“Can every day be like today?” she wistfully asked, leaning back on the blanket spread over the Malibu sand. It was late enough so that all the beachgoers and tourists had packed up, leaving the shore blissfully devoid of people.

He chuckled amusedly. “You’d be satisfied with today? Doing absolutely nothing at all?”

“I think I lived more today than I have in my entire life,” Eun-sang confessed. “Does that make sense?”

“Freedom is bittersweet,” he reminded her. “There’s nothing more I’ve learned in America, than that. To let go of everything you cherish? It’s a trade-off. One that’s not always worth it.”

“Even so… it’s the one thing I’ve always wanted. The freedom to choose. The freedom to just be. Isn’t that what basic human nature is? Isn’t that a right that shouldn’t have to be earned?”

Only the rolling waves answered.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered softly as she gazed at the sky. Even at night, it was a perfect, solid shade of prussian blue. The stars were bright enough that she could have believed they were little holes in the floor of heaven.

Young-do tilted his head to the side, memorizing the gentle slope of her nose and the way her lips quirked upward when she tried to hold back a smile. “Yes,” he agreed, “it is.”

- : -

This is your fate.

Her father’s words rang in her head all night, and well into the next morning. After a load of texts from Rachel, she’s contemplated turning her phone off altogether. Once Do Not Answer flashed across her screen, she hardened her resolve and powered it off, throwing it into her backpack with the pile of homework she knew she wouldn’t be touching that night.

She still hadn’t turned it on.

All the things that she had tried to accomplish, to obey diligently and never question authority so that her father could never threaten her, had gone to waste with a few camera shots. It was just further proof what she was - a caged bird, with her wings clipped for good measure.

How could it have come to this?

Avoiding Choi Young-do was the only thing she could do. After his somewhat-confession the afternoon before, she couldn’t tell if she was just confused, or feeling something else. For a few solid minutes last night, she’d tried to convince herself that she hated him for putting her in this position.

It wasn’t his fault. No amount of persuading could change that fact. If what he felt was real, then he was just a boy caught up in the tangled mess that came with the Jeguk Group. Her father, pulling at the puppet strings, with the Chairwoman probably scheming her own plans to keep Eun-sang away from the company - they had power, yes. She just never thought her father would use it in full force against his own flesh and blood.

- : -

“Why didn’t you pick me up this morning?” Rachel asked curiously. “That usually only happens when you’re not attending school.”

“I told my maid to leave a message for you.”

“That’s not a reason. And, you said you’d explain everything after yesterday afternoon! Don’t think I haven’t forgotten. You’re not getting out of this that easily.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Eun-sang sighed, shifting her books to her other arm before slamming her locker door shut. “It’s not even a big deal.”

“Don’t pretend it isn’t,” her best friend scoffed. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have run away so quickly. Anything involving him is a big deal.”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because I care about you!” Rachel crossed her arms and held her ground. “Are you trying to ice me out? Give me more credit than that! You learned it from me; you can’t win trying to out- me. So let’s do this the easy way.”

“I’m not ready.” Her tone left no more room for further discussion. Eun-sang and Rachel were open to each other, of course, but even they had a few secrets between them. They had been trained from a young age to have their guard up, and this was as low as it went.

The RS heiress stared at her before nodding. “Fine. I’ll stop asking, but you have to give me Hyo-Shin sunbae’s phone number in return.”

“You naughty girl.” Eun-sang grinned genuinely for the first time in days. “You have a fiance!”

“It’s an open arrangement,” Rachel shrugged. “He proposed it, so I’m completely guilt-free. It was never supposed to be a marriage of love, anyway.”

A marriage of love. Such a rare thing, in their world, but it was one Eun-sang had always dreamed of. She’d somewhat even been a product of one; her mother had fallen headfirst in love with her father, and then withered away in that cold mansion, wanting for nothing and yet everything. But she had endured it for love, even if it had only been a passing infatuation on the other side.

Eun-sang had promised herself she wouldn’t be her mother. But now, it seemed history was going to repeat itself.

- : -

Bo-na tapped Eun-sang on the shoulder right after the teacher had exited the room. “Let’s eat lunch together with Chan-young. Rachel said she’s busy today.”

“Actually…” Chan-young suddenly appeared next to her, his backpack slung over one shoulder. “I need to talk to Eun-sang today alone. It’s important.”

Bo-na pouted. “I’ll eat with Myung-soo and Ye-sol, then. You two better not do anything suspicious,” she added half-jokingly. Soon, the remaining students filed out, leaving the classroom empty.

“Let’s talk outside on the bench,” Chan-young suggested pointing out the window. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

“Ah, right.” She nodded as she grabbed her own bag and followed him outside. A few people glanced in their direction, but quickly looked away. When Chan-young had first enrolled at Jeguk, Eun-sang had made it clear that he was under her protection. When he started dating Bo-na officially not too long after, it had formed a double security for the social welfare boy. He would never have to worry about bullying - especially not when he was now the charismatic class president and consistently one of the best students the school had to offer.

They’d been childhood best friends, once upon a time when Cha Hwa-Yeon invited him over for dinner every week, sometimes even personally fetching him from his public primary school. Eun-sang had been frien