Author’s Note: I don’t own anything.

‘What’s taking her so long?’ Jiyong thought. He waited 10 more minutes and when she didn’t show up, he decided to head out and look for her. Jiyong found her sitting on the bus stop bench a few meters away with a stunned look on her face. Dara’s eyes were slightly damp and swollen ‘Was she crying?’, he thought.

He sat eye-level to Dara and asked, “What happened, Dara? Why were you crying?”. She just looked at him blankly and said, “Oh, Ji. I’m okay. My head just got lost in the clouds and I wasn’t crying. I have a very bad cold so my eyes are tearing up”. “I won’t push you if you don’t want to tell me but please reconsider as I might be able to help.”, Jiyong said.

As they walked hand in hand towards the café,  Dara remembered what happened in the car.

“So you see, Dara? You shouldn’t be with my son any longer. He will be married to Kiko in two years. We will announce his engagement the day after Jiyong’s birthday.”, Mrs. Kwon said. “Jiyong does not know any of this yet as the requirement for him to take over his father’s place is dependent on taking Kiko as his wife. I’m sure he won’t say no.”, she added.

“Nothing to say, Dara?”, Kiko asked. “I love your son, Mrs. Kwon. I may not come from a rich family but I will do my best to make your son happy and make a family with him.”, Dara said bravely.

“Will he be happy living as a pauper, with a hand-to-mouth existence when he can have the world at his beck and call? Tell me, Ms. Park. Will he be happy?”, Mrs. Kwon countered.

“I understand how difficult this must be for you Dara so I will give you 90 days to enjoy your time with Jiyong. The 90-days end a week before his birthday and you should be out of his life. If you have not left him by that time, I am going to walk away from the arranged marriage and Jiyong will be disowned by his family. I have your phone number on speed dial, Dara. We’ll talk soon.”
 

It’s been two months since her talk with Mrs. Kwon and Kiko. Whenever Dara visited the Kwon mansion, Mrs. Kwon treated her cordially and never showed her dissatisfaction towards her relationship with her son.

“I think my mother is warming up to you, Dara-love”, Jiyong said. Dara shrugged and said, “I guess so”. “Don’t worry, babe. She’s just very reserved, that’s all. It’s all going to be okay.”, he assured her. ‘No, it’s not going to be okay. What am I going to do? I only have about 30 days left.” Dara thought.

There was only one person she can go to, Lee Soohyuk.

“Soohyuk, I need your help. Can you come meet me at the park tomorrow morning?”

The Next Day:

“I’m sorry to pull you out of bed this early, Soohyuk. I know how much you need your beauty sleep but I really need your help right now”, Dara said. “Did Jiyong do something to you, Dara? I’m going to kill him”, Soohyuk asked.

“No, he did not. He loves me so much, Soohyuk and I love him so you have to help me disappear”, she confessed. “Okay, now I don’t understand. You love each other so why do you need to leave him?”, he asked. “Oh God, Mrs. Kwon got to you, didn’t she? I knew she had a mean streak a mile wide. She didn’t accept your relationship with Jiyong?”, he added.

Dara told him the entire conversation with Mrs. Kwon and Kiko.

“You have to help me, please. I need your resources to help me disappear”, Dara begged. “Give me until tomorrow to tell you the plan but tell me one thing and please be honest with me. I’m never going to see you again, am I?”,