"I know I'm not supposed to...but I think I love you."
"When you walk in that room, stand tall. Keep your chin up, and look right into the eyes of the President."
"Why would it be a problem? I've never met that girl in my life."
"Life was never h...
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*chapter seventeen*
Haneul sat in her chair in the meeting room, staring blankly at the door that had just shut after her father's departure.
Marriage.
She'd never thought of it before. In books it was portrayed as everlasting love. A bond that two people had that was strong enough to last forever. Haneul used to like the idea of it as a teenager. She used to fantasize about it.
But the mention of it now didn't send the same hopeful butterflies coursing through her gut. It stirred up a feeling she didn't quite recognize, one that seemed to grasp hold of her and root her down to the floor.
Her father wanted to shuttle her off to some powerful man, elevating his own status while keeping his problematic daughter out of the day.
"One day I'll set this backwards country straight."
"If it doesn't feel like home, it can always be your temporary living space before you get to your final destination."
"Me, Yeosang, and Wooyoung know the real you. One day the whole world will know too."
Marriage successfully put a stopgap on all that. An arranged marriage would just be her father trapping her somewhere else. She wouldn't ever get out of Teho, she wouldn't ever see the wonders of the world, things she had only read about. She wouldn't ever get to have her life's big adventure, and her friends would remain stuck here as well.
I won't be able to see San anymore.
For some reason, that singular thought crushed her more than any other one had. Her life's dreams seemed tiny in comparison to his simple presence. In comparison to his smile, his laugh, his voice.
If she was in a political marriage, seeing him would be like if the President took on a mistress while his wife was still around. Haneul didn't really care what the people of Teho thought about her, but her father wouldn't accept it. If he was accepting her as his daughter, as another pawn to use, then he would make sure he used her right.
San would be out of the picture, and because he'd probably refuse to follow the rules, Haneul's father wouldn't hesitate to kill him off.
She couldn't let that happen.
That boy...that idiotic, incredibly stupid boy that had somehow managed to bring light into Teho could not be removed from this world.
