The next few weeks, Yeri started to make herself busy with her own wedding preparation. She doesn't want to do it, but it is needed so she can feel better after so many ups and downs on her own sanity.

 

"I'll look good in anything, so will he."

 

She's been trying on dozens of dresses in front of her mom and nothing seems to satisfy her. She got frustrated and told her to pick anything on her behalf.

 

"Right, but don't you have any preference or something?"

 

"I don't like white."

 

"You don't want a white dress for your wedding?"

 

"My preference. If you like it white then choose something white.

 

She walked away from the store after a long sigh, this is tiresome. Lucky for Jungkook that he doesn't need to go through this.

 

"It's day minus two, Kim Yeri."

 

Her mom is finally catched up with her walk with a huge bag on her hands, he's peeking into it and a soft pink dress is in there. She doesn't remember trying this one 

 

"We've been doing this for weeks, I am bored."

 

She's trying to avoid the conversation while putting her arms on Mrs. Kim's shoulder.

 

" And I am more worried about tonight."

 

Yeri's voice is deep, thin and gloomy. She said it with a smile but it is certain that she doesn't feel good about tonight.

 

"You will be fine."

 

Mrs. Kim squeezed her arms and caressed it but nothing seemed helpful. She responded with nothing and continued her walk.

 

---

---

 

***

 

Yeri decided to come out for dinner very late, it's been awhile since the whole family is visiting, even if they did, she always avoids them. The fact that she's getting married makes them gather here.

 

"You looked different, it's been a while since i saw you."

 

One of her aunts is talking as she takes a seat for the dinner, Yeri never really interacts with them for more than a decade, what she has with these people is not really valuable. She also knows how much they disliked her.

 

"I heard about your boyfriend."

 

The table is silenced now, that the talk about Jungkook is finally brought up. Of course they know, it's been years since the news about her relationship hit the media.

 

"I heard rumors about him too."

 

No one is eating right now, Yeri and her parents have agreed to not telling them about Jungkook as Jeon Sooyoung's brother, at least not tonight. A night before she's getting married for real. She doesn't want to deal with the judgment. It would be too hard for her.

 

"He is a great businessman, you probably heard about his personality, but..."

 

Mrs. Kim is trying to divert the conversation into another direction, she gets nervous about this. She glanced at Yeri whose eyes were shaking.

 

"I heard rumours about his identity."

 

"What did you hear?"

 

Mr. Kim is talking with so much confidence, Yeri knows right away that this night is going to become a total disaster when everyones involved in this conversation is already putting down all their utensils. No one is touching their food.

 

"Where did you meet him?"

 

She's glancing at her dad when everyone's eyes turn into her out of nowhere, they are waiting for an immediate answer. She takes a deep breath and she knows, this is something she needs to face no matter how hard it is.

 

"A dream, I met him through a dream."

 

She talks very slowly, while reaching out her hands for a glass of wine. No one was satisfied with her answer, but she managed to show them a smile.

 

"Really?"

 

"Well, I could tell a story about how I met him, slept with him once so I decided to date him, and now we're getting married, but that's a little bit inappropriate, right?"

 

Mrs. Kim knows Yeri will never behave well in front of these people. She squeezes her cold hands to tell her to stop talking but everyone else is already offended. Their expression is getting darker, some even rolling her eyes to Yeri and mocking her with a little laugh.

 

"You never changed. Kim Yeri, You just looked different, but still crazy, are you sure you don't need anymore treatment?"

 

Not gonna lie, Yeri is expecting this, really expecting this. She ended up laughing at how precise her expectation is.

 

“I should get it, so excuse me..”

 

She slightly threw her napkins from her lap to the table and walked away. She's wearing a nightgown so it is hard to walk fast but she’s doing her best.

 

“Jeon Sooyoung’s brother. It’s him, right?”

 

Her step was stopped by those words.

 

“You ruined his life, no matter how shameless you are..”

 

“Stop it. Me and my husband ruined his life, Yeri wasn’t part of that.”

 

Yeri feels her eyes are getting warm and she can see her hands shaking when Mrs. Kim starts to talk, trying to defend her. 

