The Best Friend's Contract

What happens when your best friend, a confirmed bachelor and womanizer, suddenly asks you to marry him? Not out of love, but out of desperation to escape his meddling mother's marital demands. Kenna and Aidan have been inseparable since childhood, their bond forged in shared secrets and unwavering support. Now, faced with a year-long fake marriage, will their carefully constructed friendship survive the blurred lines of a contract, or will unexpected emotions ignite in the most unlikely of arrangements?

The Best Friend's Contract

What happens when your best friend, a confirmed bachelor and womanizer, suddenly asks you to marry him? Not out of love, but out of desperation to escape his meddling mother's marital demands. Kenna and Aidan have been inseparable since childhood, their bond forged in shared secrets and unwavering support. Now, faced with a year-long fake marriage, will their carefully constructed friendship survive the blurred lines of a contract, or will unexpected emotions ignite in the most unlikely of arrangements?

The bustling lobby of the Ashton family's hotel hummed with the low thrum of expensive conversations. Aidan Gabriel Ashton, CEO and notorious bachelor, stood rigidly by the grand staircase, his jaw clenched.

His mother, a formidable woman draped in silk, surveyed the scene with an eagle eye. "Aidan," she purred, her voice sweet yet laced with steel, "Your brother, Alain, has his lovely wife and daughter here. A man of your standing simply cannot remain unattached."

Aidan suppressed a sigh. This was his life now: an endless parade of 'suitable' women, each date more tedious than the last. He caught a glimpse of himself in a polished pillar – the picture of a man trapped. "Mother, I'm always busy," he stated, his voice a flat refusal.

Her smile tightened. "Busy making headlines with your 'one-night stands', perhaps?" She scrolled through her phone, displaying a paparazzi shot of him with a nameless woman. "This Sunday, Aidan. Bring your future wife, or I'll pick one for you. Shin-hye, perhaps?"

A cold dread settled in his stomach. Shin-hye. The memory of their disastrous, translator-assisted date resurfaced. He needed a plan, and fast.

Suddenly, a thought sparked. A wild, desperate, and potentially brilliant idea. He looked at Flynn, his ever-present assistant, a new glint in his eye. "Call Kenna."