chapter one; 

                 the day we met

» November 3,  2013

People walked around the streets of Seoul, not thinking twice about who they walked past. The only thought in their mind was to get to where they had to be, no distractions or interruptions. Kids were heading towards their tutoring classes , grouping with their respective friends and dreading the day ahead.  Men and women were heading to a long day of work and hopefully gain what they think will give them happiness. Everybody is busy, not having enough time to stop and just share some love and attention to others. 

12 floors above the heads of Seoul's citizens, is where the members of EXO lived. All living together in a modest apartment that was comfortable enough to hold 12 boys. It was just a normal days of the boys, but a rare one too.  For once the members had time to themselves and could just rest for the day. No meetings, programs, nothing to attend to.

Xiumin was stretched on the couch while lazily looking through his phone.  The  tv was on,  creating some background noise through the quiet apartment. It was 11:34 A.M and since the EXO boys were taking their day off to their advantage, most of them slept in.  Though, there were the members like Xiumin who woke up early  and would spend the day doing nothing... Xiumin sighed and put his phone away into his pocket. The day was just beginning and already he was bored.  Lucky for him  though, Luhan came into the living room already dressed in his clothes for the day. "Hyung  are you bored already?" He plopped right next to Xiumin on the couch. Xiumin groaned and leaned his head onto the back of the couch. "You have no idea.... Want to kick the ball around outside? I'm in the mood to play some soccer." 

Luhan smiled at the thought of playing  his favorite sport outside, but for some reason he wasn't in the mood to play right now.  "Mayber later Hyung., I'm in more of the being-lazy mood." Xiumin gave a small scowl but then shrugged. "You're right... Though what do you want to do?"  The two Chinese boys stayed silence, thinking of something to do on this boring Sunday morning. Soft footsteps  were heard coming towards the living room. Kai then appeared before the other two, dressed casually jus t like Luhan. "Morning guys...." Kai  waved slowly to his hyungs and yawned, still tired from waking up.  He sat on the other side of Xiumin on the couch and leaned against the  back. "So what' s the plan for today?" Kai asked the other two.

Luhan shrugged, "We have no idea... " He  stared at the television, watching some sort of commercial about kimchi. The boys then setted into a comfortable silence and stared at the TV as it went from commercial then back to the show that was on. 

Suddenly a melody filled the apartlment . Xiumin looked at door then glanced at Luhan and Kai. "Are we expecting anyone?" Kai shook his head. "I don't think so..." Xiumin stood up from the couch and walked towards the door. As soon as the door was wide opened, there was a camera crew aiming at Xiumin. In front of the door was also a red mailbox standing there. "Oh what's this?" Xiumin looked at the red mailbox then stared into the camera. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but since there was a camera that meant it was for some show.  One of the crew members gestured Xiumin to look into the mailbox. Xiumin opened the lid and found that there was two bright gold envelopes inside. He pulled them out and turned them over to check what it said. "Says it's for Luhan and Kai!" Xiumin then went back into the apartment with the camera crew following behind.

Kai and Luhan noticed the cameras automatically and sat up straight on the couch. "Hyung what's that in your hands?" Kai acted like the cameras weren't there and went along with Xiumin's act. "Guess what. It's for you guys." Xiumin gave Luhan and Kai their respective envelopes. Luhan's stared at the card and turned it over several times, to figure out what it was.  Kai just stared at it. "Do we open it?" Luhan looked at Kai. The younger boy just shrugged., "I'll open mine if you open yours." Luhan nodded and started to  open up the envelope, Kai followed along afterwards. Inside the envelope were several cards, Luhan pulled out one and read outloud what it said:

Congrats! You have been selected to take part of We Got Married: EXO Edition. You will meet your wife for the first time today Luhan! Instead of riding solo you will finally be married! 

Luhan's eyes widened after reading the message. "No way!" Xiumin leaned onto Luhan's shoulder to get a closer look at the card. "Luhan you're getting married! Lucky!" Luhan nodded . "I wonder who my wife is... Wait, what about Kai?" Luhan looked to Kai. Kai pulled out his card and read the message also.

