Yoona’s POV

“Yoona, I love your shoes!” my sister-in-law complimented, “Did oppa give them to you?”

She was talking about the black pair of suede Giuseppe Zanotti heels that my husband had sent to me earlier this morning. It was a special edition with limited stock. I read that only ten pairs were made, and half of them went to Hollywood’s finest.

I smiled at the raven-haired, pale skinned beauty before me. She was my one of my few genuine friends, and she was like an older sister to me. She was the wife of Jiyong. Jiyong was Seunghyun’s only brother, and she was the first person who reached out to me when I got married to Seunghyun. She always told me that she could never understand what I had gone through, but she wanted to make it as easy on me. In her eyes, an arranged marriage was a nightmare, but she assured me that because my husband was a good man, it would be like a good dream.

“He sent them to me,” I replied shortly.

The truth was that I hardly saw my husband. He was always in different countries—China, Japan, Australia, America, Canada, and Norway. The list was endless, and I never knew when he’d come home. He was a successful businessman, and he was so good at that. He worked in reusable energy that used water, the sun, and wind to power machines. Right now, he was working on normalizing electric and solar powered cars. But he didn’t tell me. I had to read about it on Time magazine.

Today was our fourth anniversary, but I had not heard from him in the last three weeks. The longest he had been gone was three months, and he didn’t even send me a lousy text or give me a call about where he was. Everything about him was learned on the Internet.

“I guess it is better than last year’s anniversary,” I remarked, “Last year, he didn’t even remember until two weeks later, and that was only because his secretary asked him if we did anything special for our anniversary.”

I plopped my body against the sofa next to Kim Taeyeon as she sighed deeply and put her hand over mine. She was lucky; she had a loving husband who spent every single day with her. Sure, he wasn’t as rich as Seunghyun. He worked for his brother, Seunghyun, as the head of marketing, but most of the time, he was here in Seoul.

Taeyeon frowned, “Don’t be so gloomy, Yoona. He’s a very busy man, and he’s doing the best so that he can give you whatever you want.”

I didn’t know if that was the truth or if it was Taeyeon’s assumption. I didn’t know because Seunghyun never told me why he worked so damned much. He never held a conversation longer than 15 minutes with me, and he often makes excuses like the office needs him or he’s tired if I want to have a talk with him. I didn’t know what to do with him.

“Yoona, I’m sure he’ll be home soon,” Taeyeon noted.

I shrugged, “What difference does it make when he’s here?”

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Taeyeon had to leave because she had to pick up her daughter from her mother’s house, and I was left alone in the large, desolate mansion that Seunghyun had purchased after we got married. We had a lot of maids, drivers, guards, and other staff members, but I felt like they didn’t want to befriend me because of how intimidating Seunghyun was. He made it clear that I was his wife, and no one was to speak to me unless they were spoken to first. I bet they thought I was a real .

“Madam,” a maid poked her head into the library, “Your father and brothers are here to visit you.”

I simply nodded and got up from my seat. I put the book away and straightened out my skirt. As I made my way down the stairs, I saw my two brothers and father sitting in the parlor impatiently. I greeted them, but I was cut off. They began to lecture me right away.

“Yoona, why haven’t you given him a child?”

“You know what’s at risk!”
“Why haven’t you thought about it yet?”

For the past two years, they had been bugging me to get pregnant by my husband. They thought a pregnancy would ensure them that Seunghyun would always be on their side when it came to business. To them, a marriage was assurance, but there was the possibility of divorce. Bringing a child into this world was something that was irreversible. They wanted to be sure that they’d have him to support them.

“Father, I don’t even think I love him,” I faintly spoke.

“What?” he scoffed, “Who said this was about love? This is about survival. You have to do what is good for the family.”

I winced in embarrassment as the guards in the corners of the room stood still and frozen. They weren’t allowed to interfere with my personal matters, but they heard everything. It was as if my father didn’t care if the staff heard. What if the staff told Seunghyun what we were talking about?
I received this talk very often. My mother was killed by a man who she refused before she got married to my father. In my father’s eyes, men ruled the world, and women had to deal with it. I was just a woman living in a man’s world, and he thought that arranging me with a rich man would protect me. In reality, that was what made me hate him. He didn’t care about me. He just wanted to use me to get what he wanted.

“Yoona, you’ve been married for four years,” my oldest brother expressed, “This is the next step for you.”

A woman’s role was to bring children into this world, right? I looked at my brother with tears glazed over my eyes. Of course, I would never let those tears fall. I was too proud of a woman. My brother, Yunho, was once kind to me. Slowly, the greed for more money plagued him, and like my father, he saw me as a pawn in his game.

My other brother, Changmin, agreed, “You live the life of a queen. Don’t you want to keep it that way?”

