Sophie’s POV

L.Joe and I arrive outside of the classroom to see a bunch of people surrounding it. “What’s going on in there?” I ask pointing.

“Not sure,” L.Joe says giving a sideway glance. Is he lying to me?

Daehyun and I arrived separately today. He said that he had to do something before we arrived to school so I went to school by myself before meeting up with L.Joe at the front gate. I didn’t even know where Youngjae went this morning.

L.Joe and I successfully make it into the classroom where there are even more people around Daehyun and Jieun’s seat.

“What’s going on with them?” I ask as I sit down in my seat.

“How about I let him tell you?” L.Joe whispers to me.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“When you get home today and if you see him, ask him, okay?” L.Joe asks in a somewhat comforting voice.

“Okay,” I say nodding my head, but why can’t L.Joe tell me? I sigh as the teacher comes into the room. They start saying something which prompts Daehyun to stand up and say something, but I don’t know what it is. “What are they doing now?”

“Daehyun is introducing himself,” L.Joe says with a sigh.

“Introducing himself? What do you mean?” I ask.

“He’s telling everyone he’s Daehyun.”

“Why would he?” I stare in his direction, but he doesn’t even look at me. Why would Daehyun decide to announce something that after he told me not to call him by Daehyun? Can I call him Daehyun now?

“I don’t know, I guess because of the news.”

“What about the news?” I immediately ask turning to look at L.Joe.

“Nothing,” he says shaking his head.

I glare at him but it seems like he’s not going to be giving up any information any time soon. That’s probably what he was saying that I need to talk to Daehyun about.

The classes start like they normally do and I can’t concentrate, not that I ever can, but it’s worse than before. Before I could at least concentrate and follow along a little bit and then caught up, but it seems like my mind is completely not focused on it.

“Focus,” L.Joe whispers.

“Sorry,” I mumble as I go back to reading the book that I can’t understand waiting for lunch to come, not that anything would be different during lunch.

“Are you having concentration problems or something?” L.Joe asks as we’re on break before another class.

“Why?” I ask.

“You just seem completely out of it. Am I right? Do you like Daehyun?”

“Are you out of your mind?” I ask him.

“Look, I only say what I see and I see that you and Daehyun like each other, you guys have mutual feelings for one another.”

“You’re crazy,” I say rolling my eyes. “I don’t know why you’re saying that we like one another.”

“You’ve been staring at him this whole time. Why don’t you just confess already?”

“Impossible. He’s a prince, I’m just Sophie. I care more about finding out about my parents than confessing about something that’s not true.”

“I advise you giving up the parent search. It didn’t do anything for me,” L.Joe says as he slumps down father into his seat.

“Maybe if we worked together we would be able to do something. Do you know anyone that can read Chinese?”

“Maybe,” he says sighing. “But I gave up hope a long time ago. I advise you do the same before you only get a bunch of dead ends.”

Daehyun’s POV

This is exactly why I didn’t want to announce such a thing. Now people are going to be all over me, I don’t care if people are all over Jieun and by the looks of it, it seems as though she enjoys this popularity boost. I don’t want to get married.

I look over at Sophie and see her happily talking with L.Joe. Maybe it would be better if they were together and not with me, a worthless person who can’t even stand up to his mother.

“What’s wrong?” Jieun asks as she touches my arm. As much as I want to pull away and go over and talk with Sophie, I know that I have to keep a public image. Everyone in this school now knows me as Daehyun, there’s no more Daejae.

“I’m fine,” I say showing her a fake smile and playing it off. Today is the day that I’m apparently supposed to go pick out food and the cake. I could care less. I still have time to stop this wedding and I’m going to do it at all possible costs.

“Of course you are,” she says smiling before she turns back around to look at the next teacher that’s walking into the room. I really don’t want to get married to her.

Faster than I had hoped, lunch comes. “I’m going to go somewhere,” I tell Jieun as I immediately get up from the table.

“Where are you going?” she asks.

“I’ll be back, I promise,” I say flashing her a smile before I make my leave after Sophie. I have to talk with her, I just have to.

“Daehyun, what are you doing?” L.Joe asks turning around and looking at me.

