Love Shows, Love Grows

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, a handsome man named Kim Seokjin sits by his bedroom window every night, waiting for his prince to find him. He'd count the stars, each one representing the fantasies he'd imagine with his soulmate. They consist of warm hugs, tingly kisses, creating a family, and more. When will he meet the perfect person to love? When will he-

"Seokjin!"

The loud voice startled him awake. The sun's up and birds are singing. He sees the drool on the window sill and recoils at the sight.

"Hyung, I've told you not to stay up so late!" his younger brother scolds him. Sometimes Taehyung would feel like the older brother. Every night, Seokjin would fall asleep counting stars. But not in his bed.

"I'm sorry! I lost track of time!" Seokjin exclaims, combing his messy hair with his fingers. He's always lost in his thoughts, picturing how his ideal partner looks like.

"Get up already!" Taehyung closes the window, "Mother and Father need to talk to you about something important." He pulls Seokjin up, leading him to his walk-in closet. Once he was inside, Taehyung shuts the door.

"Talk about what? If it's about my behavior towards Mr. Kang, he deserves it," Seokjin says from the closet. He slips on a shirt, throwing his pajamas in the laundry basket.

"No, it's not so don't even bring that up again," Taehyung groans. That night was a disaster. Luckily, Seokjin got into no trouble. It's just better not to mention this embarrassing incident ever again.

About a minute later, Seokjin pops out from the closet.

"How do I look?" the older brother twirls in front of his brother, who didn't even bother to check his outfit. They're running late for breakfast and their parents were pretty strict about it.

"Let's just go," he grabs Seokjin once again, taking him to the dining room as fast as his legs can go.

~~

"Seokjin," Mrs. Kim placed her spoon down, "Your father and I would like to give you a surprise." She knew how much Seokjin has been dreaming about "the one."

Seokjin paid little attention as he shovels eggs into his mouth. "Oh really?" he says after gulping down the food in his mouth.

A surprise for Seokjin usually comes with a cute dog, kitten, alpaca, you name it. He loves keeping the animals as his pets but when there's just too many in the house, his parents would send them away to relatives. It hurts him greatly but he's starting to get use to it.

Mrs. Kim and Mr. Kim shared a look of giddiness before revealing, "You'll be getting married!!!" Mr. Kim adds, "We arranged a marriage that you'll love!"

They expected Seokjin to jump up, asking frantically who the lucky man was. Instead, their eldest child gave them the saddest look.

"B-but why?" his voice cracks, "I'm still waiting for my soulmate to find me." He couldn't believe this. His parents knew very well how much he would prefer to find someone on his own than through some arranged marriage.

"S-Seokjin, dear, we found him for you," his mother tries to cheer him up. She was unsuccessful.

"No!" Seokjin pushes himself away from the table, "I won't marry someone I don't know!" He runs out of the room, up the flight of stairs, and back into his room. Resting his head on the now dry and clean window sill, Seokjin sobs uncontrollably.

~~

After half an hour pasts, Seokjin hears a knock at his door. He ignores it but the knocking wouldn't stop. "Leave me alone," he said, thinking that it was his mother or father at the door.