The Cupid Complex (Original Version)

1. The Beginning

Love.

It was simultaneously the best and the worst feeling that one could experience.

Growing up as the son of Cupid, Junho had a very cynical view towards love. He witnessed time and time again people desire a meaningful relationship only to end up miserable and alone. He didn't understand why people always craved love so badly. It was as if love was an addiction, and it didn't matter to them how much it hurt as long as they got a taste of that euphoric high that came with it.

Junho was now one year away from inheriting the title of Cupid from his father who wanted to step into retirement. This was his last year having to just observe relationships and how they worked. Soon he would be able to dictate who was with who. He was only allowed a small touch of magic when he visited Earth once a year on Valentine's Day that allowed him to have a taste of the power that was yet to come. If his chaperone didn't get in the way, Junho planned on having some fun.

Jeon Junho reached up to adjust the red masquerade mask on his face as he stood near the outskirts of the Valentine's Day party. They had blocked off the entire main street so that they could celebrate the holiday. The golden glitter used for the outline of the masquerade mask blinked on his fingertips as he rubbed it off on his black suit jacket. The lights strung from streetlamp to streetlamp above him were reflected in his black dress shoes as he looked from the loved-up couples that couldn't keep their hands off each other to a group of loners looking wistfully at them. He smirked, unable to help himself.

Love. You couldn't live with it – and apparently for some – you couldn't live without it.

The group of loners were people that Junho was familiar with. It was with these people that he found the most fun each year when he came to visit. They called themselves the Lonely Hearts club and were made up of singles who desired to find love. As Junho scanned their ranks, he noticed that a certain woman was missing, crossing his arms across his chest at the sight. Four years ago - while observing the Valentine's Day festivities - Junho had met a woman who had been part of this Lonely Hearts club named Amethyst. He couldn't quite remember how they got into the discussion to start with, but he remembered getting into a heated debate with her. By the end of the debate, she had told him that she would prove him wrong about love and get into a meaningful and lasting relationship.  After he left that first year, he watched her from his father's control center to see if she would be able to prove him wrong. Without his father intervening, Amethyst found a man named Arnold that seemed to have feelings for her. The next couple of years that Junho had seen her during Valentine's Day, she had made it a mission to stroll past him with Arnold to prove to him that he was wrong. She normally did so within the ranks of the Lonely Hearts club, but this year Amethyst and Arnold were nowhere to be seen. Junho glanced at the Lonely Hearts members one more time to make sure he hadn't missed her. He still didn't see her, but he did end up laying eyes on one woman who was staring with profound longing at one of the servers at the party.

Perfect. A way to amuse himself this Valentine's Day had finally revealed itself.

With a smirk on his lips, Junho snapped his fingers in the direction of the server. In doing so, the server dropped the serving tray in his hands, covering the lovey couple in front of him with some sort of salad. The server turned from the disgruntled couple to look at the Lonely Hearts woman that had been staring at him. The look of shock on her face was evident for all to see as he walked right over to her; his eyes filled with love for her. Junho couldn't help but to chuckle.

This was how love was supposed to work. It needed to be directed and controlled. No doubt they would get married eventually and chalk the whole thing up to being love at first sight. No one would ever know his handiwork.