"Welcome, Mr. Jeon."

Jungkook is holding Yeri by her hands when they finally entering the party venue. Few media and journalists whom he paid is already here and taking their pictures with repeated click. 

He's been doing this for so many times, acting, pretending, faking a smile but today is particularly hard.

Yeri is the one who work harder. She's linking her arms on his waist and flashing a smile, shaking people's hands and sometimes staring at him while trying to talk he's with so much love.

"You came."
 

She's still holding him even when people already careless with their presence. Mrs. Jeon is the one who welcomed her.

"Stay away from her."

Yeri is definitely not expecting that, so does everyone and Mrs. Jeon. 

Jungkook is really angry at his mom, well..judging from how she fainted this morning after she's talking to her, which lead to him being pissed off with what she said about their divorce, his reaction is not really surprising.

"I'm fine, it's ok."

She's caressing Jungkook's chest while looking up to him, the only way for her to do this job perfectly is for him to cooperate with her.

"What an excellent greeting, hyung."
 

It's been a while since Yeri see Jooyoung, as Jungkook's brother, he is someone who Yeri detest the most. Back when her marriage is still fine, she always feels hurt when she find Jeon's family ditching everything about Jungkook for his brother. And the things with Chaerin too, the whole family never talked about her anymore. But she can not hel to not blame him about what was going on.

This whole family is crazy, and he is the number two after Mrs. Jeon.

Of course, it's all in the past and extreme things like that is not happening again, especially after Jungkook becoming a different person who can take a stand from himself and a little bit cruel for his own good which according to Mrs. Jeon happened because she's controlling him.

"Everyone is watching."

Mrs. Jeon is the one who speak again and Yeri agree with her. Let's finish the night quietly.

"I heard you fainted this morning." 
 

She's giving a bow to Jungkook's dad who's giving her a light hug.

Jungkook hate him the least, so it makes her feels the same, naturally.

"I'm fine now."
 

Jungkook is dragging her hands away when the lights went off and someone standing on the stage, the host apparently. His hand is cold and nothing seems ok for him.
 

"You're so out of focus right now." She decides to tell him that, just in case he needs a reminder

Jieun came to them and offering them drink while giving Jungkook the list of party guests. His job is to entertain these people and changing their minds about whatever they have planned together with his mother before this. He seems anxious and Yeri knows she needs to work extra hard tonight.

***

Yeri is literally loss at words, when she finds Mrs. Jeon is getting up on stage even before the host ready with his introduction, nobody is surprised except for Jungkook and her.

"What is she doing?"

"Ah..she made a change to the rundown at the last minute, she wanted to give a speech."

Jieun is answering the question with a smile, and Jungkook is not happy with that.

"What?"
 

"She insisted, Sir, and you were not here when you were supposed to stay before the party, I had no choice."

Jieun is annoyed too and Yeri feels wronged, Jungkook was picking her up instead of staying for the preparation, so this happened.

"Just listen to her first."
 

Jungkook is glancing at Yeri who's holding his arms and tell him to stop getting angry, she is kind of right. He is watching closely and listened to every single thing she said. At the end of her speech, Mrs. Jeon just told the guests to enjoy the party and she came down to the stage. Nothing is bad.

"See? It was fine, Mr. Jeon."
 

"Give me my key."

Jungkook still looked pissed off, and he asked for a key to Jieun, she gave it to him really quick and he left right away, leaving Yeri alone without a word. So familiar, his behaviour.

"What key?"

"He booked a room here."
 

"What number?"

"Top floor, the only suit room here. Are you going there?"

"Obviously, I'm useless without him."

"That's true. Then go, and I think you know this more than anyone. But clearly, he's not in a good mood."

"I had a fight with him earlier."

Jieun lost her smile and give Yeri a glare, she doesn't look impressed.
 

"Why? What? Right now? can you just..? Yeri-ssi.."

"Don't worry, I'll bring him back. Everything is going to be fine. Give me his room number."
 

Jieun is writing down his room number in  a small piece of paper and give it to Yeri. She walked out from the party and entering the hotel lobby while regretting the whole thing that happened today. She’s not supposed to give a chance for Jungkook to act like this and let him blame her about the failure of this party and then refused to proceed with their divorce discussion. She should’ve treat him well. Stupid.

