Just to clear things up. Chung Mong Koo is Jin Ri's uncle, but she calls him appa because she's the only parent she knows. :) Alrighty, on to the chapter. Please don't kill me.


Chapter 25
Everyone in the room was in high spirits. The Super Junior members were all in the practice room to rehearse a new routine for their new song. Eunhyuk, Donghae and Shindong were in front of the whole group, going through the steps that the three of them had choreographed. As the three discussed the dance steps, Sungmin, Ryeowook and Yesung sat on one side, laughing about something, while Heechul showed something to Siwon on his phone with Leeteuk seated beside them. 

“Hyung, you alright?” Siwon asked Leeteuk, nudging him gently. The older male looked concerned about something.

Leeteuk nodded towards Kyuhyun, who was the only one seated on the other side of the room, his back and head resting on the wall, eyes closed. “Did Kyuhyun and Jin Ri have a fight?” he asked.

Sungmin, overhearing the question, turned to them. “No, hyung,” he answered, glancing at the magnae. “But I think they haven’t been spending a lot of time together and he misses her.”

“Ah yes, because she started working for their company,” Siwon chimed in knowledgeably. When Heechul, Sungmin and Leeteuk gave him questioning looks as to how he knew that when he hadn’t been around much, he went on, “What? My sister updates me on these things.”

“I keep forgetting that you’re a part of high society,” Heechul muttered, smirking a little and turning his attention back to his iPhone.

“I’m not,” Siwon retorted at once, pushing his hyung with his shoulder. Ever since he was casted at 16, he hadn’t been to any business meetings or society gatherings, except for birthdays of family friends. He had been too busy with being a trainee. But his sister, who had no choice, continuously did her duty by going to every single event that their mother had ordered her to go to. “They still get to talk, right?” he asked.

“They’re usually talking on the phone until the wee hours of the morning,” Sungmin confirmed, smiling a little. “Sometimes I have to leave the room because they can get too lovey dovey.”

“Are you talking about our magnae? Lovey dovey?” Heechul repeated in disbelief.

“He’s in love with her,” Sungmin simply stated with a wider smile and a shrug.

“Well something seems to be wrong,” Leeteuk stated, watching as Kyuhyun pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed. “Hasn’t he said anything?” He looked at Sungmin.

Sungmin shook his head. “Maybe he told Hyuk or Hae?” he suggested.

Leeteuk was about to call the mentioned boys when the practice room door opened. Luna poked her head in, a big grin on her face. She looked around and when she saw the member she was looking for, she looked behind her.

“Luna,” Sungmin greeted, standing up and walking towards her to hug her. “What are you doing here?” He looked at the door when it opened once more and Taeyeon walked in. “Oh Taeyeon.”

“Kyuhyun oppa has a visitor,” Luna announced, grinning widely and glancing at mentioned male.

Kyuhyun stuffed his phone in his pocket and looked up, a somewhat bored look on his face. He hadn’t been having the best day, or the best week. Although he and Jin Ri didn’t fight, they never talked much about anything either. It was always about her work and about his work. Most of the time, she skirted around the issue of Shin Jae being around her all the time. Shin Jae was always visiting her in the office, at home, in her shoots, something he wasn’t able to do that much anymore since they were preparing for their new album.

The bored look he had on his face immediately disappeared when he saw the next person after Taeyeon walk in the room. Standing up immediately, he all but ran to the door and wrapped his girlfriend tightly in a hug.

“Hello to you, too,” Jin Ri laughed, hugging him back fully when Taeyeon got the basket she was holding from her.

“Princess,” Kyuhyun murmured, burying his face in her shoulder, his hold on her tightening even more. 

He closed his eyes and just held her, completely ignoring the protests of his hyungs or the laughter of Luna and Taeyeon. He was missing her more and more. It wasn’t just that they rarely saw each other or didn’t really talk of anything of value on the phone. It just seemed that they were drifting away from each other even if it wasn’t physically happening.

