Ju-Hee was in the kitchen, cooking lunch after she had come back from the book store where she worked in the morning.

She heard her father calling for her and the tone which he used , scared Ju-Hee to the core. She wiped her hands with the apron and walked out in the living room where her father was sitting on the couch.

"Yes, Appa?"

"How dare you go out without that scarf?" He yelled,"Mr. Lee and his son saw those awful, ugly flowers! Heck! Everyone saw that! Now , no one will ever marry you!"

Ju-Hee frowned, a lump forming in her throat. She had expected this outrage but the marriage thing was really unexpected.

"Listen here, you stupid girl. You'll be marrying Dong-Wook. Be grateful that Mr. Lee has accepted for you to be her daughter in law."

Ju-Hee's eyes went wide in horror. Was she listening right? He was forcing her in a marriage without asking for her consent?

"What?" She whispered,"You can't be serious."

"I'm serious. It's decided." Her father exclaimed and before she could complain, he walked back inside his room.

"I can't marry him." She spoke to herself as a tear rolled down her cheeks,"No. This can't be happening."

She ran inside her room and dropped on the bed as tears continuously streamed down her cheeks. How did she end up here?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts as she held herself up and opened the door. Du-Sik frowned seeing the tears on his sister's cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

A sob escaped Ju-Hee's lips as she threw herself on Du-Sik. "Shh.. It's okay. You can tell me." He cooed, making her sit on the bed. Ju-Hee found it difficult to speak as she couldn't stop crying but somehow she told him how her father wanted to marry her off to Dong Wook. 

"How could he do this?" Du-sik was furious as he paced around in his room, his arms crossed together across his chest.

Ju-Hee sat on the bed, her eyes lost and heart heavy. She couldn't believe after all these troubles she would have to go through an arranged marriage with a stranger.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something." Du-Sik sighed as he carefully sat down next to her, gently caressing her silky black hair. Ju-Hee found the tears threatening to spill and when she couldn't control it further, she broke down crying.

"Sh, it's fine." He cooed, gently rubbing her back,"You'll be fine."

The siblings stayed like that for few minutes before Ju-Hee got up on her feet , earning a questioning glance from her brother.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm going outside for a while. It feels suffocating here." She coughed, wiping the tears with her hands.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes."

"Take care." She heard her brother call as she left the room and entered the bathroom to wash her face. 

She stared at her reflection and felt like crying again. "So ugly." She whispered to herself, softly touching the withered flowers on her cheeks. She splashed the water on her face and wiped her face with the towel. She couldn't go out looking like that so she grabbed the veil from her room and covered her face.Standing near the stairs, she made sure her father wasn't sitting in the living room or he would start shouting again. 

After she was confident that her father was in his room, she ran down the stairs and out of the house, a wave of cold air ruffling her hair.

Where should she go? She asked herself. She had no one who would listen to her thoughts. She decided to go to the pub so that she could earn some money and buy some groceries since they had nothing to eat. As she walked in the Diagon Alley, a sigh escaped her lips.

She entered the pub to find a sea of customers bustling around, looking for empty chairs to settle down.

"Oh my god, Ju-Hee!" The owner exclaimed as he came to a halt in front of her, his hands carrying a plate with ten glasses of butter beer,"I'm so glad you came. It's so difficult to manage. Will you please help me?"

Ju- Hee certainly didn't expect this response from the owner. She expected him to shout at her, deduct her salary since she disappeared without any reason.

"But.  . I'm sorry for disappearing-"

"It's fine. We'll talk about it later. Please hurry up." He requested with a smile and went on to serve the customers. Ju-Hee was baffled by how quickly he walked away.

She entered the kitchen area and grabbed the apron from the cupboard, hanging it around her neck. She wouldn't have appreciated working with around 50 customers around but engaging in a task at that moment seemed healthy for her head.

She would hardly get any time to think about the marriage and maybe she could apologize to the owner later.