***

Jungkook is staring at the huge window in front of him. Something is not right, he is sure, her mom has a plan for him. He just doesn’t know what. He already lost his spirit to involve himself at the party, and it’s also hard to stay focused when the thought about Yeri who suddenly wanted to talk about their ruined marriage came up after two years. 

He takes one can of beer and drinking it in one shot when he heard the doorbell.

It’s Yeri.

He opens the door slowly, and honestly he doesn’t want to see her right now. He wants to be alone.
 

“Staying here won’t help.”
 

“I need a break.”

“From what? The party? Or me?”

“Both.”

Yeri is walking inside the room when Jungkook turn his face from her and opening one can of beer from the bar. He already had one before.
 

“Listen, I'm sorry that I suddenly bring up our problem when you had another one to deal with. But I can guarantee you, it was just something I had from a long time ago. I don’t really care about it anymore.”

She talks while picking up his jacket from the floor, afraid if it’s became ruined when the party has just started.

“But i care. I am always trying to find a reason to why I suddenly hate you and why my perfect marriage ruined..”

“It was not perfect.”

“Fine, it wasn’t. But I need to know why we became like this.."

Yeri feels like this conversation was a little bit too late to actually happening right now. Like it has no meaning anymore.

“That’s your problem.”

“Then tell me, why did you change?”

“I have no idea. We have problems, we can not deal with that..It’s just... one day, I feel sick seeing you and when I started to imagine my life without you in it, I thought that’s good, that’s what I want.”

Jungkook is not answering her, and he looked so offended by the words she said. She feels a little bit wronged. She was going to apologize but her phone is ringing. She stared at it for a few seconds and move her eyes to Jungkook. He seems aware that something is weird.

“Who is it?”
 

“My friend.”

She put Jungkook’s jacket on the bed while out to the balcony to take the phone. She knows Jungkook is suspicious of her but after this morning incident, this is something she is supposed to do.
 

“Where are you?”
 

Mrs. Jeon’s voice is so clear, it feels like she’s whispering right into her ear.

“At the hotel.”

“I don’t see you.”

“I’m on my room, Jungkook oppa is not feeling good, he is sleeping.”

“Can you see me right now?”
 

“Ok, I will.”

She ended the phone call and back to the room with Jungkook who’s clearly want to know about what she talked about.

“I’ll go back to the party and do what I can do.”

***

“Yerimmie, here.”

It’s so easy to spot Mrs. Jeon at this party for how sparkling she is, expensive clothes, pretty face, that bright smile, people like her.

“What is it, mother?”
 

“We’re not done with our talk this morning, follow me.”
 

She has no choice, Yeri is walking beside her to a mini garden outside the party venue. There’s only two of them in here.
 

“Sit.”
 

“No, i’ll just stand, the dress is uncomfortable.”

Mrs. Jeon is smiling at her when she refused her order, she is the one who take a sit and Yeri puts her hand on her arms, rubbing it lightly because suddenly everything is so scary. It reminds her to the past when Mrs. Jeon giving her a test after her training.
 

“Do you know why i like you, Yerimmie?”

“No.”
 

“You reminds me of my old self, when i was younger.”

“Really? I don’t know about that.”

“When Jungkook bring you to meet our family, I was the only one who likes you, I convinced everyone to accept you as his girlfriend and even his wife. Do you know why?”

Yeri shakes her head. She found this hilarious, as if she ever considered Jungkook as a family. The first time she met Jeon’s family, he was beaten up by Jooyoung and no one is helping him. 

“A young girl in her early 20s, coming from a middle class family..chasing a rich man, hoping for him to become her gold mine. You were exactly like me.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
 

“The first day i saw you, i know that you are someone I can count on. You’re a brave woman, opportunist and a fighter. If i wanted to destroy him, you’re the only possible weapon for me.”

Yeri holds her hand to make Mrs. Jeon stop from talking all this nonsense because she can not following this.

“He is your son. Why would you want to destroy him?”
 

“He is not. He is my husband’s son. Seems like he keeps that a secret until now.”
 

“What?”
 

And the confusion is turning into a disappointment and anger when Yeri realized that Jungkook was hiding important thing like this for years. They're husband and wife and he lied to her.
 

“I was a gold digger too, just like you. I taught you everything I knew so you could control him completely. You made him fight me, you made him spending money for your whole family, you made him love your parents, you made him promise your dying dad to not leave you, you controlled him, just like how I taught you..”
 