He couldn’t explain it, but in the weeks that passed after Na Young’s wedding, something had changed. Things had been begun to be different even before then, just around the time that Jin Ri started working for her family’s company. But the change had been more pronounced after the wedding. After Shin Jae had waltzed back into her life and theirs. All of a sudden her ex-best friend was just everywhere. Being a part of high society, she was required to attend a lot of social functions, most of which she never really went to in the past. But during the past two months, she had been going to every single one of them. She was out almost every weekend, attending luncheons, dinner parties, golf tournaments, socials, birthdays, just everything. He really didn’t know how she was able to work, do photography and socialize all at the same time. It seemed that he was the only one she didn’t have time for anymore. That in itself wasn’t the worst thing about it all. He loved her and would give her all the time she needed for herself, her family, and her job. What got to him was that Shin Jae was with her all the time. He was in all events, in all family dinners, in her shoots, her job… He couldn’t understand how he was able to work with all the sticking-to-Jin Ri he was doing.

And that was why it seemed like he was holding onto her for dear life. It just felt like he was slowly losing her.

“Ya! You’re going to kill her at that rate!”

Kyuhyun felt a pair of strong arms hold his to unwrap himself from Jin Ri. He pouted at Siwon, who was giving him an amused look.

“She was turning blue,” Siwon commented with a shrug. He crossed his arms on his chest and grinned at the magnae. Turning to Jin Ri, he greeted her, “It’s nice to see you again, Jin Ri.”

Jin Ri beamed, bowing a little. “It’s nice to see you again, oppa.”

“What are you doing here?” Kyuhyun asked her, snaking an arm around her waist. He just didn’t want to let her go.

“I came to visit you,” she told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She looked around and waved at the others. “It’s okay right?” she asked, suddenly looking uncertain.

“Of course it is,” Kyuhyun confirmed, pressing his lips to her cheek.

“Jin!” Eunhyuk and Donghae called from the other side of the room, where they had unwrapped the food basket.

“Thank you for the food!” Shindong joined in.

Kyuhyun looked up and hurried over to them. “Ya! That’s mine! My girlfriend brought that here, remember?”

Siwon chuckled as Kyuhyun grabbed the chopsticks the three were holding, earning violent protests, and turned his attention to Jin Ri. “You’re bribing him, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she innocently responded, shocking her hands in her jeans pockets.

“You’re going with Shin Jae again, aren’t you?” he asked, knowing fully well that she was lying. He and Shin Jae were acquaintances due to the circles that their family moved in. He could tell that he was a nice guy, but it was obvious that Jin Ri had reservations about him, especially after everything that had happened.

She sighed. There was another social event that she had to go to that evening. Shin Jae would be her once again. “You know I wouldn’t go if I could help it,” she gave in, frowning. “I’m surprised you’re not going to be there.”

He shrugged. “My mom has gotten tired of telling me to go,” he shared, chuckling quietly to himself.

She merely smiled and watched as Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk fought over the food on the table, while Donghae and Shindong decided to just stand back and watch. After a couple of minutes, Leeteuk got up and stopped them before it became a real fight.

“Are you going to tell him?” Siwon asked, getting her attention back.

“I have to,” she answered, nodding hesitantly. “He’s going to find out anyway. It’s not like my life is a secret anymore.” In between being Kyuhyun’s girlfriend and the realization that she was Chung Mong Koo’s niece, her life was suddenly in the spotlight. She didn’t know what was so interesting about her, but everything that she did was suddenly newsworthy.

“Welcome to our world,” he muttered.

“What are you two talking about?” Kyuhyun wanted to know, sauntering over to them, soy sauce dripping on his chin.

“Kyu,” she teasingly chided, getting tissue from her bag and using it to wipe his chin clean.

“Thanks,” he sheepishly said, grinning like a little boy. Siwon shook his head and walked towards the table with food.

“What are you going to do without me?” she asked pointedly.

“I dunno,” he answered jokingly. “Die?”

