Written for: zzang19

Song Used: DBSK's BEFORE U GO { http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILUC8aVPyI }

Ara was leaning back on her seat, with slightly pouted lips and a raised eyebrow while looking down at her hands on the table, obviously not enjoying the lunch date that she is currently having. Seated across her is Shim Enterprises' successor, Changmin. Both were set by their parents to meet each other about 2 weeks ago and today is their 6th meeting since that time. The entire time Changmin was talking, Ara would only either continue eating her food or nod. Changmin had long noticed this reaction from her but he just let it slide. But as it eventually continued, he decided to talk to her about it. Reaching for her right hand to touch it, he asked, "What seems to be that matter, my soon-to-be wife?" and smiled at her but she glared at him and pulled her hand away, "Don't call me that!" She spatted. "Why not? We both know you are going to be married to me someday." He replied confidently and Ara felt like choking at his words.

"If there is someone I am going to marry then that is Yunho and no one else."

"Yunho?" Changmin repeated before looking around him then back at Ara. "You do not see him around, do you? He has already given up on you so just forget about him."

"That is a lie. You forced him to!" Ara retorted, feeling mad and Changmin just laughed at her. "Sure, my lady. Believe what you want to." She abruptly stood up and purposely pushed the wine glass away a little hard, causing it to fall to the floor and break, spilling its contents. "I am never going to believe your lies.. mark my word!" Then she stormed off the hotel restaurant. She headed straight to the elevator and eagerly pressed the button, wanting the doors to open already. As she stood there waiting, everything that happened that night suddenly flashed before her again.

FLASHBACK:

"Happy birthday, baby." Yunho greeted as he gave the bouquet of red roses and gift to Ara and she could not help but smile the widest she can. Ara's parents were not around so she was the only one left in their house, aside from the house helpers, of course. Ara just prepared a little dinner for both Yunho and her and they spent some time together in her house. Suddenly, Yunho received a call telling him to leave Ara's house right at that moment... the voice was rather strong and commanding. Yunho just simply nodded and ended the call right away. Seeing the frown on his face made Ara worry so she asked if everything was alright and he said 'yes'. "I'm sorry but I have to leave. Something urgent came so I need to be at home now.." He lied and she seemed to believe. "Okay but please take care. I do not want anything bad to happen to you." She stood and walked to his side to gave him a tight embrace. Not so far from them, a pair of eyes tinted with jealousy was watching them but they do not know.

"Ne, I will stay safe." He smiled and returned the tight embrace before heading out the door. Ara watched him until he reached past the gate before closing the door and going back inside the house. She started cleaning up the place, keeping the remaining food and putting the empty dishes away. She took a damp cloth and wiped the table but as she was doing it, she accidentally whipped one glass that was on the edge of the table off, and it landed on the floor, broken. "Aigoo!" She bent down and looked at the broken glass and sighed in disappointment. She could not believe she had just actually broken Yunho's gift to her. Standing up, she quickly grabbed a broom and carefully swept the broken pieces of glass off the floor.

"I hope the old belief about broken things is not true.."

-oOo-

Yunho made sure he was out of Ara's sight before walking to the basketball court located at the next street. When he arrived there, 5 guys welcomed him with a serious look on their faces, and one of those was his caller.

"I'm glad you complied." The person slowly walked towards him. "I thought you would just ignore my friendly invite.''

"Get straight to the point, Changmin. What do you want?"

"Whoa.. easy, 'hyung'" Changmin grinned at him, tossing the phone in his hand. "I think you know very well that Ara was given to my by her parents, right? Something like a gift." He laughed and Yunho grabbed his shirt collar. "Take those words back before I make you eat dust." Yunho threatened but it did not seem to affect the other guy. "You know what? If you would choose to pick a fight right now, you will only lose." Changmin stated as a matter of fact and pointed to his goons around him before slowly taking Yunho's hands off his shirt.

"Leave Ara. That is an order and not a request. If you really love her then you would wish for what is best for her.. and that is me, giving her a better life than what you can possibly give if ever you end up together."

Yunho is not the type to give up so easily so he did not agree with Changmin right away. He always hated it when Changmin uses underhand tactics to win over him. He remembered that one time when they were in a school competition, he was supposed to be the winner but because Changmin bribed the judges before the competition started, he lost.

"No, I will not leave her. This is no longer like before when you can use bribery to have your way." He told Changmin as her started at him with fury in his eyes.