Congratulations Kim Jong-in! You are now part of We Got Married: EXO Edition. Today under the beautiful skies, you will meet your wife. Have fun~ 

"Both of you are getting married... I'm jealous..." Xiumin sighed. Kai and Luhan glanced at each other, wondering how in the world did they get picked to be on the show.  "Well we now have something to do today." Luhan smiled at Kai. Kai could only nod... "I hope I have a good wife... Who do you think your wife is hyung?" Kai asked Luhan.

"Well there are some clue cards in here." Xiumin pulled out 3 extra cards from Luhan's envelope. Each one had something different written on it: Birds, rain, 1 year. "Those clues don't really help..." Luhan took the cards from Xiumin and looked at them.

Kai pulled out his extra cards and examined them. They said: Global, Sky, Strawberry. "They are pretty vague.... Guess we just have to wait till we meet our wifes." Luhan nodded in agreement. "We should probably dress up... at least better than sweat pants." He gestured towards his clothes. Xiumin laughed, "Let's tell the others and then we'll help you out picking out clothes."

The three walked away from the living room to wake up the other members.  "You need to impress these girls!" Chanyeol yelled out. For the next few hours, Luhan and Kai were pushed into finding the right outfit.

» Cube Entertainment Building



"Okay Clara let's take five." The producer spoke through the microphone. Clara took off the headphones off her head and shook her head to fix her hair. She was currently working on her new album, so the studio was currently being used. "Yay~" Clara walked out of the isolation room and bowed to her vocal instructor. "Thank you for helping me out.  I promise to make this the best album in the whole entire galaxy." She gave a sweet smile towards the crew in the studio. The produce smiled back at Clara, "You're doing great as it is Clara-ah." 

Clara bowed again and sat on the couch. "I wonder if my fans would like it, since I'm doing a more y concept this time." She twisted the cap off her water bottle and took a huge gulp. The producer just shook his head, "Even if it's a y concept your fans love you. Your doing very well on variety programs because of your talkative personality." Clara smiled widely. "Hehe thanks oppa~" 

Clara drank all her water and got up to throw it away. A knock then came from the door. "Come in!" Clara shouted, but nobody came in. "Huh?" She walked to the door and opened it. A camera was aimed straight at her face  with some sort of red mailbox in front of her. "No way..." Clara then had the biggest smile on her face. She knew exactly what was going on. "Oh! This is going to be exciting!" 

Clara grabbed  the envelopes inside and opened it right away. "Omg... oppa look at this!" She showed the first card to the producer.

You've been doing great job so far in your solo career Clara! Congrats! Now you get to experience  being married. You're husband is quite the prince, and you get to met him today.

"Wow Clara... you're husband is a prince. Means he must be handsome." The producer gave a teasing smile to Clara. See, whenever Clara is around any good-looking guy, her talkative personality shuts down and she gets all shy and flustered. "Of course I'll be fine oppa! I'm Beak Carolyn after all. I can handle any boy." She huffed, though her producer just laughed. "Sure sure."

Clara pouted at her producer but pulled the rest of the cards out. The hints were: Soccer, JYP, 30 seconds. "These clues are weird... I need to get dressed up!" Clara looked at her producer . "Oooppppaaa...." She looked cutely at him with big eyes. "Go get going." The producer rolled his eyes. "You have enough time to finish this album later."

Clara clapped happily, "Thank you!" She ran out of the studio to go the dressing room where all the clothes were held, the camera crew quickly followed along.  "Now let's find the perfect outfit." Clara looked at the camera and winked, then started her journey into finding the perfect outfit to impress her prince/husband.

» CJeS Entertainment Dressing Room



Sora sipped her juice while everybody around her were working on the other cast. She wasn't taking part of the movie, but was sent to the dressing room to see how acting was like in Korea. "Sora-ah do you want another juice bottle?" Her manager came up behind Sora.  The beauty just shook her head, "It's okay oppa." She spoke softly, "Thank you for aksing though." Her manager just nodded and went back work.

