When her parents told her they would be going somewhere unutterably romantic, Shinkyu was dreaming about Paris, Venice, or maybe even Rome. Well, obviously she was wrong. Very wrong.

“Ugh! Where are we again?” Shinkyu muttered lethargically. She stared out the window from the backseat of the car. Everything around was so still. She wondered if she could demolish everything with just a slight breath.

“I don’t know! Why don’t you ask your ‘lovely’ parents?” Jiyong was clearly being sarcastic.

“My parents are your parents now, Jiyong-ah…” she said with a mischievous smile. “We are married, after all.” The minute she said it, Shinkyu wanted to rinse . She never thought she would say something like that to Jiyong! Especially when she never wanted to marry him in the first place. But she was just so annoyed!

Hearing what his wife had to say, Jiyong edged closer to Shinkyu, who shot him an angry glare. “Stop moving closer!”

“Didn’t you just say we were married? What are you so afraid of? You’re the one with the cooties, you stupid chicken!” Jiyong couldn’t resist adding in the ‘chicken’ part. He could swear Shinkyu was steaming.

“Cooties? That is so eight-years-old…” Shinkyu remarked matter-of-factly. Usually, she would have impressed her professors with that attitude, but not Jiyong.

“So what?” he retorted defensively. “You still have them!"

Shinkyu shrugged and just turned away. Why was she stuck with this idiot, anyway? Oh, right! Her parents apparently betrayed her and married—or sold, according to Shinkyu—her off to Kwon Jiyong, who was terribly notorious for his jerk-like attitude. Still, they could have compensated her somehow; like, send them off to somewhere romantic for their supposedly ‘sweet’ honeymoon. But instead, they were stranded on this boring little island.

Maybe they were shrunken and had been thrown into some kid’s sandbox?

Miraculously, Shinkyu’s fire seemed to have extinguished when her phone vibrated noisily. She dug her hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out her pinkish cell phone. Dangling at the side of the phone was a charm saying, “Hate Jerks, Hate Jiyong!”

What the heck? Jiyong cursed silently. Must she really do that? He watched as Shinkyu answered the call.

“Hello, Shinkyu speaking.”

“This is a recorded message: Shinkyu and Jiyong, I am really very sorry, but I have purposely tricked you two onto this ‘abandoned’ island for your honeymoon, but you can’t really blame me because this is the cheapest trip I could afford, for I have spent most of my money on buying you a new mansion that is located near the place. Well, even though this is an abandoned island, there are still places where you could go and stay until my private assistant comes and bring you home. Meanwhile, tell Siwon to eat a lot so that he can create strong and healthy babies with you. By the way, don’t use the condoms the King has prepared because I am desperate for a grandchild! I will be waiting for your good news!”

“Hello? Hello!” The line went dead. “Mother!” Shinkyu sighed as she slapped her palm onto her face in distress. “That is so disturbing!”

“Anything wrong?” Jiyong asked curiously.

“Nothing, let’s go! It’s getting late,” Shinkyu said.

“Oh, okay!” Jiyong said as they got out of the car. “How did our car end up here anyway?” He suddenly asked.

Shinkyu stared at him with a puzzled look. “Uh, good question.” She scanned the area for answers, but only the sea greeted her. “I couldn’t remember, it’s like a dream!”

“Hey, did you watch Inception?” He meant the movie of course.

In the movie, the characters were sent into a dream in which they all shared and they were then manipulated into doing things they didn’t want to. They went deeper into a dream and another dream, until they reached the limbo world, and they couldn’t differentiate between reality and dream.

“Are you trying to say that..?” Shinkyu shivered as chill sent a finger down her spine. She WAS forced into marrying the prince, which was something she didn’t want. Ignoring her, Jiyong proceeded to pinch his arm. “Stop that!” Shinkyu yelled.

“I’m just checking!”

“Don’t scare me!”

“I’m not! Geez, you're such a scaredy cat!” Jiyong teased.

“Just grab the luggage and let’s go!” Shinkyu ordered.

Jiyong shrugged, but he did as she said and dragged his—precisely ‘their’—luggage and followed Shinkyu who had took off gloomily.

One minute…

Two minutes…

One whole hour!

“Damn it, how much more do we have to walk? There’s not a house in sight!” Jiyong cursed as he squatted down to catch his breath.

“How would I know?” Shinkyu snapped.

“Because you’re my damn wife! A wife’s job is to know everything the husband wants to know. And anyway, aren’t you smarter than me?” Jiyong pointed out.

“I know a lot of things, but these stupid things weren’t in the list!”

Jiyong sat down on the luggage. “Oh, so what should we do now?”

“I told you I don’t know!” Shinkyu exclaimed in a panicky voice. She was obviously getting nervous as the sun was setting already. She was in a bad mood, but Jiyong was the same as well. And he didn’t want to be yelled at.

“Why are you shouting at me??”

“I am not shouting at you! You started all these!”

