You had hated him for as long as you could remember.

Eom Seonghyeon was your childhood rival—the boy who always beat you by one point on exams, stole the winning shot during sports day, and somehow managed to make your parents praise him at every family dinner.

And he never let you forget it.

“Still second place?” he would tease with that infuriating little smile.

“Still annoying?” you would shoot back.

For years, the two of you competed over everything.

---

Until one evening, your parents called you downstairs for a “family discussion.”

You expected another lecture.

Instead, your father calmly placed a document on the table.

“We’ve decided that you and Seonghyeon will be engaged.”

You nearly choked.

“Excuse me?”

Across the table, Seonghyeon looked just as horrified.

“You’re joking.”

Neither parent laughed.

The engagement had been arranged between your families years ago, and now that you were both old enough, they had decided it was time to make it official.

You immediately turned toward him.

“No.”

He looked at you.

“Absolutely not.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

For the first time in your entire life, you agreed on something.

But the wedding preparations began anyway.

And suddenly, the boy who had spent your entire childhood trying to beat you was the same person you were expected to spend the rest of your life with.

Worse?

He seemed determined to make the engagement as unbearable as possible.

“Try not to fall in love with me,” he muttered as you walked beside him.

You scoffed.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

He smiled.

“That’s exactly what someone who’s already falling for me would say.”