Chapter 6
Danbi sank with a splash into the bathtub, the warm water rising around her.
Doyoung had stocked the bathroom with all kinds of bath bombs, telling her to use them whenever she wanted.
She picked out one of the colorful bath bombs and dropped it beneath the surface.
“Ahh, this feels so good.”
When she was little, she would sometimes go to the bathhouse holding her mother’s hand. Whenever the adults sank into the hot baths, they would say how refreshing it was, and Danbi had never been able to understand them.
But now, realizing that she had become one of those incomprehensible adults herself, a round smile spread across her lips.
She slowly closed her eyes.
As her vision darkened, the sensation of her weary body relaxing became even more pronounced. It felt as though all the fatigue of the day was melting away.
“Moon Doyoung…”
Danbi quietly murmured his name. The three syllables scratched their way out of her throat, and an ache tightened around her heart.
During the one year they had lived as a contract couple, Doyoung had never once shown her this kind of thoughtfulness.
Having dinner with her, preparing breakfast for her, even coming to pick her up with an umbrella because he was worried she might get caught in the rain.
“Does he have some ulterior motive that I don’t know about?”
Could he perhaps be planning to propose another contract marriage?
Suspicious thoughts began to billow inside her, growing larger and larger.
Danbi sank into memories of the day five years ago when she had sat across from Doyoung at a café.
It was the year Danbi was twenty-two and Doyoung was twenty-five.
Danbi couldn’t hide her embarrassment as she remembered confessing her feelings to Doyoung the day before, but he sat across from her with a calm expression.
He took out a single sheet of stiff paper and placed it on the table.
“What is this? A marriage contract…?”
“What I told you about yesterday. Read it over. If you change your mind, you can refuse.”
Danbi slowly read through the densely packed words.
1. Hong Danbi (hereinafter referred to as Party A) and Moon Doyoung (hereinafter referred to as Party B) shall enter into a marriage for one year from the date of this agreement.
2. Party A and Party B shall reside together in a shared residence. Party B shall cover all expenses related to the residence and their living costs.
3. Party A and Party B shall not register their marriage. In the event of any legal issues, Party B shall bear full responsibility.
4. Party A shall meet with Party B’s family once during the contract period.
5. Party A and Party B shall not date other members of the opposite sex during the contract period.
6. Party B shall not interfere in Party A’s private life in any way.
7. Party B shall not force Party A into any physical contact, including sexual relations.
8. The existence of this contract shall be kept strictly confidential so as not to interfere with Party A’s life.
9. Party A shall not disclose the existence of this contract to Party B’s family.
10. Upon expiration of the contract, Party B shall pay Party A a settlement of fifty million won.
An unmistakable look of bewilderment appeared in Danbi’s eyes. She lifted her confused gaze toward Doyoung.
“Are you joking…?”
She wanted to ask, Are you…? but Doyoung looked utterly serious.
“…You’re not.”
“I’m not joking. This is extremely important to me.”
“Wait. I don’t really understand what you’re saying, Sunbae.”
Doyoung bit down gently on his lip, looking thoroughly troubled.
That expression stirred her maternal instincts again. He looked like a puppy that had been completely drenched in the rain, utterly at a loss for what to do.
“I don’t know where to start so that you’ll understand.”
“Just start with the main point. Why do you need to have a contract marriage?”
“…I have a fiancée. It’s just as bewildering to me as it is to you hearing this, and I don’t particularly want to go through with a marriage to her.”
Danbi’s eyes widened as though they might pop out.
A fiancée?
This wasn’t the Joseon Dynasty. Were there really still families these days that arranged marriages for business purposes?
“My family is pressuring me to get married because of a business expansion. And a year from now, I’ll be leaving to study abroad as soon as I graduate.”
“…”
“Just until then.”
“…”
“I need someone who can pretend to be my wife.”
A hollow laugh escaped between Danbi’s lips.
“Seriously?”
“I won’t let this cause you any trouble.”
“Is this because I told you yesterday that I like you?”
She almost spat out the rest of her thought.
Did you think I’d just giggle and accept anything you offered me?
There had to be a limit to how ridiculous someone could be about another person.
“If the person who confessed to you yesterday had been someone else, you would’ve handed this contract to her instead, wouldn’t you?”
Doyoung ran a dry hand over his face. His handsome features looked noticeably more haggard than they had the night before.
“Danbi.”
“…”
“I can’t say something like this to anyone else. I’m asking you because it’s you.”
His tone made it clear that he wasn’t asking because he thought she was an easy target.
He was asking because it had to be her.
Something surged up from deep in Danbi’s throat. Her sigh grew heavier.
The desperation in his voice reached her so painfully that her resolve began to waver.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
Doyoung looked at her silently, his eyes telling her to ask whatever she wanted.
“You could just marry your fiancée. Why go through all this trouble? Looking at the clauses in this contract, I don’t see how you benefit from it at all.”
His lips pressed tightly together.
A long silence followed. Danbi didn’t press him, simply waiting for his answer.
Eventually, his lips slowly parted.
“Marriage…”
“…”
“It’s something you should do with the person you love.”
The tips of his ears were bright red. Doyoung caught his lower lip between his teeth and lowered his gaze.
Danbi flinched and studied his face with bewilderment.
What is this? Some ridiculous attempt at playing the devoted romantic?
“I want to get married to someone I love.”
Doyoung fixed his gaze on Danbi.
His eyes burned with an intensity that seemed capable of seeing straight through her.
If he wanted to marry someone he loved, then why was he proposing a contract marriage to her?
It’s not like he could possibly love me.
Was he simply planning to use this as a sort of waiting period until he found the person he truly wanted to marry?
