I didn’t expect something like this would occur. Seung Ri… what’s going on with you? You smile but I feel a certain hatred behind those lips that I can’t point out what it would really be inside that head of yours.

“How’re you last night after I left? I know I was rather rude to leave just because of business matters came along” he formally apologized and Ji shook his head “No no… its fine, I wouldn’t hold you back if it got something to do with your work. Besides both Tae and Seunghyun explained to me how much well organized you were with your work so I totally understand the rush you had when you left” Ri smiled.

“Honestly I left because I couldn’t take to see you two together that evening” he frankly spoke with a hint of remorse but he kept a small smile in his lips as he said it. Taken aback by what he said, Ji was left speechless “Figured you’d be shocked with it…” he looked pained but he showed confident “I’m quite fine that you were getting married with someone because yeah, it’s your choice but at this type of circumstances that’ve happened. Clearly it wasn’t the best choice from the start”

“W-What do you mean by that…” Ji managed to mutter out “The deal that uncle made with your dad was something that was supposed to be done by my dad and not Hyun’s dad. Technically speaking, we were the ones who were supposed to be announced as the wedded-to-be” Ji felt a cold chill inside of him. “You were supposed to be mine and mine alone. You see Jiyong… I honestly fell in love with you the moment I saw you at the café that faithful night. Given the situation, I wanted to get to know you”

Ri stood up until he was standing in front of the frozen Jiyong “I regretted not to force my father to invest in that company of yours. If things had gotten to be like that, we would’ve been the ones who’re acting like a happily wedded couple” Ri knelt down to level his gaze with Jiyong. He stared intently at Ji’s orbs. “Seunghyun… was never the best thing that came into your life and I can tell by the way things were. He’s obnoxious and all high and mighty. He’s someone that you could consider as a person filled with ego and~” Ji interrupted him by shaking his head furiously, “No!” he protested.

“He’s nothing like that… yes, he could be an air head, a smartass or even the most boastful person you may know of but… those negative traits are all you see, he’s kind and loving… he cares for me and I can tell by the way he touches me and kisses me… he values me more than you could ever imagine and~” he stopped the moment Seung Ri planted his lips onto his.

He felt the wetness of this pairs and how soft and tender Ri kissed him. When he was about to pull away, Ri took the liberty on doing it. They both stared at each other, Ji with a shocked look while Ri with a assured and well composed posture. “You’re as magnificent as I’ve imagined you to be… I guess ruining Seunghyun’s image isn’t the smartest step to do but never the less, I can tell that I’m somewhere inside there…” he placed a finger on Ji’s chest.

“I’ll dig up my spot that Seunghyun buried, once that happens, Seunghyun won’t even have a place to hold on to you…” he smirked and ceased Ji’s cheek which he twitched at the fear that Ri might do something extreme. “Why… are you doing this?” he manage to ask, “Isn’t it clear how much I love you? How much I’m willing to step on other’s feelings in order to have you? You mean the world to me right now and… there’s no chance that I’ll take just to have you” he sternly stated.

He stood up and Ji monitored his next movements “As long as the wedding vows haven’t been set, I’ll just be lurking behind, re-claiming the things that was supposed to be mine and…” he trailed off, “Be the happiest person there is… but then again. Even if you guys were to get married and I still haven’t taken you wholly. I wouldn’t give up just then… well if Seunghyun could still dance to it then. So be it” he tittered.

“How can… you be so cold over Seunghyun” Ri’s eyes then narrowed and Ji felt the fear yet again arose. “Cold over him? You don’t know how warmly I am to my dear cousin. He’s really someone important to me so I don’t show cruelty to him nor even the slightest detest over him but you can never really stop me from acting like this since the person that I turned out loving was taken away from me without a fight”

There was a turnover in Ri’s voice. Like he was purely another person, “I’ve been patient and even overwhelmingly charitable towards him that I even helped him have a nice and lovely relationship with the model Chaerin” Ji gained a small interest over the name but who was he to judge since it was a relationship before they even gotten along with each other.

“He was madly in love with her, he wanted to have a relationship with her at all means that he did the utmost impossible things just to have her heart. I being the semi-guardian, did my best to help him out. I blocked out all information from reporters when they somehow come across the two… I removed all scandals and all the photos the paparazzi took” frustration was obvious in his way of telling his story.

“I did my best to make sure he’s happy… just for the sake of one’s happiness that I lost my own” with that it struck Ji “Y-You lost your boyfriend because of that?” Ri smiled painfully and nodded “Doing all those things for him lessen the time I had with him. Sometimes when we go out for a date, I’d end up abandoning him just because Seunghyun was caught by a couple of reporters… right now, I try to think if it was worth it”

“He left Chaerin just to go along with uncle’s request to have you two marry. All efforts wasted in a glimpse and it didn’t even made up for the loss I have in my side. He spoiled my love life and~” Ji interjected “So you’re going to ruin his love life?” Ji found the voice to speak up “Apparently no… that was never my intention” Ji looked confused “Then what?”

