Junho looked into the mirror as he straightened his bow-tie. He was all suited up and ready for what was seemed to be a very long night his parents had planned. 

After the argument he had with his mother in the morning, he wasn't up to top notch and truthfully, he's level of anger didn't decrease either. Although he had gotten over the fact that his parents were like that, the very realization that they never understood the amount of pain that he went through, was the very reason why love never existed to him.  

 

"Why you look as dashing as ever."'

Junho turned around only to find his father standing at the doorway of his room. 

  "And that would be the first time you have complimented your son." Junho replied coldly putting on his wrist watch.

"Come now, I've complimented you many times. It may have just been your ears that hadn't listened." 

Junho laughed with sarcasm. It was still astonishing to find that his parents were so used to sugar-coating things, when the truth was right in front of their eyes. 

 "Just get to the point on why you're really here father." He very much knew that his father didn't just come here just because he wanted to.

Mr. Lee cleared his throat before replying to his son's statement. "Your mother passed on a message to you saying that they'll be making your engagement official once all the guests have arrived. She also wants you to be sensible and to not leave the venue like you did at the auction." 

Junho looked into the mirror fixing his suit before finally turning around to face his father. 

 "And what makes you think that I wouldn't be sensible?" Junho replied. 

 "Junho I know this might be hard on you but you should -" 

"Oh no father. This isn't hard on me at all." He said sarcastically. "Even if it was, why don't you both just pretend that I'm living at my happiest." 

Junho's words struck deep into Mr. Lee's mind. 

  "Son..." 

"I'll be taking my leave first. I'll see you tonight father. Have a safe trip to the venue." Junho said as he bowed to his father.

 

Tiredly, he walked down the staircase, walking past the maids that looked down whenever he passed. Every time he got into a fight with his parents, not only did he regret it straight after, but he knew that it would only bring harm, and not to mention awkward situations. 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

"I can't believe that I'm wearing the dress you bought." Soeun said as she slightly straightened the crease that was forming at the bottom of the dress. 

  "And I can't believe that you wore a blazer over it." Jieun replied irritated at Soeun's disapproval of the dress. 

Soeun shot Jieun a look of anger. "Well it's not like I'm going into that room with my back exposed to the world. You obviously know that several media channels are going to be there right?"    

  "Another reason why you shouldn't hide your good-looking figure! I mean you're a gym freak! Come on! You spend all those hours in a sweaty gym to maintain your body, show it off!"

"Ever thought that I might have been spending those hours at the gym to be healthy?" 

"Just take the damn blazer off!" Jieun shouted as her patience evaporated into the air.

 "No!" Soeun replied with the same amount of anger. 

"Kim Soeun!" 

"Lee Jieun!" 

They both looked at each other furiously as both wanted their own way to see through. 

 Soeun was the first to break the long staring contest as she got tired of playing games. "Okay, how about we make a deal." she finally gave up before sitting back down on the sofa. 

 "Well you better be quick cause I need to leave before you do." Jieun stated as she crossed her arms still angry. 

 "I'll take off the blazer... but, you owe me a favor." 

Jieun scrunched her eyebrows in thought. "Just one favor?" she asked. 

 "Just one." Soeun claimed. 

"Okay. Deal." Jieun nodded her head. 

 Soeun unwillingly took off her blazer in a grunt to Jieun's entertainment. 

"See it wasn't that hard to take off the blazer, was it?" 

 Soeun exhaled in fury as she watched Jieun's frown turn int a broad smile. She handed over the blazer to Jieun not wanting to let go of it. 

 "Aw, poor Soeun, she has to receive compliments on her beautiful back all night long." Jieun frowned sarcastically, snatching it off her.

 "You're totally going to regret saying that once you're stuck doing my favor." Soeun remarked back at Jieun. 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

"Just watch him greet all those people like he owns the world." Junsu shaked his head before getting pushed by Chansung. 

