First thing in the morning it was set to meet the Lee household. In the backseat, Jinri leaned her head on the window watching as she passed by people and trees. With a heavy heart and confused mindset it wasn’t hard to pin down her feelings towards what was going on today.

She had classes to attend but was able to get away with missing them just for today. Jinri went to Seoul University, there she was studying accounting and was one of the top students in her class. Often the girl was praised for her hard work and was told that the future looks so bright, but what bright future involved some forced marriage?

The Lee’s must have lived somewhere very far since the car ride to the estate was around an hour more or less. Passing all the trees, buildings, people, Jinri felt as if she was taken into a whole other world. Pulling into the driveway passed the opening gate, Jinri’s mouth fell open as she looked at the tall house.

The mansion was two stories tall, nonetheless elegance at its finest. Its creamy white color stood out from any other house Jinri ever came across. Stepping out of the car, the quiet neighborhood made it seem as if she really was in a new world. Everything seemed to look exactly like those rich people in the movies. And yet even as astonished as she seemed to be by the elegant view, that once gloomy feeling she felt moments before washed over her again.

“Come on, let’s not keep them waiting,” Her mother mutters to her as she wraps an arm around her and aids her way up the steps to the door. Jinri’s father reaches the door first and hesitantly raises his hand to knock. It really was now or never.

“Wait,” the mother tells her husband. Jinri and the man both look at her confused. Quickly brushing down the young girl’s bangs and adjusting the tie that held her long brown locks in a half up half down style, the mother smiles at the sight of her daughter. Jinri wore a black cardigan with a white blouse, a skirt and some black stockings were paired with a nice pair of flats. “You look beautiful,” Her mother compliments. Jinri gulps nervously as she sees the nervousness in her mother’s face.

“Go on then, we shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Her mother tells the father finally ready to face the unexpected. Slowly, he finally knocks and waits for an answer. It really was time now.

In the early morning it was already hectic, with the arrival of the Lee’s and the expected guests everyone had their work cut out for them. Breakfast was being made diligently and the maids were making check of every part of the house to be spotless.

Silently in the main bedroom, Taemin got himself dressed for the special occasion. Wearing black leather oxfords, grey pants and a white blouse, Taemin carefully and precisely began putting on his tie. It was grey and matched with the suit he would be wearing.

Standing in front of the long mirror, he watched carefully as his fingers did their magic and created the neat and proper tie. He releases a sigh as he looks up from his own reflection and at the reflection of the other male that stood quietly by the door.

“Dashing, aren’t I?” He asks.

The male keeps a steady look at the cocky guy, “I’ve seen better.” Taemin ignores the rude comment and continues to adjust his shirt, making sure each button aligns with the right button, no creases are to be seen, the cuff links are even, and well the usual.

“I suspect you did your research as told, correct?” He asks.

“Yes.”

Turning around, “Well then, don’t just stand there and show me what you got.”

The male approaches the oldest and pulls out a picture from his back pocket. The small sized picture is of a girl with long brown hair, milky skin, and a wide white smile. It must have been over the summer since the corner of the picture is a bit overexposed due to the bright flash and the girl is wearing a tank top. She had a mole or birthmark on the corner of the tip of her nose.

“Choi Jinri. Based off of what the letter gave me, this is most likely the girl that was being referred to,” the butler states.

Taemin rubs his chin as he observes the picture. “Where did it say she was from?”

“It didn’t.”

Before their conversation could continue, a light knock is heard on the door.

“The Lee’s have arrived,” a soft female voice says from the door. Taemin rolls his eyes, “Great, mother and father dearest have arrived. It’s show time!” He says sarcastically.

The butler watches as he turns around and throws on his suit jacket. “If I may ask, where exactly did you go yesterday?”

Taemin smiles as he strolls towards him, patting him on the back. “To deal with some business, don’t question me again.”

Following after the older one, the butler couldn’t help but feel confused and worried for what was to come.

“Mother!” Taemin calls out from the staircase as he makes his way down. Dressed down in an ivory green gown, Mrs. Lee turns her head around quickly and a smile appears on her face.

“My son, my how big you’ve gotten!” She says walking to meet him by the end of the stairs, her heels clicking against the smooth marble floor. Embracing him in a hug, Mrs. Lee pats her sons back as she feels his tight hug around her.

“Tell me, how has Paris been treating you?” Taemin asks escorting her to the living room. The older women smiles, “Paris has been a nice treat. Or should I say, ‘il a été fantastique’” Taemin chuckles along with her as they make their way through the doors to the living room.

