Author's note: To the one who made me fall in love with figure skating all over again, thanks.

Author's note: Other songs that can be listened to while reading this chapter, Li Jun's character theme song, the story's theme song (and MV).

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"Wanna date before we get married?"

"Sure," she replied to Song Chin-hae, lightly rubbing her nose against his.

Never mind that he was taller and older than her by a few years, in her eyes he was adorable.

"I'll leave you two alone then," commented the elder Wang, walking away quickly before he had to actually witness anymore PDA.

Laughing at her father's discomfort, she headed outside along with her beloved and encountered a cool, breezy night.

Holding his hands, she asked the question she most wanted answered at the moment.

"Why didn't you date me after graduation?'

His face flushed instantly, and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with apparent embarrassment.

"Well-I remembered what you said that day at the only college party we ever went to," he responded.

"That was so long ago," she mused.

"One and done, right? That is what you said," he teased.

"Song!", she cried, wanting the truth out of him.

Sighing, he explained, "You said you wanted to have a job and be independent from your family after graduation..."

"You took me seriously? I was drunk!", Wang Ming Yue chided.

"It was your wish...how could I not respect that?", he remarked, glancing at her gorgeous chestnut eyes as he did so.

Not even stopping to catch her breath, she took his face in hers, and smooched him till he pushed her away.

"Why would you be with someone like me? I have so many flaws-I'm not always organized, quick-tempered, impatient, recovering perfectionist, tend to keep secrets, didn't tell you I loved you earlier..."

"Oh, shut up!", she chided, pulling him back into a passionate kiss.

Embracing him, she made her last statement on the matter.

"Your flaws make you even more beautiful."

A rustle could be heard from behind them, and the pair stopped what they were doing, curious at the origin.

"What was that?", the male lead asked.

"Let's go," she answered. As the both of them turned to leave, a panting male struggled to control his breaths behind a nearby wall.

The dainty flowers that had fallen from his grasp once he saw them kissing had been left abandoned as he skedaddled out of there.

"It's not just me," the second male lead said. Crumbling to the floor, he let out a chuckle as he tried to process his thoughts.

The day that he met her, he had indeed been in a foul mood. His mother, if she could be called that, had called him that evening as he went to sleep at two a.m. after an exhausting workout to tell him that the scheduled family dinner would be on Friday.

Where he would finally meet his arranged fiancée.

His nights of restless sleep were exacerbated by that comment, and he woke up with barely any rest by the pounding knock of his celebrity manager.

Showering, he hastily got dressed and made his way to the van waiting outside.

So, when Lee Chang-Min had called him a grump while he was deprived of coffee that morning, he wasn't wrong.

In fact, it wasn't just that day. He was tired from the heavy schedule they loaded on him, but more exhausted from the image he presented and his family's expectations more than anything.

Everyone saw him as Xiao Jun, the charismatic actor/singer/model/rapper admired by millions, but all he saw in the mirror was a puppet.

People would volunteer him for roles or say that he was going to do something charitable or appear at a certain awards show, and he was just supposed to show up.

Lee Chang-Min, his only true friend, had once said to him that for others, that seemed like a stable life.

It wasn't-it was chaos incarnate. Never knowing what he would do the next day, his life hinging on what other people thought he should do more than anything he wanted.

Even the musical he was now due to star in was because an acquaintance had informed him the day before that he needed a 'favor'.

What was he? Everyone's piggy bank?

"You see, I'm getting married, Jun. But you'd do it for a friend, wouldn't you?"

"Of course," he chimed in, resentful that his manager had already signed him up for it without his prior consent, and that his acquaintance was going to enjoy one of the happiest days of his life.

With all his dramas, and all the albums he pushed, nothing was ever enough for people. (There was always something more he could have done.) And for the women he kissed in shoots-hah! They were after his fame; they could care less about who he is!

None of those models with their smiling masks wanted more than a date and a pic with him.

"Thanks!", they would all say, "Can you sign it too? I wanna give it to my..."

If only he could be the male lead of his own life! Maybe somebody would love him then.

The only time he felt any temporary sense of elation was on stage, adored by thousands of cheering fans, and even that these days that experience was hindered by the lingering thought of having to return to chaebol life and his impending marriage to a stranger.

It was funny. There were those envious of his lifestyle, but they never know how he wished so much to be independent from his family. To them, he was just a pawn in their never-ending quest for power.

Recalling his earliest memory, he cackled. It was of a toddler-sized version of him viewing his mother for the first time in three years, for the nanny always took care of him since day one, and calling out, "Mommy!"

Pulling on her skirt with his tiny hands, he kept repeating himself. The nanny had previously called her Mrs. Wang so he was sure it was his mother.

"Mommy's busy, Jun. Let the nanny take care of you," she said, turning away from him and paying attention to a piece of paper in her hands.

"Mommy! Mom! Mommy!", he cried out. She never faced him and left him sobbing on the marble floor.

After graduating from a liberal arts school with a degree in management, one of his few happy moments, his mother had stated, "Oh good. Now you can finally leave the music behind and take up the family business."

Give up on the one thing that makes me happy? Are you insane? he had thought back then.

"Music is a respectable career," Li Jun objected, folding his arms inward, and refusing to take off his dark sunglasses.

They were his armor against the world.

Cruel as it was.

At this point in time, he had already had more than ten years in the entertainment industry, without his family's name attached by the way, and had made a name for himself. He was not letting what he built crumble under his watch.

"Hmm. Remember when you're married that will all change though."

Defiant, Li Jun heard her say as she walked away, "We need an heir more than China needs Xiao Jun."

Still he should be happy that he was left alone to his own devices mostly, right?

However, the sleeping pills he took each night along with the anti-depressants he recklessly abandoned the past few months spoke otherwise.

Not that he wasn't happy in the beginning. During his first few years doing music, he gladly danced his heart away, but then the incident happened...

No. Better not to dwell on those memories and forget they existed.

Then, he found out just how corrupt his family was when they covered it up, and he switched agencies to get away from their influence.

That's how they pushed him towards college, and everything else. Lest everyone know the truth about what happened...wouldn't that ruin his perfect reputation?

Those crooked grinning faces...Aish, could they stop cackling like wolves for once in his memories, please!

Stuck living life in a gilded cage, every breath felt like prison chains tightening him towards his family's wishes.

No one, except for Lee Chang-Min that is, knew how far the rabbit hole he'd gone.

How miserable he truly was, still is actually.

Indeed, when his mother had called that fateful evening, it was more a command than anything else.

He still planned on disobeying them though, even with the blackmail over his head.

Marrying someone he did not love for power wasn't within his principles.

However, when presented with Wang Ming Yue, the coffee girl, (yes-he knew her name), he had been tempted to say yes to the arrangement.

That fateful night, he could still remember how she had scaled the fire escape, temerity in those fierce eyes.

How he admired the audacity of that woman! It wasn't until she offered to stay back so that the handicapped person could be carried safely that he knew...

He loved her.

Maybe it was better that she be with Chin-hae...he seemed to treat her right.

Would even be happy with someone as miserable as him?

Sniffling, he admitted, "I shouldn't have been so brusque. Maybe she would have liked me then."

Still he knew that wasn't true, and he hated dishonesty above all else.

When you lived with snakes your whole life, honesty becomes the highest form of virtue.

There was one other lie he had told though.

Her lips had would have missed his lips that night and landed on his right cheek, but he craned his neck by just a bit and when that wasn't enough, well...

"You kissed me" should have been "You tried to kiss me".

He kissed her instead.

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