In the utmost luxurious room of her bridal chamber, Sojung couldn't escape the persistent echoes of her own thoughts. The elegant gown felt more like armour, each delicate piece a reminder of the impending surrender. As her reflection stared back at her, she saw not a blushing bride but a captive soul adorned in the trappings of submission. Her reflection bore the weight of a forced smile that couldn't mask the desolation in her eyes.

She could hear outside, the room echoed with the sounds of bustling activity as they worked tirelessly to have the bride be ready, the quiet laughter of bridesmaids that Sojung had never met before, the hushed whispers of preparation from staff with unfamiliar faces, all of it... but in Sojung's world, it was all a muted backdrop to the cacophony of her internal struggles.

As her fingers traced the delicate patterns of her wedding gown she did not pick, she felt each stitch slowly with the realisation of the life she was about to enter. An inevitable life she had willingly led herself towards... yet it was not a life she had willingly chosen. 

Her mind replayed the events that had led her to this very moment. The coercive grip of her father's ambitions, the suffocating need for reputation and the calculated moves of Eunwoo all shaping itself clearly now in the form of her new gilded cage.

However, this realisation had hit her too late.

But it wasn't worth the ache of sorrow.

That would only be a waste of emotions... yet even with that profound knowledge, that shade of deep blue still took over her heart.

What other expectations were needed from her after today?


Perhaps she will need to fake her smile forever.

She will need to live with a man she will never and could never love.

Perhaps even need to bear children with him.

That was the expectation.

That was what was expected of a Kim.

A Kim...

Sojung could not help but wonder, what could be of her if she was never a Kim.

If she had never been tied to those expectations.

If she had not brainwashed herself to think she was shackled to be a Kim...

Perhaps none of today would ever be...

Seeing her reflection once again, she continued to practice the smile she needed to paste onto her face today... it had become more difficult than she would have liked.

Finding herself spacing out into the mirror as more helpers began tampering with the dress on her body, her mind couldn't help but wander towards one of the few glitters of light Sojung had ever witnessed in her life.

Jung Eunbi...

Those memories they have shared, the unspoken connection and their last fleeting glances that had once held a promise of a different fate, all flooded back in a powerful wave that threatened to drown her. 

The bridge they had stood together under the shooting star, by the riverbank where they offered their last and final goodbyes... A formality to a severed connection, a future that was never meant to be and a love that will never find its way back.

She saw a small tear run down her cheek within her reflection, which she quickly dabbed away. Within the quiet recesses of her heart, Sojung had no choice but to acknowledge the reality now. The reality of it all. But even without Eunbi by her side physically, perhaps her presence can still linger on within the corners of Sojung's consciousness, leaving nothing more now than a phantom of an endless question.

The question of what could've been.

With her bridesmaid now close to her and her helpers no longer attending to her dress. The distant sounds of chatter had quieted down, replaced by a melody fitting for a bride's entrance. She prepared herself as she stepped into the orchestrated procession.

Carrying a rather bitter taste in , she walked into the life that had been shaped for her from the beginning.

A life she had been too naive to believe she could run away from.

A life she had cowardly accepted to be her own.

A written book.

***

The aisle stretched before Sojung as if reminding her of her unwinding path to inevitability. With each step she took, she would notice something new; the elaborate over-the-top, floral arrangements that seemed to mock the simplicity she craved, a sea of unfamiliar faces... too many unfamiliar faces that had been invited in which she didn't know about, the look of her father.. a man she had once admired with a deceiving proudness on his face, a stoic expression if you will, that betrayed no hint of sentiment. And finally, Eunwoo... with those eyes... those eyes that bored right back into hers that gleamed anticipation mirroring the calculated steps of a man about to achieve a well-planned victory. 

Waiting for a union that was not one of love, but one of a binding contract. 

Reaching the altar and finally standing beside Eunwoo, that smile she had practised so hard this morning began to weigh heavily on her cheeks. She felt her father's eyes land on her with a mixture of pride and control... and now with the audience's gaze on her too... the ceremony had officially begun. 

A gathering of cameras and a film crew surrounded the public wedding, a grand display orchestrated by her father to broadcast the union of Kim's Tech Co and Cha's Enterprise to the world.

It would be Korea's biggest partnership of industries within industries for years to come.

Sojung wondered... at that moment if her role in this story was one of a tragic heroine or a reluctant pawn in a game of power...

Thinking intensively about her past actions.. perhaps she was actually the villain in someone else's story.

Eunbi...

The crowd had become quiet as the officiant began to speak his scripted speech to create a union before him.

The empty words of love.

The written impact of its importance.

The pre-written vows that Sojung had to repeat.

None of it meant a thing to her right now with the man that is standing before her.

Within her life, from today onwards, she had already accepted, there will be no love ever again.

Not with anyone.

Except...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Cha Eunwoo and Kim Sojung had invited us here today to share with you their celebration of love. To have you witness their pledge in their faith to one another and to share the beauty, joys and privilege of marriage. If there is anyone present, who does not believe these two people may be joined in matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace"

The crowd was silent... the only thing that could be heard was the screaming of Sojung's heart and the faint sirens that blared far away, a musical piece that gently encapsulates Sojung's current mindset.