“Shall I prepare some tea?” the butler asks Taemin. Taemin nods for him to do as told, and Mrs. Lee quickly looks back once hearing that familiar voice. Her eyes widen and another grand smile forms on her wrinkled face.

“Jongin! It’s been a long time, dear. Come here,” She says going towards him for a hug. The young lad smiles at the lady, happy at her acknowledges of him. “How has life been treating you?”

“Terrible. Good,” Jongin answers modestly. “I’ve been meaning to write back to you but work has kept me very busy here.”

“My yes, the letters! Me and my old self has forgotten about our routine. Please if you become overworked do take a break. Taemin, you better let your cousin have a break, you hear me?” She says.

“Of course, mother,” Taemin says with a smile. Although it was very clear that his true intentions were never of kindness.

“Where is father? Did he make another excuse not to come?” Taemin asks.

Mrs. Lee shakes her head, “I last saw him parking the car.”

“Yes, and it is now parked,” Mr. Lee answers.

Going to Jongin first and taking him in a quick hug, he then goes over to his son and stares at him. “You’ve kept the place clean and nice, good job.”

“Jongin, mother insisted on tea. Would you please go and get that?” Taemin says in a rude manner.

“Oh please, don’t. I know my way around here, I could get that myself,” Mrs. Lee says heading for the kitchen. “Oh join me, I have so much to catch you up on, dear.” Jongin smiles as he follows behind the elder woman.

It’s quiet as the two men are left alone. Taemin keeps a steady glare on his father while the man seems to be unbothered by it.

“Alright, let’s cut the crap since mom is out of the room,” Taemin starts off.

“Crap? That’s a weird thing to call it.”

“An assigned heiress? You’ve got to be out of your mind, do you honestly believe anyone follows that tradition today?” Taemin asks.

Mr. Lee smirks, “So you actually read my letter?”

“Not quite. I’ve assigned our butler to read me my letters and inform me if any of them are from you and mother.”

“Jongin is your cousin, not just some butler, Taemin. And if you read thoroughly what was told, you would know that this isn’t just some old tradition we all must follow. It is a contract, a sealed deal.”

Taemin scoffs, “Well I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like taking part in this deal so leave me out of it.”

Heading towards the bar in the back of the room, taking out two white glasses, Taemin pours some scotch into the small glasses.

“You don’t have a choice, son. If there was a way out of this then I would have found it but there is none so you’ve got to it up and deal with it.”

Taemin turns around to look at the old man. “Is that what you’re gonna tell our guests too? Wow, a real round of applause here,” Taemin mocks.

“What’s your deal?” Mr. Lee questions getting closer to the young males face.

“Not this one,” Taemin answers.

“Sir, Mr. Lee, the Choi’s have arrived. Shall I set the table?” one of the maidens ask.

Taemin glares at his father one last time before nodding to the woman. “We should go before our guest waste more of their time and you could leave a bit earlier.”

Standing and waiting patiently in the foyer, Jinri along with her parents look around captivated by the beauty of the house. The large grand chandelier that hung from the ceiling was beautiful, and the wide staircase that came down from both the left and the right looked like those in the old movies.

“Wow,” Jinri managed to say as she looked around the room. Everything was so clear and shiny. Painting and portraits hung on the walls adding onto the beautiful appearance of the home.

A short pouty lady with an apron around her waist appears from the hall on the far left, “They’ll be right with you in a moment.”

Mrs. Choi smiles and nods to the older lady, “Thank you.”

“Sir, may I take your jacket?” She asks in a soft tone.

Mr. Choi nods, “Oh, why thank you, ma’am.” The woman smiles as she take his jacket and leaves to hang it up.

“They’re here! My, you’re a good looking bunch. I’m Mrs. Lee,” she introduces herself as she approaches the still family. Heading to Mr. Choi first, she shakes his hand diligently and smiles. Next, with Mrs. Choi the woman smiles as she shakes her hand.

Behind Mrs. Lee, Jongin watches each of their reactions to her kind gestures. An observer he was, it was his best quality it seemed.

Reaching Jinri, the happy woman’s face brightened up even more. “My, my, you must be Jinri. You’re very beautiful.”

Jinri slowly grinned, “T-thank you. I like your necklace.”

The woman looked down at her neck and at the gold chain with the silver gem and letters JL carved into it. “Why, thank you. My husband gave it to me for our first anniversary. It’s a beauty, isn’t it?”

Holding onto the gem it seemed like she was taken into another world and reminiscing. Quickly snapping out of her own thoughts she looks around and catches sight of the quiet Jongin.

“Oh yes, this is my niece Jongin, don’t be shy, greet them.”

