The week went by slowly.

It was a pain to deal with the legal obligations of her parents’ passing away, like the reading of their will and the plan on how to deal with their leftover bank accounts and small debts. Taeyeon told Sunny that she’d take care of it for the most part. That girl, always trying to act like such an adult when she was only a year older. Sunny couldn’t object and simply hugged her sister from behind while she signed the needed documents.

Luckily, those first few days were not as slow as the rest.

All Sunny could do for the rest of the week was stay at home and lie in her parents’ bed. She’d cried all through the morning and then spend the rest of the day eating and leveling up her Pokemon, in the same room. The simple company of her pixelated friends made things easier.

At this rate she’d be done the game at any second. And so, she switched to Animal Crossing, to older generations of Pokemon, to Zelda and then back to lying motionless in bed.

That Saturday was the first time Sunny left the house and was actually the first time she had showered in a few days. She was glad Taeyeon didn’t care for whatever lingering odours she had for she was too tired from work to even care as the two cuddled in front of the television to eat whatever meal Taeyeon or Sunny had prepared for the two.

Taeyeon did her best to stay strong for her little sister, as she had been doing since they were young. No one was allowed to see her cry, except for Sunny. It was funny how many people thought she was a strong girl, but when she’d crawl into her bed at night, desperate for Sunny’s company, she could measure her tears by the stains on her shirt.

She woke up on the fateful date at 10AM, greeted by the faint smell of breakfast left for her by her sister. Sunny stretched her arms and yawned, doing her best to break the spell of sleep off.

She felt more rested than usual, her heart feeling slightly excited although anxious about what was about to happen that day.

Either way, it was a nice distraction from the thought of how much emptier their house had felt now that her parents were gone. She needed that distraction like she needed air.

It turned out that the house of the couple was in a richer part of town, a little far away. Too far for Sunny to bike there, but not so far that she had to sleep on the bus ride over.

She tucked her 3DS and moleskine into her bag along with a water bottle and a granola bar for the ride over in case she got hungry. She checked her phone to make sure it was at full battery and sent a text to Taeyeon to inform her that she left home.

“Alright,” she mumbled to herself as she fiddled with the keys and locked the door. “Let’s go!” She propped her headphones onto her head and made a little jog towards the bus stop since it would be there any minute.

It was the beginning of vacation so the buses were a bit busier on weekdays now. Sunny waved awkwardly at a few people she knew from school and she knew they were too scared to talk to her properly. She had received many ‘sorry’ texts from various friends and classmates and even received them online. The sorry’s didn’t really do much, but Sunny was thankful that they cared enough to leave their condolences.

Her best friends promised to take her out soon. Sunny smiled at the thought, for that date with her friends was supposed to happen that night. The small girl was the only one out of her friends who didn’t have work.

Sooyoung worked in the same café that Taeyeon did and Jessica worked as a sale clerk at some nearby clothes boutique which happened to be owned by Jessica’s parents. Sunny didn’t have the biggest range of friends, but she loved Sooyoung and Jessica very much, almost like they were her own sisters.

They attended the funeral too, and the two allowed Sunny to use them as absorbent tissues. Jessica had texted her the next day about how there was dried snot all over her blouse and Sunny just laughed, imagining the look on Jessica’s face when she noticed it.

Speaking of her friends, Sunny heard a beep just as she settled down at the back of the bus. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly unlocked it to reveal a text from Sooyoung.

Sorry babe! I totally forgot I had a date tonight. Sica’s still bringing you out though for dinner and I’ll head on over after the date.

Wait a second.

A date?! With who?!

For as long as Sunny could remember, Sooyoung has always had a crush on her older sister. And for that same length of time, Taeyeon had been dating people on and off. The girl never kept the name of her date a secret, until recently. Sunny had asked her who she was going out with that day and Taeyeon told her she’d tell her after.

Your sister hehehe I hope you don’t mind!

Sunny had to restrain herself from screaming loudly on the bus. This was definitely exciting! But she’d have to kill Sooyoung and Taeyeon from keeping this a secret from her.