Sora looked around her and watched  one actor going over his line to get the accent just right. She simply watched as the makeup artists went back and forth from putting makeup on the brushes then applying to the cast's faces. Sora awkwardly shuffled in her seat. Just watching everything going on was boring enough, but Sora didn't know anybody -besides her manager- in the dressing room. She wasn't very talkative around strangers, mostly shy and quiet.- kept to herself mostly.

The director came into the dressing room and called everyone back to get to working on  the show. As the actors and actresses shuffled out of the room, Sora stayed seated sipping on her juice. She wasn't paying attention, not even noticing her manager walking out of the room.  It got silent for a bit until, a knock came from the door.

Sora looked around and notice no one was there but her. "Where did everyone go...?" She got up from her seat and opened the door. The first thing Sora noticed was the red mailbox then the camera pointed at her. She smiled,  becoming more open right away in front of the camera. "What's this?" She peered in the mailbox and saw an envelope with her name on it. "Let's see what's in here...." 

The enveloped held several cards, the first being a letter just for her. 

You captured a lot of  attention Yang Sora! You have been selected for We Got Married. Today your meet your charismatic husband, so get ready for a married life.

Sora's mouth literally fell to the floor. She was not expecting to be on a reality show! Better yet being on We Got Married. "Oh my god! This is.... this is surprising!"  The rest of cards stated: Pirates, SHINee, HaHaHa. "Is my husband part of SHINee?" Sora looked at the camera but realized no  one would respond to her. "Well I guess we're going to find out.... now to find something to wear." Sora walked further into the dressing room until she came up to the clothes section. "I'm sure I can pick something from here." 

» Hongdae 

 

Kai sat on the slide , sipping his smoothie slowly. The weather was at the right temperture. Not too cold or too hot, perfect for meeting your future wife. Kai was instructed to wait at this specific playground deep in Hongdae. While the location was odd at best, Kai simply waited, looking around occasionally for a girl that stood out. "Where is she...?" Kai bit his straw and continued to sip his smoothie.

 

At a distance a young lady was walking towards the playground. Clara kept double checking her skirt to make sure that her outfit was perfect as she walked. She was all dressed up, hoping to impress her new husband. Though she regretted it, once Clara found out that she was going to a playground! Clara walked down the path heading straight towards the playground. As she got closer, Clara noticed someone was sitting on the end of the slide. She could only see the back, but it sure looked like a boy. 

Clara suddenly felt herself getting nervous the closer she got to the playground. Taking a deep breath, she quietly took the steps up onto the playground set. Clara still couldn't see the face of young man, but she continued to walk quietly. 

Kai didn't notice Clara walking up to the top of the slide right behind him,  he was so focused on looking in front of him. Clara was about to laugh, but she covered before it could get out. Taking a deep breath Clara finally said, "Annyeonghaseyo~" Her voice came out small but cutely.

Kai turned around when he heard a voice behind him. He  noticed Clara standing there, blushing like a complete idiot. "A-Annyeonghaseyo." Kai got up from the slide and bowed to Clara. The older girl giggled awkwardly and bowed back.  The two  stood apart for a bit until Clara spoke up, "I'll just come down now." She was about to go down the slide but realized how ridiculous that would be, so went down the stairs. 

Kai walked up to Clara as she finally got off the play set. He took a good look at Clara. She was shorter than him, but a really cute young women. "Nice to meet you. Do you know who I am?" He pointed to himself. God he was shy.

Clara nodded shyly. "You're Kai - I mean Jongin from EXO. Do you know me." She pointed to her face and smiled at Kai.

Kai had to think for a second before he answered. "U-Um... Clara-ssi right?" He hoped he was right. Kai only saw Clara perform once on Music Bank, other than that he didn't know much about her.

Clara clapped her hands with glee. "Bingo! I'm glad you at least know my name." Kai was  surprised how quickly the shy Clara got so excited in a short amount of time. "Let's go get some coffee.... At least if you want?" Kai  rubbed his neck.