 "You think he likes doing that?" he replied to Junsu. 

"I was just joking." Junsu replied angrily. "I guess someone just can't handle it." 

   Junho walked over to where his friends were standing with a fake smile on his face. "I can hear your fighting all the way across the room." 

"Yeah well it's been an hour of waiting!" Junsu complained. "When are we going to get to the main topic of your... you know..." 

Junho shook his head in exhaustion. "How am I supposed to know. I didn't plan this all."

"Uh, because we're all here to commemorate your 25 years of life." 

Junho slowly mixed his drink with the tip of his finger and sighed. "Yeah, well just because I'm the main character of the book, doesn't mean that I'm the author of it." 

Junsu suddenly stepped back as his facial expression changed. "That was deep bro." 

Chansung mentally face-palmed himself at the amount of stupidity he had to deal with. 

"Where are the rest of the boys anyway?" Junho asked. 

   "Oh they'll be here soon." Chansung replied checking his phone to see if any news about the late members came through. 

Junho nodded understanding. "Well, I'll catch up with you guys later on." 

"Have fun greeting!" Junsu teased as he watched Junho walk away.

 

Chansung picked up another drink from the waiter and cleared his throat.

"You know, I could never imagine him married." Chansung said to Junsu as be sipped the drink.

 "I guess some things are bound to happen without your approv- " 

"Did we miss anything?" Wooyoung interrupted behind them as he panted. 

Chansung turned around and saw the rest of the members arriving one by one. "You didn't miss anything at all. It hasn't even started." 

  "Where's Junho?" Nichkhun asked as he buttoned up his cuffs. 

"You just missed him. He's been chatting to other guests all night." 

  "Junho is actually talking to other people?" Taecyeon asked shocked. 

"Believe it or not." Junsu replied as his hands dug deeper into his pockets. 

"Where were you guys anyway? You seem like you aren't even ready." 

  "Traffic." Wooyoung yawned. 

"As if." Taecyeon rang in before he poked Wooyoung on the cheek. "We had to wake this guy up from his afternoon beauty nap." 

 

Chansung couldn't help but roll his eyes at the arguing they always had to endure. For adult men, it was as if they were still children at heart. He let his eyes roam around the room and noticed that Mrs. Lee didn't waste a single penny, the whole room seemed like it would have cost a few million. His eyes looked at the detailing and input of effort Junho's parents put into the venue before landing his eyes on the entrance. 

 

"You guys might want to stop arguing and turn your heads towards the entrance." Chansung said as he smirked. 

 The rest of the gang turned around only to find the main lady of the night walk across the room. 

 

"I admit." Junsu broke the silence. "I'm finally jealous of Junho." 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

Soeun took nerve wracking steps inside as she had to mentally drag herself towards the entrance. It wasn't the first time she had been this nervous, however her heart was pounding like crazy. She gripped onto her clutch telling herself that it was going to be okay. 'Only a couple hundred people are going to see you... and then millions through the internet.'  

Soeun started to slowly lose her mind. She was never the type of person to be confident enough to make speeches or to be the center of attention, and yet here she was, with a backless dress, and certainly not ready to stand in front of so many eyes.

 

Jieun had mentioned earlier in a text that she would meet her at the corner of the buffet table. The reason why she was at the buffet table in the first place seemed very clear. 

Soeun slowly stepped inside and found herself amongst the chatters of the many people that were already here, and it seemed like Soeun was the last to arrive. 

She looked around the room before spotting a familiar bunch of faces. 

"Oh."  Soeun bowed as she saw the same people that were at Junho's office this morning. "Annyeonghaseyo." she greeted with a smile on her face. 

 

The 2PM members bowed in return and said their greetings. 

 "We bump into each other again." Soeun said awkwardly as her grip on her clutch tightened. 

"It's very nice to see you again." Nichkhun started off before letting out his hand. "It seems as if we didn't introduce ourselves, I'm Nickhun." 