The corners of Danbi’s eyes drooped helplessly.
“I’ll think about it.”
It was pure stubbornness.
“Let’s meet here again at this time tomorrow.”
Her decision had been born entirely out of pride.
If they lived together under the same roof, surely Doyoung would eventually develop feelings for her.
Someday, she would hear Doyoung himself confess that he had fallen in love with Hong Danbi.
Throughout the contract period, the two maintained the polite relationship of senior and junior at school and devoted themselves to their respective student lives.
Danbi had dreamed of their fake marriage becoming a real one, but unfortunately, nothing as romantic as a love story ever happened.
The year flew by in a blur of activity, and it didn’t take long for her to realize that her determination had been for nothing.
Doyoung successfully broke off his engagement as planned, paid Danbi her settlement, and immediately left to study abroad.
“Thank you for everything, Danbi.”
That was all he left her with.
“Looking back, it really was crazy.”
After Doyoung left, Danbi carefully folded up her unrequited love and stuffed it away somewhere deep inside her heart.
To soothe the emptiness he left behind, she entered graduate school. She had essentially poured all the settlement money he gave her into tuition.
“Who could’ve known things would turn out like this?”
She had never dreamed that a few years later, she’d fall victim to a real estate scam and end up living under Doyoung’s roof.
Danbi was taking a deep breath to clear her head when—
The cellphone resting on the storage shelf began ringing loudly.
She stretched out one arm and grabbed it.
It was a call from Hyeonseo.
“Yeah? What is it?”
[What happened with your place? Why haven’t you contacted me?]
“Ah, that… It’s been taken care of.”
[Did you catch the scammer?]
“No, not that. The landlord said he felt sorry for my situation and told me I could move in and stay there until I had enough money for the deposit.”
[Is he some kind of rich saint?]
“Very… very much a rich saint.”
[See? What did I tell you? I said the world was still worth living in.]
When did you ever say that?
Danbi didn’t even have time to rummage through her memories before Hyeonseo’s words came flying at her one after another.
[But why does your voice sound so echoey? Is my phone already dying?]
“Because I’m in the bathroom. Thanks to my kind rich landlord, I’m enjoying the luxury of taking a half bath.”
[Wow. What a tear-jerking luxury.]
“If you have something to say, hurry up. It sounds like you called for another reason.”
“Oh, right.”
[You’re going to flip when you hear this.]
Is there really anything left that could make me flip?
“What is it?”
[Sunbae Doyoung came back to Korea.]
Her heart dropped.
That Moon Doyoung was somewhere beyond the bathroom door right now.
[Anyway, that’s why I’m calling. They’re having an alumni gathering this weekend. You’re coming too, right? You used to be crazy about Sunbae Doyoung.]
“Hey, how long are you going to keep saying that?”
[Come on. This is your chance to really show him what he’s been missing. What do you have to lose?]
Why wouldn’t I?
There were so many things she lacked that she could barely count them all on her fingers.
[Or just come and think of it as closure. Who knows? Maybe Sunbae Doyoung spent too long abroad and came back all fat and bloated, with none of that refined, delicate charm he used to have. Seeing that might finally make whatever feelings you have left disappear.]
Unfortunately, Moon Doyoung had apparently returned as a power-upgraded version of himself.
He still had that refined, delicate aura, but now it had been combined with considerably more masculine appeal, enough that he seemed to ooze sexual pheromones wherever he went.
“Forget it. I’ve been over him for a long time.”
Hyeonseo knew nothing.
She didn’t know Danbi had once been married to Doyoung.
Nor did she know that they were currently living under the same roof.
The fact that she couldn’t tell her the truth left an uncomfortable knot in Danbi’s heart.
“I guess I might as well go see everyone. It’s been a while.”
[I know that’s just a throwaway answer so you’ll have an excuse to go.]
If only Hyeonseo could just talk a little less, she’d be such a good person…
Danbi knew.
The fact that she’d been scammed in a real estate deal had already spread throughout their alumni circle.
And she also knew that Hyeonseo was the source of the rumor.
Danbi shook her head and firmly pressed the end-call button.
After finishing her half bath, Danbi left the bathroom, vigorously shaking out her wet hair.
She couldn’t sense anyone around, so she looked around.
“Did he already go to bed?”
The master bedroom door was closed, so she assumed Doyoung had gone inside.
But then she spotted him stretched out asleep on the living room sofa.
As though hypnotized, Danbi slowly walked toward him.
“Sunbae.”
She bent her knees and crouched down, and his face filled her entire field of vision.
“Go to your room and sleep.”
Doyoung didn’t move at all, breathing evenly.
In the quiet house, the only sound was his soft, steady breathing.
Danbi raised a hand, intending to shake him awake, but then slowly lowered it again.
She might never have another chance to observe Moon Doyoung’s face from this close.
“Damn, he’s handsome.”
The thought slipped out before she could stop herself.
She hurriedly covered her mouth in case he woke up, but fortunately, he seemed to be sleeping deeply and didn’t so much as twitch.
She studied every inch of him, from his dark, thick eyebrows to the sharp line of his jaw, before letting out a small, incredulous laugh at herself.
What am I even doing?
She was just about to stand, thinking that he’d go to bed on his own eventually, when—
“Whoa…!”
A large, firm hand suddenly clamped around Danbi’s wrist and yanked her toward him.
She lost her balance and stumbled, before helplessly collapsing forward.
Onto something firmer than the sofa, yet strangely warm and comforting.
“…You’re awake?”
She had fallen into Moon Doyoung’s arms.
“Thanks to you.”
His dark, deep-set eyes were firmly fixed on Danbi’s face.
“Were you trying to drill a hole through my face?”
