“Don’t go near me!” the girl shrieked as Jiyong got out of bed, letting the pillow fall to the floor along the process. Her eyes widened upon seeing that part of him. Boy, he’s huge! How did that monster get inside. . . her?

 

“I’m not a ,” the guy said nonchalantly, looking as if his display of was the most normal thing in the situation they’re in.

 

“If you’re not, then why am I ?! Why are YOU ?!” the girl burst out, looking straight into his eyes to avoid seeing the monster down there.

 

“You’re blushing,” he chuckled, sounding totally amused. “Oh well, I guess it’s your first time seeing a man , right?”

 

“Don’t go near me!” she shrieked hysterically when she saw him took a step forward.

 

“Sweetheart, don’t be too mean to your husband,” he said, still chuckling but Dara felt something more into his words that made her shiver in fear.

 

“H-husband? What are you talking about?” she asked, dumbfounded.

 

“Look at this,” he said, handing her the envelope.

 

Cautiously, she reached for the envelope and pulled it away from his grasp. Tucking the blanket around her securely, she opened the envelope and took out the content. Her eyes scanned the page silently. Her fingers weakened upon reaching the bottom of the page, making the papers slid down to the floor. “I-I’m married,” she breathlessly said. “To a complete stranger!”

 

“Stop acting like it’s the end of the world. We can file for a divo-” he said but even before he could finish his sentence, the girl dropped to the floor in a loud thud, unconscious. He stood frozen on his spot and just stared at her since the blanket slipped off her. His head tilted to the side, wondering how he got himself involved with her when she’s skin and bones, a skeleton to be exact. The sides of his mouth fell in disappointment upon seeing her s, if they’re even s, that is. She was obviously one of those bamboo girls – flat chest, no round hips, no curves, nothing. What a shame. He looked at her closely. She was pretty alright but her body’s a BIG NO-NO. He just doesn’t approve skinny bodies. With a sigh, he looked around for his clothes, finding the pieces scattered all over the room. He went to pick them up one by one and put them on. He was about to leave when he remembered the girl. He glanced back at her, torn between leaving her alone or waking her up. Lost in his own thoughts, it took him a while to take his ringing phone. It was his father. He was about to answer it when he heard a different phone ringing. He searched for the other phone and turned it off before tossing it to the bed.

 

“Dad,” he greeted.

 

“Is it true?”

 

“Is what true?”

 

“That you’re married to Sandara Park?”

 

“Well, yes I’m married but I’m not sure to whom, actua-”

 

“How did that happen?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into? Do you even know who that girl is?”

 

“Err, no,” he answered truthfully.

 

“YOU’LL BE PULLING OUR NAME ALONGSIDE OUR COMPANY INTO A-!”

 

Jiyong pulled his phone an arm’s length away from his ear. “HEY, CALM DOWN!” he shouted back, still keeping the phone in arm’s length.

 

“CALM DOWN?!” his father bellowed. It’s as if he put his phone on loudspeakers. “YOUR FACE IS ON EVERY TABLOID AND GOSSIP COLUMNS ON PAPERS! YOU’RE EVEN ON TELEVISION! THE REPORTERS ARE IN FRONT OF THE COMPANY’S BUILDING, HARRASSING ALL OF MY EMPLOYEES!”

 

“Eh? Really? I’m on TV? How did that happen?”

 

“YOU IDIOT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA, ANY IDEA AT ALL OF THE EFFECTS OF YOUR RECKLESSNESS TO THE COMPANY, YOU UNGRATEFUL DOG!?”

 

“Will you stop screaming?”

 

“HOW WILL I CALM DOWN?!? THE PARKS JUST CALLED ME AND THEY’RE VERY UPSET! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO THEY ARE?!?! THEY’RE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FAMILY TODAY!”

 

“Well, now I know.”

 

“THAT’S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! WHEN WILL YOU GROW UP?! WHEN WILL YOU STOP CHASING YU-?!”

 

Jiyong pressed the end button and turned his phone off. Damn! For his age, he can be pretty loud! he thought. He went back to the bed and dropped himself there. If what the old man said were true, that means this skeleton-looking girl’s not just an ordinary girl. How fortunate, he grimaced.