“Um…can I speak with Sophie?” I ask looking at her.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” he asks turning his head. “And I think you have a lot of explaining to do. Sophie, I’ll be where I normally sit if your meeting is already done.”

Sophie nods her head and looks at me. “So, you wanted to talk?” she asks. Is she mad at me? I can’t tell the tone of her voice and when I can’t tell the tone of her voice, the most probable cause is her being angry at me.

“Let’s go to the roof,” I say noticing some people are staring at us. Without hesitation, I grab Sophie’s hand and take her to the roof. I don’t care if people want to stare or start rumors, they can do what they want like I can do what I want.

“So, what did you want?” she asks as she’s sitting up on the roof. I sit down next to her. “You obviously called me up here for something.”

“Sophie,” I say looking in her eyes. “I think I like you.”

“What?” she asks obviously shocked about the sudden confession.

“I think I like you,” I repeat. “I think I’ve liked you for quite a while now, but just never realized it.”

“And why are you saying it now?” Sophie questions.

“Because I want you to fight with me.”

“Fight with you?”

I take a deep breath and prepare to tell Sophie the news that she obviously doesn’t know since she doesn’t understand Korean. “I’m engaged,” I tell her. I stare at her while she doesn’t say anything. I see how shocked she is and then her face turns into confusion. “I’m in an arranged marriage.”

“Let me guess, with Jieun?” she asks. Slowly, I nod my head.

“It was none of my doing, please know,” I beg her. “I…I like you a lot.”

“When are you getting married?”

“In a week,” I solemnly announce looking down at the ground. “It was supposed to be a month, but my parents pushed it up, more specifically my mother pushed it up. That’s why I want you to fight with me. I want you to fight with me to stop this marriage.”

“How are you so sure I’ll be able to stop it? Your parents are the king and queen, no matter what they say; their opinion is always going to be held in higher regard, right? It doesn’t matter if we fight against it or not. I don’t even understand my feelings for you.”

I stare at Sophie, so that means that we could have a chance on having mutual feelings for each other, but she is right. There is a very slim chance that I’ll be able to run away from this wedding, something major needs to happen in order for my mother to change her mind. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this after all, maybe confessing to Sophie was a bad idea, but if I didn’t do it now, then I would’ve never worked up the courage.

“Well, you don’t have to respond to my feelings right now,” I say standing up. “You can give me an answer tonight.” With that, I leave Sophie on the roof of the school.

Sophie’s POV

I watch Daehyun as he leaves. Is he serious about his confession? Did he seriously just confess to me? So many thoughts are running through my head and my heart is beating so fast. Maybe I do like him back, but he said give him an answer tonight. Instead of searching for him when he’s probably going to be with Jieun, I should just wait until tonight.

So he’s getting married. Is that what L.Joe wanted me to talk Daehyun? My best friend getting married, I never thought this day would come. How much don’t I know about Daehyun’s life, though? It seems like I learn something new every day.

I look at my watch to see that I still have half of lunch left before making my way over to L.Joe and his friends. “Did Daehyun tell you?” he asks. I nod my head. “See, wasn’t it better hearing it from him?”

“I guess,” I say sighing as I play around with the food that he’s set in front of me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Daehyun confessed to me,” I say resting my head in my palm.

“Shouldn’t you be happy?” L.Joe asks confused.

“I don’t know, should I?” I ask. “He’s getting married and he decides to confess to me.”

“There must be a reason.”

“Oh there is,” I say staring at L.Joe. “He says that he wants me to help him fight against the marriage since they’re getting in a week, but I can’t object to his parents, they’re the king and queen.”

“Yeah,” L.Joe says sighing.

“Plus, I don’t want to get in between their marriage, you know? Since his parents want him to do the marriage so badly, then why doesn’t he just do it?”

“But don’t you like him, too?”

“I’m still unsure about that,” I mutter. “I’m supposed to tell him my answer tonight.”

“And I’m guessing that you’ll tell him yes?”

“What should I do?” I ask.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” L.Joe says with a light laugh. “It’s only you that knows.”

“But still…I don’t want to ruin the marriage that they have planned.”

“Do you think that Daehyun wants to do the marriage? Do you think he’ll be happy like that?”

“Maybe he won’t be the happiest person alive, but still. Daeyun has a really big sense of loyalty, you see. He might be telling me to fight this with him, but in the end, he’s not going to want to disappoint his family since he hasn’t seen them in such a long time.”

