Enigmatic

Ground Rules

Hanni's POV

"Then okay. I'll marry you."

I'm not sure what I expected when I told her that. I certainly did not expect her to jump with joy or anything like that, but the lack of reaction threw me off. She convinced me that the best decision would be to marry her, but when I agreed, she didn't even react?

She walked back to the couch and said, "You mention something about ground rules? Let's discuss it. Follow me."

Oh, wow! She's treating this like a business deal. Well, what do I expect?

"First, quit bossing me around."

She raised her brows, "I want to feed you because you're exhausted and we haven't had any lunch yet, that's why I ask you to follow me. If you want, I can just carry you so that it will not count as being bossy, just say the word."

She acted like she's really going to scoop me up so I immediately stood up before she had a chance. I hated the way she looks at me as if she's reading me, and most of the time she knows how I feel.

"See? We can compromise." She said smugly because she was able to make me follow her directions. This asshole.

We went to her kitchen, and she immediately busied herself. It seems that she'll just reheat something from her refrigerator. She gestured for me to sit, which I complied not because I wanted to follow her, but because my shoes are killing me. I don't want to stand any longer than I need to.

While she's preparing, she sometimes checks if I'm still seated, and she shows her signature smirk when she catches me looking at her multiple times. But in my defense, everything's just so plain and elegant, so there is nowhere else to look.

"How many rules were you thinking?" She asked all of a sudden.

I thought for a moment, and replied, "Uhm, how about I lay some ground rules now, and then along the way, we add more things to it. I literally don't know anything about you, like what you've said to me earlier, I don't even know your habits, or whatever."

She just hummed in response, so I continued, "But the first thing that I want is for you not to buy me any extravagant things. I don't want people to think that I married you for money."

After a long pause, she turned around and looked at me, "If you don't have any plans of accepting things from me, because you don't owe me anything, then why marry me in the first place?"

Her intense gazed pierced me, and I was unable to answer, "And how do you expect me to just follow all your rules without any sort of compromise? Am I supposed to just follow whatever you want? Marriage is a compromise, is it not?"

I can't argue with that. If I wanted this to work, I should be willing to meet her halfway, after all, I'm just doing this for the baby. I certainly couldn't ask her to adjust to everything that I say if I can't do the same.

"Okay. Sure."

If she was surprised with how easy I agreed, she didn't let it show, "But what if I want to reject your rules?"

"Again, we can compromise."

Fair enough. Minji was really good at this negotiation thing, she would really make a great business woman.

She prepared the plates that we'll use and served the food that she reheated earlier. After she made sure that I started eating, that's the only time that she took a serving for herself. She tilted her head as if saying that I could start telling her the rules that I want.