“No you won’t,” she shot back, rolling her eyes at his cheesiness. “You’ll probably go drown yourself in gaming, like how your hyungs tell me you’ve been doing every time we don’t see each other and don’t have schedules.”

“You’re probably right,” he admitted. She let out a satisfied laugh. “That’ll probably be the only thing that will keep me from dying. But I’d rather have you around. There’s only so much gaming I can do. So you have to promise that you’ll never leave me.” His eyes bore into hers, meaning every single word that he said.

“Kyuhyun,” was all she said, biting her lower lip. 

He raised his eyebrows at her in expectation. Instead of replying, she took a step towards him, her hands grasping his arms and kissed him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she tried her best to show him how much she would never want to leave him.

“I love you,” she whispered when they pulled away.

He smirked, their faces still close to each other’s. “If you really love me, we’ll get out of here and continue that kiss somewhere more private,” he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

She giggled as the other members started complaining to the leader that there was too much PDA going on and that he should put a stop to it. Despite it all, she stood up tiptoe and gave him another kiss.

“I can’t,” she responded, her smile faltering when he frowned. “I have this thing—.” She stopped talking when he pulled away and put distance between them.

He nodded, immediately understanding. It was always like this. “Okay. What time will you be done? Maybe I can go to your apartment after or something.”

“I’d like that,” she immediately said. “I’ll be Cinderella and be home at 12 midnight.” She took a step towards him and held his hand. “Kyu,” she earnestly called.

He looked at her. “I’m sorry I’m unable to accompany you to these things. I’m sorry I’m not the person that your uncle wants you to be with,” he suddenly stated.


“Your uncle… doesn’t want me to be with you?” he slowly muttered, echoing what she had just said.

It was after the wedding and Kyuhyun had just brought Jin Ri home to her apartment. While she was hoping that he would have forgotten her little slip earlier, it was all he thought about while he sang and while he watched her and Shin Jae catch up from afar.

Gradually meeting her eyes to his, she bit her lip. She hated seeing the hurt that she had placed in his gaze. She knew it was a shock to him as it was to her. Taking a deep breath, she decided she wouldn’t hurt him any further.

“Appa is just concerned,” she euphemized.

“Why? Haven’t I proven that I love you and would take care of you enough?” he asked. “What exactly is he concerned about? That I can’t protect you?”

She forced her tears not to fall. It wasn’t any of those things. Her uncle’s reason was more trivial, yet much worse.

“He just thinks you’re too busy,” she lied. “You’re an idol and too much in the public eye. All the fans and attention… he thinks it’s dangerous for me.”

“I’m… dangerous?”

“Of course not you, Kyuhyun,” she corrected, taking a step towards him and touching his arm gently. “Not you. Just… he’s my appa. He’s just scared for me. He knows what celebrity life is and how fans control everything. He’s seen what’s happened to celebrity relationships and how they disintegrated because of pressure from the fans, the press, among other things.”

“You know I would give it all up for you if you tell me to,” he avowed, piercing her eyes with his. “Just one word from you…”

“And you know that I would never do that to you,” she gently countered. “I would never take what you love away from you.”

“Then I hope you’re not going to do something to take yourself away from me,” he responded. “Like running away.”

Her breath choked up in , averting her gaze from him. She had thought about it, contemplated about it. Sometimes she felt that it would have been best if she had never gotten together with him because all of a sudden all she brought to his life were series of messes. She hated that she was making life complicated for him.

“Don’t you dare,” he directed in a low voice she rarely heard him use. He gathered her in his arms and closed his eyes as he leaned his head against hers. “Princess, you told me once that you were done running away. But, if one day, you decide to run again,” he continued, pulling away so he could look into her eyes. “I’ll still go after you… so I can run with you.”


Kyuhyun walked back into the practice room after bringing Jin Ri to her car, looking a little less depressed than before, but still depressed. The other members noticed the drastic change in his mood after his girlfriend left. Eunhyuk nudged Ryeowook and all but pushed him to the magnae so he could talk to him.

