Special thanks to sjsmilealways for this beautiful poster

            “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Donghae yelled while bombarding into the room. He slammed the door shut and glared at his stepmother who was applying lipstick in front of her vanity mirror. She raised her eyebrows and placed the lipstick back into the case.

            “Now is that any way to speak to your mother?” she asked in her usual infamous engaging voice.

            “For the last time,” Donghae gritted through his teeth, “I am not your son and you are not my mother!”

            Mrs. Lee smirked and folded her arms. “For all intents and purposes, I think I am.” She walked closer towards him with her head held high. “So who is responsible for your tantrum this time?”

            Donghae scoffed. “Like you don’t know.”

            “No I don’t.”

            “You tried to hurt Mei Ri.”

            Mrs. Lee sighed and sat on the bed. “So, you heard.”

            “That’s all you have to say?” Donghae asked incredulously, “What kind of women would try to hurt another girl like that?”

            “What I am supposed to do, Donghae?” she asked, “If you think about it, this is your fault. Who was the one who signed the contract?”

            “Then I am going to break it.” Did I just say that?

            “I don’t think you should do that. Breaking the contract comes with a price. Are you willing to pay for the consequences that come with severing our agreement?”

            “Is that a threat?”

            “Could be,” she smirked, “After all, you have only seen half of what I am capable of.”

            “Just leave her alone. I’ll take care of that issue myself. And consider this a warning since she wasn’t hurt. Next time, I won’t be so tolerant.”

            Mrs. Lee stared at her stepson with amusement in her eyes. “Just out of curiosity,” she asked as he began to leave the room, “Do you happen to like Mei Ri?”

            “I don’t have to answer you.”

            “No, I think you do,” she accused.

“Stop.”

“Can you make it anymore obvious?”

“I said stop.”

“You fell for her – “

            “SHUT UP!” he cried out glaring at his stepmother and then furiously stomped out of the room. At this point, he made up his mind. He needed to be on his guard now since his stepmother started to suspect him. He was going to protect you, no matter what consequences were.

            Meanwhile, Mrs. Lee leisurely walked towards her desk and pulled out a file from the first drawer. She scanned through the papers and smiled at the legal documents before her. After spending hours ravaging through Mr. Lee’s first wife’s room, she was able to discretely recover Mr. Lee’s will information.  This feat was on her priority list for so long and finally, she was able to retrieve it in the perfect moment when Mr. Lee was in a coma. As the documents stated, his last wishes were to split the wealth for his son as well as his wife but that wasn’t enough for her. She wanted everything. And she was willing to do anything to get what she wants. Her only hope is that he will not wake up.

            She placed the documents back into the drawer and locked it. Her attention now turned to her stepson. Ever since you arrived into the residence, she began to see a change in Donghae. She despised this change since it made her job a lot harder and so, this lead her to devise a plan.

“So our Donghae has a weak spot,” she said and smiled, “I know exactly how to deal with you now.”

“How about this one?” one of the maids, Ara asked holding up a sequined violet dress. You yawned and stretched your arms while peeking out the blankets at Ara. Why on Earth did she wake you up at 4:00 in the morning to discuss your attire? You pulled the blankets over your head and rolled over to your side to continue sleeping.

“Mei-Ri – shi,” Ara gasped, “Please pay attention.”

“But its 4 in the morning,” you whined from underneath your blankets, “And I have to get up in an hour anyway so I will answer you then.”

“This matter is important. I need to know your opinion of the dress you are planning to wear for the Company’s Chuseok Party coming up.”

“Now?”

“Mrs. Lee’s orders.”

You pouted and lazily walked up to the rack of dresses while wrapping the comforter around you. You scrolled through the clothes until your eyes landed on a beautiful silky satin sapphire blue dress which had a sequined bosom and a floral accent on the side.

Hmmm . . . . Donghae likes the color blue so maybe I should choose this one.

“Aigoo, that looks beautiful!” Ara exclaimed, “Are you going to wear it?”

Wait a second! Why so I care about what he likes? And how do I know his favorite color!!?? I sound like a freaking creeper!

“Aniyo,” you replied quickly and chose a plain white dress beside it, “I will go with this one.”

“Are you sure?” Ara asked gently.

You nodded. You laid flat on your bed and stared at the ceiling. Why am I suddenly so interested on what he thinks of me? Get it out of your head Mei Ri!

            While Ara took your dress selection off the hanger, you tried desperately to fall asleep. Unfortunately, you were unable to mostly because sudden memories of you and Donghae began to flash before your eyes.

“I can’t forget,” you said.

“Then I will help you forget,” he said placing one hand against your cheek and another around your waist, “I wont let anything happen to you, Mei-Ri-ah. I promise.”

“It’s just that . . . I felt like I needed to protect you . . . you are just so innocent. Unlike the other girls I know, who put up a fake act just to befriend me, you just seem so genuine.”

“I’m sorry Mei Ri,” he said suddenly catching you off guard, “I am sorry I did all those things to you. You didn’t deserve any of it. It’s okay if you don’t forgive me now. I probably wouldn’t either. But I just hope you will in the future.”

He stepped closer towards you and gently interlaced his fingers with yours. His proximity caused your heart to beat erratically to the point where you were scared he would hear it! He pressed his forehead against yours with his lips within a centimeter away from your own!

            “How do you know that I don’t like you?” he whispered tenderly.

            You sighed. This wasn’t the first time you had these flashbacks though. It happened so often you lost count. You couldn’t bring yourself to forget about him.

“Ara unnie,” you said softly and got off the bed once more. Ara turned your gaze just as she was about to leave.

            “What is it?” she asked.

            You sighed and eyed the blue gown. You couldn’t avoid it anymore. Sooner or later, you had to face the truth: you were beginning to fall in love with him. “I changed my mind about the dress.”

Your alarm rang an hour later. You groaned and rolled off the bed to get ready for class. As you made your way downstairs after throwing on some skinny jeans and a casual sweater, you not