Still in Appa's office...

"Oookay..." I skeptically say.

"What Inheritance? And why did you call Jimin my future hu-, my future..., future... what was it?"

I just couldn't bring myself to say the word "husband" out loud. It took me to a place where I once hoped I could run from; there were just way too many memories that overloaded my brain now.

It began to give me a throbbing headache. And many of these memories still did not make any sense.

...

There was Jimin, holding my hand.

But in a different scene, I was laughing with another boy, he was very tall, and we were having ice cream near a small stall outside my school.

...

But things got fuzzy again and my head began to ache once more.

"Jimin is your future husband, Haneul. Well, he is one of your future husbands... as you will find out tomorrow. "

"Jageun-appa (father's younger brother), I am very happy to marry this beautiful lady seated next to me, but I do not understand what you mean by saying that 'I am one of them'?"

"Appa, I agree with Jimin-ssi. This is our future we're discussing; not some sort of reverse harem fanfiction." I protested irritably, rubbing my temples.

Jimin mouthed the words 'reverse harem' in confusion, looking at his uncle as if he'd find some kind of explanation.

My Appa had looked from me to Jimin, chuckling to himself, before responding to his precious nephew.

"Jimin, I know you were very young when Haneul's halmoni used to visit you. You two were very close. Halmoni adored you so much that she arranged for you to be married to her only grandchild. Your parents are already aware of Halmoni's conditions and fully agree to it. In fact, if I am not wrong, you'll find that you already know these six other men, Jimin."

"I... I do?" He looked from his uncle to me and then back at his uncle in confusion.

The poor guy sat next to me looking as dumbfounded as I felt inside. Seven husbands and one wife?

Okay, I like the idea that I'll be the only woman in their lives... But it is a bit weird.

However... I'll be the centre of their attention. Which girl wouldn't want seven men to dote over her, and only her?

I'd be lying to myself if I say that I wasn't even remotely curious to see how this worked.

"Okay, so, I have always known I'd be marrying a childhood friend and that there were some conditions to it. I just didn't expect everything I read in that will that I'd found in the safe next to my office to be true!"

"Ne, I'm aware that you've recently found some of the documents that Haneul's halmoni had left for you, Jimin. It was decided by the board responsible for this particular case, that the necessary documents will be left where you can find them, in your own time. The six other men have, just like you, also discovered these documents and were asked to prepare their roles in order to be ready when the time drew closer for you all to meet Haneul."

Appa noticed the look on my face and tried to console me.

"Haneul, don't be too alarmed my dear. You know these men as well. As I recall, you have all gone to school together." Appa smiled at us reassuringly, pausing to assess the situation and study the reactions of both Jimin and I, collectively.

He then caught me off guard by asking: "Don't you remember my nephew, Jimin? You were both very good friends at boarding school." He gestured to Jimin smiling warmly.

At this, I looked more carefully at the neatly dressed man who was smiling at me once more. Jimin was excited by the attention, as if it were his birthday instead.

Annoyed by Jimin's stupid grin, I turned to ask Appa: "We did? But didn't you say to me that the friends I had at school; Chimmy oppa and Tae oppa and the rest of them were studying abroad when I asked you about them last year Appa?"

"Yes... well, they were Haneul. I'm afraid you're going to have to forgive your old man for a little white lie my dear. But they've all returned in the last two years and are now all here in Seoul, in this very office, at the moment. Jimin was your closest friend at school, if memory serves me right. Which was why he searched all over the city, day and night, hoping to bump into you."

'Yeah right!' I huffed in disbelief.

But soon I realised that my Appa could have easily directed him to my house, but, instead Appa had left Jimin to find me all on his own. Deciding to give this a chance, I slowly asked Appa more questions to confirm if the first wall around my heart could be dropped for sure.

"Appa, I remember my friend quite well. However, this man doesn't resemble him one bit!" I say eyeing him.

"Mochi had the chubbiest cheeks ever." I grinned wickedly, turning to face the man next to me once more.

Instinctively, I raised my hand to pinch his cheek as if to say 'see, no chubbiness here!', but my fingers had accidentally brushed his left cheek instead. And his eyes met mine as if out of habit, the mischievous smile in them awoke a memory of us two at school together.

...

I was running down a corridor close to the principal's office, holding his hand so as not to fall; all the while laughing freely at a prank we both had planned to play on a classmate at school.

...