"Oh, really? I will make you then.. and I can use another strategy other than bribery if that is what you want."

"You never changed. You are still the selfish brat that you are. Someone who is so ambitious."

"Yes, ambitious indeed. And look where I am now! I'm on a high mountain.. while you are still on the ground."

"I will not leave Ara.. and that is final. I will not let you have her! Mark my word." Then Yunho turned his back and walked away from Changmin and his little group.

"Oh.. mark my word too.. I will make you leave her.. using all means that I can!" Changmin shouted as he watched Yunho walk away and laughed to himself.

-oOo-

'The subscriber you are calling is currently unavailable. Please try again later.'

Yunho sighed in frustration as he kept trying to call Ara but no one would answer. "Aish! Why will you not pick up?"He tried calling her again for the last time and when it directed to her voicemail, he just dropped by a message telling her to call him the moment she receives it. Heading straight to his apartment, he started thinking about what Changmin told him and how it made sense. He realized how true it is that Ara would probably be better off with someone else who has a better, brighter life. But that did not give him enough reason to give up.. because he loves her.

He was organizing some bills and papers when his cellphone rang. Thinking it might already be Ara, he quickly answered it.. but instead of Ara's, Changmin's voice greeted on the other line. "What do you want?" Yunho asked.

"How many debts does your family have again?" Changmin asked back and started to count on his fingers. "I can pay it all right at the moment if you want to."

"No, I do not need anything from you so just stay away from us." 

"Alright, if you say so."

Changmin however really paid all of Yunho's family's debts. There were really no debts before.. but one day it just started to slowly pile up when Yunho's father lost his job and her mother borrowed money from her friend almost every week.

-oOo-

The next morning, an early visit disturbed Ara from her beauty sleep. The visitor kept ringing the door bell and it made her annoyed. Little later, it stopped when a housemaid answered the door. Ara got up and fixed herself a bit before heading downstairs to check on the 'visitor' when she saw Changmin. "What are you doing here early in the morning?"  She asked in an annoyed tone while rubbing her eyes.

"Is it not obvious? I came to pay a visit to my lady." Changmin said as he placed the bouquet of roses on the coffee table and took a seat on the sofa. "Do I not get a morning greeting?" He smiled at Ara but she could tell it is kind of unreal.

Ara faked a yawn as she walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water and Changmin followed her. "Ya, do not be rude to your future husband." He grabbed her arm and she hissed. "Let me go! It hurts." He quickly let go of her when he realized and rubbed her arm but she slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Look.." he began, "I am not as bad as you think. I helped Yunho pay his family debts. I am such a nice person and friend, right?"

"Friend? You forgot how to be friend to us long before. You never cared for anything else other than yourself."

Changmin just laughed, "It is not my fault he did not succeed in life. It is because he was not wise enough." He was still going to say something when his phone suddenly rang so he excused himself to answer it. Seconds later, he came back and said that he had to leave.

-oOo-

"Will he still be here or not? Maybe I am just wasting my time then." Yunho told the guy as he sat there on the couch impatiently.

"Just wait a bit more."

Just then, the door opened and there stood Changmin. He smiled and walked towards Yunho when he saw him. "So.. it is you who approached me this time. What can I do for you, chingu?"

"We are not friends so quit pretending to be nice. So tell me.. were you the one responsible for the payment of our debts?"

"So you figured.." Changmin brought his arms to his chest and crossed it. "You are smart after all. And am I not nice? I told you I will make you agree to leave Ara. So am I convincing you now?"

"Still no, so just leave us alone. And do not worry.. I will pay you back for all the expenses you have made." Yunho rushed to the door but was stopped by Changmin's words. "And where are you going to look for money to pay me back?" Without facing him,Yunho replied, "I will look for a stable, decent job." And completely walked away from his sight.

The same thing happened for the next few days, Changmin is always paying Ara an early visit every morning and continues to find ways as well in order to make Yunho give up on her. Yunho had also been looking for a job since then but unfortunately, he could not land on one so he will not be able to pay Changmin sooner like he promised, thus making him worried that he may just be giving Changmin a stronger reason to take Ara away from him. Yunho and Ara on the other hand have talked to each other only once after the night of her birthday. He told Ara another lie saying that he needs to be away for some days due to an urgent family matter but Ara did not really believe it. She somehow thought that Changmin had something to do with this. Ever since then, they have not seen nor contacted each other.

