternoon." Soeun said ever so lightly making sure not to offend Mrs. Jung. 

 

Truthfully, by now Soeun felt horrible. Mrs. Jung had especially woken up early and drove to her house to make her some breakfast and find strength for her, yet here she was declining to what looked like a beautiful breakfast. 

 

Mrs. Jung smiled and held Soeun's shoulder kindly. "Soeun-ah, if you have somewhere to be, you don't need to have my permission to go. Just go, I'll be fine here. I've always made breakfast earlier than this for Mr. Jung and he would always have at least a bite to eat and off he goes out the door. Through him, I understand your position. Just be careful." Mrs. Jung replied with a caring smile.

 

Soeun looked up directly at her eyes and thanked her for everything. She walked out the door and took out her car keys. 

 

It was time to visit her husband-to-be's famous company. 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

"I think it's time to blow out the candles." Junsu said excitedly. "Hey, Chansung I think I told you to hold the candles, while I was carrying the cake." 

Chansung felt his pockets and found nothing. "I don't think you gave them to me." 

  "What about you Wooyoung?" Junsu asked. 

"Not me." 

  "I think you left them in the car." Taeceyon said. 

Junsu sighed in frustration. "....I'll got get them." He said as he frowned. 

 

"You know, I don't have to blow out the can -" before Junho could finish his sentence Wooyoung kicked the side of his foot. "What he means is he doesn't have to blow out one candle, you bought more didn't you?" Wooyoung said quickly. 

  "Oh yeah, I did. I'll just quickly run down now and get the candles." Junsu said as he ran out the door. 

 

"Dude! Why the hell did you kick me?!" Junho shouted. 

  "Look, Junsu is excited about your birthday, don't spoil his excitement." Wooyoung replied. 

 "He even woke up pretty early to pick up the cake." Nichkun added. 

 

Junho nodded understanding the situation. He was about to stand up and stretch when Junsu barged back into the room huffing and puffing like there was no tomorrow.

 

 "Outside -" Junsu said falling to the ground in exhaustion.

The rest of the members looked at him in confusion. 

 "Where's...the candles?" Nichkun said slowly. 

"No... forget the stupid candles! Outside -" Junsu said as he was still huffing and puffing. 

  "What's... outside?" Junho asked. 

"The girl..." 

"What girl?" Junho replied. 

  "You... marry..." Junsu added hopelessly.

"What?" 

"You're fiancé you idiot!" he finally screamed.

"What?" The rest of the members shouted. 

   "She's coming up this very moment." Junsu said as he was about to lose his voice. 

"How do you know?" Taeceyeon asked in shock. 

  "I saw her all the way down on the ground floor. She was at the reception desk." 

"Well, how do you know it was her? You haven't even seen her!" Junho said in frustration. 

Wooyoung suddenly stood up and scratched the side of his head on guilt. "About that... I kind of... showed everyone.... a picture of... her." Wooyoung stuttered with a fake laugh. 

  "For god's sake!" Junho shouted. 

"Well anyway, we were about to leave anyway." Nichkun said as he picked up Junsu who was still on the floor. 

"You guys don't have to leave because she's here. You're going to meet her anyway." Junho added. 

  "Well then let's stay!" Junsu said. 

"No! I think it's time to leave we have errands to run." Taecyeon said as he nudged Junsu. 

"I know you guys are free all day, you don't have to -" 

 

"Excuse me sir." his secretary interrupted. "Miss Soeun is here to see you."

  "Just let her in." Junho said putting a face of shock on the rest of the members who were still present. 

"Yah Junho!" Chansung nudged Junho. 

Junho ignored him and turned over towards his desk as he sat back in his seat. 

 

~ ~ ~ 

  

Soeun got out of her car and looked at the tall building in front of her. "Tsk, it's not that big of a deal." She thought to herself. 

Soeun took light steps towards the entrance and found herself situated near the reception table. "Excuse me, would I mind asking where Mr. Lee's office is?" she said softly. 