 

He stood up once again. Upon seeing the hoodie at the floor, he went to pick it up and put it on. Good thing it was huge. He also decided to borrow the girl’s dark glasses before heading out of the room. He needs to see all the write-ups himself. The old man would not burst out like that for nothing.

 

 

Meanwhile, minutes after he left, the girl on the floor started stirring awake. Her eyes fluttered open, a frown creasing her smooth forehead as confusion hit her. When everything came back, she suddenly gasped and pushed herself up in a sitting position. Feeling a sense of coldness again, she quickly gathered the blanket up to her chest and scanned the silent room fearfully. Upon seeing no one, she let out a silent sigh of relief. Wanting to take advantage of the ’s absence, she jumped to her feet and searched for her clothes. She inwardly flinched upon seeing them scattered everywhere. After putting them on, she realized her jacket and glasses were missing. She scanned the whole place again in hope of seeing the two missing items instead, her eyes zeroed in on the bed, where a red stain was pretty evident. A lump suddenly rose to . How will she face her family now? There, over the bed was a proof of her end. They’ll definitely disown her. They’ll be ashamed of her. She had, once again, failed her family. All hopes of making them proud were now gone. How can she be so stupid for getting herself drunk? How can she be so stupid for letting this happen? She married a complete stranger! A stranger who took away her innocence! A stranger who took advantage of – her thoughts suddenly stopped. For the first time after Taecyeon’s announcement, she started seeing a ray of hope. That’s right! She’ll tell them she got drunk and the guy took advantage of her! It seemed a brilliant idea at first but soon after, she saw the flaw in it. She got herself DRUNK – that alone is unforgivable already.

 

“Oh, God! What should I do?” she desperately cried. As if answering her cry, her eyes landed on her mobile phone on the bed. She gazed at it blankly for a long time when an idea suddenly formed in her mind. She’ll ask for help from her friends! Wanting to put the idea into action at once, she ran to the bed and grabbed her phone. She pressed the power button upon seeing it dead. When it opened, tons of messages and voice mails greeted her. She was about to open one message when the door suddenly opened.

 

“Congratulations to the both of us,” the guy said. “We made it to the front page!”

 

“What are you talking about?” she nervously asked.

 

“Take a look at these. Every paper in this country got our faces on,” he grimaced, throwing the papers to the bed.

 

Dara set her phone aside and reached for the topmost and started reading.

 

She tried to keep herself together as she read through each of the papers. As she expected, her family’s name was dragged into the issue, some even went over the line. There were articles questioning the Parks’ credibility, some even went questioning their hand on raising her and all the disciplinary talks. Not just that, even the guy was accused of taking advantage of her troubled heart while others stated she must be so desperate and hurt for what Taecyeon did that she stooped low in marrying a guy she just met. Her being drunk was one thing but the part in one article about her getting into a cheap motel with her “husband” for their honeymoon was the most disgraceful and degrading thing of all. It’s official; her family would definitely disown her.

 

“Hey, your phone’s ringing”.

 

She broke out from her trance. Too shocked with everything, she failed to notice that her phone has been ringing for quite some time now. With terribly shaking hand, she reached out for her mobile and looked at the screen. It was her mother.

 

“H-hello?” she barely whispered.

 

“Bring that boy with you,” an answer came. “We need to talk NOW. We’ll have you pick up from there.”

 

Just like that, the call ended. She wasn’t even asked how she’s feeling, not that she expect her mother to, but she hoped. She suddenly felt cold. She suddenly felt alone. She suddenly felt weak. She sat at the edge of the bed and surrendered to her tears. She had, as always, failed them. She’ll never do anything right. She’s such a big failure, a disappointment.

 

Jiyong leaned against the wall and crossed his arms across his chest. He silently watched the girl. He understood how she felt. The write-ups were pretty awful. Based from what he read, the girl was obviously known for her prim and proper attitude, a model to the youth. But now, she’s a total mess. As for him, he’s now being accused for taking advantage of a drunken girl who’s devastated with what happened to her engagement party. Now he knew why his father was so angry. Being involved in a scandal’s definitely bad for the company.

