park chaeyoung imagines | gxg

arranged

this is for jinliaschild :) it's probably going to be super long so i hope you're excited for that lol

i never thought i'd be married at 23. my plan was always to go to university and get my degree, travel a little to get some real-world experience, find someone and fall in love, and after a few years eventually get married. i didn't really care who i ended up with as long as it was someone i loved and who loved me back. i never thought i would be in an arranged marriage at 23.

my parents, despite all of my protests, forced me to get married last year. they wouldn't tell me who it was to until i walked down the aisle on my wedding day and saw another girl my age at the altar. she was super pretty, don't get me wrong, but i was not happy to be there and it didn't look like she was either.

the ceremony was fast and right after the dinner, chaeyoung and i were shipped off to our new apartment together. we'd barely spoken the entire wedding so the ride to the apartment, and the rest of our first night together, was incredibly awkward. we talked for a bit but by the time we went to sleep we were still very uncomfortable around each other.

over the next year nothing much changed from chaeyoung's side. while she did talk to me, it was about as much as a roommate would instead of a wife. i tried to get closer to her but she brushed off all of my advances every time. it kind of hurt my feelings, it wasn't like i was trying to get her to make-out with me or anything, but in the sake of keeping what vague relationship we had, i let it go. honestly, it probably wouldn't hurt so much if i wasn't in love with her.

i don't know when it happened but somewhere in the year we've been 'married', i fell in love. even though we're barely even roommates at some points, i can just tell that she's a really nice person with a kind heart. she's also gorgeous which of course doesn't help. she doesn't know about my feelings, i would never tell her, so i just have to live knowing that the woman i love doesn't even want to be around me at most points.

on the one year anniversary of our marriage, i'm surprised when chaeyoung asks me if i want to go out to dinner to celebrate. i don't have anything planned so i agree and by 7pm we're sitting in the little restaurant near our apartment. chaeyoung hasn't spoken much since we sat down but once we've ordered, she finally looks at me and gives me a small smile.

"how was your day?" she asks.

"uh, pretty good, thanks," i reply. "i mean, i spent most of the day working so it was pretty boring but it was alright. how about you?"

"it was great actually," she says, her smile suddenly a lot bigger. "i was out with my friends at the mall and this really cute guy came over and starting chatting with me. we actually exchanged numbers and we're going to go out on a date on friday!"

she looks at me with excitement in her eyes but at the obvious hurt and confusion on my face, she drops it.

"what?" she asks.

"you're going on a date?" i ask.

"yeah, and?"

i can't believe what i'm hearing. i mean, yeah, i kind of figured that she didn't feel the same about me as i did about her but i thought she knew that going on a date would be wrong. ignoring how much it breaks my heart, i'm just upset that she would cheat on me like this.

"did you forget that we're married?"

she scoffs. "we're hardly married, (y/n). we might be legally considered 'married' but we both know this isn't a marriage. a marriage is between two people who love each other and we don't. we barely even speak."

"how do you know how i feel about you?"

she eyes me in confusion but considering she's not stupid, she catches on pretty quickly.