2 years later.

Lee Su Jin was in the U.S. with her brother, wrapping up the last of her activities in New York before returning to Korea, to enjoy her long and well deserved vacation. She had let her manager return to Korea earlier so that she can rest better. Before leaving for Korea, she had wanted to spend some time and enjoy a couple of days with her brother, whom she loves most, and relies on a lot. The day he had decided to leave and work in another country, she was devastated. But then had felt comforted that he was going to the U.S. because she spent most of her time there too.

In the past two years, many things have changed. Su Jin rarely visited her home country and she was still trying to adjust to her new manager. It’s not like she fired her friend Song Minju, but it was time for Minju to settle down. Two years ago, Minju started visiting Korea more frequently to spend time getting to know her boyfriend, even though she was still busy being Su Jin’s manager. Then last year, Park Yoochun proposed to her so she resigned with a heavy heart. She found it difficult to leave her friend whom she had spent many years of good memories together but she couldn’t possibly marry and still travel a lot. Su Jin attended her friend’s wedding. She was happy for Minju but was devastated that her best friend won’t be next to her like she used to be. However, her friend’s words comforted her. Minju told her that she will always be there for her, that she was thankful for all that she did for her, and grateful - she met the love of her life because of her.

Su Jin knew her friend could not stand staying at home without a job. That is why she talked her parents into offering Minju a job at their company, MK.

At the wedding, she had met Kim Jaejoong, but didn’t get the chance to talk to him much as he was surrounded by his employees and friends. They only greeted each other, talked for less than fifteen minutes, and returned to their own group of friends or in her case, family. She sat down next to her family and friend, Hana for the rest of the evening. 

Su Jin let herself into her brother’s office and found him sitting behind his large desk reviewing some documents. He was not aware of her presence, not until he felt an arm circling his shoulders.

“Oh, I didn’t see you. When did you come in?” Su Jin only laughed at her brother, admiring his passion for his work.

“A while ago. What are you doing?”

He smiled. “I just finished reading some files and I am looking at the designs that were sent from Korea. We need to review all the designs we have received and choose from there.”

Su Jin was nodding her head. “Okay, I will help you. I had wanted to see them too. Besides, that’s the only way you will finish earlier so we can have lunch together.” 

Her brother laughed and said, “Of course you will help. Recently, you have neglected your work at the company. I can’t allow one of our employees to continue receiving a salary without working and I heard your office has been covered by a layer of dust.” 

Su Jin laughed out loud at her brother’s comment, “Oppa, you know that I was busy and I usually still add or remove details from the sketches before sending you the designs.” 

“That’s not all you should do, little Director.” He ruffled her hair, and she puffed her cheeks.

“Okay, I promise I will seriously put in some work.” 

After an hour or so, they left the building and stopped by a nearby restaurant to grab lunch.

“Oppa, I can’t believe you will be returning to Korea. I’ve been waiting for this day.” A smile was on her face. Even her eyes were glittering.

“Yes, I am finally finished with the work here. I should take over at headquarters. You know dad will start a new business and I need to take his place. And here, the Vice President here is very competent so I could return without worries.” He was interrupted by the waitress who came to take their orders. After she left, he continued, “And I have missed our parents, friends, food,…I have missed Korea.” 

“How about me? Didn’t you miss me?” She was sulking.

He only laughed and took a few bites of his steak. “Of course I miss you, Jinie, but I don’t even know why you are happy that I’m returning home when you barely visit Korea. You are always traveling.” 

“I know, oppa. I feel lonely without you at home. It breaks my heart to see our parents alone, working all day. I will be relieved to know that you are there to take care of them… And you’ve lost so much weight. At least you will eat well there, next to mom.”

He was nodding until her last few words. They made him laugh. “Look at who’s talking about weight. The one who will disappear in no time if she loses a few more kilograms? If you continue like that, you will end up having a body but nothing else left on it.”

She was shocked at what her brother said. She didn’t notice that she had lost weight in those few months. “Did I lose much weight?”

He nodded his head. “Still, you are much better than those skinny models, flat as a board. You have y curves.”

She kicked his foot under the table. “Oppa! If someone is listening to our conversation, they wouldn’t believe you are my brother.” They both laughed.

“You are afraid they will think that I am your boyfriend?” 

“Ani, not at all. I am afraid that girls will think that I am your girlfriend and you will end up alone.” 

“You are my love. I don’t care about what they think.”

She drinks her glass of water and said, “We will see if you really don’t care when they think you are gay because you refuse to date girls.” 

“Yah, Jinie!” 

She was serious. “Oppa, you really won’t date anyone, after unnie?”  

