Daehyun’s POV

            “He’s really not coming back…” Jieun’s barely audible voice mumbled under her breath as I drove her back to the hotel. It was late in the afternoon when the doctors finished with the testing and gave us the results. Jieun would be fine—physically. Emotionally, there was no doubt she was fighting on a battlefield. She barely slept last night, instead she just stared out her window at the people circulating the parking lots, probably hoping to spot Yongguk. The entire morning she was suffering from denial, muttering ‘but he promised’ each time a nurse walked through the door, causing Jieun’s heart to sink. I used to think, truly, that she’d be better off without Yongguk. Now that they’ve gone so far it was a stupid wish to keep.

            “I’m really sorry.” I said, having avoided her eyes all day—they were too sorrowful. I had no right to be sad.

            “It’s not your fault.”

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            I escorted Jieun back to her office. She took small, uneven steps to her desk, pulled the wheeled chair towards her, and slumped into her seat. She was in no condition to work, let alone think about the wedding coming up this week. Her father had called me every evening for the past few days updating me about the venue he chose in Seoul and all the preparations he made. Each time his name showed up in my caller ID I wanted to hide, but I wasn’t in the position to avoid calls from such an influential man. I knew it too, that I was just a pawn in his scheme of things. I went along with everything he wanted because he promised me what I wanted, but now I knew it was wrong.

            “I really don’t want to bring this up now but…” I struggled with the right words to say and figured no matter how I sequenced my thoughts, Jieun would probably react the same. “The wedding… I’ll do my best to cancel it.” Her head immediately shot up in surprise, but was she happy to hear that from me?

            “I can’t guarantee it will work but… with everything in my power I will try to make your father understand… that your happiness goes above all things for me. I was wrong to try to force you into this.” She was still looking at me with indifferent eyes. I couldn’t read her expression at all, all I could do was wait for a reply. I nervously glanced down at the floor and then back up at her—she was shaking her head. What did that mean?

            “I’ll be fine, Daehyun.” She forced out a smile, and though I felt a little happy that she had the energy to do that, her smile couldn’t completely mask the sadness that radiated around her. She was lying to me, to make me worry less just like she always did. All this time I thought she’d changed so much into someone I barely even knew anymore an yet now, she was behaving exactly as I’d always known her.

            “Don’t bother with my father. He’s not worth your time.” She sighed, now straightening herself up in her chair. She looked a lot less depressed. She was sheering up pretty fast, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

            “Does that mean you’ll marry me?” I felt stupid for asking, and even though I wasn’t the one who resonated in her heart, her answer to this question was a huge determinant of my own happiness. When we were younger, barely knowing even what marriage was, my mother had asked me whether I wanted to be with Jieun forever.  Ever since my answer to that, my mother had treated me as if she were preparing me to be suited as Jieun’s husband. I didn’t realize it fully at that time, the wholesomeness of the things she’d said to me.

“Study harder, Jieun is so smart she’d never date someone stupid.

You’re going to marry Jieun one day, and even though you’re still young now, you need to be loyal to her. Don’t ever make her cry by doing something dumb like looking at another girl.

Even if she’s hard headed and says she doesn’t need your help, it’s still your responsibility to protect her.”

            My whole life felt like a crash course on how to court Jieun. I bided by everything my mother told me without doubting its effectiveness. Whether I’d actually marry Jieun or not had never crossed my mind, and maybe that was my biggest mistake—not considering Jieun’s say in my vision of my future. My thinking had been flawed all along. If I’d thought about our future instead of just mine, perhaps things would have fallen better into place. Now, I’d already lost her heart, and I’d lost my chance.

            “Is that the best proposal you could think of?” Jieun pouted, catching me off guard. I stood a few feet away from her, dumbfounded at her response. Does that mean you’ll marry me? If that was a proposal it was sure as hell a crappy one.

            “I’m just kidding, Daehyun. I don’t need those silly traditions.” She wasn’t laughing, but she wasn’t sulking anymore either. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” Her smile didn’t fully reach her eyes, but she was on a full step to recovery. She had said it herself. This was her own decision—not her father’s. Yes I’ll marry you. I’d been waiting over a decade to hear those words from , and when I was younger I’d imagine them to sound a whole lot sweeter than it did. Her reply made the butterflies in my stomach flutter, but where was that overwhelming sensation of happiness? Relief? Peace? I was happy, but I wasn’t at peace. I got what I wanted and heard the words I yearned to hear, yet I wasn’t at peace.

            If I thought about it, my entire life was no longer for naught. I’d won, yet my victory felt so wrong. I lucked out. This was both a blessing and a curse… because after the words Yes I’ll marry you there was something very crucial still missing—those important three words I knew she’d never say.

