When she was ready to come down the steps the next morning, she noticed him. "Do you intend to greet me every morning this way?" she asked.

He took in the breathtaking sight of her in her pink shirt and black skirt. "I will greet you this way until I wake up in bed next to you. Then I shall kiss you to wish you a good morning and hold you in my arms." He paused and smiled at her. "I don‘t know how you do it, but you manage to look more and more beautiful every time I see you."

She hesitated.

Why was she trying so hard to fight him? If her response to his kisses were true indicators of how she felt about him, he was assured that beneath her cool exterior, she was beginning to care for him as he cared for her. His ultimate goal, of course, was for her to love him. He wanted all of her. He wanted her friendship, her body and her love. It was his oversight that he hadn‘t made an attempt to court her before they got engaged. Had he thought he had any chance that she would respond to him as she did, he would have had the courage to do so. He was

acutely aware that he had a little under four weeks to get her to agree to stay married to him. He wondered if that was enough time since she was surprisingly stubborn.

As she made her way down the stairs, he forced his thoughts back to her. "Good morning, Seohyun."

"Good morning," she replied.

Luhan. My name is Luhan. He sighed. Would she never say his first name without him having to prompt her to? Patience, he told himself. We were only married on Saturday. Give her time to adjust to the idea of being my wife. Though his mind was willing to wait as long as necessary, his body wasn‘t. Each time he got near her to touch or kiss her only notified him that being patient wasn‘t very fun.

This time when he extended his arm to her, she took it. He was relieved. At least, they were making progress. Once again he led her to the dining room and pulled out her chair for her. After Sulli brought their meals to them, he asked her what she planned to do that day.

She shrugged. "I haven‘t made any real plans. I thought I would visit with Yuri and Heran and see if they wanted to take a walk in the park. Beyond that, I haven‘t anything in mind."

A thought came to him. "Would you like to have lunch with me?" Perhaps going out and doing something as a couple would ease her into the marriage. "You can pick the restaurant."

She seemed to consider it.

He inwardly sighed. Why was this such a difficult decision? "Did you want to eat lunch with Yuri and Heran?"

"No," she slowly responded.

He waited for her to continue. By the worried expression on her face, he knew that she was trying to think of a way to tell him no as gently as possible. He had seen the look before when clients decided to close their accounts. Deciding to save her the struggle, he quickly made up a lie. "Oh, you know what? I just

forgot that I have a business lunch meeting with a client. I‘m sorry, Seohyun. Can we do lunch another time?"

She looked relieved. "That is fine. Another time will do."

He was annoyed but hid it under a smile. It took all of his effort to finish his breakfast. He stood up and adjusted his tie. "Well, I should get going."

"Have a good day," she responded.

He noted that she didn‘t stand up with him to walk him to the door. Many times, he had imagined what it would be like to have his wife stand by the front door, wish him a good day, and kiss him good-bye. This, apparently, was not going to be one of those times. He thanked her as graciously as he could, considering his bruised ego, and saw himself out the door. If he wasn‘t so deeply in love with her, he would hand her the annulment papers and be rid of this farce of a marriage. It was even more irritating that everyone knew it for what it was.

He went into the stagecoach that Kim Himchan brought to the front of the house and rubbed his eyes. He knew he shouldn‘t let his frustrations weigh his heart down. He was probably even lucky that she agreed to talk with him the previous day. Then he recalled how he had to hold her hand and threaten to put her on his lap if she didn‘t stay. He rolled his eyes. What kind of willingness was that? The poor girl was forced to talk to him. He thought their conversation went well enough. The kiss had been encouraging. She had pulled him closer to her. He thought their talk after dinner before they went to bed had been a good sign that she was opening up to him.

