NIEL'S POV

That incident at midnight was really stupid. I knew that plan wasn't going to work, but I just wanted to try it out since Yoon Ji and I are both desperate to get out of this situation. Yes, I'm very desperate too, just like Yoon Ji. But I guess we can't do anything about our lives anymore. We're stuck like this. And I'm stuck with her forever. Unless I get a divorce with her, but like I said before... Getting a divorce will ruin my image, and maybe even my family's relationship with the Lee family.

It was Thursday at midnight when Yoon Ji planned to escape. The next day, which was Friday, was my last day being single. That day was also the day when the both of us got in trouble after school, but before we get to that, let's talk about what happened at school.

I was walking to the school's entrance gate, suddenly, everyone kept on congratulating me for some reason. The girls were smiling at me and saying "Oppa, good luck! Fighting!". This girl from Yoon Ji's class suddenly tapped my shoulder. I didn't know who she was, but I think her name was Hye Ri. 

"Oppa, you're getting engaged soon? Wae? Why did you pick Lee Yoon Ji? There are a lot of cute girls at this school!" She said. She kind of scared me, so I just walked faster and avoided her.

Then, someone punched my back. It was Min Woo with Dongho.

"Yah! Why didn't you tell us that you're getting engaged tomorrow?" Min Woo asked.

Well, yeah, I didn't tell them, but they knew about the arranged marriage already. I just didn't tell them that the engagement was tomorrow. I guess I was kind of depending on the escape plan, even though I knew it wasn't going to work. That's why I didn't tell them.

"How did you know?" I asked. I didn't think that Yoon Ji would tell anyone when the engagement was, so I was wondering who told them.

"Dude, are you kidding me? Don't you watch TV? You and Yoon Ji were on the news. They said that the engagement will be tomorrow, and we also got invitation cards for tomorrow."

Wait, what??? Did Min Woo just say that he and Dongho got invitation cards?

"What? You guys got an invitation card? I never sent you guys an invitation card!"

"Oh, so you're not going to invite us? I see how it is." Min Woo pretended to be mad. Dongho also pretended to be mad. Okay, I admit. That was pathetic, but they're my friends.

"No, that's not it. I mean, I never thought of invitation cards and things like that because I don't even want to get engaged or married! You guys should really help me right now. I don't want to get engaged tomorrow!"

"Ah!" Dongho exclaimed. "You need a plan, right? I've seen those movies where people run away with someone before they get married. They run away at the last minute."

"So you're telling me to become a runaway bride?" I gave Dongho an annoyed look.

"Well, you CAN do that, but I think it would be better if Yoon Ji does that." Dongho suggested.

Dongho is a genius! Well, not really, but his plan is brilliant! My brain's been dead for the past few days because of what's happening, so I couldn't really think of anything.

"Dongho, you're a genius!"

During lunch break, we planned everything. I know that Yoon Ji and I will get our own hotel rooms to get prepared for the event at an elegant hotel. While preparing, Min Woo will take Yoon Ji to her friend who lives in Gyeonggi-do. When the announcements start, the host of our engagement will call our names, and when the host announces Yoon Ji's name, she's not going to come out because she already ran away. This plan is definitely going to work!

After school, it was that time when Yoon Ji and I got in trouble. Well, we didn't EXACTLY get in trouble. My grandmother came to Mr. Lee's office to talk about what happened. They already talked about what happened at midnight before Yoon Ji and I came, so they just told us to calm down and to not worry about the engagement.

"Don't worry about tomorrow. It's gonna be alright." Mr. Lee said with a smile. "I know you two are still young, and you're really nervous about tomorrow, but we just really have to do this for the sake of President Ahn and for the Ahn Technology Co. I hope you understand."

I'm going to get married not because of love. It's because of business. It's really depressing. I can't take this anymore, but I'm very sure that the plan will work tomorrow.

Let's back up a little bit. Before I arrived at Mr. Lee's office, I rode the elevator with Yoon Ji, just the two of us. I told her about the plan and she really liked the plan. Well, of course she liked it. I know she liked Min Woo a lot, so she didn't have a problem with it at all.

So the plan was decided. She's going to escape tomorrow.

The day has come. The engagement day. I arrived at the hotel in the afternoon with Yoon Ji. The engagement was still at 6:00 PM. We were startled by the reporters at the entrance of the hotel. It was a good thing we had bodyguards behind us and in front of us. The cameras were blinding me. For some reason, my hand automatically grabbed my jacket and covered Yoon Ji's eyes with it. It was awkward for me, but I don't know why the heck I did that. We finally got inside the hotel and went inside the elevator. I saw one of the bodyguards press the elevator button. He pressed twenty-three and the button lit up. We were going to the twenty-third floor. My hotel room was just across Yoon Ji's room. I thought that it was going to be easy to communicate with her this way, so I was glad.