After glaring at his hyung, Ryeowook turned to Kyuhyun, a bright smile on his face. “Kyuhyunnie, is everything okay with you and Jin Ri?” he asked.

Kyuhyun looked at his friend and nodded, sighing a little. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” he answered. “She just has to go to this event.”

“Ah,” Ryeowook nodded. He then glanced at Eunhyuk, who was pushed by Heechul.

“Oh Hyunnie,” Eunhyuk called him. “Want to practice the choreography?” Kyuhyun nodded and walked to the front of the mirror, where Donghae and Shindong were gathered.

Ryeowook relayed the short conversation that they had to Leeteuk, Heechul, Sungmin and Siwon.

“There’s really something wrong,” Leeteuk repeated, running a hand through his hair in frustration. If there was one thing he hated, it was not knowing how to help s, who were his family.

Siwon took a deep breath. “There is something wrong,” he finally confessed, looking at them, who looked back at him with surprised expression.

“I hope you’re not planning on stopping there or I just might strangle you,” Heechul warned, pocketing his iPhone.

The tallest male sighed. “Her uncle doesn’t want her with Kyuhyun,” he relayed quietly.

“What?” the three boys chorused.

“But Kyuhyun’s gone to all those family dinners and things seemed to have been going well,” Sungmin countered. “How did he suddenly not want him to be with her?”

“I don’t think he really wanted her to be with him in the first place,” Siwon deduced. “But he couldn’t do anything about it so he let her be with him. Of course there’s only so much leeway he could give her.”

“How would you know that?” Heechul demanded. “Has she told you about this?” He looked a bit scandalized and upset at the fact that Jin Ri may have come to him about her problems instead of him or other members.

“She doesn’t have to,” Siwon elaborated. “She’s a Chung.” 

The four members just stared at him and blinked.

“Am I missing something?” Ryeowook wanted to know, glancing at his hyungs.

“Children born to wealthy families don’t have the privilege of choosing anything for themselves,” Siwon explained. “They’re pampered to the core, taught in a variety of subjects—most of which are useless. They’re sent to the best schools. Their friends are chosen for them. And they don’t get to decide whom they get to marry.”

“But Kyuhyun and Jin Ri aren’t getting married,” Sungmin piped in.

“That’s not the point,” Siwon retorted, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at him. “The point is they’re not going to end up together, not unless she gets disowned or something like that.”

“Why haven’t you been disowned yet?” Heechul then demanded of his dongsaeng. All the members knew how his family was against him joining show business. A lot of heated discussion had happened between him and his father since he was supposed to take over the family business.

“Because my family’s nicer than hers probably and less wealthy,” Siwon commented with a shrug. His parents had let the issue go once they saw how happy he had become and how successful. He sighed. “I don’t think Kyuhyun knew what he was getting into when he allowed himself to fall in love with her.”

“I don’t think Jin Ri knew what she was getting into when she allowed herself to fall in love with him,” Leeteuk corrected. “She should know better, after all.”

“Do you think Kyuhyun knows about this problem?” Ryeowook inquired. He glanced at their magnae, who had just sat down on the floor, his back against the mirror, watching his hyungs dance.

“I don’t know,” Siwon answered with a shrug.

“Well maybe you should go and find out,” Heechul suggested, raising his eyebrows. “While you’re at it, you can watch over Jin as well and make sure that Shin Jae keeps his hands to himself.”

~ * ~

Diamond-studded and gold chandeliers, the finest china and silverware, bouquets of the most expensively arranged flowers as center pieces, overflowing wine, people in luxurious suits and dresses mingling… it was like a scene out of Gossip Girl. It was beautiful and elegant, everything that any person born of such magnificence deserved. But Jin Ri was tired of it. After two months of continuously attending such parties, it was starting to become boring. She would rather be at home, curled up with a good book or curled up with her boyfriend whom she missed so much.

Thinking about him, she got her phone out of her very own Lana Marks Cleopatra clutch bag and started to dial his number. She was just about to put the phone on her ear when Shin Jae arrived from nowhere, startling her.

