[CONTENTID1]TWENTY ONE[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]"We meet again, Kwon Yuri," Mr. Im said, his lips curve into a smile that never reached his eyes.

"I know it was matter of time until we meet again," Yuri replied politely. She walked past the black-suited men steadily approached the couch where Mr. Im was sitting and sat down, facing him.

"Quite a fancy office you have here," Mr. Im commented, his eyes scanned the room, observing their surroundings in silence.

If there was something Yuri proud of, it was her taste of style, but at the moment Yuri wasn't going to buy that as a compliment, if it was even a compliment. "I'm sure you're not here to talk about my interior design, Sir."

"Definitely not," Mr. Im agreed, turning his face to Yuri seriously. "Let's get into the business, shall we?" he took out large white envelope from his coat and pushed it in Yuri's direction. His face remained neutral.

"What is this?" Yuri asked in anticipation, not moving to take it.

"A ticket and keys," Mr. Im answered in ease. "I know you'd lived at California for few years, and I really think that start your career there will be a good idea for you." When Yuri remained seated and made no move for the envelope, he puts it down on the table and continued, "I've got you a big apartment and a fancy car there. All you need is to leave this country and start your new life. I also have my people there who will promote you and help your career as wedding planner."

Anger flared up inside Yuri. "Are you making negotiations with me? What makes you think that I'll leave this country for this?"

"I'm offering you a better life. You wouldn't get this offer twice in your lifetime."

Yuri scoffed, her eyes landed to four expressionless men at the door way. They all looked like a robot to Yuri. "Did you bring these guys to intimidate me? Mr. Im, are you that afraid of me that you need to send me overseas?"

Now, it was his turn to shot up in anger. "Are you kidding me? Why should I afraid of you?" he mocked, his faced as hard as stone. "Listen to me Kwon Yuri, I'm kindly offering you a win win solution here. But even if you refuse this deal, I'll make sure you won't get any near my daughter anymore. You have no choice."

"I'm so disappointed to see you doing something like this, Sir!" Yuri said ironically. "Your daughter is so precious. How can you make a negotiation about your daughter's life with this piece of crap?" Her eyes bored into the man in front of her, and she wondered how could she ever has a great respect to this kind of man over years? When she was at younger age, every time she came to visit Yoona, she always secretly wished that she could have father figure like him. But right now, she can hardly look at him as a kind and good man. "Can't you just accept that your daughter and I love each other? Is your pride more important than your daughter's happiness?"

"Don't dare you talk to me as you know my daughter's happiness!" Mr. Im looked offended. "You two are foolishly blinded with something that you called as love. This one time thing will eventually pass and she will spend the rest of her life regretting her action!"

"You couldn't call this as one time thing anymore if we had loved each other for more than eight years now. Our love is strong, and it was proved by how we still loved each other today after we were separated for years," Yuri pointed out, her determination rising up from .

"You two are too young to know about love!"

"Or perhaps, we know about love more than you do, Sir."

"This is pointless conversation!" Mr. Im rose from the couch and grabbed the untouched envelope.

"Guess you're right at this one," Yuri agreed, rose from the couch as well. "It's pointless because I will never trade Yoona for anything else in this world."

"It's been awhile since we gather around like this," Mr. Im started conversation as he cut his highly expensive Kobe Beef.

A smile full of satisfaction formed on Lee's face as they enjoyed the five stars restaurant's service. "You're right, and this is something we should do more often from now on," Mr. Lee replied pleasantly while sipping on his glass of wine with glee.

In contrast, Yoona was fidgeting with her pristine white napkin in her hand. She would do anything just so she could skip this dinner part but she knew better that she should just go with it. She had to face the moment when they finally told their parent about the cancellation of their wedding, no matter how difficult and unpleasant this would be. So here she was, sitting around a fancy round table inside an overrated restaurant, along with her parent's and Lee's.

No much better than her, Donghae was sitting next to his parent's, his face barely show expression. His body was tensed; his eyes met Yoona's from time to time.

"Sure, we should!" A loud voice of Mr. Im sent Yoona back to the conversation. From the corner of her eyes, she saw her dad cleared his throat, asking for everyone's attention. His voice turned serious. "You know, I've been thinking for some time about this. What if we quicken this marriage?"

Yoona felt her stomach lurch at the unexpected topic. She was not the only person that was surprised though. Everyone around the table was taken back.

"It's only a week to go before the wedding, isn't it?" Mrs. Lee asked carefully. 

"Yeah, but a week is too long for me," Mr. Im let out a weird laugh. "I just can't wait to tie our family relationships. The rush of excitement and anticipation for this event is getting higher and don't you think the sooner this wedding happen, the better we get?"

No one on the table seemed to know how to respond to this talk, so Mr.Im continued his speech with very low tone to Mr. Lee. "We could focus on work and strengthen our cooperation."

Mr. Lee seemed to suddenly have his excitement back. "Sure, I have no problem with that."

