-Flashback-

Moonbyul watched as the raindrops gracefully showered the ground of her school. The day was cloudy and dark but it was calming nevertheless.

Moonbyul likes this kind of weather; not too hot but not too cold either. The wind blows gently and she can feel her hair swift left and right, her bangs now long enough to cover her whole forehead stuck against her skin due to the splashes of the rainwater. She slightly pushes her spectacles upwards; it was getting more difficult to see with the evaporated mist already slowly made its way to her precious glasses.

Maybe she was wrong; the day was a little bit cold.

Moonbyul hugged her body in attempt to warm herself before looking at the watch loosely dangling on her tiny wrist. The bus will be here in 15 minutes. She sighed for the nth time.

‘So boring, I wish I’m already in bed. The weather is perfect for taking a nap.’ Moonbyul thought to herself.

She replayed her conversation earlier with Seulgi before the younger girl left her alone on the bus stand.

---

“Unnie I’m so sorry!” An apologetic Seulgi almost kneeled in front of her.

“It’s okay. I’ll be just fine; the bus is going to be here in less than 20 minutes anyway.” Moonbyul shrugged, a small smile spread across her face easing the other girl’s feeling for just a little bit.

Seulgi went quiet. She knows how Moonbyul hated being alone. With her issues with abandonment since young and with how she was treated in school nowadays, it amazed Seulgi greatly on how Moonbyul was still able to stand tall each and every day.

“I was told the ball was at 8.30 unnie, I didn’t know dad moved it forward.” Seulgi sat on the left side of the bench next to Moonbyul. The rain was pouring hard already, making it impossible for Moonbyul to get home by walking.

“Don’t worry Seulgi-ah, I’ll be okay. Now go, you don’t want to be late for your sister’s birthday party.” Moonbyul gently nudge the girl with her left shoulder, encouraging the girl to just leave already.

“You should come you know? I invited you.” Seulgi slouched and pouted. Eyes now fixed to her front but were closed shut; avoiding any disapproval looks that Moonbyul might have thrown her.

“It’s not your party; you can’t just invite your friends.” Moonbyul weakly smiled.

“Wheein is coming.” The name startled Moonbyul for a split second before she recovered almost immediately. She went quiet and Seulgi sensed her mistake once again.

“She’s not even a friend.”

“No, but her father is a friend of your father so that makes you guys…friends. Kind of.” Moonbyul snorted, believing how ridiculous she sounded just now.

“Yeah right.” Seulgi rolled her eyes. Now both of them became quiet, enjoying each other’s company with the sound of the pouring rain accompanying them at the background.

A sudden low voice coming from their right side broke their silence, causing only Moonbyul to give her attention to the young man in a dark suit.

“Young lady Kang, you are ready to go?” Without even turning her head to his direction, Seulgi half-heartedly ordered “yes, in just a minute.”

“I’ll see you on Monday.” Moonbyul cheered, tilted her head and took a glance to the younger girl. She looked defeated, tired even.

“It’s going to be fun. Enjoy yourself.”

“Thanks unnie. I’ll see you Monday then.”

---

That was 10 minutes ago.

‘Ugh, how slow is the bus anyways?’ Moonbyul yawned before closing her eyes, both hands on each side of her body, clutching against the edges of the seat.

She can hear the cars running pass her. The air was cold but it was a good kind of cold. The cold was soothing, almost. But not too long, apparently that day was not really Monbyul’s day because the wind was getting stronger by the second and Moonbyul was starting to shiver. ‘Great.’ In an attempt to stop her muscles from shaking, Moonbyul fully buttoned up her dark blue coloured blazer of her uniform before putting both of her hands in the jacket’s pockets.

“Miss Moon?”

Moonbyul opened her eyes abruptly. Standing in front of her was a neat looking man, about 40 of age, approaching her slowly with a black umbrella on his right hand and his left one on his front of a dark suit, laying comfortably just above his stomach. ‘What’s with people wearing dark suits nowadays anyways? Is it like a trend now?’

She may have given him a very confusing expression because the man almost immediately bowed before introducing himself, “Hello miss, my name is Kim Jackson. Please just call me Jackson.”

Moonbyul shocked and confused upon seeing the much older man bowed 90˚ to her, quickly stand on her unprepared and shaky legs before bowing to the man in return.

“Hel-hello!”

With her head still bowing, she heard a door being opened and closed in a near distant, in a much gentle manner; followed by a second voice which then graced its way to Moonbyul’s eardrums. The voice was firm but in a considerable higher tone than the previous person.

“No young lady should ever bow to their butler.”

Moonbyul raised her head and came face to face with an older woman. Even with a stern voice, Moonbyul can still see the small smile on the woman’s face. They stared at each other and the woman’s face softened. Moonbyul, still confused, bowed her head again to both of the elders in front of her.

“Choi Moonbyul, may we speak in private?”

-End of flashback-

“Wait what?” Seulgi’s right hand froze mid-air, the bizarre statement from Moonbyul prevent her from completely putting down the clearly small antique cup they are using for their late afternoon tea session. opened in nowhere to be near of any lady-like manner, still processing the information she just gained from the older lady sitting across her; the brown and white marble table set as a boundary between the two women facing each other. Moonbyul undoubtedly amused by the younger’s girl kind of expected response, gave out a tiny smile before sipping the tea slowly, careful enough not to burn her tongue in the process.

“Madame is asking me to meet someone tonight, for our marriage arrangement.”

“Wait what?”

Moonbyul rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

“I’m getting married.”

