“Amber, do you accept this man as your husband, to love and cherish above all others, until death separates you?“

The guests were expectantly watching the ceremony, everyone waiting for the young bride to answer and completing what everyone came to witness for. But the answer she wanted to give from the bottom of her heart was ‚No‘.

No.

No to love and cherish him, no to until death separates them and no to accept him as her husband. 

Amber was looking at her soon-to-be husband through squinted eyes, examining him from head to toe to list everything she disliked about him.

Lee Hyukjae was a pretty tall guy, his long, slender legs and arms not attracting the woman even a bit. His dyed hair was giving his slim face a perfect finish, his jawline sharp enough to cut the wedding cake without any problems. His big almond-shaped eyes and his long nose made his face considerable as handsome. Without question, Hyukjae wasn’t Amber’s type no matter how handsome he was to other females. To her he looked like a monkey.

“Amber…!…AMBER!“ 

Henry who was lined up next to her and their two other brothers was hissing at his sister through gritted teeth, reminding her of that she was still in the process to marry someone she didn’t like. Being torn out of her thoughts, she puckered her eyebrows and looked at the man in front of her with a destroying, disapproving glance … if it wasn’t for Henry who kicked her ungently to make her answer, she would have gone on trying to slay the groom with looks.

“Yes.“ The antipathy to the word was unmistakable.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife!“

The audience was applauding, rejoicing over the news of Korea’s most influential families’ heirs marrying. Not only friends of the family but also media and business partners were attending the wedding, everyone in need to witness how two poor souls were forced to enter into the bond of marriage.

“Until death separates you, my !“, Amber was angrily barking when she was finally exempted from the eyes of the crowd, walking towards the table where her parents and in-laws would sit together with her, most of them still busy congratulating the newlywed husband.

She was enraged by everything today. By her husband, by her family and especially by this extremely stupid Vera Wang wedding dress that looked utterly ridiculous on her. This wasn’t her style, Amber would have preferred to wear a suit and not a freaking dress and heels underneath, she couldn’t even walk in.

“Lemme fall and break my neck!“

During her whole life the bride had used to be the boyish kind of girl. She dressed like a guy, styled like a guy, behaved like a guy and on top of that loved like a guy. The person Amber had wanted to marry was her girlfriend, she was secretly in a relationship with for more than four years. But where did all of this bring Amber? It brought her to her father basically throwing her to the altar with a guy he had chosen for her to marry.

Seeing Krystal sitting at one of the tables, looking like a picture of misery broke Amber’s heart. It should have been Krystal wearing a wedding dress and Amber wearing a suit, declaring to love her beloved one until the end of their days.

“You won’t ever stop complaining, huh?“, Henry asked her and sighed. He was following her around, making sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid. 

Henry was the one to talk, being the youngest of the family who was spared from all the circus the others were dragged into. Henry was only 19 years old, attending one of Korea’s prestigious SKY universities and with his extravagant lifestyle, he was the one living the most luxurious of all the siblings. Even today he was wearing an expensive designer suit that was worth as much as his brothers’ suits plus Amber’s wedding dress all together. And he didn’t even try not to show it off too much.

“Henry…you know I love you, but shut up or else I will smash your pretty face, okay?!“

At one of the other tables, Donghae was sitting next to the middle child Kyuhyun, tilting the content of his champagne glass from one side to another. The bad conscience was haunting him like a reaper wanting to take his victim with him. Whenever Donghae glanced at his sister, he was reminded of how desperately she had called him a few weeks before.

“Please come and help me!“, Amber sounded as if she was crying on the phone. Donghae had never heard Amber crying. This was one of the very seldom moments the tough girl was showing that much of herself hurting.

“What’s wrong?“, he asked perplexed about her desperation.

“Our father arranged a marriage! For me and a stranger! I don’t want to get married and I couldn’t even say no! Father threw all of my music equipment out, too! He told me to be a good housewife instead of playing with stupid stuff…he took away everything I need for my work!“

Donghae was shocked about the news. Amber had worked as a music producer for the past years, how was she supposed to go on working when their father had destroyed her studio? He felt pity for his sister, knowing exactly how she must have felt. He was also engaged to someone he didn’t choose himself. Jessica Jung was the heiress of a well - established company that supported his father’s political career a lot. In return CEO Jung demanded Donghae’s father to let his eldest son marry his daughter Jessica. Ten years had already passed and Donghae had believed that he would be the first to get married. His plan to flee abroad and avoid marrying Jessica who needed to stay in Seoul to work for her father, was working out pretty well. Yet, it was terrifying to see how his siblings were still suffering under their father’s reign of terror.

“When will the wedding take place?“ Donghae would try to stop it and find a way to save his sister from marrying someone she didn’t even know.

“In two weeks…“

“This party is bullcrap. It reminds me more of a funeral than a wedding.“, Kyuhyun complained after noticing his brother moping and drifting deep into his thoughts. Donghae was sitting on his chair being only a shadow of his former self, the handsome fashion manager he used to be had completely disappeared.

“You’re in the mood to celebrate?“, Donghae asked rather rhetorically. “I can’t believe she had to marry this guy…“

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