“I promised I will love her forever. I still don’t understand why she didn’t tell me about her illness.” 

“She wanted to live her last days happy with you, oppa. It has been 5 years since she left. Remember her last words? She wanted you to marry and have a family.” 

Chang Wook was feeling uncomfortable so to lighten up the mood, he said while rubbing her hand, “I will, but not now. Besides, I am afraid that my baby girl would be jealous.” 

She sensed his sadness even if he tried to make light of it and she regretted bringing up his ex-fiancée who passed away. She was grateful that their parents didn’t put pressure on him to marry or tried to bring up anything related to marriage. She loves them for being understanding parents. Even if they oppose things that their children do, they still let them pursue it. They were against Su Jin being a model, especially at that young age. They wanted their little girl to study business and work at their company with her brother, but when she decided to do both, study business and modeling, they accepted. 

When they were making their way to the car, she received a call from her agency. They were asking if her arrival would be made public but she preferred it to be quiet and discreet, so that journalists and fans wouldn’t crowd the airport.

“Was that your manager?”

She puts on her seatbelt and smirked, “Ani, someone from the agency. My manager has some days off.”

From her expression, he knew she was still not satisfied with her manager. “You still don’t like her? You know you won’t find someone like Minju. She was your friend.” 

“Oppa, she doesn’t do anything right. She is rude. She messed up so many schedules. I don’t know why the agency recruited her.”

He shook his head at his little sister’s complain and drove to his apartment to pack up his things so he can resettle in Korea. 

When they arrived in Korea, Lee Su Jin took the opportunity to make up for her sleep loss from these few tiring months. No one woke her up even though she stayed sleeping until after lunch.

She spent time with her parents and brother. She missed having dinner with them. The four of them, talking, laughing and sharing stories. She even visited her grandparents, whom she had not seen in a long time.

Su Jin put on her coat and her boots, grabbed her car keys and drove directly to the bakery. She bought some pastries and sweets, and went to Song Minju and Park Yoochun’s house, where her friends Minju and Hana were waiting for her. She was eager to see them. She missed them a lot. When Minju saw her friend, she hugged her and started to cry. 

“I missed you so much, Jin. Really, I’m still not used to not being around you all the time.”

“Hahaha, unnie, do you possibly regret marrying Yoochun-si?”

“Maybe I married too soon. Don’t you think so, Hana?” 

“You are already 26 years old. You probably should start thinking about having a kid and don’t you dare regret your decision or oppa will be sad. He treats you really well. I wish I had someone like him. And do you think you would be following Jin your whole life? Come on, unnie.” Hana said with a serious face.

Both Minju and Su Jin laughed at her long and serious speech. 

“Woah, take it easy girl, I was just kidding. I didn’t ask for a lesson on life.” 

They enjoyed their reunion and tried to catch up with all that has happened these last two years.

“This was a good year for you. You modeled for many brands. Had a packed schedule.” 

“Yes, but it was tiring. I didn’t even have time for myself or my family. I collapsed when I was in the U.S. and was hospitalized for 5 days.” 

“Yah, why didn’t you call us? We would have been there to take care of you.”

“Oppa was there with me. Now I’m on hiatus, 6 months so I am free until summer. I will enjoy my time with you two. I just hope your husband won’t mind.”

“Don’t worry about Chunie. He already knows Hana well and he wants to get to know you too. He always say that he is grateful that you are a model, and had agreed to model for Balmain.”

They prepared lunch together in the kitchen. Minju was preparing the main dish, Jin was in charge of the side dishes so she was peeling the vegetables and Hana was preparing the desert.

“Tell me more about the guy you met. You couldn’t tell me the details on Skype. All I know is that he is from Thailand, his name is Nick…what was it? I can’t remember.”

“It’s Nickhun, Nickhun, why is it so hard to remember?” 

Jin tried hard not to laugh at her friend, who was for once, serious about being in a relationship. “Okay, sorry, how did you meet?” 

“We met at Ellui Club. He was talking to the bartender. I thought he was just a random guy so we talked for more than 2 hours until I found out he was the owner of the nightclub. He and his father own the best clubs in Korea.”

“He must be a player, the typical badass.”

Minju shook her head. “Not at all. If you met him, you would say he is an angel sent from heaven. He is so sweet. He is friends with oppa.” 

Hana laughed and said, “Su Jin-ah, you are the only one who is single. You should find someone soon.” 

“Hahaha, unnie, even if I find the right person, I’m sure our relationship won’t last. I travel a lot, I rarely visit Korea. I am sure we will both suffer.” 

“You should seriously start thinking about it. You won’t devote your whole life to modeling, will you?” 

