Chapter 2: Fate and its Collisions.  

 

Soeun exhaled, as she lifted her head from the railing. Half passed six. She only had an hour left before visiting hours were over. She held her mother’s cold hands, as a smile crept onto her face.

 

“Omma, I promise, that I’ll make sure that you’re very happy.” Soeun murmured.

 

Soeun stood up, with all her strength and reached out for her bag. To be honest the emptiness she felt now, was quite better than the bitter pain that had been gushing through her heart a couple of hours ago. This was her fate. It didn’t matter what she did, or what she was going to do, the future was already written. Fate was already taking course, and all Soeun could do was watch the path shape her future.

 

 She looked over to her mother. Every ounce of her heart wanted to hold her and never let go. Yet her mind had to kick in and crush every speck of hope she had. Holding on wouldn’t fix a thing. It never did. And it never will.

 

Soeun closed her mother’s hospital door, as she quietly walked towards the entrance. With every step she took, she suddenly felt her eyes grow tired and weary. 

 

“Kim. So. Eun. You just had a nap. Why is your body picking fights with you?”  Soeun mumbled to herself.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Junho exhaled as he looked out the car window. Everything seemed to be a blur to him. The neon signs, that lit up the street were somewhat irritating, as much as the things his parents assigned him.

 

‘You are to marry, the daughter of Mr. Kim, whether you like it or not.’ His father stated that afternoon.

 

Junho sarcastically laughed at the thought of his father planning his future already. He was only twenty-four for god’s sake. What else could his parents possible have prepared for him?

 

 He looked at his wristwatch, half past six. An hour before the hospital was to close. “Can you please speed up?” Junho demanded the driver. 

 

Junho kept on repeatedly checking the time. He could still make it. “Aish. I’m running late.” Junho uttered. The hospital wasn’t that far away.  Before long, the engine of the car had already stopped, and he was running towards the entrance of the hospital.

 

Soeun walked down the hallway and checked the time. “Aish, I forgot I had lessons this evening.” Soeun cursed her lack of organization. She checked the time again and saw that her class wasn’t to start until quarter past seven. “I can make it though.” She said to herself. “If I run.”

 

As Soeun was running she checked the time once again, to make sure that she hadn’t seen wrong. However, with that one single glance at her wristwatch, she suddenly collided, with another.

 

“Aish.” Junho cursed, while rubbing his head. “I just had a bad day. What are you doing bumping into people!” Junho said irritated.

 

“Me? Bump into you? It was you who bumped into me!” Soeun shouted. She picked up her phone, whilst fixing her hair.

 

“Honey, don’t try and slide your way out of this.” He said whilst getting up, and brushing the dust of his clothes.

 

“Honey?!” Soeun said gritting her teeth. “You think you’ve got it all with those looks, don’t you? And just because you’re wearing a fancy tux, doesn’t mean that you’re the new James Bond.”

 

“Look, sweety, I don’t have time for this. I’m busy now, but can I ignore you some other time?” Junho smiled slightly and walked off into the hallway.

 

“Ai-Aish!” Soeun cursed as she clenched her fists.

 

Soeun respired, as she tried to lower her temper. For god’s sake, if she saw that man again, she swore that she would cut him up into pieces.  

 

~ ~ ~

 

“…And as for other matters, you’ll be having a meeting with the Han Company next week.”

 

Soeun looked blankly at Mr. Jung. He had been talking for the past fifteen minutes, yet she couldn’t care less about what he was talking about. All her thoughts had been absorbed about the arrangements of her marriage. With everything already planned out, all she had to do was to meet her mystery fiancé.

 

Yet, every night she thought that maybe this decision was a mistake. She wasn’t ready yet. Marriage was far from her mind, let alone falling in love was never an option for her. She wanted to do everything by herself, with no one else in the way.

 

“Miss. Kim…?” Mr. Jung called out.

 

Soeun lost her trail of thoughts as she looked over to her father’s secretary. “Miss. Kim, as I said earlier, you will be meeting your future husband tomorrow night.”

 

Soeun’s eyes widened as her stomach started to twist and turn. “What?” Soeun replied loudly. “Tomorrow night? Ani.” she shook her head in denial. “That’s not possible. I’m not ready yet.” Soeun stuttered.

 

“Miss. Kim, it has already been a month. The decision has already been made. The company needs this boost as soon as possible. ” Mr. Jung urged.

 

Soeun looked at Mr. Lee. She breathed slowly as she rubbed her temples. “Aigoo.” She

sighed.

 

Soeun slightly smiled, “So, where am I to meet him?”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Every dress in her wardrobe seemed the same to her. Nothing seemed perfect. Soeun sighed. “I’d better go shopping then.”

 

Soeun arrived at the boutique and looked inside through the window before entering. Through the window, she saw a plain, white wedding dress. “A wedding dress.” Soeun said with as sigh.

 

Soeun walked in the boutique and scurried along the carpet trying to find one, out of hundreds of dresses to wear tonight. As she was looking around, one of the employees walked up to her.

 

“Is there anything I can help you with?” a female employee asked. Soeun turned around, only to find a woman, most likely the same age as her, with straight black hair.

“Oh, yes I actually need a dress to wear for an auction tonight.” Soeun replied. “I’m looking for something in a dark tone.”

 

“Hmm, let’s see.” The employee said whilst thinking.

“Ah! I’ve got a perfect dress. I’ll be back in a moment.” the young lady smiled as she left.

 

Whilst the employee was finding a dress for Soeun to wear, Soeun looked around the boutique only to have her eyes locked, on the wedding dress she saw earlier through the window.

