-Flashback-

It was painfully awkward. The jazz song playing softly in the background did nothing to help calming Moonbyul’s racing heart. It was honestly one of Moonbyul’s greatest flaws; meeting new people or public speaking has been always quite a struggle for the shy girl.

People don’t really talk to her that much, as she’s always been on by herself ever since she was young. Seulgi was definitely one of the rare people who are able to enter her life quite unexpectedly and actually stayed. Though the girl is 2 years younger than her, but Moonbyul often feels like Seulgi is sometimes more mature than what people have given her credit for.

Moonbyul converted her gaze away from her tightly clutching and clammy hands on her lap to the black Mercedes Benz parked across the street from the warm and tiny coffee house, where the older woman has invited her for the private talk earlier on. She can see Jackson from afar, standing stiffly beside the car. The rain is now dropped in a much gentle manner compared to 10 minutes ago when the girl was first approached by the older strangers. The weather finally allows the older man to abandon his seemly obsession with the dark blue coloured umbrella.

‘So he’s a butler? How very fancy.’

Moonbyul lost in her own observations and thoughts, failed to hear the soft sounds of the clicking heels against the surface of the woods that were slowly making their way towards the tiny table. All of a sudden, Moonbyul heard someone cleared their throat, and without even realizing it, Moonbyul stood up and immediately paid her attention back towards to the older woman, now standing beside the table with an amused expression.

The woman smiled and lightly joked, “You don’t have to stand up every time I approach you, you know?”

Moonbyul, embarrassed by her own actions, sat down quickly and mumbled a quiet ‘sorry.’

“I hope you don’t mind I’m getting you a hot chocolate rather than coffee I’m having? I wasn’t sure if you like any of them.” The woman, now taking a sit across her, frowned upon realizing her mistake in taking the orders on behalf of the much younger girl.

“No, that’s okay. I prefer tea more than I prefer coffee, and I love hot chocolate.” Moonbyul hurriedly reassured her, hooking her finger on the handle of the pink cup and her other unoccupied left hand went to lightly embraced the body of the object, balancing the cup with her two capable hands before she took a slow sip of the hot liquid, heightened her body temperature almost instantly.

The older woman, who has been staring at the girl the whole time instead of taking a sip of her own drink, smiled softly upon seeing the satisfaction expression that slowly sneaked its way across the younger girl’s face.

“Umm… thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Moonbyul, beginning to feel like an interrogated victim, avoided the woman’s intense eye contacts as much as she possibly could. The woman, however, was quite persistent with her stare.

“So, uhh…” Moonbyul started, trying to throw away the awkward silence that have been lingering between the two them. “Not to be rude, but who are you?”

The curious question from Moonbyul caused the woman to finally avert her attention towards the glass window next to their table before letting out a deep sigh; silently preparing herself with whatever conversation they’re going to have and knowing that it won’t be easy on the girl’s part.

“My name is Moon Seo Yeon.” She stated simply.

Moonbyul, as she expected to hear more, stared openly instead of giving out a response to the other woman. The older one remained mute for about 10 seconds before she took Moonbyul’s similar silence as her cue to carry on.

“People know me more often as Madame Moon from the Moon household.”

“Oh, I think I have heard about you!” Moonbyul upon hearing the familiar household’s name; raised her right hand in excitement.

“Really now?”

“I’ve heard your name a couple times on the television. You own the Star company, right?”

Madame Moon, now impressed seeing the younger girl’s not-so-limited knowledge about the country’s well beings and politics, asked the girl further, “What do you know about the Star?”

“It’s like a private military thingy, here in South Korea. Am I right?” Moonbyul eagerly replied, a wide smile now can be seen on her tiny face.

“Indeed.” Madame nodded. “You seem to know quite a lot about us.”

Moonbyul blushed. “I’m interested in learning laws.” She admitted softly.

“I see. No wonder.”

Moonbyul smiled in return.

“My son was also interested in learning laws.” Madame Moon divulged.

“Oh, you must be proud.”