-end-

The elevator was taking so long to reach the floor that Ara was at so she decided to take the stairs instead. Making her way there, she bumped onto someone's shoulder as she was not looking at the direction she is going and when she looked up, surprise hit her.. she saw Yunho and she did not know what to do.

"Oppa~" She uttered, still in a state of shock, but Yunho just walked past her. She called him again but he kept on walking so she caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Ya! Why are you ignoring me? Will you really pretend that you do not know me? Please tell me exactly what happened, oppa. I am sure Changmin has something to do with this. What did he do?" Yunho looked at her like he did not know her. "If you would excuse me, I still have an important matter to attend to." Ara blocked his way through the door for a moment. "Are you going to meet with Changmin? You know, he is there inside. We were having lunch earlier." Ignoring her words, he slightly pushed her aside and continued making his way to the restaurant. Ara stood there in shock, not believing that she was just pushed by the person who would not even dare to hurt her.

Yunho looked around the place when he got inside. Few seconds passed and he saw Changmin waving his hand from where he is. Yunho walked to one of the tables by the window and took a seat across Changmin.

"So you were with Ara?" He began. "I saw her outside... but I did not talk to her."

"Yes, we had lunch together.. but she did not seem interested at all." Changmin chuckled and clasped his hands together. "So, have you thought about it thoroughly now? You know, I have already done things in your favor. I am asking only one thing from you.. and that is to hand over Ara to me, like how it should be. In a few days, her mother would be returning from her trip and we will already discuss matters regarding our wedding."

"Yes, I have actually thought about it a lot of times already.. and I realized that you were right. If Ara will stay with me until the end, she might only suffer instead of be happy because I will not be able to provide her well with what I have. So, if you really love her then I am agreeing to let her go and be with you."

Changmin nodded and smiled, seeming satisfied at the moment. "One, I love her. Two, I can provide her with a better life. You do not have to worry about anything. But I hope you are not doing this just because I have your family under captive." He picked his phone to call someone and ordered the release of the Yunho's mother and sister. "They are safe now." The he stood up and left Yunho there alone. When he went out, he did not expect to see Ara there standing and glaring at him. She was there standing the whole time Yunho and Changmin were talking but too bad she has not heard a thing because they were far from the door. "What is this about? What did you two talk about?" She kept asking but Changmin would only tell her that it is a 'friendly' talk.

-oOo-

3 days later, Ara's mother is scheduled to come back. All the housemaids were busy cleaning the house because they know that she is very particular with cleanliness and order so they did their work well in order not to get scolded. Ara was in her room, sitting in front of her dresser while brushing her hair and still thinking about why and how Yunho could have possibly ignored her and did not say anything about his deal with Changmin. Moments later, there was a knock on the door and she was told to hurry up preparing because her mother will be arriving soon. So she went to put her light blue dress and black-strapped heels on and headed downstairs. She walked to the dining room and noticed how everything is already settled there. She sat on the chair to the leftmost of the long table. After about an hour, her mother finally arrived, together with Changmin who drove her there. The atmosphere was not really lively.. her mother was excited to see her but she did not seem interested. After all, she knows that the only thing she is back for is the wedding preparations.

"Ara, my baby, I am so happy to see you!" Her mother exclaimed and embraced her tightly, it feels like she is going to get suffocated. "It has been quite a long time. I missed you." And she touched her face.

"You missed me? C'mon, we know you are here for the wedding preparations."

"Of course it is not only because of that. I came back to see my only princess."

"But the wedding is your greatest reason for coming back."

"Well.. that is part."

"See? I am right."

"A--"

Her mother was still going to say something when she raised her hands and walked back to her room, leaving her mother there speechless. She locked herself in her room the whole afternoon and did not entertain anybody, regardless of the matter.

-oOo-

The next days have been busy as everyone were preparing for Changmin and Ara's wedding. At most, Ara will only choose items when asked to but she will not really her show any interest in it. Her mind is still on Yunho even until now. Yunho, on the other hand, tried his best not to contact nor see her anymore even though he wants to badly. He also knows that Ara's mother is back in the country and that their wedding is being rushed but he chose to stay away. 'I hope one day you will understand why I did this.'

"And here is you wedding gown. Is it not pretty?" The designer smiled to Ara as she showed her the dress and she just nodded. "I just want to know what time we will be done with this.. because I already want to go home and rest." She asked plainly.