“That’s…”

“Now I'm giving you a chance, help me get rid of him and i’ll give everything you wanted..”

Yeri never imagine that all this time, she was just used as a weapon by her. It makes her feel sick, because she turned into some kind of a monster over something she promised her. And she let that happen all these years. She knows what Mrs. Jeon do to her and she didn't try to stop it. That's why Chaerin is dead and that's why her marriage with Jungkook is not working. She's becoming the evil one without she realized.
 

“Mrs. Jeon, don’t you think that i probably a different person from you? What if i get married because I love my husband, what if i don’t want any money from him?”

“I never wrong, Yerimmie, listen, it’s not hard. Just control him when i'm doing my plan, keep him quiet and i’ll give you everything you want. If you want to be rich by your own i can help you with a divorce too.”
 

“A divorce?”

“Yeah, easy and clean way of divorce. You’re still young, wasting your time with a mess like Jungkook is not a good choice, don’t you think so?”

***

“Did you see Yeri?”

Jungkook is coming back to the party after a while, Yeri is nowhere to be seen and it’s making him uneasy. He asked Jieun about her but she doesn’t seem to know either.

“Oh, there she is.”

It takes Jieun a while until she showed him Yeri who walked past the stage while greeting everyone. Her expression is kind of weird.
 

“Where have you been? I was looking for you.”

He takes her by the hands, and takes her to his embrace when he realized that people are looking at their direction.
 

“I was just there.”

“Oh, it’s dance time, use this chance, I'll call the journalist, please be nice to each other.”
 

Just like what Jieun said, it’s a dance time. Everyone and their partner is taking off the center hall to dance. A slow dance, typical of expensive and exclusive event. 

“You don’t need to do this.”
 

“No, it’s ok. I was trained for this, a dance teacher even taught me waltz, your mother insisted me to learn.”

She is the one who takes his hand and there’s a smile on her face, a genuine one. It’s pretty but it’s making him even more scared. It’s unusual.

“The call from earlier, who was it?” 

Jungkook has his arms around her waist when he started to ask her about the earlier phone call. Yeri has so much things on her head right now, and that’s honestly a hard question to answer.

“Noone.”

“You looked stupid when you’re lying.”

“Sshh..people will heard.”

Jieun came with a bunch of photographer, and that means her job begin right now. She’s flashing a bright smile and Jungkook is pulling her closer while the camera clicking and people looking at them. This view is great for whoever sees it. People loves fairytales.

“They like you.”
 

Yeri is staring at Jungkook who suddenly talk again, his eyes are soft and it’s obvious that, her dancing in a beautiful dress is not only good for the guest but for him too. He has a subtle smile on his face and he takes her closer while placing her hands on his shoulder.

The dance was quick and with people clapping their hands, Jungkook doesn’t really pay attention to it again, he sees her mother is back to the stage. Taking a mic, before she stared at him. He watched her and as usual, she’s welcoming the guest and told them to enjoy the party.

“And I want to make an announcement..on behalf of my family.”
 

Yeri is letting go of Jungkook’s hands when he’s walking away from her, leaving her behind and bring himself closer to the stage.

“Is this on the rundown?” 

She can hear Jungkook talks to Jieun when he sees her.

“No, sir. I didn’t know about this either.”
 

“..This party was held to celebrate both of my sons, Jungkook and Jooyoung…”

Jungkook’s face is becoming so pale and she can see how anxious he is when his name was being mentioned on Mrs. Jeon’s speech.

“My first son is already worked so hard for so many years and he told us with a heavy heart that he’s going to leave his position..”

He knew it. Jungkook is just so dumbfounded, he doesn’t know what to say when everyone is looking at his direction. 

“What the?”
 

“Retired? At such a young age? Why?”

“Mr. Jeon..”

“And my second son..will take his place, we’re already appointed him in a meeting with all stakeholders and investors last week, but I'm glad that I'm announcing it to everyone who wasn’t able to attend the meeting.”

Jooyoung was going to go up on stage but Jungkook hold his hand. Yeri can see that Mrs. Jeon is looking for her, her eyes is giving her order.

“I wasn’t in the meeting.”

Jungkook feels like this whole thing is absurd, he is, hurt, sad, disappointed, dumbfounded, and really angry that this kind of thing is still happening even after a decade. 

