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It was a warm summer morning when the doorbell rang—sharp, sudden, and impossible to ignore.
Jake had already been awake long before that.
He sat at the edge of his bed, staring down at his phone without really seeing anything on the screen. His thoughts had been looping the same thing over and over since he woke up.
Today’s the day.
The day that promise—made years ago by two mothers who thought it would be sweet, romantic even—finally caught up to him.
A pact.
A marriage decided before he even knew what marriage meant.
He let out a quiet sigh, dragging his hand through his hair. He didn’t even know what he—his supposed future spouse—looked like now. The only thing he’d ever seen was an old childhood photo: two small kids sitting side by side, smiling without a clue of what their lives would become.
That was supposed to be enough.
“Jake!” his mother’s voice called from downstairs, bright and excited. “Can you get the door, sweetheart? That must be Hee-ssi!”
Jake froze for a split second.
So this was it.
“Yeah,” he replied, though it came out softer than he intended.
He stood up and made his way down the hallway. Each step felt heavier than it should have, like he was walking toward something that had already been decided for him long ago.
He paused in front of the door, fingers hovering over the handle.
My future wife, he told himself, though something about the phrase felt distant—like it didn’t quite belong to him.
He pulled the door open.
And everything he expected unraveled instantly.
Standing there… wasn’t a woman.
It was a man.
Tall, composed, and undeniably striking. The morning light framed him in a way that almost felt cinematic—sharp features softened by warm eyes that seemed to study everything all at once.
Jake blinked.
“…Who are you?” he asked, unable to hide the confusion in his voice.
The man tilted his head slightly, eyes scanning Jake just as curiously.
Then, without hesitation, he answered—
“Your wife.”
Jake’s brain stalled.
“…What?”
“Jake!”
His mother appeared behind him, clearly delighted, completely unaware, or perhaps fully aware of the chaos unfolding.
“You’re being rude,” she scolded lightly before turning to the man with a fond smile. “Heeseung, it’s been so long. You’ve grown so much, my dear.”
Then she gestured proudly toward Jake.
“This is my son, Jake,” she said. “And....your future husband.”
She giggled as if she’d just revealed something adorable rather than completely life-altering.
Jake stared at her.
“…Husband?” he echoed, voice almost breaking on the word. “Mom, you said—”
“I said you were getting married,” she interrupted casually. “I never said it was a girl.”
“That’s—” Jake ran a hand through his hair, disbelief written all over his face. “That’s not something you just leave out!”
A soft chuckle came from Heeseung.
Jake turned back to him—and immediately regretted it, because now he noticed things he hadn’t before.
The way Heeseung stood so confidently, like none of this situation fazed him.
The way his gaze lingered just a second too long.
The way his presence alone seemed to shift the air between them.
“Can I come in?” Heeseung asked, calm and polite.
Jake hesitated—but his mother had already stepped aside, welcoming him in as if he belonged there.
As if he’d always belonged there.
The house that once felt normal now felt… different.
Smaller somehow.
Every room seemed to echo with the reality Jake was trying to process.
Heeseung had already settled in far too easily. His suitcase sat neatly by the guest room, though Jake had already overheard his mother hinting that “arrangements could change later.”
He tried not to think too much about that.
He really did.
But it was hard when Heeseung was there—present, observant, quietly confident in a way that kept pulling Jake’s attention back to him over and over again.
“You’ve been staring at the same spot for ten minutes.”
Jake blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. Heeseung stood just across the room now, leaning casually against the doorway.
“I’m not staring,” Jake muttered.
“You are,” Heeseung said simply.
Jake scoffed, crossing his arms. “This is ridiculous.”
“What is?”
“This!” Jake gestured around them. “This whole situation. You—you just showed up, and suddenly we’re supposed to get married like it’s nothing?”
Heeseung didn’t seem offended.
If anything, he seemed… thoughtful.
“I knew about it,” he admitted.
Jake frowned. “You knew?”
Heeseung nodded once.
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“No one asked me,” he replied calmly.
That answer shouldn’t have made sense—but somehow, it did.
Jake exhaled sharply, looking away.
“Did you at least think I’d be a girl?” he asked.
There was a brief pause.
“…Yeah,” Heeseung admitted.
Jake glanced back at him—and saw something different this time.
Not discomfort.
Not even disappointment.
Just… honesty.
“And?” Jake pressed.
Heeseung stepped closer, slow and unhurried.
“And I don’t mind that I was wrong.”
Jake’s breath hitched slightly.
The space between them suddenly felt smaller.
Too small.
“You’re weird,” Jake said, though his voice lacked its usual bite.
“Probably,” Heeseung agreed quietly.
Their eyes met—and held.
And for a moment, everything else seemed to fade.
That night, things only got worse.
Or… more complicated.
Jake lay stiffly on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Heeseung was beside him.
Beside him.
The room felt too quiet, too charged with something unspoken.
He wasn’t used to this.
To sharing space like this.
To being so aware of another person’s presence—the subtle shift of movement, the quiet sound of breathing, the faint warmth that lingered between them.
“You’re awake,” Heeseung said softly.
Jake glanced at him. “…So are you.”
“I usually am in new places,” Heeseung replied.
Jake hesitated before speaking again.
“Why are you so calm about all this?”
Heeseung turned his head, meeting Jake’s gaze in the dim light.
“I’m not calm,” he said.
Jake frowned. “You seem calm.”
“I’m just… not running away from it.”
That answer sat heavier than Jake expected.
“And what does that mean?” he asked quietly.
Heeseung studied him for a moment.
“It means I want to understand it,” he said. “Understand you.”
Jake’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
A small pause.
Then
“Because you’re the one I’m supposed to spend my life with.”
The words should have felt forced.
They should have sounded like obligation.
But they didn’t.
Jake didn’t know what to do with that.
Silence stretched between them again—but it wasn’t empty.
It was… something else.
Something unfamiliar.
Something that made his heart beat just a little faster.
“You don’t have to feel the same,” Heeseung added quietly.
Jake swallowed.
“I don’t even know what I feel,” he admitted.
Heeseung shifted slightly closer—not enough to overwhelm, but enough to be noticed.
“That’s okay,” he said.
And for some reason… Jake believed him.
The air felt heavier now.
Closer.
Like something was building without either of them fully understanding it.
Jake didn’t remember who moved first.
Maybe it didn’t matter.
Because at some point, the distance between them simply… disappeared.
Not rushed.
Not forced.
Just something quiet and inevitable.
Jake’s breath caught, his thoughts turning into a blur of confusion and awareness all at once. He had never been here before—not like this, not with anyone, let alone someone he had only met hours ago.
And yet,
Pulling away didn’t feel like an option.
Not when everything suddenly felt so real.
Not when Heeseung was right there, steady and grounding in a way Jake couldn’t explain.
It was new.
Overwhelming.
Uncertain.
And somehow… impossible to stop.
The moment lingered, fragile, suspended between what was happening and what it could become.
Neither of them fully understood it.
Neither of them were ready for it.
But neither of them moved away.
And as the night stretched on, the world seemed to narrow down to just the two of them.
On the edge of something they hadn’t chosen…
But might not want to lose.