No, I do not want to keep it that way! I have a husband who is always gone! He doesn’t call me to ask me if I’m doing okay, and he shows no signs of love for me. I have a father and two brothers who are greedy and view me as a weapon to get what they want. I should have been the one to run the business. It should have been me, but because I am a woman, I was refused that right!

“I don’t know,” I mumbled to say.

The truth was that I was not allowed to express what I truly thought. The last time I spoke up against my father was the day I was slapped hard on my cheek. I was called ungrateful and a spoiled brat.

“Well, you need to give him a child soon!” my father bellowed.

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Seunghyun’s POV

My only friends were family. My brother, Jiyong, worked as the head of marketing in Seoul. My cousins, Daesung, Youngbae, and Seungri, also worked for me and helped me travel to other countries to set up projects. In my family, I was the black sheep. I was the odd one out, and I knew it. I was fairly quiet and hated people who talked too much, which was ironic because my wife had a big mouth. My brother and cousins were outgoing, but I was very introverted. I liked my privacy, and I did everything I could to protect it.

Seungri and Daesung had accompanied me to my trip to Abu Dhabi to speak to investors. When it came to work, I had no problem speaking, but when it came to personal matters, I fell silent every single time. I didn’t know why I was like this.

“Dude, you’ve been gone for three weeks. Aren’t you at least going to text your wife that you’re on your way back to Seoul?” Seungri asked.

Seungri had gotten used to my reserved personality, but he knew that Yoona was still not used to it. He tried to be a friend to her about it, and he often encouraged me to open up to her. The truth was that I never opened up to anybody—not even to my own family.

Daesung added, “If Jiyong hyung did that to Taeyeon, she’d probably kill him.”

But my relationship with Yoona was different. We were in an arranged marriage; Jiyong and Taeyeon married on their own free will. I looked at my phone and thought about texting Yoona that I was returning. I sent her shoes for our anniversary, and in my mind, I figured that she wouldn’t really care if I were returning. She was probably shopping right now or something.

“Ah, and yet again, the great Choi Seunghyun has nothing to say,” Seungri groaned loudly on the plane.

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Yoona’s POV

The bedroom door slowly opened, and I closed my eyes right away. I knew who it was. Seunghyun was a very strict man, and the staff knew that. He made a lot of rules, and one of them was that no one was to enter the master bedroom if one or both of us was in the room. The only person who it could be was Seunghyun. I covered my body with the large comforter and faced my back towards him. I heard him drop his suitcase next to the door as the door slowly closed.

He then proceeded to undo his tie and his shirt—he always did that in order when he returned from a long trip. I heard the shirt gently fall to the floor. It was only 11:30 pm. There was still 30 minutes left until our anniversary ended. Instead of greeting him, I just wanted to ignore him and go to sleep. The last time I greeted him a happy anniversary was our first year together. I even went to his office and delivered a home cooked meal for him. Pathetic, right? The only thing he did was quickly glance up from his computer and he told me to leave it at the desk. After that, it was as if he wanted me to go home right away. That was just one of the many times he was cold to me.

I felt his weight on the other side of the bed. He slowly crawled to my side of the bed and put his hand over my shoulder. I shut my eyes tighter and continued to pretend as if I was sleeping. I knew he could see my face through the dim light.

“Happy anniversary, wife,” his deep voice cut through the silence.

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I knew the routine for the next morning. When he was home, he’d wake up early at 6 am at the latest and be at the office by 7 am even if the office opened at 8 and his employees clocked in at 9. He was a workaholic, and I knew the routine. I tried to pick up positive habits every single time he went out on business for long durations. When he went to London for a month, I began to take art classes. When Seunghyun went to New York for three weeks, I practiced my English. I already had a personal trainer for the past four years, but when he went to Abu Dhabi, I had to change my personal trainer.

My old trainer, Bora, was now pregnant and had to take time off. She suggested her coworker, and I quickly agreed because I trusted her judgment. I didn’t know that her coworker was a man, but I figured that it would be okay. Seunghyun wasn’t at home, and if it bothered him, he wouldn’t even say anything. He never said anything before.

I had just brushed my teeth and washed my face. I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra. As I tied my hair up, the door to the bathroom opened to reveal my very distant husband. I saw his eyes flutter to my body before he looked away quickly.

“You’re up early,” he finally noticed.

It was only 5:45 am, and because I had a new trainer, I was required to change my schedule. Besides, I thought it was a good thing that I started the day off with exercise. For the past few weeks, I had been getting up early before the sun even came up—just like my husband.

“I’m going to have breakfast soon,” I cleared my throat, “Would you like to eat with me?”

He hesitated and looked back at me with dazed eyes. He was still half asleep, and he had to process what I had just said. For the