Maybe the world was a bit overwhelming, maybe I thought you were baggage
Although my heart hurts even if I don’t see you for a few days
To me, you’re a dream that I can never let go of

Escaping from the ball that night was a true challenge. Though the real challenge was meeting up with Sunggyu without being discovered by the paparazzi. We needed to discuss our terms and fabricate a story.

I screamed into my pillow, full of frustration. My heart wanted to regret my decision but I knew that this was the best choice.

A heavy paper landed on me and I jerked around to find Sungyeol, nostrils flared, staring down at me. I picked up the newspaper and turned it over. The first page was a picture of Sunggyu and me kissing. I groaned and flopped back down.

"Haeri." Sungyeol almost growled my name.

"Not now. Please. Can't you see I'm in agony?"

"Because kissing some guy is a real chore!" He snatched me up and I looked up at him with surprise. Sungyeol had never man-handled me before. His eyebrows had a heavy crease and there was an ugly scowl on his face. "What were you thinking? Marriage?!" He let me go and started pacing my room.

"Sungyeol-ah..." Never had I seen him this angry. "I don't understand..What's wrong?"

He stopped and placed his face in his hands. A defeated laugh escaped. "What am I going to do with you?" Sungyeol looked at me with a pitiful expression. He almost made me feel guilty for being engaged to Sunggyu. I shied away when he approached me. "Come here." He waved his hand.

I shook my head.

Sungyeol sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you." He gave a half-hearted smile. "Let me help. The sooner you get the marriage thing done and over with, the better. Or I'll go crazy."

With the skill of a ninja, he helped sneak me out. I gave a quick text to Sunggyu to meet me at the park. The sky was dark and it would be mostly deserted. Sungyeol said he would stick around as a watch dog. This gave me reassurance but it also made me uncomfortable. Which is strange since I've never once been uncomfortable around Sungyeol.

While waiting I swung on the swing. I tried to fabricate a good love story for us but I was more interested in our rules for this marriage. What would we do about living together and avoiding the whole 'present me with an heir!' topic. There was so much to discuss.

"Haeri." Sunggyu huffed as he jogged over to me. The sweat on his forehead and the visible breath seeping through his lips made me swallow. "How'd you get free?"

"I could ask you the same." I smiled.

He got in the swing next to me and pointed out Sungyeol a few yards away. "He's keeping watch. He helped me escape."

"So..."

"What's more important? Figuring out our love story or how we're going to fake this for awhile. We'd have to live together, preferably out of our parent's grasps. And we'll have to give an excuse as to why they're not getting any grandchildren. I could say I'm infertile. And-"

"Woah. Woah. Let's start from the beginning. How we met and where we went from there. Also need to fabricate a proposal. Are you a showy or more subtle type?"

"Seriously?" He nodded. "As for proposal I always dreamed of something simple like waking up to the ring on my finger." I felt shy saying this. "As for everything else, can't we just say it was an arranged marriage?"

"We could." Sunggyu looked up at the stars. "But we still need personal sides. When I first felt my heart race and when you did. For example, when I saw you on stage."

"But you can't use that one, even if it's true."

"Ah~ That's right. Hm. At the aquarium then, when I held your hand for the first time." I laughed at the silliness and at the fact we didn't hold hands at all that day.

"And for me it could be when you declared our love by kissing me at the ball." Mine wasn't true either.

"That's settled. So, arranged marriage, hearts started to race, wake up with ring on finger...How do we explain that one?"

I blinked a few times. "It would make it seem like we were already seeing each other that way. Then what do you suggest?"

He was silent for awhile. I looked over at Sungyeol who would occasionally send a glare towards Sunggyu. They needed to become friends.

"I proposed a few nights after the ball. We finally escaped our families long enough to see each other in private. That's when I got on one knee," Sunggyu slipped from the swing and kneeled in front of me. "I took her hand in mine and placed a ring in her palm." He took my hand and did just as he said. I could only stare at him with wide eyes.

"Then I asked her: 'Will you marry me?' She could only nod her head with tears in her eyes. I then slipped the humble ring on her finger and kissed it." Again he acted his words. The diamond on the ring was small, but it was beautiful. "I proceeded to lean up and press my lips against her own."

Sunggyu's brown eyes met mine. He placed his hands over mine that held on to the rope of the swing. Slowly he face came towards mine. With almost shyness, he pressed his lips gently against my own. There was a subtle 'smack' as he pulled away. I had to remind myself to breathe.

He squatted down and pressed his hand against his mouth while looking away. It took us a moment to be able to look at each other again. "Somehow..." He breathed. "That kiss felt more intimate than the other two."

I cleared my throat and he stood, taking his seat back next to me. "And that's how I proposed to you. Any objections?"

"No." It came out in a whisper.

"Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"Divorcing." Sungyeol came up to us then. There was a new set of rage in his eyes. "What's the terms on divorce."

Sunggyu straightened up. "What do you suggest?"

"If either of you fall in love with someone else, divorce. In case that doesn't happen within a year, divorce. It won't be that big of a deal since it happens all the time. Blame it on her and the fact that she's 'infertile'." He quoted from before.

"That sounds fair. But since she is to be my wife soon, I don't want to see any scandals of her with other men." There was a warning tone in his voice. The boys were having a silent conversation underneath their words.

Sungyeol was about to retort but I stopped it there. "Our parents won't wait with the marriage. Within the month we'll be wed. If not sooner. Quickly, before they can sink their claws in too deep, we need to have picked out our apartment and decide on any other plans without them."

Sunggyu said he already had an apartment under his name that he escape to on the weekends. For awhile longer we talked about a few other minor details. I felt better after getting that taken care of and I walked in silence with Sungyeol after saying goodbye to Sunggyu.

I held out my left hand to look at the ring. It truly was beautiful. The band was silver and in the middle was a bigger diamond with two smaller ones on either side.

It disappeared from view when Sungyeol covered it with his hand. "I don't like this."

"What did the others think?" I was referring to Dongwoo, Hoya, and L.

"They thought it was hilarious. Hoya agrees with what you're doing, since the goal is freedom in the end. L is indifferent as always. And Dongwoo thinks you two look good together." He said the last part reluctantly.

"And you?" I was almost afraid to ask. "What do you really think?"

He stopped walking and I turned around to face him. "I understand. I do. It's just." He gritted his teeth. "Why him?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Sunggyu is...Aish!" He ruffled his hair and started walking again.

"Sungyeol-ah! Sung-Oof!" His hand caught me from falling backwards.

"Don't worry about it. You've got a wedding to start planning and even sooner, finding a way out of it."

"Araso."

"Remember what I told you at the beginning? Don't fall in love with him."

"I won't."

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