“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”

Yunho sat in the armchair, looking out at the window. This hotel faced the beautiful Han River, and as his eyes trailed at the calm, serene waters, he felt like that was exactly the opposite of what he currently was feeling. His cell phone radiated with the voice of his little sister, _______, and with every word that she said, his heart sunk a little deeper. He was lying, cheating, betraying her, but she instantly just trusted and believed him, which made him feel worse.

“Let me hear her voice.”

His best friend stood by the balcony, staring at him, his beautiful face looking slightly tired but excited at the same time. Yunho gave a quick nod, complying with his orders. Pressing the speaker button, they both listened intently.

“We’ll be spending some time in Vancouver. Want to join?”

“My hometown?”

“Offer’s still open.”

“Who’s going?”

At this sentence, Yunho’s friend began to cringe, and he nodded a slight “no,” to him. Yunho blinked twice, and paused for a moment before he said his next words. He knew that it was important for this to work out the way he wanted it to, and he knew that he couldn’t disappoint his best friend. After all, there was a reason why he’d come to Yunho for this request-because he knew that Yunho would fulfill it. It was because of an old debt, but most of all, because they’d been friends for so long, and it seemed natural to do this favour for him.

“It’ll be a surprise, but I’m pretty sure you haven’t met most of them.”

Oh, man, he was so going to be in for it once she found out who was going.

To his relief, she didn’t ask any more questions, and she instantly agreed with him and decided to go. Right after his sister hung up, Yunho noticed that a small smile played on his friend’s lips as he heard her reply, and that he kept rubbing at a silver ring on his finger. He decided that he must really, really love her sister, and assured himself one more time that he was making the right decision-by doing this, his sister would finally be happy. His sister would finally realize that there could be people out there who loved her for not what she looked like, but for whom she was.

Clicking off the phone, he got ready to leave the hotel. In one week, he’d be setting up his sister with this man, by bringing her to this vacation. He needed time to really get it settled in his mind that he was giving his little baby sister away.

“Yunho-”

His friend’s voice cut into his thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Why are you doing this for me? Betraying your own sister, I mean.”

Yunho just smiled at him.

“I wanted to kill you when I found out.”

His friend just looked downwards, his face solemn.

“But I think you’re better for her than her best friend. Heck, I think you’re better for her than me, her own brother. I've known you for so long, and I'm certain that you’d care for her and love her. You wouldn’t make the same mistake that I did, that I so regret. 

After all, I was the one who did that to her face, Jaejoong.”