"Will you prepare five glasses of butter beer?" The owner entered the kitchen and with a smile he added,"Oh and also could you please keep an eye on the counter too?"

Ju-Hee nodded and took out five glasses. For an hour, she was invested in serving the customers and managing the counter simultaneously.  She stood at the counter when a customer paid and left, the owner appearing shortly after.

"I'm so glad you came." He smiled. Ju-Hee nodded and looked behind him to find about 4-5 customers left.

"I'm sorry that I disappeared. Actually some emergency came up and I got no chance to inform you." Ju-Hee fiddled with her fingers and bowed as an apology,"I'm really sorry. I won't repeat this again."

"It's fine." The old man smiled, taking off his apron,"I cleaned up everything so maybe you can take care of these customers and then shut down."

"Yeah, sure!" Ju-Hee smiled widely and watched as the owner left. She was glad he didn't fire her. She didn't care he asked her to work longer as long as she was getting paid. The last customer left, stood up from his chair and stumbled over to the counter.

"Are you okay?" Ju-Hee was sincerely concerned for the man who could hardly keep his eyes open,"Why did you drink so much.  .  ."

She whispered the last question softly but the man heard her.

He chuckled,"It's an escape, you won't understand."

He slapped the life out of the money on the table and walked out of the door, leaving behind a baffled Ju-Hee. She walked to the table where the customer who just left was sitting, to find a half filled beer bottle.

His words rang in her head.

It's an escape.

Was it really an escape from this distressed world? Ju-Hee wondered as she reached for the bottle and took a sip. It was bitter but she liked the way it burnt her throat. After chugging half the bottle down, she let herself fall on the chair and held her head in her hands. Slowly, her vision started becoming blurry and she couldn't make any sensible thought in her head.

"It's working." She giggled and clapped,"I should get more."

She went back in the kitchen and brought two more bottles of the beer. A little while later, the bell rang indicating that there was a new customer. Ju-Hee was so lost that she could care less about who the new customer was.

Footsteps approached her and when they stopped in front of her, she lifted her eyes and smiled widely.

"Hey!"

Theodore frowned looking at her condition. Her hair was messy, her eyes were red and the flowers were shriveled.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he sat down in front of her.

"Escaping." Came the answer which only confused him more.

"What do you mean by that?"

Ju-Hee stopped drinking, blinked and then tried to focus her gaze on the boy sitting in front of her. She inhaled sharply before speaking,"I'm tired. Really tired."

She waited for Theodore to say something but he was really quiet so she continued,"You probably won't understand."

"Make me understand." Theodore shrugged as he leaned back in the chair, sitting cross legged.

Ju-Hee chuckled at his actions and reached for the bottle but Theodore held it back, shaking his head as a no. Not until you tell me. That's what she could infer from his expressions.

"Okay!" She clasped her hand together and sighed,"How should I start? Well.  . my life's a mess. I guess that doesn't explains anything but I think my brother is dying and my father wants to marry me off to a madman."

"Madman?" Theodore was shocked as he leaned forward and waited for her to continue.

"Yeah." She held her head down,"Mr. Lee's son is not okay. He has a cracked skull. That man kissed me the first time I met him which was very uncomfortable.No wonder he never attended Hogwarts."

"Just say no?"

"It's not that easy." Ju-Hee said as a tear rolled down her cheeks.

"Don't cry." Theodore panicked and got up on his feet, standing next to her,"There must be a way."

"No.  . I'm a burden to him. No one will marry me with these ugly flowers on my face." Ju-Hee sobbed, keeping her head down on the table.

"Who said that?" Theodore felt angry as he held himself back from stroking her hair. Wouldn't it be awkward?

"Appa." She answered,"He said he's doing a big favour to me by marrying me off to a rich man."

"I have an idea." Theodore spoke up abruptly,"I'll help you."

Ju-Hee stopped crying and raised her head up to meet his eyes.

"Really?" She was astonished earning a nod from him.