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Paradise In HellThe car ride to the reception was dead silent. JiAh couldn't dare look at her husband, too afraid his temper could reappear at any moment. The ten minute car ride felt like an eternity.
"You're be with my mother all night." He instructed, his voice was cold as ice and held no hint of emotion excluding from anger, frustration, and annoyance.
"Yes." She muttered softly.
"You'll smile and laugh like the happy bride you supposedly are." He continued.
"You answer all the questions that are asked, I don't care if you have to lie, answer them and make them believable." He continued. His eyes didn't leave the window for one second.
JiAh's face was turned to the window of the passing buildings that created her own personal hell. "Yes, I know." She answered softly.
To the world they were the perfect couple. Young, beautiful, rich, and happy. Happy, she scoffed at the remark. They were far from happy. No, more like a suffice content to hell.
JiAh had worked at the orphanage his mother often visited. Their company was a major sponsor to the orphanage. His mother began talking to JiAh after some weeks and the two had grown close.
After a few months Hoya's mother had asked her how she felt about marrying her son. JiAh thought she was crazy. But JiAh was indebted to the woman. She had helped out the orphanage so much and showed so much love to JiAh.
So that was how she ended up here. In a flashy black limousine on the way to their reception. To the world she looked like a perfect doll. She had switched out of the Cinderella-like wedding gown into a simple strapless white gown that reached her knees with a waistband wrapping around her thin waist lined with crystals. Her hair was pinned up into a series of curls and her make-up done to perfection.
But inside she felt ugly.
The car stopped and it was time for her to put on the best poker face she possibly could. It was game time.
Faking a smile she waited for Hoya to exit the car, he walked to her side opening the door his hand reached out to her. She gracefully grabbed it, her fingers inter lacing with his as she stepped out.
The cameras flashed as the two stood in the spotlight. She felt Hoya grabbing her waist pulling her closer as the two smiled at the cameras and reporters.
Oh how JiAh felt like crap at this moment. This was it. This was her hell.
--
JiAh faked her way through the whole night. Answering to any of the questions spit out to her. Hoya's mother was there with her the whole time guiding her through the crowd of older women who were less than subtle with their questions.
"When you are two having kids?"
"How are you going to possibly be chairwoman at such a young age?"
"Has he been kind to you?"
"How does it feel to be married to the future CEO?"
She answered every question with the most poised and elegant posture though she was dying.
She could feel Hoya's eyes following her every move even from across the room. He was with his friends, but she still felt his selective eyes.
'You're doing fine JiAh. You're doing good.' She told herself throughout the night.
--
The reception was over. JiAh finally had time to kick off the heels she was wearing casting them aside before sitting down on the kind size bed in hers and Hoya's suite.
He was facing away from her, undressing. He threw off his suit jacket and changed into a different dress shirt before turning to face hers. She didn't look up to him but focused her attention to her phone screen in front of her. Either way she could still feel his eyes sending lasers towards her.
"I'm going out with my friends tonight." He said before walking away. She could hear the door to the suite slam suit before the silence engulfed her.
She stood up from the bed and slowly stepped towards the glass wall overlooking Seoul. The lights from below shining in through her view.
She slid the glass door open, and stepped outside onto the balcony. The fresh wind hitting her face. She deeply inhaled then exhaled before looking up to the sky.
"Umma. Appa...your JiAh has a husband now." She choked on her own words as she let the words slip off her tongue.
"His name is Hoya. Lee Hoya." She said sadly, her eyes still connected to the skies.
"Hoya is..." She began but paused to think. JiAh had met him on several occasions before the two were wed. They went on a few dates. Three to be exact. The first set up by Hoya's mother. The last two were to night clubs, and she would barely called them dates at all.
"...He's an amazing dancer." She began remembering him dance on the dance floor, how he commanded the attention of the room as he danced.
"...He has a love affair with the color purple." She said remember the first time she had seen his room. She was with his mother of course.
"...And he cares dearly for his friends." She continued remembering how worry Hoya was when his friend Nam Woohyun got into that bar fight. Hoya wasn't scare to jump right in either, she remembered, that was how their third date ended.
"...And he hates his mother's ways but listens to her, he doesn't like even told what to do, even when he knows its the right thing to do. He has a short temper, but a big heart. And a beautiful smile, through he doesn't smile often to me." She added while looking down sadly.
"...so don't worry about me umma and appa. Don't worry about me. I'll be...I'll be okay." She mumbled softly as her back fell against the railing. She forced a small smile onto her face as if reassuring herself rather than the universe.
She wasn't going to be okay. And she knew that.
--
Quietly from the inside Hoya listened to every word that JiAh said. He had forgotten his phone and had returned to grab it when he heard his wife. Her voice was awfully depressing and even a deaf man could hear it. He sighed.
She was the one who agreed to marrying him. She tied her own god damm fate. He shrugged leaving the room without the slightest second thought.
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