Lee Su Jin didn’t go out much since it was very cold. She spent time with her family and friends, and went to the company. At first she didn’t go every day but decided she should do her job right.

It was dinner time when Chang Wook came home with his arm around his sister’s shoulder. They were both laughing and talking. “I really liked how you presented your project. You were amazing. Now they will believe that you deserve your position.” 

“Oppa, they have every right to say what they did. I rarely visited the company so I’m sure they say that she is here just because she is the daughter of the CEO.” 

“Aigoo, my baby is now a mature businesswoman.”

Just then, their parents came from the study. Mrs. Lee smiled at the sight of her two children. “Finally, you are here.” They both greeted their parents. Then, their mother continued, “We were waiting for you. Let’s eat.” 

“You should go ahead. I’m going to change my clothes, wash my hands and then come eat. Oppa, I know you are very hungry. Don’t wait.”

When she returned, she found her parents and brother already eating. She sat down at her usual seat and started to eat.

“Omma, why weren’t you at the office today?” 

“I met with some friends. I had so many things to do.”

“How about you, appa?” 

“Same for me. I was with a friend. By the way we have something to-“ He was interrupted by his wife, “Let them eat now, we will talk after dinner.”

Chang Wook and Su Jin could not understand. They looked at each other. Then Chang Wook turned to his father, “What’s happening?”

“Nothing. We will save it for later. Tell me about Su Jin’s presentation at the meeting. I heard she did well.” 

Chang Wook gave them the details about the meeting and talked about his future plans. He was now in charge of branding because his father was preparing to launch a new business.

After dinner, they went to the living room while Su Jin went to the kitchen to get some tea.

When she got back, her father started, “Well, Su Jin, we have something to tell you.”

She looked at her father, smiling, “Yes, appa.”

“Your mother and I have decided that you should get married.”

She laughed. “Why is everybody talking about marriage lately? I promise, appa, when I find someone, I won’t play around. I will marry then.”

“Su Jin, I am not joking. I won’t wait until you find the right person. We have already decided who you will marry.” 

She was shocked. She was thinking they were joking and she really didn’t think it was funny.

“You are kidding, right? An arranged marriage in the 21st century, no way.” She let out a small laugh though full of worry and disbelief.

Her brother was dumbfounded. He was looking at his mother’s eyes, trying to figure out what is happening.

Mr. Lee could not contain his anger. “I am not in the mood to be joking. You have had enough freedom. You will get married.”

“I don’t want to get married. I don’t want to marry a ing stranger!” She raised her voice at her father for the first time in her life.

“Su Jin, watch your words.” That was all her mother could say.

“Who cares about my ing language? Do you know what you are both doing? You are ruining my life.”

Chang Wook was in as much of a shock as his little sister. He wished they had discussed it with him first. “Appa, please, I can marry in her place. Please don’t do this to her.”

“Chang Wook, it has been decided. We have already spoken to the family. They don’t have a daughter. She will marry him, end of story.”

Su Jin took her cup of tea and slammed it against the wall. “So it’s all business! You are selling your daughter for money. You don’t care about me, my career, and most importantly, my feelings?”

Her father grasped her wrist roughly for the first time and said, “Don’t you dare do anything stupid or you will regret it.”

Then he went upstairs, leaving his daughter crying on the floor. Her brother couldn’t bear seeing his sister in this state. He went to hugged her, rubbing her back to comfort her. 

“Why, omma? Why did you do this to your daughter? You could have at least talked to me about this.” Su Jin hugged her brother and said, “I shouldn’t have come home.”

Her mother tried to calm her down, “It’s for your own good, my baby.”

“My own good? I would have been happy if I continued working, finding a man that would love me, experiencing a normal marriage proposal, not this !” 

Chang Wook couldn’t leave his sister in this state so he spent the night in her room, apologizing for not being able to do anything, for not marrying before her, and apologizing on behalf of their parents. 

The next morning, when her parents and brother were having breakfast, Su Jin woke up, got dressed, and passed by the dining room without greeting her parents. Mrs. Lee had tears in her eyes, “Son, please go and see where she is going.”

He nodded.

His father added, “Tell her that we will be meeting her soon to be husband in two days, after the charity event. She should come.”

He nodded and followed his sister to her car, “Jinie, where are you going?” 

“To my apartment. I don’t have anything here for me.”

He didn’t want to upset her. “Will you be fine alone?”

She nodded. “Yes, I want to be alone. Sorry, oppa, we can keep in touch through texts.” He hugged her and kissed her forehead.

“Appa says that you will meet him in two days, after the charity event.”

She exhaled deeply. “That soon.” She swung open her car door and said, “Okay, thank you.”