Ri took a deep breath “I guess you weren’t listening quite clearly earlier. I said it earlier but I’ll say it again… I’m doing this because I love you and I was destined to have you and not Seunghyun. One of these days, you’ll come walking into my arms and not at Seunghyun’s… because I know him more than you’ll ever know…” he saw sadness shift in Ri’s eyes.

“He’ll only hurt your feelings… he’ll break your heart into smithereens… are you prepared for something as painful as that?” Slowly Ji shook his head, “Don’t be naïve Jiyong… though Seunghyun is now committed on marrying you. You can never take away the fact that he has interest on others too when it’s presented in a silver platter and… I don’t want that to happen”

He reached out a hand “Abandon this hallow feelings and come with me while things haven’t gone into chaos. You’ll only end up hurting yourself with him… but, I won’t let that happen if you choose me. If you pick me rather than someone like Seunghyun” he continued to invite. “No… please… leave” Ji lowered his head and wanted to break the gaze Ri was giving him. “I understand” he simply said without fuss.

“But this wouldn’t be the last that I’ll encourage you to let go of the petty thoughts that you’ve had that you’ll be happy with Seunghyun… for now you are happy but how long will it be?” he willed himself to not answer back since he doesn’t want the matter to be extended. When he heard the door close, a portion of his trouble seemed to have subsided. “This isn’t what I expected from him… how can someone so kind and gentle turn into something this vicious?”

Meanwhile Seung Ri who was walking down the staircase held a grin. “This is the beginning Seunghyun… I hope you’ll play your cards well enough to sustain Jiyong from choosing me over you. I’ll be as relentless as I could be. I won’t be giving up just because marriage is upon you guys”

At the meantime

“First thing in the morning and this business proposal for an expansion is really getting into my nerves” Hyun loosened up his tie as they made their way out of the conference room. “Hey come on, it’s your first day of work as the President of this hotel. You have to look into these type of stuff to make sure that the things are beneficial for the hotel’s sake” Tae patted his back as they made their way back to Hyun’s office.

The moment Hyun sat down his chair, he sighed heavily and shut his eyes. “You don’t seem all that frustrated with the meeting itself. More on, something’s swimming inside that head of yours. What’s going on?” Tae asked directly. “Nothing… it’s… it’s just that I prefer having Jiyong besides me right now rather than talking to someone else at a time like this” though they spent the night together at Ji’s place, being actually away from him in the morning and not spending breakfast was something that he misses.

“Isn’t it enough that you guys practically started living with each other? Seunghyun listen… once the both of you are married, you don’t have to worry about these type of things. To consider this clearly, you’re just over reacting to the situation” he explained. Though Hyun rolled his eyes on him since he thought he was acting all professional, he understood what he was saying.

“Don’t give that look, you know better than to act like a teenager” Tae smirked at Hyun. “True… when I’m with him, I feel like I’m in my school days…” Tae sat down in front of him. “You’ve really fallen head over heels with Jiyong huh? To think that you swore that he was the one who’ll be falling like that but… see who’s at that shoes” Seunghyun had to laugh at that.

“Ironically speaking, I didn’t want this to happen to me but right now I’m just so happy to be like this right now. To be carried away on how I feel about him… I never imagined that this wedding would bring out a silver lining for me” as Tae looked at Hyun, he can see how much he’d matured to the fact that he could say something like that with a loving look on his face.

“Then why not add Jiyong here at the hotel? He did finish up a course that’s related to business right?” Hyun smiled widely, “You don’t know the half of it…” Tae crossed his arms and sat back to what Hyun was about to tell him. “Enlighten me” he simply implied. “He finished off business management as Magna Com Laude” Tae nodded as an impression on what Ji had achieved.

“That sounds great, I didn’t expect him to be an Einstein…” he trailed off as noticing that Seunghyun was still keeping something up his sleeves “Is there something else that you’re willing to tell?” he wondered out of Hyun’s expression of suppressed excitement. “Well… he didn’t just graduated like that in any university…” Tae was beginning to not like be kept waiting with what he really wanted to say.

“I thinking I’m starting to get fed up with waiting for the real thing that you want to say… spit it out before I lose my interest in this talk” Hyun tsk at him, “So impatient…” Tae sighed, “Speak to yourself” he whispered. “Fine then… he graduated at Oxford” for a moment, Tae felt he heard something else. “Right, that’s one good… wait what?” he nearly popped out an eye and really needed to be retold about what Hyun said, “Oxford university”

“You have got to be ting me…” he really couldn’t believe it “It doesn’t show on him huh? Plus being the fact that someone like him chose to live in a normal typical person and only to work on a crummy café seems like it’s a total waste” Tae was still taking in the fact but looking carefully at the facts that Jiyong never really showed some smarts, he thought that he was really just someone plain. “I know… he must’ve had lots of offers after he graduated”

“He had, to be precise he was offered by 15 companies for him to work for. Technically, he was being pirated right in front of his father at that time but he turned them all down. Even his father” Tae snapped out of the thoughts about Ji’s university and turned to what Hyun said. “He even turned down his old man?” Hyun nodded. “Why? I mean it’s obvious that he really cares for his dad so why do so?”