Sorry, Taeyeon said she didn’t want you to know until later but I couldn’t help myself!

She made a note to ask Sooyoung for every single detail later, but realized that the girl would probably take up their entire night to give her the layout of what happened. And then Taeyeon would tell her again after, when Sunny tackles in her bedroom since she will probably avoid them for the rest of the night due to the awkwardness.

Ugh, now she wanted to know how it even happened! Sooyoung was as loud and talkative as you could get, but she always got extremely shy in front of Taeyeon since the two first met during Sunny’s freshman year. Her sister sure had a lot of explaining to do.

She texted Jessica after about it, only to get a long string of kekekekeke from the girl, followed by a great long number of random letters. She must’ve fallen asleep like usual. It was only the afternoon after all.

The next half hour is filled with Sunny practicing Japanese characters in her moleskine and checking if there are any weeds in her village and before she knew it, the bus turns into a neighbourhood filled with rather large houses.

She put away her things to look out the window and admire the brilliant variety of houses lined up outside.

“Whoa,” she mumbled to herself, her eyes soaking in the rich looking neighbourhood. She could only imagine what kind of house the couple had.

And that’s when she started to feel a little intimidated. What if they had a huge, castle like house that she’d just get lost in? What if they had a creepy old butler who turned out to be some sort of alien?

No, Sunny had just watched Rocky Horror the other night and shook her head of the ridiculous thoughts.

She reached her bus stop and got off, thanking her bus driver and adjusting her bag. She pulled out the little card with their address and double checked the street name and house number. According to the internet, the house was only a ten minute walk away from the bus stop.

Soon enough, she found herself walking down a little path the lead to the required street. Sunny was a little skeptical, having never seen such a street before but hey, what did she know she’s never been in such a neighbourhood.

From what she can tell, the street is rather long, each house being divided by a large amount of space. To her luck, the couple’s house was only a bit down the block, preventing her from having to walk too much.

When she found the mailbox with the house number, she found herself walking down a long winding path to the front door of the house. If you could even call it a house.

She was surprised that there weren’t any large, overbearing fences all around. Perhaps the neighbourhood was friendly?

She rang the doorbell once before knocking on the door three times. As she waited for the door to be answered, she admired the large array of flora decorated outside the house. The couple must have really been into plants.

To her disappointment, it isn’t an old man butler at the door, but a woman who is probably not that much older than her wearing an oversized suit that answers the door.

“Good afternoon, how may I help you?” the woman asked after bowing before Sunny. She looked young, way too young to be working as a butler. And she looked a little silly in her get up, as if she was just dressing up for fun. But Sunny smiled and politely bowed back, doing her best not to judge a book by its cover.

“Hi, my name is Lee Soonkyu and I came here to see Mr. and Mrs. Im?”

The woman’s eyes grew wide upon hearing Sunny’s name, as if it were some sort of code word. Her smile soon followed, reaching her eyes, her teeth practically glowing. Sunny noticed the way her front teeth protruded a little more, like small buck teeth and she resisted the urge to tell the woman that it was really cute.

“She’s here!” she cried out before grabbing Sunny’s arm and pulling her in. “Sorry ma’am, please follow me!” she giggled and closed the door behind them before guiding Sunny through the unnecessarily large home.

The house made Sunny feel smaller than usual and that said a lot considering how much her friends for her height. The whiteness of the walls made the space seem so much bigger and the large art work and picture frames hanging on the wall didn’t help.

Replicas of well known art work were hung all around as well as family portraits. It seemed that they did have a daughter and Sunny believed that some of the photos contained the girl leading her around as well.

The person who she assumes to be the daughter looked familiar to her, and that’s when she truly remembers her face from the funeral. The girl was quiet and they barely exchanged words, but she left a lasting impression because damn was she pretty.

This was only reinforced as Sunny continued to see picture after picture of the girl around the house. She was like some sort of goddess or if not, some sort of master of photography.

