CHAPTER ONE

“I need a wife, Hyuk, and I need her right now!” Sat on the back part of his car and on his way to a Starbucks, Choi Siwon took a look on his watch for nth time in less than an hour.

He was talking by cellphone with his best friend. The surprise guffaw from his friend made him angry.

“Well pick up whoever you want and go to the altar” The carefree advice from his best friend would have been useful if Siwon trusted the girls in his life. Sadly, he couldn´t do it.

“And risk losing everything? You know me well. The last thing I want is that the emotions intervene in something so important like a marriage agreement” Precisely that, an agreement, is what Siwon needed. A contract, a business agreement that will benefit both parts during a year. Then they could take different ways and never see each other again.

“Some of the women you usually use to appear in public would be willingly to sign a pre-marriage contract” his friend suggested.

He had thought about that already, but he had worked so hard in building a reputation of insensitive playboy that now he didn´t see the need to ruin it and fake to fall in love with someone, and all with the objective of getting a girl to go to the altar with him.

“I need someone who agrees my plan, someone who I don´t feel attracted with”

“Are you sure that this Dates Service is the most convenient?” his friend questioned.

“Couples Service not Dates” Siwon clarified.

“Which is the difference?” his friend asked.

“They don´t search a person for you who adapts to your love interests but a person who adapts to your life plan”

“What a romantic explanation!” Hyuk´s sarcasm sounded with such a force through the phone.

“I see I´m not the only one person in my situation” Siwon teased his friend who choked on his loud guffaw after hearing that.

“Really? I don´t know any man with your status and money who needs the help of a stranger to settle down”

“This woman has very good references. She is a business woman who helps men like me in similar situations”

“What´s her name?”

“Cho-K”

“What a strange name, I have never heard about her”

Two blocks from their meeting, his car got stuck on a terrible traffic jam. The time went by and he would be late to his date. Damn! Siwon hated to be late.

“Sorry Hyuk, I have to hang up now”

“I hope you know what you are doing”

“I´m doing business Hyuk”

His friend panted to show his disapproval.

“I know. Relationships are the ones that suit you like your !”

“ you!” but Siwon knew his friend was right.

“You are not my type” his friend .

Siwon´s chauffer suddenly changed the lane to escape from the traffic jam. Implacable just as his boss liked.

“Let´s meet tonight to drink something” Siwon suggested finally hanging up the phone.

Siwon would arrive late and what? He wouldn´t be the only man in getting late to a place, after all it was only half an hour later of the appointed time.

He depended on that meeting very much. He had to find a wife before a week if he wanted to keep the ancestral property of his family that was bound to the title, for not to mention what will remain from his father´s fortune, and for all of that, he depended on Cho-K.

He trusted that the contact given by his personal assistant knew what all was about. Otherwise, Siwon would be obliged to treat the marriage topic with Sue, or maybe with Vicky. Sue rather preferred her independence than the money Siwon could give to her, and the fact that she had another lover besides Siwon, eliminate her automatically from the equation. Vicky was only remaining. She was tall, blonde and very attractive, sometimes Siwon gave her some exclusivities. However, he didn´t like the idea of going to her. Certainly sometimes he behaved like an but he was never cruel; although it was sure that more than one would not agree with the contract. The tabloids branded him like a smart and presumptuous man; if they discovered what he was planning, they would publish the story and would turn everything into a bad joke. He preferred avoiding the scandal. However, life was always implacable, so he needed that his fake marriage could seem as real as possible if he wanted to make his father´s lawyers happy.

Eric stopped the car, long and black, by the sidewalk and hurried up to open the door for Siwon. They had reached the appointed place, one the most famous coffee shops of the white and green chain. Siwon entered to the coffee shop holding a black briefcase ignoring the people´s eyes on him. While he observed the tables searching for the woman who could coincide with the image he had about Cho-K, the delicious smell of freshly brewed coffee took over his senses. He expected to meet a woman wearing formal clothes and with a folder full of files with different candidates of future wives.

He looked around and couldn´t find the woman. He tried again and saw different people doing different things. Before giving up to the search, he went to sit at the back of the place and discovered a shape of a man who was sat in front of a door with fluffy brown hair. He then tried to focus on the woman he was looking for but again he failed. What could he do? Maybe Cho-K was stuck on the same traffic jam like him. He wanted to go away from there but he needed to think it twice before doing it.

He decided to order a coffee and sat by an empty table waiting for the woman to appear, when the boy behind the counter called out his name to get his coffee, he turned his face and went for it.

Suddenly he could feel a penetrating look on his back. He examined the place to find the person who was watching him, and he saw a pair of beautiful brown doe-eyes that seemed to look at him from head to toes. That man wasn´t listening to music or reading a newspaper, he was looking at him directly.

His eyes of an astonishing beauty, laid on a small laptop in front of him for some seconds and then he looked back at Siwon. The man smiled when he recognized him. Siwon had seen that expression before every time that someone related his name with his image. There, in Korea, it wasn´t so usual than in his country, even like this Siwon could recognize him right away.

The man seemed to be quite inoffensive. At least till the moment he opened his mouth and talked to him.

“You are late”

Three words, only three words pronounced with a sensual voice that sounded to sin and that made the phone line operators look ridiculous. These three words were enough to leave him breathless.

“Excuse me?” was all he could say after the big impression that man caused on him.

“Are you Mr. Choi Siwon, aren´t you?”

The question was simple but Siwon was unable to understand it. He answered like he was paralyzed; absolutely disconcerted because of the man he had in front of him.

“The same”

The man stood up and Siwon could realize he almost had his same height.

“Cho-K” The man introduced himself and spread his hand for a formal greeting.

Siwon wasn´t accustomed to people dot the i´s. However, the man in front of him had just done it and he had barely needed a couple of words to get it. Siwon shook the hand that the man had offered him and he felt a heat wave that went through his body. When their hands touched, the penetrating glare and the confident smile of him disappeared from his face in a millisecond. He had a cold skin, in spite of that his attitude denoted an absolute control.

“You are not a woman” Siwon finally dared to say. Maybe that was the most stupid thing he has ever said to a man.

Kyuhyun, however, didn’t get annoyed not even for a bit.

“I have never been one” He dedicated Siwon a smile with perfect teeth while he removed the hand that Siwon started to miss already.

“I expected a woman”

“It often happens to me. That is almost always on my favor -He pointed at a chair that was beside him- Why don´t we take a seat and get down to business?”

Siw