I entered my room and saw a really huge bed with lots of pillows. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't. I was getting really tense.

Two hours had passed and there's thirty more minutes before the engagement starts. I was all alone inside the room. A stylist had already fixed my hair, my clothes, and made some final touches with my face. Min Woo and Dongho just called about 10 minutes ago to tell me that they're coming soon. Then, someone suddenly knocked at my door. It was them. I let them in and we chatted for a short time. I finally decided that it was time for Yoon Ji to escape. There was only twenty minutes left before the engagement. I left my room and knocked at Yoon Ji's door. She opened the door.

She looked really pretty. She was wearing a nice lavender dress and her hair was curled with a purple butterfly pin. She looked really cute, too. But that doesn't mean I like her. I just think she looked really pretty. She looked very nervous too, like me.

"It's time to go." I said.

We just stood there silently, facing each other. Then, she hugged me softly.

"Thanks for being concerned about me. I hope you'd have a good life." She said, softly.

I don't know why, but my heart was beating really fast that time. It's like the temperature turned very hot. Did the air conditioner break or something? But I guess this feeling is just nothing. So I didn't really worry. There's nothing to worry about.

"You too, Yoon Ji. Good luck." I said.

After that quick hug, I opened the door to my room and called Min Woo, since he was the one who's supposed to take her to the car, but Dongho came out anyway. Min Woo left with Yoon Ji. She looked back and waved at Dongho and me. They walked farther and went inside the elevator.

I thought about myself. If she's not going to appear at the engagement, that would definitely embarrass me. What am I going to do? I'm just going to stand there alone and explain or what? How am I going to handle this? Dongho knew how I was feeling inside, and he just kept on encouraging me that I can do it. But I don't even know if I can. There's only about ten minutes left before the engagement starts, so Dongho and I left and took a ride in the elevator. I arrived at the waiting room. It's where I was going to come out from after the host calls my name. Some lady, who looked like she was in her thirties, asked me where Yoon Ji was.

"I... I think she's going to arrive here soon." I said, nervously.

The lady nodded her head and left. Dongho decided to leave and wait for me where the whole event was going to be. Before he left, he said, "Be strong, bro."

After a few minutes, the lady appeared again. This time, she had headphones and a speaker on. She asked me where Yoon Ji was, again.

"I don't know. She's probably gonna come soon." I said. I was lying, of course.

She looked mad and frustrated, but I guess she had to take care of something else, so she just left. The event finally started and I could hear the host's voice. His voice was echoing in my mind. My heart was beating really fast. I seriously didn't know what to do or what to say. I didn't know how to explain what was happening. My brain was dead. Everything seemed blurry, but I was probably just imagining that. I didn't want to be embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to say that Yoon Ji ditched me. I know it was strange, but I wanted Yoon Ji to be there. I wished that she didn't decide to escape.

"Let's all welcome, the future successor of Ahn Technology Co., Mr. Ahn Daniel!" The host said.

I came out from the waiting room that was at left side of the stage. I walked nervously to the middle of the stage, where there was an elegant and designed table with a chair and a mic. I stood by the chair while people were clapping and taking pictures. I also saw Mr. Lee, Mrs. Lee, my grandmother, and my grandfather, who was in a wheel chair, clapping at the same table. Dongho was at another table, clapping. He looked nervous for me, too. I closed my eyes, wishing that Yoon Ji was there. She and Min Woo are probably far away from here by now.

The people stopped clapping. The host started talking again.

"Let's all welcome, the precious daughter of Mr. Lee and the future bride of Mr. Ahn Daniel, Ms. Lee Yoon Ji!"

People started clapping again. After a few seconds, people were wondering why she's not coming out. They started talking to each other and looking all over the place.

What am I supposed to do now? How am I going to explain all this?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I put a lot of thought on this chapter. It took me a while to come up with an idea of what's going to happen. I thought it was gonna be a really long chapter since I've been working on it for about three hours (LOL I was doing some other stuff too), but I guess it's not really that long... No, wait. It's actually kinda long. =b Hehehe~ I hope you like this chapter~... ^^ What's going to happen next??? Let's find out next week (I promise I'll update it next week)~~. =)

-azn_nuABO14