He was going to leash out and opened his mouth but Yeri is holding his hands. He missed the timing and now Jooyoung is already on stage, bowing his head to everyone and receiving applause , both of their parents are standing next to him.

“Let me go.”

“No!”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Yeri is totally embarrassed by his question.

Exactly..what is she doing right now..she’s already stopped caring about him since long time ago, but what Mrs. Jeon offering to her earlier was a chance to move on with her life. 

To completely erase the life she had with Jungkook, all the dark times, all the tears she sheds, the pain. 

She wanted that. It’s tempting.

at one time...

“I vow to love you as you love me, through all hardship, darkness, and pain to reach for our joys, our hopes, and always with honesty and faith.”
 

It’s two days before their wedding day when they actually need to rehearse. Mrs. Jeon is the one who insist this. She said that no matter how young they are, she doesn’t want to find any mistake on this event, including mistakes made by the groom and the bride. 

People pay attention to this Cinderella fairy tale story and they need to take as much as benefit from that. So here they are, rehearsing all the rundown, their wedding vows, their kiss, everything feels like a theatrical stage instead of a wedding.

“Don’t you think that’s too much?”

“I think it’s pretty, Unnie.”

“It’s cringy.”
 

“No, it’s not. You’re just embarrassed because you only prepared a basic short vow for him.”
 

Partially true. Yeri told Yein to stay away from the altar as she stares at Jungkook who’s clearly laughing at her watching her bickering with her sister.
 

“What do you have?”

“It’s short.”

“It’s ok, let’s hear it.”

She stared at the paper full of doodled, she made it last night for hours. She doesn’t really content with the end result, but she suffered making this.

“I vow never to deviate, never to falter, and to always be by your side.”

She closes her eyes, ready for some kind of insults and mocking for how half-assing her vow is.

“I know it’s too short and simple, I could change it if you want.”
 

She opened her eyes, and Jungkook is taking her for a kiss, a tender one and he does it with a smile.

“No, i like it. Thank you.”
 

“Mr. Jeon..”

Jieun looked surprised as he is, she knows that this is not supposed to happen, Jungkook staring at his hand which is held by Yeri, it’s easy for him to throws her hands and do whatever he wanted but Yeri is holding his hands really tight, and it makes him feel the need to listen to her. She never asked him anything anymore, but right now, she begged him for something and it wasn’t a divorce.

He kept staring at the stage when Jooyoung is being congratulated and applauded, he made a short speech about his future plan. It makes him boiling in anger.
 

“Go..” 
 

He turns his face back to Yeri when she suddenly let go of his hand.
 

“Fight. I told you before that this is not fair, you don’t deserve it.”

“Yeri-ssi!” 

Jieun is totally disagreeing with her call.

Yeri is pushing Jungkook’s back and she thinks that’s probably the best thing to do according to her heart. Just like what he said this morning, no matter how much they despise each other right now, what happened in the past is real. She promised him to always stay by his side. And Mrs. Jeon is wrong about her.
 

“You have the right to make your own decision, Go..”

Yeri can see Mrs. Jeon is glaring at her when she find Jungkook is going up to the stage and without any words he is giving a punch to Jooyoung, twice, he even pushed his father who gets into his way. Everything is totally chaotic, and of course, people were shocked and so does she.

“What is going on?”

Few securities came and Jieun told them about what is going on, she also worked hard to stop journalists taking the picture, and few hotel staff are escorting the guests to leave. It’s a mess, a complete mess.

“Jeon Jungkook!”

She’s back staring at the stage when Mr. Jeon is screaming and trying so hard to pull Jungkook away from Jooyoung, who’s basically crushed. He was bleeding and wounded.

“You monster!”

Mrs. Jeon is pushing Jungkook away until he falls on his back destroying few props on the stage, he falls really hard it makes her worried. One security drag him out from the stage. He walked passed by her as he’s dragged, there’s a wound on his face too. She wasn’t thinking much but she pushed the security away and help him walk. 

“Bring me something to treat his wound.”

Jieun is back from escorting the guest and she was totally surprised with what is going on. Both of Jungkook’s parents is still up there, taking care of Jooyoung while Yeri is the only one who helps him. 

Well, not a news, but she still can’t believe that this is happening. What about the company, the publicity?

“Where are you going?”
 

“Our room. Just bring me something, Jieun-a..”
 

“Alright.”