 

Three taps on the door brought him back to his senses. Leaning away from the wall, he partially opened the door. “Yes?”

 

“I’m Mr. Cho, the Parks’ driver. I was ordered to fetch Miss Dara and her husband.”

 

“Me too?” he asked, pointing at himself rather stupidly.

 

Mr. Cho smiled. “Yes.”

 

“Hey, wifey!” he called. “We-”

 

“How can you be so calm about this?!?” she burst out. “Do you-?!” she stopped dead upon seeing Mr. Cho at the door. Her eyes grew wide in fear. She quickly turned away and wiped her tears off. She took two mouthful of breath to calm herself down. After putting up a composed face, she turned back to the two. “Mister Cho,” she acknowledged in a business-like tone.

 

Jiyong frowned a little at the obvious change. Curiosity filled him that eventhough he didn’t really intend to go with them peacefully, he did. Crap, he even shielded her from the reporters waiting outside the motel for them. He quickly opened the car’s door for her and let her in first, pushing some press away.

 

“Thank you,” she politely said when he got inside the car himself.

 

When the car started moving, silence filled them. He would glance once in a while at her, surprising him with how she looked so cool and collected when just a while ago, she was crying like it’s the end of the world. He would have been fooled if only not for the slight trembling of the corners of her lips. Without knowing why, his jaw clenched while his fists balled tightly. If only he could remember everything that happened last night – without any influence from the write-ups, maybe he could have thought of a way to. . . . He sighed. Looking at the current situation, he got a hunch that he’ll be stuck with her for a while.

 

As soon as they reached their destination, they were led inside in what seemed to be a conference room. A resounding slap suddenly filled the room. Jiyong was more than shocked at how fast the events went. He just stepped inside the room when a lady suddenly approached the skeleton girl and slapped her.

 

“How could you drag our family’s name into this?!” the lady shouted.

 

“Eun Jo,” a voice calmly warned. “Don’t be too hard on your daughter.”

 

“How can I not?” the lady called Eun Jo continued. “Her recklessness and sense of irresponsibility brought shame to our family. Now everyone thinks of us so lowly. People are even saying we’re raising a in this house! Who in their right mind would marry a stranger in the first place? She-”

 

“Eun Jo, that’s enough!” the old lady sternly said.

 

“Watch your words, my wife,” a male voice now said. “In case you forgot, we have a. . . guest.”

 

“Mister Kwon and his wife have arrived.”

 

Jiyong glanced over his shoulder and saw his father with his new wife entered the room. His father’s eyes narrowed the moment they made eye contact. His heart softened a bit at the old lines at the corner of his father’s eyes. He looked so old and tired that Jiyong felt guilty for putting him into this kind of situation.

 

“Dad, you’re here,” he greeted enthusiastically, totally out of place. His father gave him a stern look but behind that, he chanced a gleam of amusement in his father’s eyes.

 

“Of course,” his stepmother mumbled, arms linked with his father. “You’re his son, it’s normal for him to clean the mess you made eventhough he already got a lot to handle in his hands right now”.

 

“I’m not talking to you, gold digger.”

 

“Kwon Jiyong,” his father warned, and then turned to the Parks. “I think it’d be better to take the kids out of this as we settle things over. Let’s just call them back after we talked.”

 

“I agree,” Dara’s mother agreed. “Mr. Kang, take them to the mini conference room.”

 

“Yes Madam,” Mr. Kang bowed then turned to Jiyong and Dara. “Please follow me.”

 

“We’re part of this, I think we have the right to-” Jiyong started.

 

“Jiyong, just do what I say,” his father cut off. “For once.” he added, almost pleading. Jiyong frowned at this. His father had never used that kind of tone to him before. His father was a proud man so it surprised him to hear the plea in his voice. So unwillingly, he nodded. But before he left the room, he went to his father and whispered something into his ear. The old man looked surprised but didn’t say anything.