“I am.”

“Is he not interested in learning them anymore?” Moonbyul wondered, recognizing the word ‘was’ in Madame Moon’s sentence.

“No, unfortunately he didn’t get too far.” Madame Moon paused. “He died, a few years back.”

Moonbyul, who didn’t expect that answer from Madame Moon, froze in place. She struggled to find words to comfort the older woman but found none, so she opted to remain quiet instead.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Moonbyul finally said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It’s quite alright. That was a long time ago, 17 years ago to be exact.”

Moonbyul nodded and gave her a tiny smile.

“That’s why I’m here actually.” Madame Moon added causing the younger girl to frown in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“My son, Moon Ji Hoon, was married to a woman before he died.” She paused, “Before they died.”

“He was married to Ji Hye. Do you know who they are?” Madame Moon continued.

Moonbyul upon hearing the names for the first time in her life, shook her head gently in response.

“They are your parents, Miss Moon.”

-End of flashback-

“You cleaned up nicely.” Madame Moon smiled, seeing the attires the usually boyish-girl is currently wearing.

“Thank you.” The younger girl half-heartedly replied, distracted with the idea of seeing a particular person in a few minutes to come.

“Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

“Madame.” Moonbyul warned, unimpressed with the woman’s attempt to rile her up early in the evening.

“They’re going to love you.”

“Good.”

“I mean, that was what I’m hoping for. Be on your good behaviour.” Madame Moon added, folding her hands on her lap, eyes staring intently outside the car’s window.

“I always have been.”

“Not in that clothing. You’re obsessed with suits.” Madame teased, a rare occasion to be witnessed.

“You asked me to wear them when I first became the CEO.” The girl scoffed. Madame Moon hummed in response, not denying the truth behind her grand-daughter’s reasoning.

“I meant it, Moonbyul.” The taller girl, upon hearing the old nickname only Seulgi has ever been used against her, took a glance at the older woman’s face.

“Be on your good behaviour. The Jungs may have taken a like on you but we never got the chance to meet Young Lady Jung last night. Impress the girl.” Madame sternly ordered.

“Yes Madame.”

“We are here Madame Moon, Miss Moon.” Jackson informed, staring at the two women from the car’s front view mirror.

“I thought you said it’s a dinner party?” Moonbyul wondered, confused with the lack of people upon seeing the entrance to the Jung household’s mansion.

“It is, for VIP only. It will be a private one so you’ll be seeing quite a lot of people working under you.” Madame Moon confirmed. “We will be having a remote meeting first with the Jungs before you’ll meet the others. We don’t want to risk you and Young Lady Jung looking awkward around each other for people to see. Both of you need to be introduced first.”

------

“Madame Moon! Miss Moon! Welcome to our home.” Madame Jung greeted once both of the Moon women stepped into the brightly lit house; the walls are graced with cream coloured wallpapers at the top half while the bottom half is styled with simple white coloured wallpapers. Upon entering the main door, Moonbyul can immediately see the two large stairs that are parted on each side of the room, leaving the middle to be welcomed with another door, no doubt leading into another bigger room. The big gold chandelier dangling elegantly on top of her head; illuminating the room in a perfectly in sync manner, complimenting the colour of the walls and the floors at the same time. The ceiling is painted with soft coloured flowers, with a mix of human arts that Moonbyul clearly do not have the artistic talent, enough to interpret the meaning behind the drawing.

In general, it was a stunningly jaw dropping designed house, and that was only at the entrance.

“Good evening Sooyoung-shi, Jonghyun-shi.” Madame Moon smiled, shaking both of the resident owners’ hands simultaneously, while Moonbyul who was standing a few steps behind Madame Moon only gave out a tiny smile in return.

“The others are in the living room. But I was wondering if you would like to have a drink first before meeting the others?” CEO Jung offered.

----

“You have such a lovely home, Madame Jung.” Moonbyul complimented as 4 of them entered the seemingly study room CEO Jung has been directed them earlier on. Now instead of being on the first floor, the room was suited on the second floor.

