since you guys wanted a sequel here ya go! (don't kill me. you wanted this lol)

All his life, people always say that his family is perfect.

And Henry knows that his father takes pride in that. So he raised him and his siblings to be perfect - to be polite, to be smart, to be athletic, to excel in everything.

You’re so lucky your children always do what you say, Henry overheard one of his father’s work colleagues say. Mine is always at a stage of rebellion. I don’t know how you do it, Peter. He was just eight years old when he heard that and he saw how his father practically glowed at the compliment and since then, he had swore to always make him proud.

“I told you to say no to this, Henry.” His brother, Clinton, says as they head towards the family car, both of them dressed in pristine suits. “I don’t want that kind of life for you. It’s enough that I had to go through it.”

Their driver opens the door for them and Henry smiles gratefully at him before climbing in after his brother. They’re headed to a party of their father’s biggest business partner and he had long made an agreement with his father to marry that man’s daughter. Two years before, Clinton was in the same situation and he watches as his older brother twists the wedding ring on his finger before speaking.

“It’s fine, Clint. I don’t really mind. And besides I can’t disappoint father. Not after mom--”

He stops talking. Their mother dying is something that they don’t talk about. Not even after a year.

Clinton sighs. “I know. I just--” He twists his wedding ring again.

“I know.”

He sees her at the buffet table, eyeing the pastries, and before he could think about what he’s doing, he’s already walking towards her, not hearing Clinton asking him where he’s going. He never thought he’d see her again. After they parted ways in New York, he knew he’s going to regret not asking for her number because frankly, he couldn’t get her out of his head and he finds himself wanting to hold her hand again.

He reaches the table and his hand twitches a little bit. “Do you want a drink to swallow those down?”

Amber looks up and Henry’s mouth forms a grin. She looks cute when she’s surprised.

“Hi,” He greets, still with that stupid grin on his face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, of all places.”

Amber grins back and Henry realizes just how much he was longing to see that again. “I could say the same to you.”

“Let me guess, your father’s a businessman?” Henry asked, handing her a glass of champagne.

“Yep.” Amber answers, taking the drink and sipping it. “Though, I can’t take more than a few minutes of business talks. I would die in boredom if I do.”

Henry chuckles. She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would be content with just sitting behind a desk. “I take it, you’re not the one inheriting the family business?”

“God, no.” Amber scrunches her nose at that. Cute. “That’s my sister’s job. She’s younger but she’s more suited for that.”

“What is it, then, that you are most suited for?”

Now that Henry remembers, she asked about his music that time in the cafe and they ended up talking about that for almost two hours. He had told her about how he enrolled secretly in Berklee because he knows his father would flip if he’s focusing on anything else besides running the company with his brother. He didn’t know why he did that but he was just glad to get that off his chest. He hadn’t asked about her interests that time. She must have thought he’s a self-obsessed freak or something.

She hesitates for a while before answering. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”

“Why would I think that?”

Amber squints at him and he just smiles, hoping that it’s sincere and genuine enough for her to trust him.

“I want to go to film school.” she says.

Henry’s smile softens, stepping closer to her, heart beating wildly in his chest. “I don’t think that’s stupid at all.”

Amber grins again and for the second time in his life, he wants to disobey his father.

It’s a downward spiral after that.

Sunyoung is a very lovely girl with a very lovely smile. Henry understands why his father chose her but his heart twists in his chest after they were introduced and he saw how his father was smiling proudly at him. Then he looks over to Amber, whose smile doesn’t reach her eyes and stands quietly behind her sister. He frowns, trying to catch her eye but she keeps her head down, whispering something in Sunyoung’s ear before excusing herself. His gaze follows after her, feeling his heart sink as he watches her walk away.

Clinton nudges him gently and he’s brought back to the conversation that his father is having with Sunyoung’s father.

“So, you’ll come by for dinner tomorrow night?” Peter asked, patting Mr. Park on the back.

Mr. Park grins at him. “Of course, Peter. And besides, Sunyoung and Henry could need the time to get to know each other, right?”

Sunyoung smiles at Henry and he manages to smile back but his mind is already occupied with the girl he watched walk away just a few minutes ago. Clinton pats him on the back and the ring on his finger catches the light. Henry feels his heart sink even more.

The dinner went okay. He wasn’t exactly having the time of his life but there are worse things that had happen to him. It also wasn’t particularly enjoyable that he’s seated across Clinton and his wife and he wonders if his married life would be like that too - dull and pointless. He looks over to Sunyoung and she looks up just in time to catch his gaze. She smiles and blushes. Sunyoung has one of those smiles that are so genuine you can’t help but smile back so he feels the corner of his lips tugging upwards.

And while Sunyoung’s smiles make him feel warm and comfortable despite their awkward situation, it’s the mere sight of Amber that makes his heart thud against his ribcage, daring to leap out of his chest. She’s seated beside her sister, dark fringe covering her eyes as she focuses on her food, the sleeves of her suit rolled up to reveal intricate tattoos. Henry looks away with a light blush and catches his father’s eyes this time. His father nods at him, smiling proudly like the way he did when Clinton got married.

He loves his dad and he would do anything to keep that smile on his face.

“So how about it, Henry,” His dad starts with a proud smile and a pat on his back. “You like Sunyoung so far?”

“She’s very nice.” Henry says, lips forming a straight line - an attempt of a smile.

And Sunyoung is very nice. They’ve gotten to know each other for the past week and she’s pleasant to be with. She’s pretty, smart, kind and any man would be lucky to have her as a wife. But no matter how perfect she is or how pretty her smile is, his mind always comes back to toothy grins behind coffee mists, mouthful of pastries, and ink on exposed skin.