 

“We don’t care about what your family did fifteen years ago. But we heard about what she did, she ruined his reputation, his company, she made his life in danger, and you kept him, you raised a monster. “

 

She was trying to leave once again but hearing people calling Jungkook as a monster is bothering her so much that she feels the need to stop them.

 

“He is not a monster.” 

 

That’s what she said while holding her tears.

 

“Who knows what he will do after our family is within his reach?”

 

“He won’t do anything.”

 

Her voice is getting shakier and smaller than before. She really doesn’t want to deal with this.

 

“Even if he won’t, at least you shouldn’t be this dense to get married to your victim, Kim Yeri..”

 

She stopped answering when Mr. Kim told everyone to leave, while some of his employees were escorting and forcing his own family to leave the house. 

 

 

---

---

***

 

“Good Afternoon, Mr. Jeon.”

 

Nana is the only one who’s welcoming him when he finally reaches the front door of Yeri’s home. He was told about the dinner, but she told him not to come because it won’t end well. 

 

Since the conversation with Mr. Joo, he understands about the situation, so he doesn’t say anything regarding this matter. He came now because she didn’t pick up his call for hours.

 

 “Mr and Mrs. Kim are inside. Ms. Yeri is in her room.”

 

He entered the house and Mr. Kim was in his office, the door was opened. He knocked on it to greet him but the vibe of this room is totally not good. 

 

“How about your meeting?”

 

That’s the first thing he said to him while telling him to sit. Yeri definitely made up a story about him attending a meeting.

 

“It..went well. Did something happen?”

 

There is nothing wrong or different, but he thinks the question is needed. Mr.Kim glanced at him before offering him a glass of his expensive alcohol which was already opened. He’s been drinking it.

 

“Is it obvious?”

 

“You seem mad, kinda obvious. I worked for you before.”

 

“This is wrong, right?”

 

That question is random, and so sudden. He looked around to make sure it was intended for him and not others.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“This, you and me, having a drink together, like we are best friends.”

 

“We are not best friends.”

 

“I mean.. Does it make sense that you and Yeri are getting married after what happened in our life?”

 

From this only, he can already guess what happened at the dinner. Seems like everyone is against him as Yeri’s husband .

 

“You gave your blessing, I won't back up if you change your mind now.”

 

“I’m not changing my mind, I'm asking if it’s normal for other people to see me, my wife and my daughter as something wicked and shameless for taking you as a part of our family?”

 

Mr. Kim takes all the drink from his glass and stares at him, there are tears in his eyes and he can see it, he looks like Yeri, the way he hides his tears is similar to her. 

 

He gets up from his seat walking closer to him and reaches for his hands and holds it. This could be awkward but when Mr. Kim nods his head and gives him a smile. Jungkook knew he needed this.

 

"I believe my judgment of you and your family is more important than anyone else.."

 

He left Mr. Kim's hands and stood next to him while pouring another drink to his glass, making it full, added by what Mr. Kim gave it to him earlier.

 

“You are not taking me in, I asked to enter. It is my choice, and I made that choice after so much thought. Seriously, I went through it like a million times.”

 

He clings his glass to him and gives him a smile. Mr. Kim nods his head again while patting his back a few more times and again, he says sorry. 

 

“You’ve done enough for me.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Let Kim Yeri do the rest.”

 

Mr. Kim is laughing after hearing what he just said. He looked better compared to before.

 

“She had a very bad night. Didn’t left her room since then. My family is always harassing her.. And I never did enough to defend her. “

 

“I’ll see her.”

 

He put back his glass and walked away after saying good night to Mr. Kim.

 

 

---

***

 

Yeri is sitting on the bench, she’s still wearing her long dress and a thin coat as an outer. 

 

“I shouldn’t care about what they said, but why…”

 

It affects her really badly, just two days before the wedding. Shameless, crazy, dense.. That’s what people called her for marrying Jungkook. And she knows, it is totally normal for others to see her like that.

 

She closed her eyes and remembered how she answered the question about meeting Jungkook through a dream. While it is true, it was not a good dream. She still remembers how he chased her down on this road. She was always so scared before but now she just remembers it like a piece of memory that never happened.

 

Yeri opens her eyes when a strong wind is strumming her face making her hair a little bit messy.. And she sees Jungkook, waving his hands to her while laughing. She thought it was just her imagination but when he takes a seat next to her, she can feel his presence, it’s warmer now.