“There you are,” Shin Jae said, all smiles. He had a glass of wine in hand, which he handed to her. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You’ve been hiding from me.”

“Not good enough, apparently,” Jin Ri muttered, putting her phone back in her clutch and getting the wine glass from him.

“Hey,” he replied, somewhat more subdued. “I know you’d rather be with your boyfriend than be with me, but right now you are with me. I’m your and the least you can do is not be rude.”

She lifted her eyes to him, a bit surprised at his mini outburst. “When have I ever been not rude to you?” she shot back.

“Hey, you’re right,” he granted, nodding thoughtfully. “But can you not hide from me? Your uncle’s been watching me like the hawk and every time he sees me not with you, it feels like daggers are going to start coming out of his eyes and right at me.” He glanced around the room, making sure that he was nowhere nearby.

She chuckled. “Sorry about that,” she sincerely told him. She now knew, after all, how frightening her uncle was, having finally experienced it after 23 years. “Do you think he’ll like it if he sees us dancing?”

He whipped his head towards her and blinked. “Are you asking me to dance?”

Placing the wine glass on a nearby table, she grinned at him before walking towards the dance floor. “Maybe.”

He eagerly followed her to the dance floor, where she wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist.

“You don’t make hating you very easy,” she then started a new conversation, looking up at him.

He sighed as he looked back at her. “I’m sorry.” It felt like it was the most sincere sentence he had uttered ever since he had returned to Korea and into her life. “I’m sorry for all the mess I created back then, for leaving you after you lost the baby and after you pulled out of the engagement. I was young and immature.”

“That you were,” she agreed. She smiled when he narrowed his eyes at her. “But I was young and immature, too. We both were.” She paused for a second then took a deep breath. “Let’s not make the same mistakes, Shin Jae.”

“Jin Ri,” he hesitantly began. He knew what she was talking about, what she was referring to. “I want to do that for you—I really do. I can’t… there are things that I can’t control and this is one of them.”

“But I’m happy,” she persisted. “I know you can see that. Please don’t mess this up for me. It’s already complicated as it is.”

Shin Jae looked at her, his expression unreadable. “I’m sorry, Jinnie,” he returned, almost coldly. “I can’t promise not to complicate your life even more.”

At that moment, he looked up and pulled away from her. Mong Koo approached them with a huge grin on his face. Someone familiar, someone both of them never expected to see in such parties because he never attended them anymore, followed him.

“Look who’s here,” Mong Koo told them in greeting, patting the shoulder of the tall male beside him.

“Siwon oppa!” Jin Ri exclaimed, a look of complete surprise on his face. She grinned. “What are you doing here?”

Siwon bowed at both of them in greeting. “I decided to be persuaded to come,” he said, giving her a wink.

Smiling appreciatively at him, she stated, “I’m glad you did.”

“I was just telling him what a fine young man he’s become,” Mong Koo proudly declared as if he was talking about one of his own. He turned to him. “It’s not too late to get out of show business. It’s a dirty business, you know.” He quirked an eyebrow at his niece.

Siwon smiled graciously. “Thank you for your concern, sir.” He bowed respectfully.

Mong Koo chuckled and patted Siwon’s shoulder once more. “You know, I would love to have you as a son-in-law. But my Riri’s already engaged.”

Siwon’s eyebrows rose and he looked at her. Shin Jae stiffly stood beside her.

Jin Ri blushed. “Appa, Kyuhyun and I aren’t engaged,” she gently corrected him.

“I wasn’t talking about Kyuhyun,” Mong Koo announced, a stern tone appearing in his voice.

Both Siwon and Jin Ri furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. They couldn’t understand the way he was talking.

“Then who...?” Jin Ri brought a hand to as she gasped in realization. “Appa, you can’t mean…” She turned to the man beside her.

“I was talking about Shin Jae,” Mong Koo confirmed her guess. “You’re still engaged to him.”