“It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s mine. It’s the place where I hide from the world when it’s threatening to swallow me.” He said, his fingers squeezing slightly around the steering wheel. You admired his honestly, just as you had done before and you turned your head to the side to stare at the small house in front of you. Even though you knew his parents had given it to him, you supposed that it was his. Even from the outside it looked like something that you would picture with him. The style was simple, but yet fierce. There were no flowers or too many colorful things surrounding the house, it was plane. “It looks nice.” You said, not really knowing what else to call it. Even though you had been married for quite some time now, you still felt uncomfortable around him. Not that that as his fault. Ever since you had met him and since your parents had announced that the two of you would get married, he had been nothing but nice to you. He was always friendly, had stood up for you in front of your parents and always let you make your own decisions. He was respectful and sweet, opened door for you whenever you had to step inside of a room. He was the one who held the umbrella when it rained and made sure you didn’t get wet and he always proposed to take you out to special places. He really tried, so hard and sometimes you felt like a true for turning down all his efforts. 

It was obvious that he wanted this relationship to succeed. You had no idea if it was because he didn’t want to let his parents down or because he was actually interested in you. But each time you two saw or spoke each other he was really trying to get to know you better, trying to break through your walls and convince you that you could trust him. But somehow you couldn’t put yourself to do it. You had no idea if it was simply because this was an arranged marriage or because there were other fact that were blocking you, but you seemed to be stuck with this situation. “Do you want to get inside? Take a look?” He asked, his voice patient and calm, but you could feel the intense look he was sending your way even though you weren’t looking at him. You sighed, knowing that you could impossibly say no. He was trying to make this easier for you, introducing you to the place you were supposed to live from now on instead of simply throwing you inside and locking the key. He was giving you the chance to say no, and you knew that if you would tell him that you didn’t want to move in here, that he would accept your wish. But your parents, they would kill you. You wondered how they would do it, slid your thought or simply cut you off and back your credit cards so you would starve to death. But they would surely find a way to push you into a certain direction. 

“Yeah, we could do that.” You tried to turn your lips up into something that should be looking like a smile, and though you had no idea what it looked like, it surely didn’t feel right. He nodded, unfastened his seatbelt and got out of the car. Quickly you repeated the same steps, opened the door and put your feet on the concrete before he had the chance to ask up to your side and help you out. You couldn’t handle his gentle and sweet manners right now, you were afraid it would be too much. As soon as you were all settled on the driveway he locked the car and then pushed his hands inside of his pockets as he looked at you. Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze you looked the other way, gazing around the calm neighborhood. There weren’t any people outside, and you wondered which kind of people lived here? Rich? Housewives with children? You bet none of them were girls who were stuck in an arranged marriage with a sweetheart of a guy like you who didn’t get the chance to prove how amazing he was. This thought made you sniff, feeling your insides fill with self hate and disgust. Yet, he was the one to save you from those feelings as he started to make his way towards the front door and searched for his key. For a few seconds you did nothing but stare at his back, before you heaved a deep sigh and followed him. 

Deep inside your brain there was a discussion going on. One side was telling you that you should give him a chance, that things would be so much better for the both of you if you would break down your walls and let him in. That it was unfair that you put him through all of this, while you were both stuck in the same situation and honestly, it wasn’t him who was to blame. Yet, the other side of your head told you that in this situation no one could be trusted. You had trusted your parents once, but all they had ever done was let you down, over and over again. Your heart was throbbing inside of your chest as you thought back of all those times your parents had apologized to you and had told you they’d never treat you badly again, that from now one they would listen to your wishes and they would think of your feelings. Each time they had sounded so sincere and each time, because you had wanted nothing more than to believe them, you had fallen straight into their trap. During your entire life people had done nothing but play with your feeling, betray you, stab you in the back. You had always been manipulated, forced down on your knees and follow the rules. The truth was, you were scared. You didn’t believe there was a human being on this world who could be as nice as Baekhyun was. Surely not after his parents set him up with some high school girl, while he was almost graduating from college. What would his friends think if he would tell them he was married to a girl who was three years younger than him? Who had only just become eighteen? 

There was no way he could remain this kind of a person. Soon he would be just as manipulative and controlling as your parents had been, and when that time came you had to be prepared. That meant you couldn’t just let him in and even though you felt terrible sometimes, seeing the disappointed look on his face each time you let him down, you couldn’t force yourself to change. Each time you thought about trusting him, about believing that his good wishes were true, you could feel true mortal fear taking master of you. You couldn’t go through any of this again. Still, you couldn’t ignore what it did to you. Every time he would tell you that everything would be okay, every time he lied to your parents and said that the two of you were doing fine, because he knew that otherwise they’d give you a hard time. You admired him, and you knew that if there was one guy who’d once be able to warm your insides, it must be him. At least your parents did have good taste in guys. The two of you entered the house in silence, but soon froze when you heard that the house wasn’t silent at all. Baekhyun stuck out his hand, stopping you from moving forward as a worried expression slipped across his face. “I didn’t leave the TV on the last time I was here.” He explained in a whisper as you