Jiyong stared at her blankly, trying to figure out what his wife was trying to say. “I started it?”

“Yes!” Shinkyu confirmed. “You asked me to marry you! We’re on this stupid island because you wanted a honeymoon!! You idiotic Prince of Hell!”

“You agreed to it, didn’t you?” Jiyong detested with an equal amount of anger in his voice. “This is your fault as much as it is mine! And one more thing--” He grabbed Shinkyu’s arm, neglecting the fact that she was struggling, and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “—that’s right; every time you hurl insult at me, I’ll kiss you until you beg for my forgiveness.”

“What?” Shinkyu knotted her eyebrows together in confusion. “What kind of punishment is that? That’s probably the best a stupid erted mon--” She wasn’t able to finish her sentence, because apparently, Jiyong had meant it by heart when he said he would kiss her every time she intended to insult him—he kissed her again!

Soon, Jiyong’s lips parted from hers, and were now carved into a smirk. “I told you so!” With that he began walking away, leaving Shinkyu alone with a huge luggage to carry!

Even though she was angry and unwilling, she picked up the luggage and ran after Jiyong. The sun had almost completely disappeared from beyond the horizon, and she did not wish to get lost in the darkness.

The Gods above must have heard the two’s prayers, because after a few more minutes, they finally spotted a small house. Just like little kids running towards the Christmas tree, they charged into the house, not even bothering to knock.

Jiyong opened the door to the only bedroom and dragged himself in lazily. Shinkyu dropped the luggage aside as she stared at yet another ‘surprise’. “You can’t be serious,” she said.

“What?”

“Look--” Shinkyu pointed at the bed in front of them. “A heart-shaped bed with matching pillows, blanket, wallpaper, and floor mat? All in pink?!”

Jiyong went to switch on the lights. Just as he did so, the disco ball in the middle of the room lighted up with shimmering colours complete with the most irritating love song from the sixties. “Okay, better not…” He said as he switched it off.

“Great, another one of our parents’ crazy ideas! What now?”

“Oh, let’s sleep together!!” Jiyong exclaimed happily. “You know I’m comfortable with that now that we’re officially husband and wife.”

Shinkyu gulped down a golf ball. Sleeping with Jiyong? Alone in a house on an abandoned island? “Err, I don’t know. It somehow doesn’t strike me as a very wise choice…” she rambled as she took small steps around the room. Luckily, she spotted a soft-looking sofa. “I’ll sleep on the sofa. It’s uhh, more comfortable!”

“Are you really that afraid of me?”

“No, of course not! Don’t be silly! You’re my…” Shinkyu inhaled deeply before continuing, “...hubby after all!”

“Good then! Come on!” Jiyong said, tugging at the blanket.

Shinkyu shook her head wildly. “No, thanks! I like sleeping alone…”

Fortunately for her, Jiyong was really beat up. He yawned loudly and slumped onto the bed, muttering, “Whatever, your choice…” before drifting off to sleep.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

{An hour later}

“Mmm… Hehehe…” Jiyong mumbled subconsciously. “Mmm!”

Shinkyu stopped unpacking her luggage and stared disgustedly at Jiyong. “Would you stop making those weird noises?”

“Hihihi…” Jiyong continued. “Ahh! Stop tickling me…”

“Aish, such a freak,” Shinkyu grunted. She sighed self-pityingly. What happened to ‘girls must find a good and reliable husband to marry’? She had got a weirdo with her instead.

“Stop tickling me!” Jiyong woke up with a start. “What were you doing that for?” He asked his wife.

Shinkyu gave him a bored look. She held up both her hands in the air. “Evidences show that I’m innocent. Besides, I’m like 3 meters away from you.”

Upon hearing her statement, Jiyong jumped away from the bed, earning him yet another glare from Shinkyu. “Then, what was that?!” He asked timidly with his arms wrapped around his body.

Shinkyu smiled mischievously. “Your new child-of-a-butterfly friend!”

“Hahaha… Really funny!” Jiyong retorted. But she was right. They both watched as a small caterpillar wiggled its way towards the window. “EEWW! Come on, Shinkyu… Sleep with me please! I don’t wanna be lonely!”

“You won’t be, you’ve already met a new friend!” She teased.

“Yah, please, darl darl!”

“No!”

“I won’t make you pregnant, promise!” Jiyong said as his arms twined around Shinkyu’s body.

“WH—what??!” Shinkyu snapped.

Jiyong rested his head onto her shoulders playfully. “Baby, I won’t make you carry mine!”

Shinkyu turned super red. “You erted monkey!” She tried to push him away, but to no avail. Sometimes, she wondered why she even tried.

“What was that?” Jiyong reminded her of what he said earlier.

“Nothing,” Shinkyu said, still flustering. She didn’t want Jiyong to kiss her anymore!

“Good then, let’s sleep!” He announced happily and carried Shinkyu onto the bed. There, Shinkyu reluctantly fell asleep in his protective pair of arms.