“Thank you Miss Moon, our daughter does help us chose the right one.” Madame Jung sneakily said, bringing her daughter’s presence into the conversation.

“Miss Moon is a lucky one then, having a future wife with such wonderful tastes.” Madame Moon responded.

To be honest, all these insincere compliments are making Moonbyul’s head hurt, but she smiled nevertheless.

All of the sudden, the room is filled with a silent knocks that can be heard against the large wooden door at the right side of the room, the same door Moonbyul entered from a few minutes ago.

“Come in.” She heard the older man instructed.

Upon hearing the permission, the door slowly creaked open, revealing the person behind it. What Moonbyul didn’t expect to see was to see a beautiful dark haired girl, now standing shyly at the foot of the door, her light blue dress covering her petite body up until just above her knees, with a huge similar coloured belt gripping her waist, tight enough to show off the hourglass curve of the girl’s body. Her feet, instead of wearing the adorable pink coloured sneakers Moonbyul saw 24 hours ago, are now poised with a pair of white simple heels that fully praised the posture of the lady in them. Her straight black hair now is highlighted with brown in colour. Moonbyul felt like as if the girl standing in front of her was a completely different person compared to the one she met in the restaurant.

By looking at the girl’s wardrobe choice for the night, Moonbyul cannot help herslef but to gawk at her.

Wheein, on the other hand, after seeing the familiar face of the woman in front of her, gasp in surprise and both of her eyes immediately widened. Her finger automatically pointed shamelessly towards Moonbyul’s direction, forgetting the presence of the older companions in the room for a split second.

“Oh? Miss fish!”

Moonbyul, hearing upon the unusual but somehow meaningful nickname given to her, bowed her head politely in response.

“Good evening, Young Lady Jung.”

The nickname however, not knowing any better, causes both of the younger girl’s parents and Madame Moon to be left quite speechless.

“Wheein!” Madame Jung gasped, mortified by her own daughter’s rudeness to her own future wife. Wheein, now finally realizing the identity of the woman who she has been addressed to, quickly bowed her head in return.

“I apologize, CEO Moon. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just you… look like fish.” Wheein shrugged, hastily knowing that her excuse behind the given nickname was a horrible one. She can feel her parents’ intense glare at the side of her head.

Madame Moon nonetheless, who didn’t quite expect the answer from the younger girl, let out a soft laugh. “She does, now does she Young Lady Jung?”

Moonbyul, not wanting the girl to be scolded again by her parents and not wanting to embarrass her any further, decided to play along.

“I do. I heard about it fairly a lot of times, really.” Moonbyul smiled.

The two older Jungs let out nervous laughs in return, relieved and amused by the Moon’s odd sense of humor.

Wheein, however, feeling ridiculous and out of place, opted to stay silent instead; knowing that any words that will come out of won’t do her any good in the current situation.

Wheein has always been struggling when it comes to attending formal meeting like this. She doesn’t how to act, what to say and how to serve. She has never been really attending a lot of meetings in the past and only recently has she been thinking, feeling oblige to come and see her family’s business world. Wheein, being the definite heir to the Jung household, has started to consider about her future role and career but that doesn’t mean she’s already used being in the centre of attention.

She was a centre of attention once, when she was in high school. It didn’t end well.

Moonbyul, on the other hand, has learned quite a lot for the past years, she has trained and prepared a lot to make herself as the most suitable and presentable person to hold the position as a CEO.

She knows when to stay invisible when needed and when to voice out her opinion. She knows when to smile and when to demand respect, especially from the much older people under her.

This is how she recognizes the uncomfortable expression that spread across the younger girl’s beautiful face, even from afar. Because she has been there. Though Moonbyul also knows very well what the girl is capable of, what she has done in past, what she has done to hurt her; but Moonbyul can’t help but felt rather sorry towards the girl. The marriage must have been a force one as well to the girl.

“Young Lady Jung,” Moonbyul started causing Wheein to snap her attention back towards the group. “You look lovely tonight.” She gave out a tiny smile, sincerely this time.