Soeun very nervously shook his hand and smiled. "Kim Soeun." she replied. 

"Chansung." Chansung followed in tune, as the rest of the members slowly did the same. 

 

"We're actually very close friends with Junho." Taecyeon added after his greeting.

  "You can even say that we're brothers." Junsu laughed. 

"Oh?" Soeun said surprised. She merely thought they were just his business partners. 'Wait. Crap they probably already know the relationship I have between Junho.' Soeun mentally slapped herself. 

 "Then you probably already know who I am." Soeun found herself thinking aloud. 

"Well..." Nickhun left off. "I wouldn't entirely say that we know you, we only know... what you mean to Junho." 

  "Right." Soeun nodded in reply. She bit her lip in awkwardness as silence took place again. "Well, it was lovely to meet you again." she finally said. 

 "Oh yes. It was lovely to meet you again." Nickhun smiled.  Soeun bowed once more before walking away from the members. 

 

"I thought she was pretty." Junsu smiled nodding his head in approval.. 

   "Brothers?!" Taecyeon quoted him a sense of disbelief, turning around to face him. 

"Well we are... aren't we?" 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

Soeun reached the buffet table and found her dearest, most mannered and polite friend at the end of the table holding a plate and gulping down whatever she set her eyes on. 

  "You're totally planning on going to the gym tomorrow morning aren't you?" Soeun spoke. 

Jieun looked up, still full of food. "You're here!" she spoke as bits and pieces of food came flying out. "Woah! Say it don't spray it." Soeun said as she quickly covered the evidence of her friend's accident. 

 She gulped down the rest of the food and smiled. "Whoops." Jieun giggled before looking at Soeun from head to toe. "Dang. You look like you jumped right put of a magazine." 

 Soeun sighed before she laughed. "You're going to pay for this." 

 

It was quite amusing really, that Jieun came back into her life when she needed someone to depend on. "Jieun, I better go and greet Mrs. Lee now." Soeun whispered into her ear, breaking the thoughts she had. 

  "Oh yeah. Sure. I'll probably go meet my parents." 

"I'll see you again later." Soeun said as she left. 

 

Soeun took careful steps around the room smiling every now and then whenever she saw someone she knew. It was like any other rich person's party. The kind of music that played, the posh sounding laughs coming from the guests, the way people were dressed, it was all too familiar to her. She suddenly felt a stab in her heart as she remembered all the times her parents would drag her to these events. The countless amount of times they lectured her about the manners of attending, even though at the time she would furiously shout back at them and cause her parents so much pain, she missed every single moment. As memories started to rush back into her mind, a small glance across the room made her fall back into reality. 

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

Junho quietly coughed as he blinked his eyes several times trying to stay awake. He was already tired and not to mention his jaw was starting to hurt because of all the smiling he had to endure while greeting the guests. His stomach was starting to growl as he slowly headed towards the buffet table. "Sir, you're needed at the center stage." one of his mother's assistants whispered shortly.

 "Alright. Just give me a minute." he replied as he looked around the buffet table.

   "But sir, you're needed now." 

Junho sighed as his hopes of filling his stomach were crushed. "I understand." 

With his feet being mentally forced to turn around and walk to where he was needed, Junho looked aimlessly ahead. He looked across the room and nodded as the assistant was still talking and telling him directions on what was to happen. With the ocean of faces smiling at him whenever he passed by, it made listening to him even harder.

   "Did you get all that sir?" 

Junho nodded insuring that all the information had sunk in his mind, when all he could think about was all the food he had left behind. 

 "One more thing sir..." 

"And what would be that?" Junho asked as he finally turned around and faced his mother's assistant for the tonight. 

 "Your mother would like you to greet Miss. Kim." 

"Excuse me?" 

 "You're mother would like you -

"I heard what you said. But how can I greet her when she isn't even around?" 

  "Actually sir... she's right behind you." 