 

“Everyone is looking for you.”

 

“I always run away after a disastrous family meeting, I don't know why they act so surprised.”

 

Yeri is responding to Jungkook while looking down, stomping her feet on the ground, she uses white sneakers and it’s getting dirty now.

 

“You don’t usually get married in two days.”

 

She chuckled when he brought up that topic. Not a happy laugh, just something a little bit sarcastic.

 

“I talked with your dad.”

 

He continues to talk when Yeri loses her smile and the only thing she does is staring at the empty park in front of her. She gives no response so he holds her hands, making her turn to him with another smile.

 

"I am the one who you ruined, and I am also the one who asked you to marry me."

 

Yeri can feel Jungkook's hands caressing her fingers as he talks while locking his eyes into hers. He sounds so genuine like this.

 

"The crazy one is me."

 

He said it while stop staring at her and watching the scenery in front of him instead.

 

"You are the type of person who enjoys torture and pain, right?"

 

She asked him while waiting for him to look at her again and he did.

 

"I'm not enjoying it, I'm just getting used to it..."

 

"It's the same thing."

 

He gets up from where he sits and stands in front of her. She looked up to him, and there's a little bit of disappointment and frustration on his face. He puts both of his hands in his pocket.

 

"I hate getting hurt, I don't like being in pain, that's why I asked you to marry me.."

 

"What does that even mean?"

 

"Living a life without you hurting me more than all the pain you caused me in the past."

 

Jungkook has been physically hurting so often since the day they met. His life was on the edge for multiple times. He almost died. Not to mention all the pain Yeri caused to his mental and his heart. She is the only person ever to have been torturing him that much. Even though mostly unintentional, there were some that she did with her own conscience.

 

"I love you."

 

Yeri is not saying anything after hearing that, she just reaches out to Jungkook and tugging his jacket to make him stand closer to her. It's been weeks since he saw her and it is obvious that she was not happy around that time, especially tonight. There is so much confusion on her face. He knows that she's been rethinking her decision about getting married again and again. 

 

She's tugging his shirt tighter with both of her hands and pulls him again. He does nothing when she uses her arms to hug his waist and cry. She really looks like a kid when she's crying like this. She was trying so hard to not do it hysterically but failed. The voice of her cries is very clear in this quiet night. It does remind him of how she looked like in their nightmare, the difference is, he doesn't feel bad about it knowing she's not telling him to leave but to stay with her right now.

 

He pats her head to make her calm but she cries even more when he does that. Just like in his dream from when they were teenagers. It reminds him of that young Yeri.

 

"You are still going to marry me, right?"

 

He's kneeling down when Yeri starts to lose her grip on his waist, she shakes her head when their eyes meet.

 

Yeri closes her eyes when Jungkook uses his thumb to wipe her tears, she still has a full makeup on, and she can see his hands smeared by eyeliner. She must be looking horrible right now.

 

"No one else wants me anyway."

 

She takes a deep breath and holds his hands, asking him to help her up so now she's standing in front of him, who's still very much worried about what just happened.

 

"I'm just going to look at you from now on, I'm probably a monster to others but if you do love me, then.. I could just live like that."

 

"You are a changed person. They just haven't seen it yet."

 

"I don't want to show everyone."

 

Yeri is holding his hands and dragging him slowly, they're walking side by side, he does nothing but watch her without words. He understands what she meant. A part of them who was rotten was also the one who kept them strong all these years. They could fight and survive on their own because of those hatred. They need to keep some of it to continue their life.

 

She stopped her walk when he stopped her from going further. She turns to him, giving him a confused look. He sighs and lets her hands go slowly.

 

“Do you want to go somewhere?”

 

“Where?”

 

Yeri doesn't really want to do it, because she remembers she has so many things to do, including making her heart feel better and preparing for the wedding.

 

“Don’t you feel stuffed, here?”

 

Of course, she usually ran away for 3 days or more after a fight with her family. She usually spent times wandering, making the best time out of her life.

 

“Alright, then.”

 

She’s walking faster leaving Jungkook behind and entering the car without any words. She closes her eyes, hoping that he won’t bother her because she needs sleep to rest her mind.

