"The secret to happiness is freedom. And the secret to freedom is courage."
—Thucydides

Having stood in the same spot for a good minute, Seo Ara glanced back at the man leaning against his motorcycle just some distance behind her.

He flashed a supportive smile and nudged his head, encouraging her to go on.

She returned his sweet gesture and faced front once more, her gaze filled with newfound determination. With a heavy breath, she finally pushed open the two towering mahogany doors, revealing a brightly lit foyer with its marble imperial staircase and the Swarovski crystal chandelier suspended from the high ceiling.

Ara stepped inside with light steps and scanned the familiar place that clearly remained unchanged. While others would refer to such a dwelling as their home, to her, it was just an obscenely large structure—a far from a "humble abode" that briefly housed four individuals pretending to be a family. It was a place that lacked warmth, love, and happiness. A place that meant absolutely nothing to her.

With a sneer, she made her way down the hallway—the same stretch of white resin her tearful stepsister took when the poor girl was disowned by her biological father, and forced to leave the Lee residence per the instruction of the wicked witch Seo Da Ye, aka Ara's mother.

Ara remembered, and she remembered well…how the nineteen year old Lee Min Jung fell to her knees and begged her heartless parents to accept the man she fell in love with—to accept the future father of her child—but the couple simply leered at her with disgust and disappointment.

Ara remembered how the two arranged to have Min Jung's room picked clean, her stuff packed and tossed outside the mansion without her stepsister's knowledge. She remembered the look in Min Jung's eyes, that expression the poor girl made, when she realized her beloved father had chosen his new wife over her.

Ara remember the way Min Jung nodded her head in understanding and left the house in tears, finally accepting her father's decision.

Ara remembered.

She remembered it all.

Just as she finished reminiscing about the past, Ara emerged at the other end of the hallway that led to the main entrance of the mansion's banquet hall.

She scanned the large open space with a quiet sigh. There were about two hundred people conversing with each other, all of them dressed in their fancy designer gowns and tailored suits. Speckled in the swarm of the elites were a number of maids and butlers preoccupied with serving the guests and tending to their constant requests.

“I expected something grander for a 43rd birthday celebration,” she mumbled sarcastically under her breath, before making her way across the room towards the lady in ruby red. 

A few familiar and many unfamiliar faces turned with questioning looks as she walked past them in her Balenciaga thigh-high boots and jet-black leather jacket, but her eyes remained on her only target. 

"Happy birthday mother," she greeted upon arriving in front of the group of old folks surely engrossed in dreary business discussions.

Hearing her familiar voice, the woman in red paused her words and turned around. "Ara, darling, you cam—" she started cheerfully, but one look at her daughter's outfit drained the blood from her face. "What the hell are you wearing?" she hissed quietly through gritted teeth.

Ara ignored her question and flashed a sweet grin as she set her eyes to the five old men gawking at her judgingly. "Please excuse my clothes. I didn't get the memo it was black tie event," she lied through her charming smile.

"Oh, yes, my darling daughter has been nose deep into her work lately. I'm surprised, but ecstatic she even found time to greet me on my birthday," Da Ye added with the fake motherly tone she had perfected over the years. She then turned to Ara, silently cursing her with her eyes, and smiled. "Ara, dear, please wait for me in the study will you?" she ordered calmly.

"Of course mother," her daughter replied with an equally false smile, but just as she turned to leave, an older gentleman who just joined their group interjected.

"So this is she," he commented with a clear, dignified voice. "Very well. I think my grandson will be pleased," he announced, briefly turning everyone's attention to the young man across the room.

Ara set her gaze to the grandson and secretly eyed him from head to toe. He had a solid stature, dark brown locks, sharp eyes, and a flirtatious smirk that revealed everything she needed to know about him.

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