The receptionist looked up at her and checked her from top to bottom as she gave her what seemed like a look of disgust. 

  "Look here, if you're another one of those tramps that Mr. Lee is just playing around with, I wouldn't mind but ask you to leave." she said without even looking directly at Soeun.  

 

Soeun found her self astonished with the lack of consideration some workers had. For all she knew, Soeun was just a woman asking a question. 

 "Excuse me, but I'm here as a representative of Mr. Kim's global company." She stated back in anger. 

The receptionist looked up in horror as she recognized Soeun's face. 

"Oh my god. I am so sorry! This is my first day and I've been getting so many women coming in and out looking for Mr. Lee and -" 

  "It's fine." Soeun sighed. 

"I'll have someone you to his office right away." the receptionist said as she apologized. 

"No!" Soeun cut in. "I'll get my own way around the building." 

  "Oh. Okay ma'am. Mr. Lee's office is on the 3rd floor, you'll definitely see it because that's the only office on that floor." 

 Soeun smiled before she thanked the receptionist. "Oh, and can you please keep this a secret only for today?" Soeun added before she left. 

 

Soeun took the elevator up to the third floor and walked over to Junho's office. 

 "Excuse me, but how may I help?" his secretary asked.

"I know this is quite late notice, but would I be able to speak with Mr. Lee for a brief moment?" 

 "Do you have an appointment?" 

"I don't." 

His secretary stood up from her seat and smiled at Soeun. "It won't take a moment." she said as she opened the doors of Junho's office. 

 

Soeun stood outside for what seemed like a few seconds before his secretary ushered her to come into the office. "Here we go Soeun." She encouraged herself. As she slowly walked into to the office, she braced herself for the stupidity that was to come.

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

"I wonder if she's even prettier in real life." Junsu whispered to Chansung who shook his head at him, telling Junsu to shut up. The members seemed to be as awkward as ever now as they were all sitting down near the coffee table. 

 

Soeun walked in and found five extra men in the office. "Oh, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Soeun said as she bowed to greet them in confusion. "Was he in the middle of a meeting?" She thought to herself. 

 

The members stood up and bowed to Soeun excluding Junho who was typing away on his computer. 

"Oh no, you weren't interrupting anything, we were actually about to leave." Taeceyon said as he initiated the rest of the members to leave Soeun and Junho in privacy. 

  "If this is a bad time, I can always come back another time." Soeun suggested. 

 

Junho watched from a distance as Soeun talked gently to his friends. Was this the person she was actually like? He questioned himself. "Yo! Junho, we're off now." Wooyoung shouted across the room interrupting Junho's thoughts. Junho looked up from the screen and nodded. "Okay then." 

Junsu walked to the door but before he left made sure to give Junho a wink before getting kicked out of the room by Chansung. 

 

Soeun bowed the last time before closing the office doors. She turned around and exhaled. "So why is it you came to my office so early in the morning?" Junho asked, walking back to the coffee table to put Junsu's cake back in the box.  Soeun sat down and saw the words that were printed out on the dessert. 'Happy Bithday!'

   "You have considerate friends." she said in a whisper. 

Junho looked up and saw Soeun's smile for the first time. "Anyway..." She interrupted. "I have something to discuss with you." she said as she took out some files in her bag. 

Junho cleared his throat and sat down across from her. 

   "Right now we're on the same boat." Soeun started. "....And what I want is a contract." 

Junho looked at her with amusement. "Okay, what are the conditions?" 

  Soeun gave him a sheet of paper with firmness. 

"First of all, our marriage is by name only." 

Junho smirked and nodded. 

 "Secondly, you are not to play around with women anymore." 

Junho crossed his legs and nodded. 

 "Thirdly... we can't under any circumstances fall in love." 

Junho laughed. "That won't be a problem."

 Soeun ignored his comment and commenced outlining the conditions. 

As she came onto the last condition, she bit her lips and looked directly at the person across from her. 

 

"And lastly... after 12 months... we separate." 

 

Junho looked up at Soeun directly with seriousness. 

He nodded.