Clara laughed. "Coffee sounds great. Lead the way." She was starting to feel more comfortable, despite Kai being the handsome fellow  he is. The two started walking towards a coffee shop that was nearby. They decided to sit down near the window, sitting across from each other. It was quite for a moment.... since shy Kai didn't know what to say.

Clara took the initiative and started a conversation. "How old are you Jongin-ssi?"

"I'm 19 years old. You?"

Clara was slightly disappointed. She wanted somebody who was older than her, not younger. "I'm 20 years old. I guess I'm your noona then Jongin-ah." She gave a nervous giggle and brushed her hair back. Kai noticed how she changed from formal speaking to informal. "Do you want me to call you noona?" Clara shook her head so fast, it scared Kai. "Oh no no no. That makes me feel so old!" She laughed. "You can call me Clara-ssi or a nickname." 

Kai simply nodded, not entirely sure what to say. A long silence than came about. Clara glanced around the coffee shop, trying to think of something to do. "Oh! I wanted to know what these clues were." She took out the envelope with the clues in it and spread them across the table. "Do you have yours?"

"Yeah I do." Kai took out his clues and followed Clara's example. They looked at each other cards and noticed something was wrong. "Um... None of these hints really fit me at all." Clara picked up the 'Sky' card. Kai picked up the  'Soccer' card, looking at it with a confused face. "I don't play soccer that much..."

Clara just blinked. "Is something wrong with the cards?" Once she asked that Kai eyes widened. "I think we've been tricked..." He slowly stated.  At first Clara didn't believe Kai, but then she saw a red mailbox in the corner of the coffee shop. "Jongin-ah... look." She pointed to the mailbox. 

Kai turned to look at where Clara was pointing and saw the mailbox. He got up from his chair to look into the mailbox. Inside was an envelope for Kai & Clara, instead of a pink envelope it was black. Walking back to the table, Kai opened the envelope as Clara leaned over to see what was inside. There was a single letter:
 

Gotcha! The person you met today is not your marriage partner at all. This is was a test to see how each couple would do with the wrong partner. But don't worry you'll meet your real wife/husband soon, Kai would know who Clara's husband is.
 

"What?!" Clara stated loudly, completely shocked by the letter. Kai sighed and leaned back in his chair.  The two was slowly taking in what was going on. They still have to meet their respective partners. 
 

Clara pouted and looked at Kai. "Jongin-ah... do you know who my husband is...?" Kai sat straight up and looked at Clara's clues.  JYP.... Soccer.... 30 seconds.... "Oh it's-"

» Somewhere else in Hongdae



Sora took a bite of her strawberry cupcake. She was seated in the farthest corner of the bakery,  waiting for her husband to walk through the door. "Man what am I going to do? Where is he?" Question after question. Sora was getting nervous the longer she waited.

 

Sora dressed  up for this one occasion, even wearing a dress (of course a knit one).  Nibbling on her cupcake, she took out the clues that was given to her. "Aish where is he? Who is he?" 

Luhan was lost in Hongdae.... He was instructed to go into a bakery where he would fit his wife sitting in the corner waiting for him. "Man I don't know where I am." He smiled at the camera while looking around the area. "Wait... I found it." Luhan noticed the sign to the bakery and started to run to the building.

Luhan went into the bakery, breathing hard from his quick sprint to get there. He looked around till he saw a girl with long black hair seated at a table in the corner. 

Luhan walked slowly up to the table, he wanted to surprise the girl but he just wasn't quiet enough. Sora looked behind her and saw Luhan. She laughed while turning her head back then looking back. "Annyeonghaseyo." Sora stood up and bowed. Luhan did so too. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Luhan." Lu han stinked out his hand for a hand shake. 

Sora covered with one hand while the other shook Luhan's hand. "I'm Yang Sora. Please to meet you." Her voice was soft, and she could feel her face getting hot.

Luhan smiled at Sora, examining her face. She was very pretty, obviously mixed. 

