CRUNCH.

An overeager Lee Chang-Min ate the snack mix made for the wedding guests at the banquet hall. However, picking caramel popcorn proved to be a poor choice when the Wang family members kept staring at the young idol.

Shrugging, he looked towards the stage already set up with a podium, decorated with lovely artificial flowers courtesy of Ming Yue's stubborn pollen allergy.

Speaking of the bride, she appeared at the front of the hall holding onto her father's coat sleeve for dear life. Radiant like the sun at daybreak, her simple lace dress sparkled with glitter, teeming with small white diamonds that led those present to awe and ooo audibly.

Perfect choice, he mused. Giving an OK sign, someone pulled him aside, motioning him to sit down before the affair started.

Meanwhile, Li Jun, the spurned fiancée, leaned against a column, poised like a statue. Arms crossed against his chest, accompanied by a look of disgust splattered on his face that made sure all present aware of his vitality.

To say he was relieved, that she was getting married to who she wanted, was to altogether oversimplify the matter.

Grandma Wu's words still rang clearly in his head. Reading his family's portion of the prophecy had made his mind preoccupied with it as well. Not only that, but he had promised should anything go wrong...

"What's up, dawg?", exclaimed Richard Chen, snapping his fingers at his relative.

"What are you doing here, Richard?", Li Jun asked, raising his eyebrows at the extreme-sport enthusiast.

"I'm Chang-Min's guest," Richard quipped with a grin from ear-to-ear.

"He had no one to invite, didn't he?"

His cousin pouted. "I said I would make it up to him if he let me come and eat."

"Of course, you did," said Li Jun while chuckling at his cousin.

If there was one similarity between the pair, it was their unrelenting appetite.

Sighing, Richard gave up, and inquired about the elephant in the room. "So...what did you say to Ming Yue on her big day?"

"Nothing. She hasn't seen me."

"What? But..."

"She's with her love...walking down the aisle. I'm not him, nor will I ever be."

Eyeing Xiao Jun warily, he glanced at the wedding procession in progress with a slack jaw as the groom, dressed in an impeccable luxury tuxedo suit, smiled so wide Richard touched his own cheeks and wondered how much pain that would cause.

"So...what's next?" Facing the second male lead, Richard leaned over to his cousin with a glass of punch in hand.

"I got offered a lead role in a c-drama."

"No way. Drop dead," Richard said. His slang seriously needed some work.

"Yeah, the working title is The General's Cause. I've read the book before. I liked it, the male lead's mute..."

"Perfect for you to play in!" he joked.

"Why you!" he said, grabbing his cousin by the roots.

"Ow...ow. I relent. Go on," Richard said, genuinely curious about his relative's exploits.

"He's made a vow, but he is partly deaf. There's a lot of other characters, and I just absolute love the setting. The director is someone I've worked with before; the secondary lead couple's banter is just hilarious..."

He interjected, "I feel like there's a but in there somewhere."

"But Father already said after the wedding, which they were not invited to by the way, I'm to head a department at the company in preparation for my debut as a proper chaebol," he nonchalantly explained, dunking his martini in a glass down.

Richard smashed the glass from his hand and broke it, a serious expression now on his face.

"He promised...", Richard Chen started.

"Father?", asked Li Jun.

"I'll be right back," muttered Richard as he headed deep into the crowded seats in front.

"What's his deal?", wondered Li Jun out loud.

Up on the stage, the groom and bride made their vows of long-lasting love, making the male lead gag on the bread oeuvre he had just brought into his mouth.

Sobbing internally, he berated himself for promising to come here in the first place.

That could have been me up there...

Applause slowly erupted, the moment slowing down to a crawl as the second male lead thought about all the times he had spent with Ming Yue.

Technically, both Song Chin-Hae and him had met her during childhood, albeit Chin-Hae became the childhood friend while he did not.

However, fleeting imaginings of a life together dashed the minute he thought of a way they could be together forever...kissing her again with the seal.

Not only was that out of the question, but also seeing that beaming smile along with her jovial partner in the beginnings of marital bliss caused him to drop his face into his hands. Sighing, he plopped down onto the floor, wallowing in the eternal misery that consumed his life.

And to think, this was all due to belonging to a family of two-faced hypocrites who craved power in the jianghu, and the business realm, more than true love.

No, he would keep an eye on the contented gathering cheering endless toasts, despite his misgivings, if it meant Grandma Wu's worst nightmare did not come true.

The old lady herself seemed to be socializing with other ladies from the Wang family as most of the Song family sadly could not make it. The poor child who had been taken to the hospital showed up in a wheelchair pushed around by his relative, Song Cho. Lee Tien-Sing stood up on the side that the Songs would have occupied along with friends of Wang Ming Yue and coworkers of Song Chin-Hae. Those two lovebirds floated among the guests like social butterflies among real flowers.

He would never admit this to anyone, but they actually looked well-matched as a couple.

Li Jun sniffled, put on his dark shades, and got up, ready to leave before spotting someone else.

 The footsteps of tall high heels made a thud across the floor as he gazed at the flaming red high heels along with the woman in couture that owned them.

It was their greatest fear realized. Madame Li was back.

Li Jun swore.

"Not so fast."

_________________________________________

Yay! Song Chin-Hae and Wang Ming Yue are married! And it isn't even the end of the story...wait, it's not the end of the story? Nope!

Author's note: In this story, a story is mentioned, The General's Cause. It does exists for real as it's a story I am uploading on Wattpad, a satire on historical fiction c-dramas, along with its standalone companion/followup sequel, The White Dove, (which is a Beauty and the Beast/Bluebeard retelling set in Ancient China featuring a few characters from the first story). Copyright makes it hard for me to mention stories irl, but in universe, General's Cause is having a drama adaptation based out of it. (In my dreams could that ever happen, I wish.)

Probably what Li Jun feels about now...

https://youtu.be/0kW7LDauJyM