Wheein blushed lightly with the sudden compliment and bowed her head once again before mumbling a tiny, almost inaudible ‘thank you’.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you show Miss Moon around the house?” CEO Jung offered.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You have a lovel-”

“Did you know I was Young Lady Jung last night?” Wheein cut her off, staring intensely at the girl’s face. Even with her struggle to maintain an eye contact with the girl, Wheein was quite successful in trying to intimidate the older woman now standing in front of her. They were in the garden, away from prying eyes of the older ones; a safe place for Wheein to start interrogating her. Madame Moon doesn’t seem to be aware of her brief presence last night, so the older woman must have kept it as a secret.

‘But why? She could have told my parents too. Maybe she wants something in return?’ Wheein thought.

It honestly became quite confusing for the younger girl to found out that the hero she has been thinking for the past 24 hours is now becoming her wife in a few months, or less.

Moonbyul, surprised by the sudden outburst, gave out a blank stare before replying. “No, Young Lady Jung. Not at first.” She paused, giving the girl time to process her words. “I only know once you mentioned your name.” Moonbyul lied.

‘I know you from when I was 18 years old! You hurt me, remember?’ Moonbyul screamed in her mind, wanting so bad to say it out loud.

“Oh.” Wheein frowned, “You know my name?”

“I feel rather insecure not knowing my future wife’s full name. I hope you don’t mind, of course.”

“No, that’s okay. That makes sense, I guess. I’m sorry about, you know.” Wheein apologized instantly, not wanting to offend the older girl.

“For calling me Miss fish?” Moonbyul joked, causing the younger girl to let out a tiny laugh.

“That and for bailing you last night. I admit, that was rather rude and unnecessary on my behalf.” The girl lowered her gaze but not before taking in what the older woman is wearing. Gone is the black suit, which to be honest slowly becoming one of Wheein’s favourite thing in the world, and instead now is replaced with a white blouse with arms folded just above the elbows, tucked in into the short, high-waist black skirt accompanied with a black heels and white socks.

“I understand. I too, didn’t how to react upon Madame breaking the news to me.” She admitted.

“I almost didn’t recognize you. You look different without your suits on CEO Moon.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Not that it’s not good, I mean you’re naturally a good looking person. What I about to say was you’re clothes are good looking too. I mean-” The younger girl nervously ranted, wanting to compliment the woman’s appearance but not wanting to sound insincere at the same time.

“Thank you, Young Lady Jung.” Moonbyul smiled, amused by the girl's adorable antics. She’s so different from what I remember her as.

“Please just call me Wheein, no need to be formal around me.”

“Then you should call… umm Byul.”

“Omo! Like the stars?” Wheein gasped, “So pretty!”

“Yes, like the stars Wheein-shi.” Moonbyul let out a gentle laugh.

“So, is your company named after yours? The Star Company?”

“No, I was named after the company. I believe it was the other way around."

“It’s pretty.” The shorter one repeated.

“Just like you.” Moonbyul didn’t even realize that she was thinking aloud, not until the words literally came out of . Upon seeing Wheein’s silent and shock expression, Moonbyul blushed lightly and slightly turned her face away from the girl’s sight, not wanting to embarrass herself any longer than what was already done.

“I apologize, I didn’t know what just come out of my mind.” The taller girl bowed.

“It’s okay. It’s nice… being praised once in a while.” Wheein smiled brightly in return, blinding Moonbyu’s eyes.

At the same time, and even she hasn’t really notice it yet, the smiles was also slowly blinding Moonbyul’s heart little by little; repeating whatever mistake she has made a long time ago.

Breaking her promise, not only to herself but to Seulgi as well.

“You can’t fall for Wheein.”

"I won't."

"Unnie, promise?"

"I promise."

p/s: Tadaaaaa! I admit I had quite a struggle finishing this one (I'm a new writer, please take it easy on me! >.< and I apologize if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes). Please do comments what you guys think so far :) thank you for your support! <3