Ara silently groaned as Sehun pulled her through the door of the Oh mansion. She had been rather unwilling to step into the mansion, since it meant that she would get dressed up. Tomorrow was their birthday and tonight there was going to be a huge birthday party for Sehun. And the male forced Ara to attend it. Although, by now it wasn’t really force anymore. At first the girl had been unwilling, but as she thought about attending her boyfriend's birthday longer, she realized that it was actually a nice idea. However, dressing up hadn't been part of her plan.

“Do I really have to … dress up?” She mumbled as she took a step back.

Sehun only pulled stronger. “Yep.”

“But–”

“–Ara, I'm serious. You have to dress up. Not because it's my birthday, but because it's yours as well,” Sehun said, his tone filled with finality.

Furrowing her brows, Ara replied, “I don’t care if it's my birthday or not. I never dressed up for any of my birthdays and I won't start doing that.”

That was when Sehun halted his steps and turned around to the girl. “Then,” he his lips, “consider it as your birthday present for me, alright?”

Just as Ara wanted to say something, she remembered that she didn’t even have a birthday present prepared for him. The past few days had been very filled, the graduation having taken place just two days ago, and so she hadn't even thought of a present. That alone made her shut up, and so she she continued to follow him obediently.

When they passed the living room, a voice caused them to halt. “What are you doing?” Mrs. Oh suddenly stood behind them.

Sehun turned around halfway to meet his mother's sharp gaze. “Getting ready for the evening,” he replied cautiously.

For a moment there was complete silence and then a frown spread across the older woman's forehead. “Don't tell me, she is attending, as well,” she mumbled with a sigh, throwing a side-glance at Ara.

How Sehun hated the look in his mother's eyes. It wasn’t even the look of discontent that disturbed him, as he couldn’t possibly force her to be content with the way things were like at the moment. It was the arrogance that swung in his mother's eyes each time she looked at Ara.

He knew, his mother wasn’t a bad person. In fact, compared to some parents, his mother had raised him quite lovingly, however controlledly. She adored her son, but at the same time she didn’t pay attention to his wishes most of the time. Because Sehun had always been the obedient one. The one who never disobeyed any of her wishes and commands. It was because of his lack of disobedience that she adored her son even more. He had always been her favorite child. Her little prince. Her little marionette.

However, Sehun disliked the fact that his mother thought of elite families – her own particularly – as the better people, the better humans. Those with manner, background, education, and a good future in one's pocket. Such a mindset was something Sehun couldn’t and wouldn’t ever understand. However, due to bad experiences, his mother's ignorance towards the normal ones had turned into strong contempt.

“Sehun-ah, I may have accepted your,” Mrs. Oh cleared , not wanting to say the word aloud, “relationship partly – which has already taken me a lot tolerance already – but I do not wish for you to announce it publicly. And her attending your birthday party would only …” the woman trailed off, turning away a bit.

Inwardly, she still hadn't accepted the fact that her son was in a relationship with a girl of no proper background completely. It would take long, very long, for her to be just fairly content with it. So, of course she had the secret hope that her son would soon be in his right mind and change his plans and demands. And with that hope still lingering in her, she didn’t want to see the relationship being made completely public.

What she didn’t know, though, was the fact that the school had long known about it, and therefore any attempt to still hide anything from the students would be futile.

“Mom, Ara will attend the birthday party, and nothing will cause me to change my mind,” Sehun replied, his tone cold and straight-forward. He knew, his tone wasn’t a proper one, but he didn’t want to hear such things when Ara was present. The girl already hadn't been all too keen on attending the party, and he feared that upon hearing his mother's refusal, she would want even less. Although Ara didn’t show it, he knew that she was affected by his mother's strong disapproval.

“Oh Sehun, I dare you to speak in such a tone when talking to your mother,” Mrs. Oh replied with her high voice, angered by her son's attitude.

“I will stop doing so, if you simply accept Ara's presence this evening.” Sehun spoke out Ara's name each time on purpose because he wanted his mother to not always address Ara as “her” or “that girl”. In fact, he hadn't heard his mother say Ara's name even once.

Mrs. Oh breathed out in anger before she shrieked, “Oh Se–”

“–What is this ruckus about?”A deep voice interrupted her, and all heads turned to where the voice seemed to come from.

Mr. Oh stood there, a few meters away, looking as if he had just come home. His face was stone still as usual, but the slight unevenness of his eyebrows gave the irritation he felt away.

Ara gulped, feeling the uneasiness in her increase. Although Mrs. Oh's strong disapproval did leave her with an uncomfortable feeling, it wouldn’t cause her not to go on the party. However, with Mr. Oh it was a different case. That man seemed to be armed with a kind of brutal honesty that Ara would find it hard to argue with him. She had only done so once. Once, when she'd had no association with him at all. When she'd had nothing to lose since he was a mere stranger. Someone, she wouldn’t meet a second time. At that time Sehun had only been a friend, and at that time it had only been about defending Sehun for staying at school for the presentation.

But right now, he was the one who had somewhat accepted Sehun and her relationship. That alone was something she was truly grateful for. And truth be told, when Ara put away all her pride, she hoped that he would continue to accept it. She might have seemed absolutely unwavering when she had confronted Sehun's parents for the first time, but the truth was that Sehun's mother strong approval still gnawed at her conscience and confidence.

Of course, she would stick to her own principles, to her words, and never leave Sehun for reasons such as his parents' or society's disapproval. But, it was hard. Whereas society's approval or disapproval or respect was something Ara couldn’t care less about, his parents' one was something she couldn’t completely ignore. Apart from her