The boy in my memory, had the exact same mischievous smile in his eyes as the man in front of me now.

And so I look at Jimin again.
Properly.

No wonder his eyes seemed familiar to me earlier at the bus stop!

This man was the very same Park Jimin I had gone to boarding school with, I remembered him as Chimmy which was what his friends used to call him.

I felt my own eyes widening as I remembered the nickname I knew him by.

"Mochi!? Ommo! (OMG!)" My hands flew over my mouth as my jaw dropped to the floor in a mixture of realisation and disbelief.

My voice raised a few octaves, much to my own embarrassment "You look so different now! Like- like a K-pop idol!"

I lowered my hands from my face and reached out to pinch his cheeks just to be a hundred percent sure it really was him.

Jimin gave me the same annoyed look that my Mochi used to give me whenever I had teased him and pinched his cheeks to show him some love and affection.

'It really was my Mochi!' I must say, I am impressed! He certainly lost the puppy fat he'd once said he would, but that ability to annoy me, had, magically, remained.

Jimin's cheeks had fully resembled a tomato now. Probably matching my own, judging by the rapidly increasing burn I felt in my cheeks and on the tops of my ears. Jimin looked at me again, his eyes widening in realisation.

"Vampire? Mona the Vampire?" He grinned, and if anything confirmed it, it was the slightly crooked tooth that sometimes peaked out when my Mochi smiled.

Argh!

'Nooooooo.... he remembered that horrid name!' I groaned inwardly.

How embarrassing!

Completely oblivious to our interaction and red faces, or perhaps giving us some sort of privacy, Mr. Park continued to speak.

"However, there is a condition you must remember. If any of you refuse this marriage, you will have to work for the others for the rest of your lives. The terms and conditions are all in this contract right here." Mr. Park gestured to the eight A4 manila envelopes that lie neatly fanned out on his shiny, mahogany desk.

"Halmoni selected all of you as the recipients of this contract for specific reasons which will be discussed when all eight of you are present, as Jimin here is aware of."

Realising there was no way out of this, I asked Appa a bit more about the process.

"How long do we have to make a final decision?" I enquired curiously, though the anticipation began to build in my chest.

"You have exactly seven days from today; which is October 18th. We still need to prepare the arrangements for either choice. If you all agree, the wedding is to take place in exactly fourteen days' time."

'So, in other words, my wedding is going to be on October 25th?
I'm getting married to seven men in 2 weeks?'

Well let's not be silly...

'How am I supposed to buy a wedding dress and seven wedding bands in two weeks?
Also... When will I get to know these men?!'

'I can't marry them without getting to know them, even a little bit. Like knowing what their names are and what they look like!'

"Have you spoken to the others about this already, uncle?" Jimin asked, clearing his throat attractively.

"Yes. The others have all already agreed to the terms and conditions." He looked at me as he spoke once more: "They should be in touch with you soon Haneul."

"But Appa... why would Halmoni choose these seven men for me? How did she know them? I may know Jimin from boarding school, but how would Halmoni have known these boys or even begin to assume that I would want to marry them?"

I sat there staring at Appa expectantly.

Inside, I had reached the wall that formed a barrier around my sanity in my mind - it was my happy place. A house with a balcony and a vast sea of nothingness lay ahead.

I felt as if something entered my thoughts and pushed me off the balcony, over the imaginary edge of the boundary around my happy place. Slowly and helplessly, I fell over the edge of the railing into the depths of the sea of insanity.

'This was becoming all too confusing for me...' My headache intensified.

Memories of school, of Jimin and his friends and my Halmoni flashed through my mind like an old fashion slide show that had gone completely out of control.

I felt the imaginary reel playing machine violently shake and combust as the cog wheels and springs fly all over... and my head suddenly began to ache; this room was becoming a little too suffocating and I realised that I needed some fresh air.

Oblivious to my headache and internal struggles, Appa continued to speak.

"My dear child, I don't think I am the right person to discuss all the details with you. But I will say this much: your Halmoni owned that boarding school, Haneul; and now, once you marry these lovely gentlemen, so will you."

Things were definitely beginning to get complicated for me!

What a memorable 21st birthday this is!

~~~♡♡♡~~~

A/n: Halmoni has so many secrets! 😅😐

Who do you think will make an appearance next?

Jin? Suga? Hobi? Joonie?

Let's find out!

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You guys are awesome 😎