signed | choi seungcheol

➢one

-Jiyeon-

I gave my boyfriend, Jinhwa, a hug before I started heading home. I sang to myself as I walked home. I only sang on days like this one for I had just gotten a promise ring for one of my plain fingers.

I rubbed the ring while smiling like an idiot. I thought of the future I would share with Jinhwa and how life would be like then. Maybe life would be hard but it would be great to live it with him.

But there was a bit of a problem with my future. My father died a few years back and my mother was quite sad about the incident. Slowly the money we had decreased and we earned a lot less. We ate out less, we smiled less.

Without Jinhwa, I would've never been able to enjoy the feeling of being normal again. He often brought me out to good places to eat and bought me things that I wouldn't typically buy for myself. But because I didn't want my mother to feel lonely, I couldn't bring myself to tell her what relationship I had with Jinhwa.

My father was involved in a car crash that almost took his life and landed him on his deathbed. We paid for his hospital bills for quite awhile before he died and left the two of us alone in devastation.

My mother was a teacher at a girls academy near our house but then she withdrew from her job because of her growing depression and left me to provide for the two of us. Her health started getting worse as time passed by and I needed to help her so I looked for every job I could find.

I made videos and posted them online, I sold things online, I tried all kinds of things but it still wasn't enough. People didn't want to hire me because of the lack of education I earned and my attitude from my past for I had been fired a few times.

We were very lucky to survive until now but we still need to pay our bills and all that other stuff I hate to be responsible over. There is a lot more to just paying for food and water bill.

When I finally reached the door of my house, I pulled my ring off and hid it in my pocket. I unlocked the door and entered to see my mother rushing over to give me a hug, which was very unusual. She would typically be sitting alone in the living room, doing nothing but resting and thinking.

"Aw, my baby." she laughed for the first time in maybe a week or two as she gestured me to sit on the couch right in front of another woman with glasses and a stern face. The lady is dressed in a very business-like way and it makes me anxious to see her look down on me like that.

I looked at my mother with a confused expression but she just smiled at me as I sat down on the couch.

"Hello," the lady said as she extended her hand to me, flashing a small smile, "Call me Ms. Han."

"Okay, I'm Yoon Jiyeon." I smiled nicely and politely, hoping maybe it was some special job request that could help support the two of us. The lady opened her computer bag and rummaged for something.

"We have some matters to discuss," she said as she pulled out some papers from the big bag. I took a quick glance at what it was.

It was a contract.

"We have been watching you from time to time over the past week."

Wait what? I thought to myself hoping they didn't see me with my boyfriend. If they told my mother that, I would probably feel guilty for the rest of my life.

"We think you are up to the task." Ms. Han smiled as she looked at me mysteriously, tapping her index finger on her sharp chin.

"Excuse me, but what task." I asked as I looked at the woman, confused.

"A marriage contract." she said as she pushed the paper near me so I could take a better look.

My heart was about to explode in fury. A MARRIAGE CONTRACT?! That is insane. I looked at my mother, she looked a little guilty but she was happy too. It seemed like she had found something she really wanted to strive for.