“What are you planning on doing then?”

“I don’t know,” I say sighing. “Should I fight? I mean, I don’t know if I like him, I don’t know, but I don’t want to cause more tension between his family and him. I haven’t seen his mother around and by the looks of it, it seems as though there’s some sort of tension in between all of them.”

“Well, the same situation did happen like some odd years ago,” L.Joe says thinking about it.

“What do you mean the same situation?”

“I’ve only heard about it through some stories, but apparently the Queen wasn’t originally the Queen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently it was the current Queen’s sister that was supposed to take the crown, but she was forced into an arranged marriage that she didn’t want. Ultimate, to cut a long story short, she ran away from home and basically made a life for herself outside of the palace. She doesn’t even live in Korea anymore I heard.”

“Is that what’s going to happen to Daehyun?” I wonder aloud.

“Maybe, maybe not, but I doubt that he’s going to run away if you say that he has a sense of loyalty.”

I nod my head. “He always thinks that he should do something if it’s for the betterment of other people so I don’t really understand how he’s going to fight against this marriage.”

“Then what are you going to do?” L.Joe asks.

“I don’t know,” I respond simply.

Daehyun’s POV

As soon as I return home I have to get dressed to go out again and pick out the food and the cake. I don’t even want to get married. I’m anticipating Sophie’s answer tonight, though. Will she like me back? I’m pretty sure that she’ll like me back, but I’m still a little doubtful. Maybe she only sees us as just friends.

“Is something bothering you?” Hyosung asks in the car to go to the place. She’s coming in place of Jieun, who is thankfully not coming because of her wedding dress appointment, not that makes me feel that much better. I’m just happy that I don’t have to deal with her.

“I don’t want to do this marriage,” I complain. I know that I can tell Hyosung anything since she’s my sister.

Hyosung just sighs and looks at me. “You don’t want to but you feel like you have to, right?” Slowly, I nod my head. “You don’t want to disappoint Mom and Dad, right?”

“I don’t want to disappoint them and I don’t want to go through with this marriage. Isn’t there a way to be able to do both?”

“Just tell them how you really feel.”

“But you know Mom. You know that she’ll force this marriage no matter what it takes. I mean, they’ve already pushed the marriage up greatly to next week. You know how stubborn Mom is about this type of stuff.”

“You know she’s only stubborn because of Aunt,” Hyosung says in a quiet voice. “You know that that’s the only reason why she wants us to do well.”

“But does doing well involve me getting married to a girl that I don’t even like? To a girl that treats me horribly and she’ll probably end up treating Sophie like dirt.”

“I always knew she had that side to her,” Hyosung curses under her breath.

“Then why didn’t you warn me?” I ask. “Did you know about my arranged marriage?”

“I know that you were in talks of one and I heard her name shoot out there. When you mentioned her after your first day of school, it didn’t click. I’m sorry.”

“No need for apologizing,” I say as the car comes to a stop in front of a restaurant.  “Let’s just get this thing over with.”

Hyosung and I enter the restaurant and get sat down in order to try some of the food that they have, but it all tastes the same to me. “Do you not like it?” Hyousng asks looking at the lack of food that I’ve tried.

“It just all tastes the same,” I mutter as I put down the fork. “If Mom wanted food to be so important, then why didn’t she come here?”

“She went with Jieun to get her wedding dress. Daehyun, did something else happen? You look like you’re anxious.”

“I’m anxious for tonight,” I say avoiding her eyes.

“Why would you be anxious for tonight?”

“I’m awaiting Sophie’s answer, that’s why.”

“Sophie’s answer? Did you ask her a question? Well, obviously you asked her a question, but you know what I mean,” Hyosung says hitting my arm.

“I told her I liked her,” I confess to Hyosung. “I’m waiting for her answer tonight.”

“But Daehyun, you’re engaged to another person. How is this ever going to end well?”

“It probably won’t,” I sigh. “But at least it’s better to express my feelings than hide behind this stupid marriage thing.”

“Daehyun,” Hyosung says, but I ignore her and go back to eating stuff.

“If we want this, then we can get this. Otherwise, I don’t care.”