Donghae cleared his throat. "I honestly have big announcement to tell you today," he cut their conversation. Everyone's attention was on him now as he spoke for the first time tonight and Yoona held her breath when Donghae continued, "Yoona and I decided to cancel this marriage."

Few minutes of silence had never been this long in Yoona's lifetime, as she glanced at the various expressions across the table.

"You what?" Mr. Lee looked at Donghae with the most unpleasant face.

Mr. Im shared a same expression. "Are you kidding us?"

"No, I am not," Donghae confirmed, his voice came out a bit shaky. "We had talked and found out that we don't share the same love with each other, so there was no point to bring this on."

"Son, do you even know what are you saying?" Mr. Lee asked in disbelief. His features pulled tight, his voice breaking with emotion. "This event is only seven days away and invitations have been sent. Do you think marriage is only a joke, and you can pull away when you're bored?"

"I'm very sorry, Dad."

"Donghae, my son," Mrs. Lee said in a cracked voice. "What happen to you two? Do you have another woman or what?"

"No, mom! There was no third person. We just... we just fell out love."

"This is bull!" Mr. Lee slammed the table as he reached across his son. A loud slap was heard followed by a gasp across the table. Another customer was looking at their table interestingly now. "I'm so disappointed with you!"

"Mr. Lee, I think we shouldn't make a scene here," Mrs. Im said, she seemed to be the only person that aware of their surrounding now while Mr. Im stood up on his feet as well.

"Donghae, can we talk privately?" he asked and Donghae out the room while Yoona still sat in her seat, unable to move. Her chest clenched punishingly around her lungs as she drew the air from her lips.

"Tell me everything!" Mr. Im demanded as soon as he led Donghae into another part of the restaurant. The place looked like a spare room with only couches and coffee table in the middle. It seemed like Mr. Im was a dearly important costumer here to get this service.

"Tell me the truth," Mr. Im replied as he sat down on a comfortable couch, his eyes on Donghae who still standing nervously few feets away.

"I'd told you the truth," Donghae answered flatly.

"No, you didn't," Mr. Im disagreed. His eyes examined Donghae. "I know this is about third person. Is she named Kwon Yuri?"

"I-" Donghae was taken back. "No Dad, Yuri and I-"

"No no, it's not about you," Mr. Im cut off. "This is about my daughter and Kwon Yuri, isn't it?"

Donghae gulped, his forehead was sweating. He wasn't ready for this. He had been practicing so many possible lines for tonight but never this one. How could he know about Yuri?

"I'd known something is wrong the day you suddenly change your wedding planner," Mr. Im's voice was heard again. It was even lower this time. "But I let you take care of the things because I wish you could face this problem yourself."

"I'd faced this problem," Donghae said, offended. "It's just now that we don't love each other-"

"You love my daughter. I know you do," Mr. Im pointed out confidently.

"But she doesn't love me and I'm not going to spend my life with someone that doesn't love me back. I don't want to force-"

"You don't force her. You just need to try to get her heart back."

"I'd tried!" Donghae replied, frustrated. "I'd tried for four years and it was like fighting a battle I know I'll never win."

"You have to try harder then."

"No," Donghae refused bitterly. "I already know the result will be the same. I'm sorry I disappointed you," he bowed down, his heart still ached against his chest. He wished this would be over soon, but he was wrong when Mr. Im shook his head disapprovingly.

"This marriage will still be held," Mr. Im stood up. "You'd done this. No one force you to marry my daughter but you come, you set the wedding, and now should be man enough to take responsibility for what you had created," he said in a very final sort of way before leaving the room.

Snow fell down from the afternoon sky silently while cold wind swirled in the circular motion. Yuri sat down inside the office room, staring out the windows wistfully. In the corner of her eye, a calendar stood upright on the desk, mocking at her.

Her encounter with Mr. Im still left scars in her memory, and the wedding day that was drawing closer suffocated her, as if each passing day was ready to choke her to death. Meanwhile, her longing to Yoona became increasingly unbearable. Since the day they acknowledged their feelings to each other, Yuri found herself yearning for Yoona's presence even more. It was like having a black hole in her chest that only could be filled by Yoona.

A light knock on the door disturbed Yuri's thoughts, followed by clicking sounds and the door swung inward.

"I'm freezing," said the voice, the sound of her heels clicking against the floor echoed through the room.

"Hi Tiff," Yuri greeted, spinning her black leather office chair to give her best friend a smile.

"Hi Yul," Tiffany smiled back, lifting her hands up cheerfully. "I bring you few example of wedding dress you asked for and also a cup of coffee."

"Thank you," Yuri said gratefully, suddenly felling less lonely. She watched as Tiffany sat in front of her and put down the Styrofoam cup on her table. Yuri took up a bundle of papers Tiffany handed her and started to examine the example of various dresses.

Tiffany took her own cup, blowing her coffee and slowly savours the brown liquid. Her eyes were watching Yuri closely. "Is everything okay?" she asked after a moment of silence.

Yuri looked up from the papers to stare at her friend. Her eyes furr