He recalled their light-hearted conversation. She told him about her childhood in Busan. Her family took two week vacations every year to travel somewhere new. Her favorite place was the beach, but she also recalled the mountains of Myeongdong and the Jeju changing fall leaves with great affection. She told him all about the silly stunts Jun Young had pulled on her while growing up, his most notable achievement being the time he fooled her into believing the Korea‘ president decided to separate Seoul into a North and South Seoul. She was only eight at the time, so it was easy enough to understand why she would fall for his fib. Luhan realized that she was very trusting of people. She was gullible in a lot of ways, and her innocence was very pleasant and even charming.

She also told him all about her friends. Her closest two had been Yuri and Yoona. Though she still liked Yoona, she wondered how their friendship would be affected by the situation with Kai. Then she talked of Yuri and Heran and her mood brightened. When Seohyun didn‘t resist him, she was warm and lively. Her eyes were full of enthusiasm and she smiled. She had forgotten her goal to resist him and had sat closer to him than necessary, without being prodded to, and she laughed and touched his arm. It occurred to him that she was a passionate and affectionate person. She would make a terrific wife. The more he learned about her, the more he loved her.

Then there was her coolly polite greeting that morning and her obvious disdain to even eat lunch with him. He wondered how she would act when they went to the dinner party at Mr. and Mrs. Song‘s residence the next evening. Would she run off as soon as they arrived and not talk to him again until she was forced to go home with him?

When he arrived at work, his uncle noticed his sour mood. "Want to talk?" he asked as he followed his nephew into his office and sat in front of his desk. "You‘re obviously troubled."

Luhan sighed and sat down. "You‘re right. I am." He considered his words before speaking. "Last night Seohyun told me all about her childhood, her dreams, her friends, and her family." He stopped talking and stared off into space.

"Of course, this would be distressing because you were listening to her talk about her thoughts and feelings?" His uncle wryly grinned.

"No. I liked it. I want to learn about her."

"I‘m having trouble understanding what the problem is."

"This morning I asked her to go to lunch with me and she didn‘t want to."

"And?"

"And what? She doesn‘t want to spend time with me unless I force her to. I had to threaten to hold her down on the couch if she didn‘t talk to me last night."

His eyes grew wide. "You tied her down?"

"No. It wasn‘t as bad as that. I told her I‘d put her on my lap and hold her if she wouldn‘t stay in the parlor."

"Of course, she refused, ran out of the room and you dragged her back to the room, kicking and screaming. The staff was greatly alarmed but you threatened to fire them if they intervened."

Luhan felt a smile tug at his lips. "Of course not. She sat next to me and we talked. After dinner, she willingly followed me to the room and sat next to me on the couch."

"So you didn‘t really force her. You simply encouraged her."

The acknowledgment did little to make him feel better.

"Have you kissed her yet?"

Luhan felt his face grow warm as he admitted, "Yes, I did."

"You enjoyed it," he noted, amused. "Did she?"

"I think so. She didn‘t push me away."

"Did she respond?"

Suddenly, he felt uneasy. Should he be discussing these intimate details with his uncle? He knew his uncle could already tell the answer since he read people easily. "Yes."

"Then there‘s no problem at all."

Surprised by his uncle‘s analysis, he furrowed his eyebrows.

"You‘ll be fine," Cheng assured him. "Just keep a sense of humor about things. You can‘t get bogged down by the possibility of losing her. You have a tendency to get too serious.

You have to pursue this as a challenge, and tell yourself that you‘re going to win. It‘s like I always tell myself before a business meeting: I‘m going to make this work."

Luhan nodded, feeling better. "Thanks, Uncle Cheng."

The older man smiled. "Anytime." He sat up straight in the chair, which Luhan recognized as an indication that he was about to discuss business. "Tomorrow evening is Mr. Song‘s dinner party. Ever since you told me about his conversation with Kai., I‘ve have time to consider what to do about that. Mr. Song might be willing to explain his misgivings about the Kims tomorrow evening. We should arrange for a moment of his time." He paused. "Is Seohyun aware that these dinner parties do involve you doing a lot of business?"

"Yes. I explained it to her. I told her she could invite a couple of friends to keep her company, and she agreed to go."

"That‘s another good sign. For the sake of business, it is