 

She gazed at the dress and Soeun was quite mesmerized. She walked over to the dress and felt the smooth silk run through her fingers.

 

Flash Back

 

“Omma! Omma!” Soeun shouted while running up to Mrs. Kim.

Soeun tugged at the hem of her mother’s dress.

 

“Hm?” Mrs. Kim responded, looked down at her little princess.

“When I grow up and get married, you have to buy me that dress.”

 

Little Soeun pointed to a white wedding dress that was placed at the corner of the boutique.

 

“And who do you plan on marrying young lady?” Mrs. Kim teased while raising an eyebrow.

 

Soeun smiled at herself. “It’s a secret Omma.” She snickered

“Well, if I don’t know who you’re going to marry, I guess I won’t be able to buy you that pretty dress.” Mrs. Kim teased.

 

“But, Omma! If I tell you, it’s not a secret anymore!” Soeun whined.

“Arasso, arasso.” Mrs. Kim bent down, to be the exact same height as So Eun.

 

“What about we make a deal?” Mrs. Kim said with a beam.

“A deal?”

“You tell me who you want to marry, and I pinky promise youwith all my heart that I’ll buy you that dress. Arasso?”

 

Soeun thought long and hard. She looked at her mother sincerely.

 It was rather cute, considering she was already planning on whom she would marry at only the age of six.

 

Soeun reached out for her mother’s ear, and started to whisper.

“It’s still a secret.” She then ran away from her mother, due to embarrassment.

 

Her mother stood back up again and smiled at her devious daughter.

 

End of Flash Back

 

Soeun looked at the wedding dress and thought of how she longed for the day when her mother would hold her tight once more.

 

“Uh, Miss.” the female worker said coming towards Soeun. She abruptly lost her trail of thoughts and turned around to face the young lady. “Oh, you’re back.” Soeun apologized.

 

“It’s fine.” She replied. The employee sat down on the stool that was facing Soeun. She opened a box, to what seemed to have contained the dress. “This was the dress, I was talking about.” The employee supposed smiling.

 

“Omo, what a beautiful dress. It’s perfect” Soeun said. 

 

“This is actually the only one left in stock.” the employee stated, folding the dress and placing it in it’s former position.

 

“Should I pack this up for you? Or are you planning on buying a different dress?” The worker questioned.

“Ani, it would be a pleasure to take this wonderful dress.” Soeun said, smiling.  

 

~ ~ ~

 

Junho hated formal gatherings. Although there would be many beautiful women around him, the atmosphere made everything so dull and boring. The music made everyone so ‘fantasy-like’.

 

And yet, here he was, preparing for a horrid auction, raising money, for who knows what. He looked at the reflection in the mirror and fixed his bowtie. “Your future fiancé will be here tonight, so play nice.” His mother said quite a while ago.

 

Everything was business to his parents. Nothing was ever about him, or how he felt. Of course, having wealthy parents had its advantages. Despite that, everything seemed like a masquerade. Junho was hiding behind a mask, that no one has yet to uncover.

 

Junho reached out for his car keys, and looked at the reflection of himself. “Just once, I just want one chance.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

Soeun stepped into the ballroom. Everything seemed oblique and dull. Its just the same old- same old.  As a child, Soeun would always be taken to formal gatherings, quite like this one, yet this was the first time, which she was to be at one without her parents.

 

“Soeun-ah!” a voice called out. Soeun looked around, trying to find the person that called out her name. As she was searching through the crowd, she found an old friend smiling at her.

 

Soeun laughed as she walked over to Ji-eun. “Excuse me, but have we met before? I heard you call out my name, yet I’ve never seen this horrible looking face before.” Soeun teased.

 

Ji-eun laughed at her old friend. “Excuse me? I think I’m quite attractive, if I say so myself. I mean, I’d normally have men swarming over me.” 

Soeun smiled. In the past six months, Soeun had finally put on a genuine smile. It was felt nice to finally smile at something, rather than hold back the tears that were always threatening to fall. “You were always the confident type, weren’t you Jieun-ah?”

“Ani. I was the shy type. You were always the one showing off.  

    “Me?” Soeun snickered. “It was you!” 

Soeun and Ji-eun spent most of the time catching up with eachother, slowly easing up. Soeun almost forgot she was here for mere business reasons. However, she was glad that fate finally started to fix the path that was planned for her.

 

“…so then, I tried to actually decide whether I should have -” Ji-eun started, yet was interrupted.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present, the host of this auction, Mrs. Lee.” The announcer stated.

 

The lights dimmed down, as Mrs. Lee came up on stage. “Welcome, to this year’s annual Auction. It had been a pleasure serving out guests tonight, and the auction will start vey soon.” Mrs Lee started. “As you have all known, although this is an auction, my son Lee Junho will be having his twenty-fifth birthday in three days. So, I would gladly, like to introduce to you, my son, Lee Junho.

 

As the spotlight focused on Junho, Soeun widened her eyes in disbelief.

 

“Yah! It’s him!” Soeun pointed.

“Him?”

“Yes. Him!”

“Who’s him?”

“HIM!” Soeun pointed at Junho. “Wait, who is he?” she added. 

“Oh! Him.” Ji-eun understood.

“He’s the famous Lee Junho. Rich boy. He’s famous for he’s wealthy family, and for he’s art work. And apparently, he’s good with the ladies.” Ji-eun whispered. “Wait, why? Do you know him?”

Soeun clenched her fists. “No. I’ve just heard stories that he’s a real pain.” 

 

 

A/N: Comments & Constructive critsism are very welcome ^^ 

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.