Jongin approaches Mr. Choi giving him a sturdy handshake and receiving a nice nod. Politely he is greeted with handshake from Mrs. Choi. For Jinri, he takes her hand and delicately pecks it, his eyes meeting hers almost immediately.

Those soft brown eyes he had and his tan skin could have pulled any girl in, but for Jinri his eyes had made her feel a sense of loss.

“Perhaps is Mr. Lee present?” Mr. Choi asks the obvious owner of the house.

“Ah yes, and my son is somewhere too. I shall get you all seated for some breakfast while I find their whereabouts. Jongin, could you please them?”

“Of course, right this way.” Jongin says ready to lead the way towards the dining room while Mrs. Lee heads back into the living room to get her two boys.

“Oh, no thank you. We wanted to come here and make this quick,” Mr. Choi says.

Mrs. Lee looks at the man and then his wife who remain still in the spot. Jongin stops in his tracks of leading the way and watches the scene.

Gulping slightly, “Very well then.” Mrs. Lee then heads off to retrieve her two boys.

Finally filling up in the living room and being seated on the red satin couch, the Choi’s wait patiently for the Lee’s to appear once more. The silence was deadly and it only made Jinri feel more uncomfortable. But something else was bothering her too, this weird feeling she got.

Looking over her shoulder, she quickly caught sight of the young man she saw earlier on starring at her. Swiftly he looks away and she does the same. This was going to be a weird day.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Choi. It’s finally nice to meet you,” Mr. Lee states as he enters the room with his wife, a young man following behind him.

“No worries, it’s a pleasure meeting you, Sir.” Mr. Choi responds exchanging a handshake with the pouty man. Unlike Mr. Lee, Mr. Choi was beginning to bald and had grey streaks coming in. In Mr. and Mrs. Choi’s eyes, the Lee’s looked perfect, almost not even full human.

“Jinri, you’re a beautiful lady. It’s nice to meet you.” He greets.

“Hello, nice to meet you too.” Jinri responds quietly.

Looking past the old man’s face she catches sight of the other young man she hadn’t officially met before. He stared at her as he walked over to the bar to get yet another drink. Gulping down the liquid, his eyes never leave hers but causes her to look away.

“And this is my son, Taemin,” Mr. Lee announces, his son slowly making his way over to the family. Raising his chin up is his way of saying hello before he plops himself down on the couch. Mrs. Choi looks confused as ever and Mrs. Lee only looks embarrassed.

“Please, do sit down. Let’s get started shall we?” She says.

“Yes, I’m sure we all know why we’re here today, right?” Mr. Choi asks jokingly receiving a chuckle from the adults while the two young ones just sit idly by. Jinri felt the man’s stare on her and as uncomforting as it was she could already get a sense of his intentions.

“This contract that was made by your father and mine, is there any way to terminate it?” Mr. Choi asks.

Taemin scoffs lightly at the question, he wasn’t exactly new to the answer that was about to be given.

“Truthfully, No.” Mr. Lee answers.

Jinri’s eyes reach the old mans in need for an explanation.

“I know this may be upsetting to hear but there is no way out of this deal that’s been made. This was payed off long ago and signed, so currently there is not much we can do, Sir.”

“There has to be a way out of this, Sir,” Mrs. Choi chimes in. “You’re the head of the Universal Company, you were once a heir yourself, by chance you’ve come across a similar matter to this one?”

Mr. Lee looks to his wife, her gaze on his and then at the floor.

“Well, we went through the same thing to tell you the truth,” Mr. Lee responds. “Being put in the same situation, I know what must be going through these young ones mind and hearts. But there is nothing we could do but look forward to the future with positive thoughts.”

“Bull,” Taemin mutters under his breath, however it’s loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Taemin!” Mrs. Lee scolds.

“I’m calling it as I see it,” He says getting up and getting yet another glass of scotch.

“She’s still so young, Sir. She’s still in college and trying to figure out her life. Marriage is the exact opposite of what should come next for her. I’m begging you, don’t let my daughter go through with this.”

“There’s no way out of this. I’m sorry for you and your daughter.”

Jinri raises her head once again this week, mentally exhausted from even thinking she had a chance of getting out of this living nightmare that was unfortunately her life.

“I’m not marrying him!” Jinri finally releases as she stands up.

“Yeah, and I’m not marrying her!” Taemin says towards his father.

Both parents look at each other, unsure of what the next move was. Just what was to happen next?

A/N: Second Chapter is up! I hope you guys like it so far, I have put myself off of writing for some time so if it’s not good just know that I’m still learning and trying to do my best. Subscribe and upvote if you like, I’ll update soon!