The woman in the suit noticed the glances Sunny gave to each photo and giggled.

“She’s pretty, huh?” she asked before stopping in front of a large twin set of doors.

“Yeah,” Sunny answered honestly with a smile, “She is.”

“I’m glad you think so,” the other woman doesn’t stop giggling, opening the door and leading Sunny inside.

On the other side of the large, heavy doors in an office where the couple she met the other day is sitting on two chairs behind a desk.

“Suzy, what were you yelling about? I told you to try not to yell when Yoona’s having piano practice,” Ms. Im said, not looking up from the papers in front of her.

But once Mr. Im placed a hand on her shoulder, she looked up and finds out for herself the reason why Suzy’s so loud.

“I’m glad you decided to come,” Mr. Im greeted, getting up from his chair to bow before Sunny, his wife following after. “I hope Suzy didn’t surprise you with her ridiculous get up.”

“It’s not ridiculous uncle! I just wanted to try being a butler for the day, Yoona said I could,” Suzy pouted, pulling on her extra long sleeves.

Mrs. Im just shook her head and smiled at the lively girl, “Go get your cousin actually. Tell her piano instructor that it won’t take too long.”

Suzy raised her hand, saluting and bowing before taking off into the seemingly endless halls of the Im home.

“Isn’t she adorable?” Mrs. Im coed the second Suzy left the room. Sunny can only nod and smile, not entirely sure what she thinks of the girl.

“Anyway, we’re here to discuss important matters, correct? Now why don’t you take a seat Sunny?”

The next ten minutes are a blur to Sunny. The blurring began only a minute in when Mr. Im said the words ‘arranged marriage’ and Sunny’s ability to comprehend just spirals downwards from there.

She hears agreement and debt and the name of her parents and after a certain point she can’t take it anymore.

“What?” she replied, trying her best not to yell out of confusion and frustration.

This couldn’t be happening. Arranged marriage? No way.

“You and Yoona are to move into a small apartment  together, not too far from your current living area,” Mrs. Im continued, smiling calmly in an attempt to appease Sunny. “You two would continue living the same lives you’d always lived, except now you’re together. We know this is a lot to take in right now so feel free to ask any questions you may have. We give you both a year to get to know each other better before deciding on a day for the ceremony.”

Moon tried not to sound too excited for she didn’t want to frighten the girl. But she was beyond happy, she had been waiting for this moment for as long as she could remember! Seeing her very own flesh and blood getting married was always one of her number one dreams.

“Wait, don’t I have a say in this?” Sunny defended, waving her hands.

“Your parents made an agreement Sunny and so, this must be followed through,” Mr. Im responded with a firm nod, “I know it must be difficult to understand, but we ask that you cooperate without too much problems.”

Sunny understood, oh yes how could she not understand. It was simple, she was bound by some sort of contract her parents made with these folks that she should be bound to this stranger and marry her one day.

It’s not like Sunny had plans of her own to marry the person she loved one day. She imagined something like love at first sight, magical first dates or mysterious meetings. But no, now she gets living with a complete stranger for a year and then get married. Where was the romance and magic in that?

Before she could speak up again, Suzy and another girl who Sunny can only assume to be Yoona walked in, interrupting her train of thought. And that’s when she curses Yoona’s beauty because she’s suddenly speechless.

“Yoona dear, this is Soonkyu,” her mom is the first to make the introduction before clasping her hands together, completely satisfied.

Sunny can only bow before Yoona and the other girl bows back.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she greeted, extending a hand out to Sunny. The smaller girl takes it and makes a few observations. One, it’s cold and two, her hand is much bigger than she expected. Oh well, it must be her height. Sooyoung’s hand is similar in how it just engulfs her own.

“So do you understand Soonkyu?” Mr. Im asked one more time, looking at Sunny hopefully.

She thinks she understands but she doesn’t really want to go through with this. But Sunny being Sunny, respectful of her elders and promises nods her head and smiles a little, just a little.

Now she also has a lot of explaining to do when she gets home.