They stared at each other for another 30 seconds or so. It was just silence. No movement, no questions, none. Seulgi then finally come to her senses before a wide smile spread across her face, her unoccupied hand moved up to cover her still widely opened mouth.

“Oh my god.”

Moonbyul nodded her head, confirming any suspicions that the other girl might have. Seulgi’s eyes went wide and she immediately bombarded the older girl with much needed questions.

“Who is he? Do I know him? Maybe I do. Or maybe my dad knows him? I mean we’re talking about Madame here. She’ll definitely going to hook you up with someone from a higher ranking household. Damn Moonbyul, just tell me already!”

“Calm down, and why are the one getting excited?”

“Because… you’re getting married.”

Moonbyul nodded once again in acknowledgement and reminded herself how important the marriage is to create an alliance between the two households. Seulgi upon seeing Moonbyul’s less of an excited face, cleared before quickly adding, “But you know, you could always say no to Madame.” The younger girl tried to reassure her, maybe her teasing earlier on might have went a tad too far.

“No, I couldn’t.” The older one replied, now staring at her lap, playing with her own fingers and no doubt, mind going in different directions once again. No more playful smile seen in place but now, more than often, was more or less replaced with worry and perhaps, a little bit of nervousness.

“Why not? You don’t owe her anything unnie.”

“Oh but yes, I did.” Moonbyul blinked away, trying her hard to swallow the feeling of the heavy responsibilities at the back of her mind; the feeling of owing someone a life of her own, maybe not hers but someone else’s.

Seulgi dropped her gaze and silence once again creeping its way back between the two women.

“Maybe I can help?” The younger girl suggested causing Moonbyul to give a slight smirk.

“I didn’t know you became a lawyer to help the rich, Seulgi-ah. That is so out of your standard in life, you don’t believe in this kind of dramas.”

“Correct, but I also happen to know you and who you were before you became the infamous Miss Moon.” Seulgi gave her a pointed look and Moonbyul’s smirk developed into a soft smile instead, in appreciation.

“So who is he? Which family does he come from?”

“You mean, who is she?”

“Wait what?”

Moonbyul laughed out loud.

“Even better unnie.” Seulgi smirked before continuing, “So who is she?”

“She comes from… the Jung household.” Moonbyul enlightened the other girl, sipping her tea and quietly bracing herself against whatever response and outburst the girl is about to give. But unexpectedly, she receives nothing but a blank stare in return. Seulgi’s eyes running wildly across Moonbyul’s face, trying to analyse her expression, trying to read the emotions hiding behind all those hard and stubborn façade the older girl put on every single day. She cannot believe her ears just now. There is no way.

“Which Jung family?” Her voice now surprisingly low and rough, coated with disbeliefs mixed with a slight hatred upon hearing the oh-so-familiar surname.

“The one and only.”

“CEO Jung has only one daughter.”

“I’m aware.”

“Don’t tell me you-”

“Would you like some more tea?” Moonbyul implied.

“Unnie.”

Moonbyul finally got the courage to make a firm eye contact with her now serious companion sitting across her, wishing so badly to erase her memory already implanted in her brain upon seeing the sympathy behind the chocolate pupils.

“You’re marrying Jung Wheein.”

Moonbyul sighed.

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“Dad, you cannot be serious!”

“Unfortunately sweetheart, I am.”

Wheein now openly gaped at her father before switching her full attention towards her mother next to the older man. Both were sitting comfortably on the white leathered sofa in front of her, while there she was, standing tall and still feeling insignificantly intimidated by the presence of her own parents. Little did she knows, both of the guardians were feeling a bit on edge seeing their daughter’s unexpectedly horrible reactions. They should have known.

“Mom!” Upon hearing the accustomed nickname, Madame Jung raised both of her hands in defence.

“Look I’m sorry love, but I think your father is right and I do think that this arrangement will be best for both households.”

“I’m 24! Who gets married at 24 anyways?” Wheein fumed.

“Quite a lot of people.”

“Well, I don’t want to.” Wheein crossed her arms and slightly tilted her head upwards in a stubborn manner.

“Please just come to the dinner meeting tonight?” Her father begged, both of his palms now pressed against each other.

“This is very important, Wheein-ah. The Moon family basically owns the largest private military base both in South Korea and South America. Marriage between the two of you will help us create a very strong alliance between us, young lady.” He explained further, knowing that her daughter will understand eventually. He did feel guilty with setting her daughter up in a marriage with a purpose to gain a marvellous personal benefit to his company but he has to do what is needed to be done.

“You are, after all, the heir of our family Wheein-ah, next in line with your brother. But we all know he wants nothing to do with our business. So you must learn what to sacrifice in order to get what you want.”

“And what’s that, father?”

“Power.”

“No, that’s what you want. Not me.”

CEO Jung sighed deeply, staring at his daughter’s face.

“I didn’t even know that the Moon family has an heir.”

“They do, quite recently from what I heard.”

“What? You know what, I don’t want to know.” Wheein fed up with her parents’ antics, hurriedly left the room before she loses her patience, she can already feel it slipping through her control. Making any decisions in her current state of mind won’t be helpful and definitely won’t be able to change her parents’ minds anytime soon.

Once she left the room, the husband and the wife simultaneously turned to face one another.

“Are we doing the right thing?” CEO Jung wondered aloud.

“I don’t know. I never met Miss Moon.” The wife answered.

“Me neither. I heard she’s nice though. Honey, are we doing the right thing?”

“Hopefully so.”

---

p/s: Chapter 2 is up! FYI, I know Moonbyul's real name is not Choi but bear with me everyone, it's part of the plotline lol. Do comments what you guys think so far. Enjoy and thank you!