“He said he hated to work for large firms. That he prefer to work in a minimum waged work and live as plain as it could be. He never really wanted a life as glamorous as much as the next son of a COE, he wanted to have a stride on being in a normal life and not a complicated one in the business world” Tae nodded at that fact. “Well now that you mention it, there are times that I just want to quit and live out my years, free from all this crap and stuff”

When the atmosphere felt right and light, Tae mustered out the courage to ask the question that was bugging him all night long. “So… how’d it go between you and Seung Ri. I heard from Dara that you guys had a talk last night before Ri left” Seunghyun’s joyous mood wavered a bit, “He told me head on that he loves Jiyong”

Tae was rather shock that he didn’t made a scene last night “How’re you able to take that straight on?” knowingly both of them knows how Ri could be direct to people. “I just held back the thought of punching him in the face for saying that… also, I looked back at the times we spent together so I wouldn’t end up fighting him” he looked pained as he told him.

“But he did told me he’d let go of Jiyong… perhaps” Tae raised a brow, “Perhaps… what do you mean by that? You know Ri is always true to his words” Hyun smirked, “You really don’t know the dark side of him don’t you? Though we can all consider Ri’s words to be truthful, when it comes to something he values… there’s no certainties that he’ll be true to his own words”

“Well… does that mean?” Hyun nodded, “I need to keep a close eye on him and also, I need to prevent them from being together. Somehow, I have this eerie feeling inside of me that didn’t stop all night when I was with him. There’s a possibility that he’d succumb to a drastic measure but the real threat is, how he’s going to do it” dread filled Seunghyun’s heart at that moment.

“I shouldn’t have asked… he seems more afraid of what might happen…” Tae told himself as he watch the distress written all over Seunghyun’s face. “Let’s just hope for the better… maybe he’s not all that drastic” he wanted to lighten him up but “Seung Ri’s the kindest person I’ve ever met but, I’ve also seen how dangerous he could turn into once provoked or forced onto”

“When he wants something, he’ll definitely get it even if force and deception are at his disposal”

Meanwhile

“Ji… are you there?” Dae came in after he called out Ji’s name. He looked further around and found Ji at the dining table with a far off look in his face, it was something that he rarely sees. “Is something bothering you? I called you out but you didn’t respond” he motioned himself to sit beside him. “I think I’m in trouble Dae…”

“What? What’s wrong… what’s going on?” he panicked in worry, “Because of me… Seunghyun and Seung Ri will both be fighting each other. I don’t want that to happen… I really don’t” he shut his eyes and leaned back. “This is terrible, I thought the both of them sorted out everything last night? What happened?”

“They did but, it seems that Seung Ri isn’t that quick to give up. He was here earlier and he told me a lot of negative things about Seunghyun… then, he kissed me and told me to choose him over Seunghyun” Dae couldn’t imagine how devious Ri could be. “What did you say?” Ji looked at him, “I let him know that I love Seunghyun… that tricks like that won’t work on me”

“What was his reaction” with that, Ji showed sadness, “He said, he’ll be relentless with his advance with me and that he’ll never give me up to Seunghyun” Dae sighed heavily, “This is going to be a big problem for all of us that’s for sure. Mind the fact that he actually kissed you… how could he do something like that to his own cousin. To think that I saw him as a great guy”

“I don’t know what to do Dae… when he’s around, I felt weak and defenseless. It’s like he has command over me, especially when his eyes are locked at me” Ji was practically starting to tear up, “Oh, God… don’t inform Seunghyun about this” he forbid “Why… he has the right to know what’s going on and~” Dae shook his head and hold on to Ji’s hand.

“If you do so, things will become more problematic and we don’t know what the two are capable of doing to each other, none the less with you” fear was visible in Dae’s face. He feared what will happen if either one of them were to be crude and violent, although both Seunghyun and Seung Ri loves Jiyong. There’s still no assurance that he’ll be safe in the crossfire of the two.

“But… he has to know… Dae, Ri told me he’ll do anything to get me and even if we both get married, he’ll still be doing whatever it takes to take me. I don’t want to be taken away from Seunghyun… I don’t want to be separated from him… I just don’t…” the first few tears fell and it was a sight Daesung always found painful.

Dae stood up form him seat and rubbed Ji’s back and shushed him. “It’s going to be fine… we’ll be able to handle this, don’t worry… you won’t be separated with anyone but Ri” he assured him, but the tears were unstoppable. All that was left to do was to let it all down and wash away everything that’s inside Jiyong for the meantime.

I know all the things that can certainly break Jiyong’s heart for him to wake up from his daydream. You know how much I’ve looked after you Seunghyun, you know my ways and resolve but you never had the chance to know the cards under my sleeves. Each and every one of it will surely tear Ji’s love for you and with that, I’ll be able to have him all for myself.

Based on what Seung Ri showed last night, he left due to the fact that he didn’t want to see me and Jiyong be announced in front of everyone. I felt the anger boiling inside of him at that time, surely it was a sign that he’s going to declare a fight. I don’t want to compete with him… but if Jiyong is at stake then, there’s no holding back to this point.