"We feel free when we escape- even if it be from the frying pan to the fire"

  - Eric Hoffer

Krystal continues to stare at the man before her, willing her mind to think of something to say but nothing comes.

He raises an eyebrow at her. “Have I changed that much? You looked too surprised to see me again.”

“I…I just…just that…,” she stammers.

What the heck? I don’t stammer in front of a man. It’s the other way around!

With that thought she finally overcame shock. She raises her chin defiantly at him.

“Honestly, I don’t even remember how you looked like, so I don’t know how much you’ve changed,” she answered rather arrogantly.  She tried to look as honest as possible although what she just spoke was far from the truth. Of course she remembers how he looked like then and she thinks that physically he has changed a lot.

He smirks. He doesn’t seem offended by what she just said. “That’s to be expected, I guess. So, you only remember Kai.”

“Of course,” she immediately answered.

His smirk disappears and his eyes left her face. His face darkens as he stares at the distance.

Krystal’s brows furrow. Does the idea of her remembering only Kai and not him, Minho, make him jealous?

No. It can’t be. The man doesn’t even like me. Or…does he?

Minho returns his gaze on her face and she blushes. She curses herself. It’s not as if he could read what was in her mind just now.

“It seems like your lover is here,” he says after a moment.

Her frown deepens as she began to be confused by what he just said. Lover?

“Hyung, Soojung…”

She turns around and stares right into Kai’s face.

“Having some alone time with your fiancee, huh?” Kai nods at Minho’s direction.

Minho smirks once again. “Yes. Don’t you think we should get to know each other more? After all, we would be husband and wife…tomorrow.”

Kai’s face darkens. “You didn’t seem that eager to marry her, hyung. You don’t love Soojung. You love someone else!”

Krystal’s eyes widen a bit at the news. She expected Minho to have someone but upon hearing it she realizes she doesn’t like the idea at all.

Minho doesn’t answer. He just looks at Kai, his face expressionless.

“Wouldn’t it be unfair if you marry Soojung? It would be unfair to you, to Soojung and most of all to Jinri!”

So her name is Jinri.

Minho’s jaw clenched.

“Don’t probe into matters you knew nothing about, Jong In,” he said calmly.

It was Kai’s turn to smirk. “Oh, I don’t know anything, do I? You deny that you and Jinri are together but it’s pretty obvious that you care about her the way she cares about you.”

“You’re right. Jinri and I care about each other,” Minho glanced at Krystal as he said it.

Krystal tries to hide her dismay.

I can’t marry this man…not when he’s in love with someone else. And I don’t love him, too!

“Then why not be with Jinri? Can’t you fight for her? For your love?”

Minho and Kai both turned to Krystal, surprised by what she just said.

“Listen here,” she continues, her chest heaving. “If you don’t love me, I don’t too. And I don’t want to marry you either…especially now that I found out that you…you like someone else!”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to marry me. I knew that right from the start. It doesn’t matter if I like someone else or not. I am going to marry you,” Minho said with finality, his eyes boring into hers.

She looked away. “Not if my father changes his mind.”

“Can you do that? I doubt it,” Minho said with confidence.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this, hyung,” Kai said through clenched teeth. “Except maybe that you are interested in the Jungs’ money and estates? I never thought you’re that kind of person, hyung!”

“It is my business and not yours, Jong In.”

“It is my business! Everything about Soojung is my business!” Kai exclaimed, almost shouting now.

Minho glanced again at Krystal before fixing his gaze at Kai. “I’m sorry if I’m about to break your love affair with her, Jong In. It can’t be helped. Maybe it’s just for a year or so.”

Kai and Krystal looked bewildered. Minho seemed to be talking in riddles.

“What do you mean by that?” Krystal demanded.

Minho turned to her. “All I ask is for you to be faithful while you are married to me, do you understand, Jung Soojung?”

“No,” she answered fiercely. “I don’t understand any of this. What is this arrangement you and my father made?”

“Just give me your word.”

Krystal realized she couldn’t pry any more than what was said from Minho.

“The hell I will!” she said angrily before turning and walking away.

…………………………………………………

“Is that Jinri?” she asks Kai.

He follows her gaze and nods. Some distance away from the pine tree under which he and Krystal are seated stood Minho and a tall, slender girl with snow white skin.

“She’s very pretty,” Krystal says softly.

Kai raises an eyebrow and elbows his best friend. “What? Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

She turns to him, her eyes ablaze. “Why would I be jealous? I don’