I reached the altar and keeping the same smile on my face I tuned everything out. I fixed my stare on a spot in the priest’s robes and pretended I was somewhere else. He must have said something important though because suddenly Kai moved to face me and I followed his lead. His mouth opened and said something, but I wasn’t listening. Instead I watched as he grabbed a ring and guided it to my finger, my hand immediately closed in a fist and I had to override whatever instinct that was and force them to open as he slid the ring snugly on my finger.

I said something too. I recognized the words but my brain didn’t put them together, but I watched as I reached for a ring and calmly slid onto his long fingers. He had big hands I noted suddenly as I held his hand and we turned back around. The man spoke more and I heard Kai say ‘I do’ It was my turn now I figured.

"... I do" I spoke clearly as I said the two words I had dreaded to say all day.

I felt fake. I felt like a liar. Why should we say 'I Do' when we wouldn't even be in this position if my family wasn't rich and his wasn't about to go bankrupt?

“You may now kiss the bride” The man announced and we both froze. He sent me a panicked look and I stared at him in shock. Kiss the bride… kiss… the bride? Me? Kiss me?

We could have just skipped that except for the fact that everyone was frozen in place, as if he wedding wouldn’t be completed without the kiss even though we had already signed all the paper work. He stepped closer and my hands trembled as he took both of them in his and held them firmly, willing me to calm down. I shut my eyes tightly and my heart constricted. I never imagined kissing anyone else but Daehyun.

He stepped closer and suddenly I was surrounded by the smell of his cologne. I slowly opened my eyes only to find Kai's face inches away. I glanced at his lips and looked up at him. He looked apologetic as he looked at me.

"Don't" I whispered so softly I knew no one else, but he heard it.

He looked at me a fraction of a second longer and then his lips landed on my forehead and I breathed out in relief. Just like that, my whole life had suddenly changed and I was a married woman. I looked up at Kai and in his eyes I saw the same realization I had come to. My eyes went to the rings on our hands and he loosened his grip on my hands. People clapped around us and bright flashes from cameras went off. I looked at my mother.

365 days at the most. That's the maximum time I would give her after that I wanted my promised freedom.

Despite knowing he wouldn't be there, I looked around as we walked back down the aisle, this time as a married couple. I recognized some girls from school and I stopped the frown that was about to come on my face. The party moved down on floor where it was set up for the wedding reception. Whoever my mother had hired had done an amazing job. Crystals hung from the ceiling so the entire room sparkled. Tables were set up around the dance floor and people poured in behind us.

"It's time for your first dance!" His mom said happily as people took their seats and we were pulled to the dance floor in the middle of the room.

"Let's welcome the happy couple!" The MC yelled into the mike and everyone clapped around us.

"I can't dance" I whispered in panic.

"... Don't all rich people take classes in ballroom dance and whatnot?" Kai said in genuine surprise as we made our way to the middle and I felt my legs shake.

"Are you stupid? What movie are you basing that on?" I snapped, my nerves getting the best of me.

"Just go with the flow" He advised as his hand rested cautiously on my waist. He took one of my hands in his and I nervously placed my free one on his shoulder. I blinked as the lights dimmed and music began to play.

We stumbled back and I stared at his feet as I tried to find the beat. It was very difficult yet he seemed to glide along with the music as if it was his second nature. He groaned as my feet stepped on his again and I whispered another apology. A small laugh echoed from the back of the room and my face burned in embarrassment, why had I never thought about learning to waltz?

"What are they laughing about, they probably couldn't follow a beat if their life depended on it" He muttered quietly in annoyance.

"Sadly, neither could I" I joked bitterly.

Finally the song was over and the lights came up again. I breathed a sigh of relief as the party got started and people made their way to each of us to congratulate us. It went better than I expected in all honesty, especially since in my mind it was filled with chaos, but whatever. My smile tensed as a group of girls headed over to congratulate me.

"Hyerim! Congratulations! Ohh let's chat" She said excitedly as she took a seat beside me and took advantage of the fact that everyone was distracted, "So, I gotta tell you, you are the talk of the school!"

"I...am?" I said in surprise.

"Oh yeah. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere I go all I can hear is people talking about you" She said, her last words holding a drop of venom in it that put me on my guard.

"That's unfortunate" I said truthfully, "I really didn't want this to be a big deal"

"Really? Because I've heard some crazy things, like you're only doing this for attention or publicity for your company" She said calmly examining her manicure, "really all kinds of reasons some of them crazy and others like say, you got pregnant and this is nothing more than a shotgun wedding?"

"I don't think I need to explain why I'm getting married to anyone really" I said annoyed.

"Then again rich people like us have ways of making unwanted pregnancies go away right?" Min Young said with a bright smile on her face.

"Maybe you should go back to your table. I've got other people to greet" I said, keeping myself in check.

"You're so uptight" She mocked sweetly, "But hey, do you know who I could've sworn I saw leaving? Daehyun!" She added with a false smile.

"You must've seen wrong" I said calmly.

"Hmm... maybe but you know what? He looks a lot better now that he's graduated" She said looking up innocently, "Now that we're also graduating soon, maybe I'll give him a call. I've been thinking of getting a tutor for college anyways, but that's completely off the point. Have a wonderful day Hyerim" She said as she turned sharply and walked back to her table.

I stared after her and fought to keep my expression composed. Like Daehyun would even want to tutor her. He would see right through her ruse anyways. Why was she even being difficult, why on earth would she be jealous of people spreading rumors about me? Was she insane?

"Are you ok?" Kai asked coming up behind me.

"I'm fine" I answered tensely.

"Come on then, we need to get the keys for our new house" He said tiredly and I nodded as I followed him, sneaking in one last uneasy glance towards Min Young and her friends.

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Quick update time~ I had just enough time to get this chapter up! Hope you guys enjoyed it! By the way, I've gotten into the habit of thanking the people that have subscribed to my fic but right now the number of subscribers on my fic and the one that shows up on my profile is different so I guess some aren't showing up on my subscribers list. Anyways, If you never got a comment from me, just putting it out there to everyoen that has subscribed and everyone that took the time to leave behind comments, thank you so much ^__^

I'll update soon~