I get up from the table and make my way to the car. I’m tired of doing this already. I’m tired of being engaged and if things go my way, then I want Sophie to be mine. I want to date her openly and freely without being a prince. I never signed up for it in the first place so I don’t know why I have to do it. I guess it’s just because of the place that I was born into. If there’s one thing that I’m learning from coming back here is that I hate this life even more.

Sophie’s POV

I wait for Daehyun to get home by sitting in the living room. Youngjae told me that Daehyun and Hyosung had gone out to get things for the wedding. After talking things over with L.Joe and thinking about it all morning, I guess I do like Daehyun and I’ll tell him that today.

“Were you waiting for me?” Daehyun asks as he comes into the living room.

“Um, yeah,” I say standing up from the couch. “I…I wanted to tell you my answer.”

“You’re going to say that you can’t have a crush on a married man, right?” Daehyun asks with a bitter laugh.

“I’m pretty sure people have crushes all the time on married men and women,” I say attempting to lighten the mood, but it apparently doesn’t do anything useful.

“You don’t have to tell me, though. I know that you just want to stay friends.”

“Why do you always say things before I say anything?” I ask him. “I was going to say that I like you, too.”

“You do?” he asks, his face immediately brightening.

“I do,” I say nodding my head. “I’ve thought about it for a while and it turns out that I think I like you the same way.”

Immediately, Daehyun comes over and hugs me, I hug him back. “If only you knew the feeling that I have inside. I don’t want to get married, I really don’t, but you probably know that I have to.”

“I know,” I say nodding my head.

Pulling away from the hug, Daehyun gently kisses me on the lips. “Let’s go where no one will be able to see us,” he whispers.

I follow Daehyun upstairs and hang out with him in his room, but I have a horrible feeling inside knowing that I’ll probably never be able to see his room again. It’s not because he’s getting married, but because it’s something that I have to do. It’s something that I decided to do.

“When have you always liked me?” Daehyun jokes.

“Hey, you’re the one that liked me first,” I say throwing a pillow at him as I’m spinning around in a spinning chair that he has in his room. Daehyun is sitting on his bed.

“Fine, fine, I guess I have to answer the question, right?”

“No duh you’re right,” I say sticking my tongue out at him.

“To be honest, I don’t know when I started liking you. I guess I always did but just ignored the feeling saying that we’re friends. Are you happy with that answer?” he asks smiling.

“Sure,” I say smiling back at him.

Randomly just like before, Daehyun comes over and hugs me tightly. “I don’t want to let you go. We’ve been friends for forever and we both like each other,” he whispers. “This marriage, there’s only six days left until it happens. I’ll do everything to convince my parents that it’s a wrong idea. Do you trust me?”

“I…I trust you,” I whisper looking at Daehyun into his eyes as tears are welling in my own.

“Just remember, no matter what Jieun tells you, you’re always going to be the one I’m thinking of. She’s not going to separate us.”

“What do you mean by separate us?”

“She doesn’t want you near me. She thinks you’re a threat.” I sigh, this only makes my decision better for me.

Eventually night falls, and much to Daehyun’s persistence, I stay in his room with him. Pretending to go to sleep, I wait until Daehyun falls asleep before escaping out of his room and going into my own. In my room, I begin packing all of my clothes as tears start coming down my face.

I check to make sure that I have everything that I’ll need for staying at L.Joe’s house. We already discussed it and he said it was alright. I can’t hinder the marriage. Me being around will only hurt Daehyun and myself more now that we know we both like each other. I just can’t.

Escaping out the front door, I manage to meet L.Joe who is waiting in a taxi right outside. “Are you sure about this?” he asks again as he help me put my luggage into the back.

“I’m positive,” I say smiling at him as I look at the Korean Palace once more. “Leaving will make things easier for everyone. I can’t destroy the marriage.”

“But you might be destroying him more by leaving,” he says as the taxi takes off.

“Still, he should get married,” I say as I look out the rearview mirror as the palace disappears from my sight.

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How will Daehyun react when he finds out that Sophie left? Will Daehyun go through with the marriage? How will Sophie's life living with L.Joe go? Will L.Joe and Sophie be able to get the answers they're searching for regarding their parents?

Here is Chapter 15. Hope you enjoyed :D