𝗠𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 | MinMin

Chapter 08

2:30 PM

Lee Dynasty

Lee Know came back to the palace with the basket containing everything he brought and walked inside where Hyunjin was waiting. "Oh hi Hyunjin, how are you?" Minho asked, placing the things down in the palace's kitchen. He then took the scrolls out since they were important and then looked at Hyunjin.

"You seem very happy, I'm assuming you saw Seungmin again?" Hyunjin said.

"Yeah, also any new news for me?" Minho asked, taking out the ink glass as well now.

"You have the annual ball to attend to. Your father wants you attending it again this year." Hyunjin reminded him, then standing in the doorway frame.

Lee Know nodded and sighed. "I'm very happy but stressed right now, every year my father is trying to get me to bring home a lady... I can't believe he wants me to do something like that. But at least he knows I don't want anything to do with them this year." Minho rubbed his temples in stress, leaning against the counter.

"By the way, Areum is supposed to be coming over in a few minutes... your father let her sleepover." Hyunjin frowned a bit, feeling bad for Minho but then left to go do something he was ordered to do.

"Ugh again?!" Minho sighed, thankfully he remembered it was almost dinner time and went up to his room. Where he found Areum waiting for him on his bed, he almost yelled at her but kept calm.

"Hey, Minho! I asked your father if I could sleep here today, he said yes!" She smiled, welcoming him with a quick hug.

"Okay then... I'm gonna go bathe you stay here." Minho pointed and then went to his bathtub.

"Alright! I'll read something off of your bookshelf, you have many on your desk as well." She took a book from the small brown shelf, opening it, and sitting back down on the bed.

A couple of minutes later, Minho came back with a towel wrapped around his waist and then reached into his drawer to grab clothing.

Areum blushed but kept her eyes on the book, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. "I'm not going to look at you until you change but still you should get dressed quickly to avoid making this uncomfortable." She muttered.

"Thank you," Minho said back, then quickly changing into his sleepwear then sitting a bit farther but still kinda near Areum. "Um... so to put this in the nicest way possible... I don't really like you that way, I think I just prefer having you as a friend from another kingdom if that's fine." He finally spat out.

Areum exhaled and flopped back on the bed. "Thank God, I was starting to get tired of pretending. My father was forcing me into a marriage but I hate the idea of getting married, it's just not for me." She said, sitting back up again.

"Oh okay that's relieving to hear, then I've got a deal. Since both of our fathers are trying to force us into marriage, we should pretend to date or something so they stop bothering us." Minho suggests.

"Why? You have someone you like? I'm just assuming since you're known for dropping every girl your dad sends your way, it would be a bit strange for you to just date this random girl out of nowhere." Areum got interested now.

"Yeah, I do have someone I like... but they're from a kingdom that's not on so many good terms with mine." Minho scratched the back of his neck a bit before breathing in.

"I understand, sure, I have nothing else to do anyway." Areum agreed. "Just saying, this act won't last that long, your parents will probably only let us date for a few months before asking us to marry, that was the whole point of this anyway." She said.

"Yeah, I figured, I think I'll just tell my parents about who I actually like by then," Minho said.

Areum stood on her feet and did a thumbs-up sign. "Sounds fine, then my Father will probably take the hint that I don't intend to get married anytime soon. Queen Elizebeth from England is doing perfectly fine as a single queen. Why should I marry?" She shrugged, fixing her hair in the mirror.

"Haha, I get it a bit... anywho, you can go now if you'd like," Minho said, opening the door for her.

"What would I say now? You got yourself into this, I was just dragged along." Areum said, shrugging again.

"Just say- agh I don't even know, I guess just sleepover for the time being and I'm the morning we can just announce our fake relationship." Minho sighed.

"Okay whatever, where's an empty room?" Areum asked, walking out of the room.

Minho led her to an empty room and nearby his then wished her goodnight before heading back to his own room to sleep.