"So... Care to explain?" Ah-ri prodded.

Ri-yan's playful smile never left his lips again when the secret was out of the bag already.

It seemed he was greatly relieved and pleased for some reason.

"Leigh and I, we've been arranged to be married since birth as we were born only months apart. We knew it since we were young... then we quietly married last year. It's one of the prerequisites to inherit the ME Media Group."

He said it without a hitch of breath.

It was true then that Na Re-yee was the empress of the media empire.

"But why did you two have to hide your identities and enter the entertainment industry?" She was really puzzled by this.

Ri-yan only gave a chuckle.

"Do you think I have a real reason? I only find it fun ah~ As for Leigh, that woman probably wanted to see first-hand how her kingdom was running in the bottom levels."

Ah-ri didn't miss how he called his wife 'that woman' but refused to comment.

"You're really married solely for business? Both of you are willing to spend the rest of your life that way?"

The man glanced at her briefly then grinned.

"Spending a lifetime playing around, it won't be boring that way too."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"My guts tell me not to believe your words."

"Pft~ You're still into your theories? Listen, that woman dislikes me, maybe even bordering hate, since we were kids. So your assumptions are clearly wrong."

Ah-ri wasn't willing to give up though.

"Maybe she dislikes you but it doesn't speak about what you feel."

His mouth opened to argue back but it took a while to find words. She knew she hit the mark.

"Leigh isn't someone to be conquered." In the end, he uttered these words which neither denied nor affirmed whatever she said.

Ah-ri swayed her index finger in the air and said with innocence. "Tut-tut! But oppa has no interest in conquering though? You have every intention of letting her roam the skies and hail her like a queen. Standing behind her is good... At least for now, right?"

Ri-yan dully looked at her and only rolled his eyes. "Little girl, are you being poetic with me?"

She shrugged and he focused on driving her home.

As he was left alone again, her words lingered in his ears. Standing behind her... At least for now.

Ri-yan laughed self-deprecatingly as the image of that woman's back from when they were young up to now was the only image he ever had of her.

She never let him stand beside her. She was just too far out of reach...

Meanwhile, Ah-ri was bound to have a sleepless night.

As the stars hid behind the smog of the city, she was trying hard not to drown in the sea of memories.

The seeds of selfish hope were planted once again and she couldn't help but imagine standing beside her love as she did in the past but she tried hard rationalizing her thoughts.

This life was different. She had to convince herself a thousand... No, ten thousand times.

It was a given that her morning wouldn't be anything good but it seemed that fate particularly loved hurling boulders her way.

With her breakfast untouched, she was dumbly staring at the screen of her laptop.

On it was a still photo of her and Ri-yan hugging. Due to height differences, he was looking down at her with a faint smile on his lips as she looked up at him, almost as though a maiden wholly and head over heels in love.

They were walking on a garden filled with various flowers, adding to the sweetness of the scene.

It was a little blurred, indicating that the capturer did it hurriedly and unprofessionally. The distance was also quite long but what was important was the timing was perfect to capture such a subtle yet loving scene.

Anyone with eyes would be convinced of the couple's relationship.

Except in Ah-ri's memory, the real circumstance wasn't as romantic as this picture suggests.

She remembered tripping on her own feet yesterday when they were leaving the Na estate, because her brain was flying a thousand miles away. Ri-yan naturally caught her, holding her for a moment and mocking her for being stupid.

How did it turn out to be screaming pink blossoms when recorded by a camera?

What was worse was the image was gaining more and more reactions and shares. The strings of numbers below the post, which were large already, was still increasing rapidly.

Ah-ri's eyes lowered as countless thoughts raced and clashed against each other in her mind.

Baek Ye-soon went out of her room and saw her cousin in that state.

"Omo, unni! Have you seen the comments on your trending hashtag? Some were extreme ah, saying that you hid it for so long from the public. That you're a white lotus, always denying having relationship but in the end, you still became Ri-yan oppa's girl!"

Ye-soon was merely exclaiming this with a slight complaining tone. No matter what, this was her cousin that people were slandering. Even if she had a petty grudge against Ah-ri, Ye-soon also wouldn't escape it if her career sank to the bottom.

By this time too, she had gotten used to living with Ah-ri and it was inevitable to form a sense of bond with this cousin of hers even if Ye-soon still caused Ah-ri headaches several times a day.

"Why didn't you just admit it from the beginning? That way, your image won't be smeared like this." The teen thoughtlessly said.

"Nobody's attacking Ri-yan?" Ah-ri suddenly inquired but still with a distant expression on her face.

"Eh?" Ye-soon was bewildered by the question. "There are also bad comments about him but who doesn't know that he's a playboy? It's clearly you who are getting the brunt of distaste because your image is a pure white lily and now you're tainted by a man-whore! Many Harmonies and Glories are greatly disappointed. Anti-fans are even saying that your true nature is really a sl-"

The teen realized that she was going a bit too far. Even though a user really said that s word in the forum, she shouldn't say it right in front of Ah-ri's face.

Ye-soon always had a rather vulgar mouth but she also knew when to shut up. And she'd been more cautious around her cousin since she accidentally hurt her.

Maybe it was guilt but right now, Ah-ri didn't care. There was bitterness at the back of her tongue.

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