            “Thank you.” I breathed, unsure of what to say to her next. Her acceptance of me as her fiancée, no matter how you looked at it, was not on her own accord. She agreed because she no longer had an alternative, she’d lost her white knight in the process of planning her escape. She’d given up the fight against her father, and the stress wasn’t worth it anymore. What we still had was an unrequited love. I’d lost my chance at a real confession, now the cards were all being played by her father, and we’re just passively following along. How pitiful—for both of us. Such is the life of chaebols.

Yongguk’s POV

            I sat at the dining table in Junior’s apartment, my duffel bag of clothes and my small amount of belongings still zipped in and untouched at his doorstep since the hour I’d came here. Junior was still at work at the hotel. He’d sworn secrecy to me those days ago at the hotel diner. We planned my escape route in case I really messed up. That night I hurt Jieun and the two of us were rushed to the hospital, I called Junior the moment I awoke and he was at the front doors within minutes.

            “I never thought you’d actually need my help. I had so much faith that you’d overcome it. I’m so sorry.”

            Junior pitied me with his words, and I suddenly felt guilty for involving him in my affairs. It was selfish to ask him. Just as I was a danger to Jieun, I could easily be a danger to him. I gritted my teeth as my hands held the small medicine bottle the hospital had left me with for my Schizophrenia. If I hadn’t stopped taking these, maybe everything would’ve stayed normal. Jieun and I could’ve still been together, and we would’ve found a way to cancel the wedding by now. It was my stupid fault for screwing up so badly. I developed some strange anxiety during the time Daehyun announced the plane crash until Jieun had come back safely and at first, I’d just innocently forgotten to take my pills. After a few days, I’d consider taking them, but I knew how tired the pills would make me. Nothing strange happened around me and my mind felt a whole lot more awake… I managed to deceive myself in believing that maybe, I had finally completely overcome my Schizophrenia. I didn’t notice Himchan was an apparition at first, but as he angered, I started to recognize his voice.

            It was the same voice who told me to kill myself those years ago. He was my voice of reason—ill logic that’d convinced me to try drug after drug as an escape from my pseudo life as a chaebol. I believed his false promises for happiness, because the temporary joy from escaping was a form of happiness, it just wasn’t lasting. I grew tired of it, I felt as worthless as any other street slum. At the peak of my discontent with who I became, that voice told me to die. He told me it was my time, and that the world no longer had a need for me. My mother wouldn’t care, and my step father would throw a grand party after I was gone. Those were the words he told me, and they were the words that stopped me from doing as he said.

            I learned very quickly that arguing with my hallucinations only angered them. They were like short-tempered school children who’d throw tantrums when denied candy. At first I wanted to just disappear. I truly believed my life held no worth, but hearing that my absence would be a source of joy for the two people I’d hated most in my life, I just couldn’t surrender myself for their sick joy. If being alive made them angry and bitter then I wanted to stay alive longer than they, so that they’d die knowing the bitterness I felt as well.

            My mother caught me once in the heat of my arguing with the voice in my head. It must’ve been a gruesome sight for her. I hadn’t been ‘home’ for three nights and she was ready to call a police search for me. She found me during her first drive around Seoul, heard me screaming in a dark alleyway by myself. I really felt crazy then, yelling back to a voice with no face. My hallucinations were only auditory then, so I couldn’t recognize Himchan right away when he appeared. All that time spent in the care facility to suppress my Schizophrenia never stopped it from worsening.

            My thinking felt restrained, whether it was because I was secluding myself in Junior’s small apartment for one, or whether it was the medication or both, it felt like I needed to get out and really look at the world outside. I really didn’t know what to do or where I’d go from here on out. In Vancouver, without the hotel, I was literally a cornered mouse waiting to be exterminated. My English, though I’d learned a lot from the courses my mother forced on me back in Seoul, was still not good enough to score me any office jobs, and I no longer had connections to get anywhere past cashiering at a fast food joint. My life had hit a dead end. Again.

            I ripped out a corner of a loose-leaf sitting on Junior’s dining table and scribbled a message for him. Without grabbing anything, not even a jacket or wallet, I headed out to the Granville Street Bridge close by the apartment. I didn’t know how long I’d be, and I wasn’t sure of what I’d do once I got there. Maybe fresh air would clear things up for me.

A/N: Sorry for not updating in around a week? I've been pretty caught up in.... watching Anime -cough- if anyone has a myanimelist.com account, add me please :D So I can stalk your list and find new animes to watch! My username is "lunafly". ANYWAY BACK ON TOPIC sorry! This chapter gives you more insight on Daehyun AND Yongguk's past, and reveals the promise Junior made to Yongguk a few chapters ago. The promise was, if Yongguk accidentally messed up and hurt Jieun seriously, he would give her up and disappear from her life. That was the promise Junior kept with Yongguk so after the hospital he fleed to Junior's apartment. The funny thing about this chapter was I had to do some research since I've never lived in Vancouver, so when I asked my friend what a good suiciding bridge in Vancouver was I felt like I was being suicidal HAHHA. Writer problems. This fanfics I predict will come to a final close in the next 1 or 2 chapters. Thank you so much for everyone's support (:!