That’s another thing, though. Amber seems to be avoiding him and there’s a small painful tug on his heart when she refuses to meet his eyes and she’s absolutely avoiding being alone with him. He feels another tug that threatens to shatter his heart altogether.

“Is this seat taken?” Henry tries a smile when Amber looks up from her phone, straw of the milk tea she’s drinking still between her lips. She freezes on her seat when she sees him before looking around the cafe. Seeing that the cafe is empty besides the two of them, she raises an eyebrow and reluctantly nods.

“Go ahead, I guess.” she mumbles through the straw, looking down on her phone again.

Henry sighs as he sits down. He knows she’s avoiding making eye contact and conversation but he tries for the sake of his sanity and his heart.

“How have you been, Amber?” Henry asks. Amber stops typing on her phone, thumb hovering over the screen but she still isn’t looking at him. Henry’s getting a little bit desperate.

When she finally looks at him, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “Good. Been busy with the wedding and stuff.”

The wedding. His wedding. To her sister.

There’s that tug again.

“Sunyoung’s really excited, you know.” Amber continues. “Can’t stop talking about it. Can’t stop talking about you.”

Henry feels like someone just punched his gut. “Can we not talk about the wedding, please?”

Amber raises an eyebrow at him.

“It’s everything I hear these days and I want a break.” Henry explains, sighing as he leans back against his seat, watching for Amber’s reaction at the corner of his eye. She surveys him for a while, staring at him with a look on her face that he doesn’t understand and then she’s pocketing her phone, scooting her chair closer to his.

“What do you want to talk about, then?”

Amber is smiling at him like the way she did in New York and Henry feels like he’s free again.

After that Amber’s starting to smile at him again and she’s not trying to avoid him whenever he’s at a close distance anymore and to be honest, it’s the only thing that’s keeping Henry sane because even his dad’s proud smile is starting to get on his nerves.

He sees something in Amber’s eyes, though, whenever he’s with Sunyoung. The usual sparkle is gone and there’s a flicker of hurt and then it’s gone as soon as he notices it. He feels the tug again. He tries not to think too much about it. For his sanity.

Henry doesn’t remember getting drunk. He does remember asking his brother out for some drinks but the latter declines because of some paperwork that he has to finish. He definitely remembers grabbing the whiskey bottle from the liquor cabinet of his office, though. Then the next thing he remembers is Clinton dragging him to his room, muttering about how heavy he is. His brother dumps him on the bed, removing his shoes and placing some pill and a glass of water on his nightstand before leaving.

He groans and opens his eyes, world spinning as he sits up, fumbling with his phone. He retrieves it from his pocket, almost dropping it twice and getting his passcode wrong three times. He dials Amber’s number. He doesn’t know why, all he knows is that he wants to. He doesn’t know what to say, all he knows is that he wants to hear her voice. The wedding is three days away and he has three days to hold on to his freedom.

“Hello?”

Henry slurs his greeting. “Amburrrrrr,” He laughs before collapsing back into his bed. “My head is spinning.”

“Henry? Are you drunk?”

“I had whiskey.” He giggles and rolls to his side, almost falling off the bed.

“You should take some rest.”

“Nooooooo,” Henry whines. “I want to see you.”

There was silence on the other line for a few moments. “You should really go to sleep, Henry.”

“I wanna see you first.” he whines again and he hears Amber sighing.

“Okay, I’ll come over. Why don’t you close your eyes first and take some rest? When you wake up, I’ll be there.”

“...okay.” Henry holds the phone closer to his ear, snuggling into his pillows and closing his eyes, yawning. “I’ll see you later, Amber.”

“Yeah. Now go sleep.”

Amber didn’t come.

“It’s almost like a joke - the way Henry came into our lives,” Amber starts, a glass of champagne in her hand, addressing the audience in the reception hall. “I was actually the one who met him first.” she chuckles and Henry almost smiles at the memory. Almost. Because he remembers why he’s here, wearing a suit next to a girl he’s supposed to spend the rest of his life with. Yet his heart is with Amber.

“I was in New York and he helped me out of a sticky situation. Fast forward to a few months later, we met again at my dad’s party and now he’s marrying my sister. Someone up there must have really wanted you to be in our lives.”

From the corner of his eye, Henry sees his father laugh and truly, he’s happy that his father’s happy but there’s still a dull ache in his chest that only seems to go away when he’s with Amber.

Sunyoung takes his hand and squeezes it gently, smiling up at him. Henry smiles back and tries not to think about how different it was when it’s Amber who’s holding his hand. He should start getting used to Sunyoung’s touches.

“My beloved sister, Sunyoung,” Amber continues. “Has always been the hopeless romantic out of the two of us. It’s annoying sometimes, I have to be honest.” The audience laughs again. “So it’s not really a surprise that she fell for Henry the first time she laid eyes on him.”

Henry hasn’t taken his eyes off of her, engraving her into his mind for this is the last time he’d be able to really look at her. She’s wearing a long blue silk dress even though Sunyoung had told her that it’s okay to have a custom suit made but she refused, saying that it’s her sister’s special day. The tattoos on her arm are now fully exposed and Henry had long wanted to find out what they stand for (especially the one on her inner wrist - music notes) but now he has to stop himself. He has to stop thinking about her. Sunyoung doesn’t deserve to be hurt.

“Best wishes to you both,” Amber raises her drink, the crowd following after her. “Be happy.”

The applause muffles in Henry’s ears. The tug on his chest is back and he realizes as he watches Amber walk away from the microphone, his heart falling to the ground, that he might never be happy.