"Are you hungry? I bought a cupcake for you." Sora gestured to the chocolate cupcake that was left on the table. "Thank you. Please sit down." He pushed  Sora's chair out  to let her sit down. Sora smiled and sat back down in her seat. Luhan sat across from her and took a bite of the cupcake. "This is really good..." 

Sora nodded. "I'm glad you like it Luhan-ssi." To her Luhan looked about her age, but you could never be too careful with fomalities. Luhan put the cupcake down. "How old are you  Sora-ssi?"

"I'm 18 years old."

"18?" Luhan had to count for a second. "That would be your 5 years younger than me."

"That's  quite the ... " Sora trialed on. She didn't mind someone who was older than her, but 5 years is maybe just a bit too old for her. "Are you okay with that oppa?" She asked carefully.

Luhan tapped his chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "I don't mind at all." He smiled reassuringly at Sora.

All Sora could do was nod, not knowing what to say. Luhan snatched his head,  "Did you recieve any clues in the envelope?" He  asked before the situation got awkward.

"Yes I did." Sora reached into her bag and took out the cards with the clues on them.  Luhan leaned over the table to get a look at them. "That's weird... none of these hints fit. Well maybe SHINee since we're in the same company, but the others not so much."

"That is weird.... What about your clues?" Sora watched as Luhan took out his clues. She examined them and picked up the card that said birds, "This one doesn't make sense. Neither does the 1 year one, I've been a trainee at least 2 years." The two looked at the cards, wondering why in the world the clues conflict with the other. 

Pirates, HaHaHa, SHINee.....Luhan thought over the words in how in connected to him, or least to anybody he knows. It then came together. "Sora-ssi... I think we've been tricked. These clues match one of my group members"

Sora looked up from the cards at Luhan. "Maybe? But wouldn't we get some letter or card telling us that-" A waitress of the bakery then came up to the table and gave them a black envelope. The envelope was meant for Luhan & Sora. 

"Well there it is." Sora reached out and grabbed the envelope. Inside was a letter stating:

Sorry Luhan and Sora, you guys are not paired up together. Your real partners are with each other, so Luhan help Sora-ssi find out who her husband is! 

"Your husband is definatly one of my members." Luhan chuckled, "Can you help me find out who my wife is?"

Sora shook her head. "Sorry Luhan-oppa, I have no idea. Though how do I meet up with my real husband then?" She looked at the back of the letter and there were two addresses  listed. "Guess I go here... and you go here." Sora showed the address that was located under Luhan's name.

"Well it was nice meeting you Sora-ssi. Good luck with your real husband." Luhan shook Sora's hand one more time. "Same with your real wife." Sora smiled.

The two left the bakery and went their seperate ways to finally meet up with their real partners.

» A park in the Seoul area

Clara shivered as the temperture began to drop. "The weather was so nice earlier today..." She breathed out and rubbed her arms. After Clara found out that her husband wasn't Kai, she expected him to her who her real husband was. But! Kai wanted Clara to be surprised and so told her nothing, only saying "He's your ideal type." So here in a park Clara waits... in the cold. "Aish how many surprises am I going to experience in one day?" She gave in and sat down on the dirty bench. 

"Thank you!" Luhan paid the taxi driver and exited the car. After tailing down a taxi for  almost 20 minutes, Luhan finally made it to the location. The weather was cold, but luck for Luhan he was smart enough to bring a second jacket with him. "Know to find her." Luhan began walking the trail, looking around for, well anyone really.

The park was pretty empty, with only elders hanging around playing some sort of game. So when Luhan noticed a girl with long black hair sitting down on a bench, he figured that was his wife.  He walked towards the bench, careful to stay as quiet as possible.

Clara shivered once more and sighed. "I wish I knew who he was..."  

Luhan tapped Clara's right shoulder  gently. When she turned her head to the right , Luhan quickly sat next to her on the left. Clara then felt someone sit next to her and looked to see Luhan. "Omo!"  Clara placed her hand over her heart and laughed.  She glanced at Luhan's face and the feeling of nervousness set back up. He was so handsome. 

