Namjoo’s mouth parted as their gazes locked and the room seemed to grow around her monstrously. Neither she nor Munho moved from the doorway. Lost, confused. Trying to figure out an answer to the unsolved equation of why they were suddenly having a meal together, all of them.

Jumping to her feet, Madam Kim exclaimed, “Munho! I’m so glad you made it with Namjoo. Come sit. Hurry, don’t stand on occasion. Please, do join us.”

Namjoo scoured the room. Noticing the baffled expressions on Jongin’s parents’ faces. As bewildered as she was. Very unlikely able to understand why she had shown up with another man.

She hated this.

Forced under pressure, Munho sat next to her father. She on his side at the end of the table far from Jongin. As a waitress filled her empty wine glass with water, her eyes swam his direction longingly. Hoping against hope this wasn’t really occurring.

That he understood she hadn’t gotten back together with Munho for another engagement. She hadn’t told him she was seeing Munho. Would he know her heart? Know she wanted to use Munho to control her mother from further troubling his family?

“What was I saying? Oh,” Madam Kim’s high pretentious voice picked up, “my Namjoo just returned from abroad to fulfill an engagement from five years prior. Oh, dear me, I keep forgetting details.” Shaking her head woefully laughing at her silly self, she extended a palm out introducing, “This is Go Munho, her fiancé.”

A bucket of ice water splashed over her. Namjoo tensed in her seat, squeezing her hands on her lap when Jongin’s parents stared at her.

Her mother did not just say that!

Jongin lowered his head. Embarrassed? Ashamed?

Namjoo’s heart pained.

“If not for the prosecutor, my daughter would be happily married right now.” Her mother sullenly explained. “Of course, being a prosecutor is an honorable job, but it is a gruesome career choice, highly stressful, and not a safety net for someone as tender as my daughter. She is so sensitive and fragile I’m afraid your son won’t always be available for her. Whereas Munho will explicitly follow in his father’s business, soon to be a CFO. Our families are tightly knitted and will highly benefit my daughter’s future needs.”

Munho’s head shifted a fraction at every tiny mention of him. Namjoo did not have to ask to know he wasn’t in on this. Munho would not use her parents as a shield to bog her down. He had means, he had his ways, he had once threatened it, but he would not do this to her.

Munho had never explicitly harmed her so intentionally.

As her brother’s mentor and friend, a man she’d known from since her teens, Namjoo still believed he had a good heart. However much of a she was to him, Go Munho never physically forced her to his biddings. Put her on the spot. Drag Jongin’s entire family to the line of humiliation no matter the heights he despised her boyfriend.

“That’s not true!” Namjoo shot up from her chair. She was so enraged! They were yet again, ing her to Munho.

Senior Kim wheeled on her bearing a stare as sharp as a butcher knife. No words needed. He was going to end her today. An eye for an eye.

“Get her out of here.” He grunted.

Munho glanced just once at the elder. Rising to his feet he softly touched her arm. Hissing steam Namjoo shot a piercing glare at her mother currently playing ignorance. To her father who would throttle his once beloved little girl dead. She had rampaged. She had destroyed his name. Ruined all, per his words, things he’d forsaken for her. And she had threatened to bust his dearest older brother drawing a line between them. Now he was going to out her.

“Did you not hear me?!” Raising his voice, he stared down at Munho from his seat.

Gritting her teeth, she looked over at Jongin about to be crushed at their fingertips. It broke her heart how insignificant they were about to make him.

Her parents were about to take her hope from oblivion right from her.

◘⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞◘

Jongin could no longer purse his lips when the door closed cutting Namjoo off from him.

Today he had not known about this meetup. Why Namjoo arrived with Munho only to disappear less than a minute later with him.

His mother had insistently ushered him from bright and early this morning to put on his best suit. The families were meeting. This, the most important event in their entire lives. But when they arrived at the ooh and ahh restaurant, his girlfriend was not present.

From the very moment they took their seats, Jongin could feel the tension. How in his right mind could he tell his eager parents Namjoo’s father had thrown money at him on their first meeting? Namjoo’s mother didn’t even bother to greet him. In his right mind, how could he let them know her parents had degraded him to less than an insect?

Their proud prosecutor son who’d failed in all other departments could not hold his head high for what was about to happen.

He could not bear to share the depth of humiliation with his own parents, but it was happening and he wasn’t able to defend them. Their very own prosecutor son their biggest disappointment. And it hurt him so very bad.

“You see,” Namjoo’s mother carried on, “my daughter left with her fiancé. My daughter has grown up tended from head to toe from very young. How can your son care for her? She comes from a very prestigious family. In the end, that’s where her roots lie. As they say, you never forget your own roots. My daughter’s entire life has already been chosen for her. She’ll come back home once she’s played enough.

“Let’s not dally anymore. Our children are not suitable for each other. I believe prosecutor, you are a very fine young man. You are very successful, but not enough for my daughter. So, as a kind gesture I will apologize for my daughter.”

That genuine leather black handbag again. The one that would cost his family an arm and a leg just to afford.

On her lap, Madam Kim put her beautifully manicured hand inside. Sliding over a blank check, she continued, “Please, accept my gratitude. I believe you’ve been very kind to my daughter. I don’t want you or your family to feel they’ve wasted time and effort on my daughter.”

His parents eyes went huge. Jongin did not miss the detail of his father’s lips firming.

“It’s yours to keep if you please.” Namjoo’s mother gladly explained. “Or if you wish to write any amount…”

“How absurd!” His father’s face turned a shade of deep red. Bolting up from his seat. “How dare you look down on my son!” Daringly ripping up the check he angrily yelled, “Your dignity is foul! My family’s pride is higher than earth and heaven your superficial money will never match! Prestigious? What a joke! It’s your daughter who will never amount to the blood and sweat of my son’s effort! Consider today your family’s loss!”

Aggressively pushing his chair back to step away from the dining table, he grumbled, “Get up. We’re leaving.”

The drive home was deathly quiet. Jongin could barely breathe wallow