 

“Thank you.”

 

She opens her eyes again when Jungkook is doing the exact thing she was expecting, he gives her his jacket without words and pats her head. He seems to understand what she wants.

 

---

---

 

 

****

 

Coming back to a place where he experienced the worst night ever is probably not a good choice. Yeri was dying here.

 

Jungkook gets out of the car, and the night sea breeze is hitting his face immediately. It’s past midnight, no one is insane enough to visit a dark sea at a time like this.

 

“I had so many places on my mind, but here?”

 

He turns to Yeri who’s finally out of the car, laughing and handing him his jacket back. He told her to wear it, because she’s still wearing her revealing dress from that dinner, and her coat is probably not enough to protect her from the wind.

 

"Come here, then."

 

She opens her arms with a smile, puts herself in his embrace and covers him with her jacket.

 

"What are we doing here?"

 

She talked while looking up to him, her hands on his waist, holding it tight.

 

"It's been a while since we went on a trip."

 

"I remember you said I love you for the first time in this place."

 

He doesn't remember but he knows it isn't true, he said it long before this place.. for him this place is about Yeri who was dying trying to save his life.

 

"That's what you remember from this place?"

 

 

He asked her because remembering that one positive traits from all the mess this place gave them is weird.

 

"I remember other things too."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

Yeri is pulling herself away from his arms and taking off his jacket quickly. She stares at him very seriously.

 

"Why would you feel sorry? none of that happened because of you."

 

"There is no reason, I just feel sorry that's happened, regardless of who's at fault. You're not supposed to experience that."

 

He is right, he has every reason to feel bad about what happened to her, besides he was the one who struggled the most, watching her almost die for his sake. Yeri is not arguing about this further, and begins to follow his gaze to the scenery in front of them, there is actually nothing to see at midnight like this.

 

"I'm hungry, do you want something to eat?"

 

She's tugging his shirt so he's back to stare at her while looking around. Yeri remembers that one place near her hotel from before. It's open till really late, so it's probably her best choice to get some food.

 

"Alright, Let's go."

 

Jungkook drags her hands and they start walking side by side. He asked about what happened at the dinner and she told him everything, what their family said about him, about her, and also about what she said to them in defense. He's quite surprised and says her reaction is definitely not making the situation better, and she really needs to disagree with that.

 

"That's the only way for me to survive all these years, I find it hard to change that."

 

"I heard from Mr. Joo about how horrible your family is.."

 

Yeri stopped from her walk when Jungkook told her about Mr. Joo out of nowhere.

 

"You talked to him?"

 

"I think he enjoyed talking about you and your family."

 

Well, of course. Mr. Joo is basically her father's most trusted employee, he's been working for decades. So yeah, he probably knows more about her family than Jungkook does.

 

"Are you ok with that?"

 

"With what? talking to him?"

 

She nods her head quickly as he takes her hands and they start to walk again.

 

"I'm fine. He told me about what he did and the reason behind it, and I actually understand."

 

"Why?"

 

"It makes sense."

 

Yeri doesn't know what the reason Mr. Joo talked about. She thinks it's just another job for him, and he does it because of his loyalty to her dad. But it seems more than that, judging from how Jungkook took his words really well.

 

“This is the place.”

 

It’s a small restaurant with a mainstream menu. There were two men inside having a really late dinner when they arrived. 

 

“I’m just going to watch you eat.”

 

It is true that Jungkook is the one with health problems regarding what he takes as food, but Yeri is the one who said she was hungry before.

 

“You said you’re hungry.”

 

“I just said it, so you would eat. I am fine.”

 

Their food came and she pushed everything towards his side of the table. He does nothing but eat the food without talking much as Yeri is watching him. Her eyes are so focused.

 

“Let’s watch the sunrise here.”

 

That’s what she said after he almost finished his food.

 

“We need to wait 4 or 5 hours for that.”

 

He doesn’t like the idea, he still has a few things to settle before getting married the day after tomorrow, and Yeri is supposedly to become busier than he is.

 

“We can just sleep at that hostel, you know the one we stayed at before.”

 

She gets up first and leaves the restaurant without waiting for him. She looked better, her mood seems to be getting so much better compared to before even though the possibility of her pretending is very high.