Luhan smiled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Clara shook her head, " No it's okay. I just wasn't expecting you to be my husband... n-not that it's a bad thing." Her face was heating up so to cover it up she coughed. "I'm Clara. And you are..." She sticked out her hand.

Luhan took hold of Clara's hand, "Luhan  and your real husband." He  realized that Clara had such small hands compared to his. Clara was very much different from Sora. The girl in front of him was really cute and more talkative. 

Clara laughed and shook Luhan's hand. "Well I'm glad to finally meet you Luhan-ssi." Clara's body then shook as another shiver passed.  "Are you cold?" Luhan's question, filled with concern. He took notice of how little Clara was wearing. 

"Oh no I'm fine. Thank you for asking though." Clara smiled widely. "Why don't we walk around?" She suggested to change the subject. Luhan nodded and the couple began walking down the trail through the park.

"Clara-ssi, how old are you?" Luhun asked. Since Sora was 5 years younger than he was, maybe it was the same with Clara. 

"I'm 20 years old, what about you?"

Luhun felt at ease. "I'm 23 years old." It was only a three years difference, much better then 5 years. Clara only was happy to know that her husband was older than her, unlike with her and Kai. 

"So that means your my oppa!" Clara stated loudly. "Do you mind if I call you oppa?" She looked up to Luhan's face. He didn't seem distraught at the thought. "Oppa is okay." Luhan smiled, enjoying the walk down the path. "Alright Luhan-oppa it is!" She skipped ahead and laughed.

Luhan gave Clara a curious look. He never really met a girl that was so interesting like Clara, though that necessarily wasn't a bad thing. He caught up to  Clara and they once again began walking in pace together.  

They did some small talk while walking down the trail. Luhan learned that Clara was a solo-artist that was currently working on her first album. Most of the time Clara would talk for most of the conversation. It seemed like she had so much to talk about, and it helped eased the awkwardness upon the first meeting.  While Clara was talking about her meeting with Kai, she stopped mid-sentence as she shivered once again. 

"Clara take this." Luhan took off his second jacket and placed it on Clara's shoulder. Clara stared as Luhan did this could only feel herself getting shy all over again. "T-Thank you..." She said softly as she put on the jacket completely.  Clara could feel herself getting warming, but it wasn't just from the jacket. 

Luhan and Clara walked through the park, getting to know the other... but's there's time for that later.

» Seoul City Hall Library

Sora looked through the dozens of shelves of books in the library. She would grab one book, look through it a bit, then place it back, doing with over and over again. "This is unusal place to meet up with someone..." Sora whispered softly. When she arrived here, at first she thought she got the address was wrong. But the crew told her that it was the correct location. No one was in the library, but stil Sora felt that she had to talk quietly. She picked one book that caught her attention and decided to read it while waiting for Kai.

Sitting down on the green cushion, Sora began to read the book. Though she herself thinking about meeting her husband. She knew it was member of EXO, but who exactly?

Kai walked through the library, though he was one the upper floor above Sora. "I wonder where she is..." He looked around the upper floor but saw no one. He glanced over the glass railing and saw a girl reading on the green cushions below. Kai was about to go down the stairs but he thought of a plan.  He grabbed onto one of the books and opened it, holding it up to cover his face. 

Kai then carefully walked down the stairs, praying that he wouldn't fall to the ground while covering up his face from Sora. Said girl, saw a young man walk down the stars. Sora raised her eyebrow as Kai covered his face with the book. When Kai finally got to the end of the stairs, Sora stood up from the cushion. "Hi." She said sweetly, with a bit of laughter behind of voice. 

Kai lowered the book to show his eyes and saw Sora face to face. And man was Sora gorgeous. Kai gave an eye smile and finally closed the book to reveal his whole face. "Hi." That's all he said. 

Both of them were shy to begin with, but when put into this situation, the shyness just gets worse. Sora wasn't sure want to say as well as Kai. "I'm Yang Sora." Sora finally managed to say.