A cherry red Range Rover Evoque sped through the highway, zooming past the other cars on the road with such speed that it was quite surprising that it had not been pulled aside just yet. The driver was obviously going past the speed limit, but it’s not like she bothered to care at the moment. She was upset; no, upset was an understatement. Joohyun didn’t know how to explain how she really felt at the moment. She was just too disoriented and bothered by the news her father had just delivered to her.

Ten minutes later, she was far away from the city and standing with her arms crossed on top of a hill that overlooked everything. The city looked beautiful in the dark night, but Joohyun had no time to appreciate its beauty.

And that was a first.

“I'm proud of you, Joohyun."

Her father’s words kept echoing in her head, going on repeat like a playlist. She closed her eyes, drawing a heavy sigh just as her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She didn’t want to answer it, but she had an idea on who it might be calling her at the moment. Reluctantly, she fished out the golden rose coloured device and swiftly swept the green button across.

“Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?” Soojung’s voice sounded clear on the line even though there were loud music in the background. “You said you’d be here like an hour ago.”

Joohyun sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t think I’m coming, Soojung.”

“What? Why?” the other asked, and Joohyun could imagine the frown on her beautiful sculptured face. “Wait, did something happen? Are you alright? Where are you?”

She couldn’t help but to smile when she heard the worried tone in her best friend’s voice. Trust Soojung to know something’s up even when I said nothing. She kept sealed though, not bothering to say a word to clearly indicate her troubled mind, but Soojung knew and understood.

“Tell me where you are. I’ll come see you soon.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Shut it. I’m coming, whether you want me to or not. So talk or I will track your phone’s GPS.”

*

*

*

It started when she was having dinner with her parents. The house, no matter how big it was, had always been eerily quiet. After all, the only occupants were Joohyun, her parents and a few of their trusted maids – and they’re always busy doing their own things instead of socializing with each other. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were more or less the same; even though Joohyun had her meals with her parents, the only thing she could hear were the sounds of silver utensils against expensive China plates and occasionally one of them speaking in low voices, asking to pass the salt or the dishes on the table.

Even though she hated the silence, she was rather used to it. The silence, however, had grown heavier over the past five years, and no matter how much she’s tried to change that fact, nothing ever worked. However, Joohyun detected a different change at the dinner table that night when she caught her mother glancing ever so frequently at her stoic father, who may or may not be pretending to be oblivious to her stares.

I have a really bad feeling about this.

After a while, her mother cleared loudly – which was very out of place – and Joohyun immediately brought her guard up, knowing that they wanted to talk to her about something.

She wasn’t wrong.

“Honey, your dad and I would like to talk to you.” her mother began and glanced pointedly at her father who still had his attention on his food.

“I have to leave soon,” she said, hoping it was enough for her to delay whatever the talk was about. “I’m meeting my friends at–”

“It will only take a minute,” her mother cut her off with a stern gaze before nudging her husband, making him sigh and turn to her. She quirked a brow at him and inclined her head towards Joohyun’s direction. “We have something to talk about, don’t we darling?”

At that, her father nodded, expression as stoic as ever, before putting down his utensils and bringing his hands together and interlocking his own fingers. Joohyun slowly placed down her own utensils just as the maids standing behind her mother quietly retreated into the kitchen, giving the Bae family their privacy.

“Wh-What is it about?”

“How old are you, Joohyun?” her father suddenly asked, surprising her.

Joohyun frowned, throwing her mother a confused look. Dad doesn’t know my age? Her mother merely gestured for her to not keep her father waiting, making her turn back to her other parent. “Uh… twenty-three.”

“Do you know about our family’s tradition then?”

Immediately, the blood drained from her face and Joohyun felt her heart stop in her chest. N-No… it can’t be! The mere mention of her family’s tradition was enough to make her understand what was going on. It brought back unpleasant memories from five years ago, and Joohyun could already imagine how bad things were going to be.

You see, Joohyun was born and raised in a family where marriage is determined by the adults. In other words, arranged marriage. She wasn’t sure who started the tradition, but all of her married uncles and aunts on her father’s side were married to their spouses whom their parents had chosen for them; for the men, they are required to settle down latest by the age of twenty-seven while the women had to marry the latest by the age of twenty-four. The reason that the elders chose such age was because it was the best age for them to marry and produce the next line of Bae children.

Honestly, the whole thing was old-school but the Bae family was strict on keeping this tradition going. Whether it was fear for what would happen to them if they were to break the tradition or not, every single one of the Bae family members had respected and followed the tradition for at least five decades now – that is until her father tried to arrange her elder sister’s marriage.

Joohyun remembered that night perfectly. It was more or less in the same setting as she was in right now. They were eating dinner quietly, only Joohyun and Jae-in conversing quietly to each other on the left side of the table while her mother sat on the right and their father at his spot at the head of the long table. He had dropped the bomb at Jae-in in the middle of their seven course meal, and her sister had been so surprised and devastated by the news that she had walked out of the dining area and locked herself in her room. No matter how she protested, her father made sure that the wedding preparations went on and in three months, Jae-in was to be wed to a businessman’s son who was a little older than she was.

But Joohyun knew she would never go on with the wedding. Jae-in had a boyfriend, and she was deeply in love with the man who had been nothing but kind and patient with her. Joohyun, too, had adored the guy who was obliviously head over heels for her sister. So she wasn’t surprised when her sister disappeared a week before the wedding and came back a few days later, married.

As a result, she was disowned and banished from the house, and Joohyun had never seen or heard from her since.

“Joohyun?” Her mother’s voice broke her from her trance, and she looked up to see her mother’s worried and guilty expression which only broke her heart. She knew that her mother didn’t want this to happen to her nor her sister, but she was powerless against her father who was a very stern and stubborn man. “Joohyun, did… did you hear what your father just said?” she asked the poor, flustered girl.

Joohyun swallowed hard and slowly nodded her head.

“Good,” her father grunted, possibly pleased with her calm response. “The wedding will be held in two months–” Two months?! “ –and you’ll meet your future husband soon.”

Decreasing the chances of me plotting with whoever the groom is to make sure the wed