"I am sorry miss, but you have to stay here until the day ends. We have to hurry preparations because your mother moved the date of your wedding a little earlier."

"What?!" Ara exclaimed, obviously full of shock. She did not think her mother would do something like that.

"Yes, so please just bear with us a little more."

For the next few hours, Ara stayed there with nothing much to do but get bored.

-oOo-

2 days later, it was already Ara's wedding day. The designer really did not just make stories when she said that Ara's mother moved it a bit earlier. There stood Ara in front of the full-length mirror in her wedding gown as they stylists continued to fix her accessories and other stuff. She tried her best to display a genuine smile but she could not seem to. Staring at her reflection, she sighed and whispered to herself, "Yunho oppa, where are you right now? Are you really not going to show up anymore?" She stayed there in the room, feeling like she is waiting for a life sentence to come greet her.

"Ms. Ara, we should go now so we can be there on time." The coordinator finally said as she checked on her watch then led Ara outside the hotel and to the car.

-oOo-

The church started to get filled as invited guests arrived wearing their suits and gowns. They congratulated Changmin who was already there and chatted while waiting for Ara to arrive. Suddenly, Yunho appeared from the right side of the church, wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. He stayed beside a tree and made he sure he will not be seen by others, especially by Changmin.

Moments later, what they all have been waiting for finally arrived. Ara's bridal car slowly pulled to the church's entrance door and an usher stepped down to open the door for her but she was kind of hesitant to go out, making the people around worry. Ara sighed and closed her eyes for a while, then opened it again.. her mind still can not forget the words that she has read earlier, when a short letter was sent to her dressing room.

FLASHBACK:

Ara pointed to the pair of pearl earrings on the desk and told the stylist to put it on her when the doorbell suddenly buzzed. "I'll go answer it." The lady went to the door to open but saw only a folded paper and nothing else. Closing the door again, she handed the paper to Ara. Ara was curious and opened the paper right away, and there she read the words she has hoped to hear since long before.

'Baby.. I hope I can still call you that. I am so sorry we had to go through this. I just want to let you know that no matter what happens, I will love you. I hope you will not think that I sent you away because I do not love you anymore. It is because of love that I did this.. because I know that you will be better with him. He can provide for you better than I can. Please do not hate me and do not hate him too. He loves you and will take care of you. That is what he promised me. Do not worry though, if I ever hear that he hurts you, I will surely take you back from him. But until then, please stay with him and try your best to be happy. I, on the other hand, will take with me all of our happy memories together and I will use it to find my own happiness even if without you. Well, I guess that is all for now since this letter is starting to get longer. Take care always and remember to smile and be happy in this special day of yours. - Yunho'

Ara could not help but tear up while reading the letter. She does not know whether to feel mad or sad at the situation but one thing is for sure.. she was hurt. Hurt because she was not told the truth up to this point and hurt knowing that she would not be with the one she loves anymore because he had given up on her for some reason. She held the crumpled letter against her chest and continued to cry, smudging her makeup.

-end-

"Miss Ara" the usher called, "The crowd is waiting for you." Realizing this, Ara quickly stepped out of the car and slowly walked to the doors and waited for the cue on when she should start walking in.

"The bride is here!" Someone shouted and signaled for the entourage to start. Then they closed the big doors for a moment. Ara stood there while holding the bouquet in her hands, still in deep thought. She had no idea that Yunho was just watching her from the side. He already wanted to rush to her and embrace her tightly at that moment but he knew better.. he knew that if he would show himself up, Ara's thoughts and feelings will only be messed again and he does not want that to happen.

At the last, the big doors opened again, indicating that it is now Ara's turn to walk. She slowly marched down the long aisle with a little smile on her lips. She tried her best to think about happy moments so she can be really happy just like what Yunho said, but tears suddenly escaped her eyes and she was not able to control it. She even tried to blink it away but more tears will just flow. It continued that way until she reached the foot of the altar.

-oOo-

"Before we begin, is there anyone who is against the union of Shim Changmin and Park Ara?" The priest asked paused for a moment to look around but no one voiced out so he continued. Yunho was there by the door, watching with sad eyes as the ceremony went on. He took a deep breath and tried to hold his tears back and wished them happiness. He stayed for a bit more.. and when he saw that they have exchanged rings, that was the time he decided to leave.

'Congratulations.. Shim Ara. Saranghae.. Until then.'

He continued walking away with a bitter smile on his lips.