 

Junho swiftly turned around and saw that in crowd of people that were standing and chattering, he saw a slim figure across the room, and at the same time, he had spotted her, Soeun glanced back at him as they gazed at each other for what seemed like a second before she broke eye contact and looked down. 

 

He smirked at her and slowly made his way towards where she was standing. 

 

Soeun looked down hurriedly, hoping she didn't notice her. Without any thoughts, she quickly turned around trying to hide herself. 'Wait. I don't want him looking at my back!' 

Soeun face-palmed herself literally before she turned back around only to find Junho already in front of her. 

 

"Were you, perhaps, trying to avoid me?" Junho questioned her.

 Soeun looked back at him blankly, rolling her eyes in exhaustion. "Honestly, if it wasn't obvious enough, I try to avoid you as much as I possibly can." 

  "Oh is that right?" Junho replied with a laugh. "I don't remember inviting you to my office this morning... unless you actually came to see me?" 

  "Well..." Soeun stuttered. "... that was obviously an exception. As you know... sometimes... you just have to... you know." Soeun looked away from the eyes of Junho in the utter stupidity she had shown.  

  "Right." he replied with a grin. 

They stood in silence as both didn't know what to say in a situation such as this. Soeun clung onto her clutch as she tried breathe in and out naturally. 

 

Suddenly, the lights dimmed down and a spotlight was shone onto center stage, where Mrs. Lee was standing. 

  "Good evening." Mrs. Lee announced through the microphone, finally filling in the silence between Junho and Soeun. "Thank you all very much for attending my son's 25th birthday." Mrs. Lee went on. 

 

  "Aren't you supposed to be up there?" Soeun whispered to Junho.

"Probably." 

Soeun faced him in a confused manner. "Well why aren't you up there?" 

 "Aren't you supposed to be up there?" Junho replied in a question, his eyes not leaving the stage that his mother was on. 

 "Touché." Soeun admitted defeat. 

 

"And as for a final matter," Mrs. Lee smiled even more than before, making the guests anticipate on what she would say. "There have been reports for the last couple of weeks stating that my son was to be wed as he has found a suitable wife, and as his mother..." 

  

   "Here it comes..." Soeun whispered loud enough for Junho to slightly hear. 

 

"I would like to address the matter by confirming that the reports about my son are speaking the truth." 

 

Cameras started flashing and while gasps and speculations could be heard all over the room as the guests whispered amongst themselves.

 

The spotlight finally shone on Junho as heads turned around to face him. All he could do was smile at the awkwardness of the situation he was in. 

  "Junho." His mother smiled. "If you could gladly bring your fiancé up to the stage with you." 

He nodded in agreement as he turned towards Soeun who was by now at the edge of embarrassment. Junho took out his hand as he waited for Soeun to take it. 

 

 "So it's her."

"Never would I have guessed it to be Madam Kim's daughter." 

 

She could hear the remarks of the guests and slightly smiled before finally taking the hand that was in front of her. 

Junho smiled back as he slowly walked with her in front of the stage. He could feel the warmth of her hands and the state of embarrassment she was in. Junho slowly tightened his hand around hers, as he insured Soeun that it was fine. 

 

"I would like to congratulate the lovely couple on their engagement." Mrs. Lee finally finished off. 

Everyone clapped their hands as cameras were flashing like there was no tomorrow. Junho slightly slid his hand towards Soeun's back as he held her. 

Soeun surprised, looked up at Junho slightly as the guests were still congratulating them. 

  "What do you think you're doing?" she whispered making sure that no one but Junho could hear. 

 "Can't I hold my own fiancé?" he replied, as he smiled and nodded at those who passed and congratulated him. 

"Get your hand off my back." Soeun whispered trying to keep calm and collected. 

"And if I don't?" 

Soeun smiled as she turned her head towards him. "If you don't," she whispered in his ear. "I will kick you in the -