Perfect Love

Chapter 2

Karina leaned weakly against the porcelain bowl of the toilet. The coolness of the porcelain provided some relief from the seemingly endless onslaughts of nausea. She had already lost her entire breakfast, but she still continued to dry heave. She sighed heavily. Being pregnant was no joke. It was hard work, in addition to all that being a K-pop star entailed.

Slowly, she picked herself up off the floor and walked to the sink. She splashed her face with water and rinsed her mouth out. She knew Mr. Oh was waiting for her in the conference room. She was finally going to meet the man Mr. Oh had chosen to be her temporary husband.

"It's only two years," she whispered to herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were sporting bags and her make-up had been effectively removed by all the face splashing she had done that morning. "Well, I hope this guy likes haggard-looking women," she groused, "because that's what he's gonna get." She scolded herself briefly for being concerned about the male gaze. She knew that any self-respecting modern woman couldn't care less what men like or don't like in a woman, but due to having grown up in Korea, she knew that the beauty standards for both men and women were impossibly high. Being in the K-pop industry only served to magnify these unreachable goals. Karina couldn't have a bad hair day or a day when her face was swollen from having eaten ramen late at night. She wasn't given the space that any regular woman would have to simply not be having her best beauty day.

"Oh, well," she sighed as she left the bathroom. "Time to meet my 'Mr. Right'," she said quietly to herself as she walked down the long hallway to the conference room. As she entered, she saw Mr. Oh and a young man standing beside him.

"Wait, I know you," Karina exclaimed. "You're the costume guy, right?"

The young man nodded and bowed deeply. "Annyeonghaseyo. Bon-Hwa-ieyo. Bangawoyo," he said, greeting her and introducing himself.

Karina noticed that he used the formal way of speaking with her. It was impossible to tell his age just by looking at him, but he had clearly determined that he should speak formally.

"Let's just speak comfortably," she said, giving him a very short bow. Bon-Hwa nodded, agreeing to the new terms of their relationship. They would speak to each other as peers.

Mr. Oh jumped in. "Bon-Hwa has graciously chosen to help us out in this situation in which we find ourselves," he said.

"There's no 'we' in this scenario. It's just me," Karina corrected. "I'm the only one who has spent the whole morning vomiting my guts out. So, let's be clear, here, as to who is really carrying this 'situation', as you so eloquently put it," she added emphatically.

She took a moment to study Bon-Hwa. He was not unattractive, but he looked to be only about three inches taller than her height of 5'6". She had always dreamed of being with a man who was 5'11" or taller, but she reminded herself that this was only a contract marriage. She wasn't falling in love with him. So, why would his height matter? It wasn't like she was going to be stuck with him after the two-year marriage ended.

When Bon-Hwa felt her eyes on him, he looked away shyly. He cleared his throat nervously. "I hope you can accept me," he told her, still unable to meet her gaze directly. "I really want to help you to get through this difficult time," he added.

Karina forced a smile. "Let's be perfectly clear about all of this. I am doing this to get out of a bind, and you are doing it, presumably, for money," she said bluntly.

Bon-Hwa finally met her gaze. With a touch of irritation in his voice, he said, "It's true that I need money to continue my studies, but you are wrong in assuming that money is my primary motivator."

"Then, what is your primary motivator?" she asked. "It seems to me that you are getting nothing from this arrangement but money," she pointed out.

"I have my own reasons," Bon-Hwa said enigmatically.

"Well, your reason had better not be to try to hook up with me because I must remind you this is a marriage in name only," she clarified.

"Of course," he replied. "That's a given."

Something about the way he said that last phrase unsettled Karina. Of course, this marriage was a sham, but it stung a bit to hear him say so decisively that it was a given that nothing would happen between them.

Mr. Oh clapped his hands just one time and exclaimed, "Well, on that note, let's get this squared away." He picked up his cell and called his secretary. "Please, send in Mr. Choi," he requested. Mr. Oh placed a steading hand on Karina's shoulder. "I've asked Mr. Choi to come from the marriage registry office to get everything squared away on their end. On our end, each of you will sign the marriage contract and will be expected to abide by all terms and conditions held therein," he said.

Once Mr. Choi entered the room, it was a very quick process. The paperwork was signed in just a few minutes, leaving Karina and Bon-Hwa to look at each other awkwardly. Mr. Oh pulled out a box with two rings that they each put on their own hands, not on each other's as one would have expected a married couple to do. It all felt incredibly surreal to Karina who felt as though she were hearing everyone's voice from very far away. In fact, as she felt the room spinning, the voices seemed to move even further away. Then came the blackness. When she came to, Bon-Hwa was on his knees beside her, fanning her face with the marriage contract.

"Just take some deep breaths," he instructed. At such a close distance, Karina could see that Bon-Hwa had soft brown eyes that were lined with impossibly long lashes for a boy. His lips were full and slightly glossy from the cherry Chapstick that he always carried in his pocket.

"You should take her home to get some rest," Mr. Oh said to Bon-Hwa. Karina found it odd that the moment she got married, Mr. Oh had begun to direct his words to her husband and not to her. Her husband. What an odd thought that she was married now in the eyes of the law. She hadn't even told her family yet. Karina wondered how they would take the news that, not only was she married, but they would be getting a grandchild soon.

Bon-Hwa turned his back to Karina and patted the back of his shoulder. "Hop on," he invited. She would have objected were it not for the fact that, even after coming to, she still was feeling like the room was spinning. She sat up and draped herself weakly over Bon-Hwa's broad back. She wrapped her legs around him and leaned her head on the back of his shoulder.

"I'll text you the access code for the house," Mr. Oh said.

"What house?" Karina managed to ask through her confusion.

"Well, you didn't think you would keep living with the aespa girls after you got married, did you?" asked Mr. Oh.

"I guess not," she sighed. "But we are sleeping in separate rooms," she warned with the last bit of energy she had left in her.

"That's a given," Bon-Hwa replied.

There it was again. Bon-Hwa seemed to relish reminding her that he didn't want anything personal with her at all. Perhaps he didn't find her attractive. For some reason, the thought made her feel a bit sad. He may not be tall, but Karina could feel his strong muscles bulging under his dress shirt.

"We'd better get our story straight," she whispered into his ear as she clung to his back.

"What story is that?" he asked.

"The story of how we met," she clarified. "We'll get a lot of questions about that," she predicted.

"Well, there's no need to lie," he replied. "We met because I'm your costume director. It's a pretty simple story," he insisted. "Unless I have made no impression on you at all up until now," he said with a nervous chuckle.

Karina had to admit that she had barely recognized him when she saw him in the conference room today. Her life was always so harried that she barely noticed the people around her. As she gripped his muscled shoulders, she wondered how he could have escaped her notice for so long.