Staring out the window of the moving limo heading towards the royal palace in Bangkok, Yubin thought back to the past hour where she had to separate with Taecyeon at the resort in Krabi after being summoned back to Bangkok with Khun by the head royal guard. Trying to convince Taec to leave her behind was really tough for her, as he was insistent that he stayed by her side. She found it even harder to stop kissing him goodbye when it was time to go. She was filled with reluctance to let him go but she controlled herself well, ordering Taec to leave for Seoul as soon as possible with Steph while she and Khun settled their situation once and for all. She promised Taec she would be back in Seoul with him in no time.

“Hey, you ok?” Khun gave a light squeeze on Yubin’s shoulder, noticing her sad silence.  “It’s gonna be fine.” He added.

“I’m fine. I’m just missing him already.” She admitted and then she shook her head, smiling slightly. “I’m being silly. I’m sorry. You are right. We are going to get this through as we planned. Tell them the truth and hold our stand. It’s not like we are living in the 15^th century. Let’s do this well.”

“Fighting!” Khun smiled at her encouragingly, as he patted the back of her shoulder.

Upon reaching the palace, the prince and princess was, however, surprised by the sight of a new visitor walking towards them with arms open.

“APPA!!” Yubin exclaimed, and she wasn’t too sure if she was happy or shocked to see her father in Thailand. The King gave his precious daughter a big hug.

“Sweetheart!! You looked surprised. You missed your appa this much?” He laughed heartedly.

Yubin stayed in her father’s arms. Somehow, she felt it was the comfort she needed now. Her father was always the one who was most soft-hearted, and would be the most appropriate person to convince not to marry her off to the Thai royal family. She finally let go of her hug when the Thai King began to introduce Prince Khun to her father.

Khun did a formal greeting and the Korean King liked him right away. Soon everyone was whisked off to big royal dinner feast. It was then that Yubin and Khun found out the real reason behind the Korean king’s sudden visit. That the royal wedding would be set in a month’s time and they would be announcing the wedding tomorrow at a live press conference with the presence of Khun and Yubin and both Royal families. Yubin shook her head in despair and gave an eye signal to Khun who nodded at her to go ahead with the disagreement.

“I’m sorry but we can’t do this. We can’t get married.” Yubin announced calmly as she looked at the happy but now confused looking family members. “We are both in love with someone else.”

The translator was too surprised to translate Yubin’s Korean announcement and the Thai royal family looked even more confused when the Korean Queen raised her voice, obviously shocked with the news. “I don’t understand! You both left a lovers’ note that you wanted to spend time together!!! What are you talking about?”

Khun felt the need to translate and told his family exactly what Yubin announced and he added. “We were never in love. We were away in Krabi but with others, someone we have been dating. We are sorry for lying to you all but there’s no way Yubin and I are going to get married when we want to be with someone else.”

Suddenly, everyone was speaking at the same time, all confused and obviously unhappy with the news. The translator was tongue-tied and finally Khun stood up and spoke in Thai and then Korean.

“We should all discuss this separately with our own families for now.” He suggested and everyone agreed.

As soon as the Korean royal family arrived in their guest suite, Yubin apologized.

“Umma, appa. I’m sorry that we lied about spending time together. It was the only way we could get away from all these marriage nonsense and spend time with the one we truly love.”

“Who is this you are talking about?” the king asked.

“I don’t care who he is!” The queen interrupted. “You have gone too far. How can you call this marriage “nonsense”? We are guests in this country. We were invited and were asked for your hand in marriage the royal family way. You could have said NO in the beginning and not lie to us!”

“I could have said NO? Umma! You were never gonna take NO for an answer!” Yubin had never raged at her mother before but she felt that it was time her controlling mother listened to her. “I agreed to the match-making, I agreed to come here to Thailand even though I wasn’t in the mood and all this time, you make my marriage plan sound like a shopping spree! And now, you are telling me this is not nonsense? My life is just all about you controlling it the way you want! What about my feelings? You don’t even care who I’m in love with!”

“Since when have you told me you are in love with someone else??!! Is it that Siwon? You never said anything about him!!” her mother argued back.

“And even if I did tell you I am in love with someone else. Would you have listened and understood? You told me I could reject the marriage proposal if I decided I didn’t like the prince after a week!”

“Ok, ok! Girls! Stop this.” The king decided to intervene. He couldn’t bear to see two of his most important women in his life fight like this. “Yubin, tell appa exactly what is going on. Who is this man you are in love with and how all this is happening?”

“Appa…” Yubin was close to tears as she kneeled down holding her father’s hands. “I’m sorry but I really can’t marry Khun when I am in love with Taecyeon. He’s…he’s someone I met 5 years ago in the US but we only got to meet again recently. I know it’s crazy how I suddenly just fall in love with someone and was not able to let you and mom know in time. I never thought this marriage arrangement could take such a serious turn in a matter of a week with you coming down to hold an official press conference. Khun is in love with a girl named Steph and if we were to marry, it will only be a loveless marriage. You have to stop this.”

“Arranged marriages can also develop to love.” The queen mumbled at the back.

The king was deep in thought and then he said “Sweetheart. Your mother is right somehow. It’s also too late to change our official plans since the media around the world are all aware of my visit here. It’s a press conference which even if we cancel or make the announcement that we reject the marriage, we will be disgracing the Thai royal family and our countries’ ties will be strained. It’s not an ethical thing to do. I am king for less than a year and such a royal marriage ‘prank’  is not going to look good this early in my reign.”

Yubin slumped down to the edge of the bed. She knew her plan had turned sour. That Khun was probably facing the same situation as her now. She shook her head and turned to her parents.

“So you would rather I marry the prince and then the both of us cheat on each other openly? Wouldn’t that be more of a disgrace to our families?” she asked.

“I know very well you are not the kind of person who will do such a thing to ruin your own family.” Her father said as he moved closer to hug her tight.

Yubin’s tears rolled down as she hugged her father, hating herself that he was right. No matter how much she tried to put herself first, she had always placed her family first.   

A/N: sorry I took this long to update. I hope my subscribers still enjoy this story so far. Stay tuned.