"If you lose me, please run in circles."
"Hm? Why should I run in circles?"
"because if you do, you'll find me standing by the very place you lost me."
Circle All Rights Reserved 2023
(4 years ago, after Jeonghan and Thean's engagement party)
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Thean remembers being called by her father on his study area. His hands were on his biceps and he is waiting for her. He was silent all the time she walked from the door towards the seat in front of his desk and that scared the youngest daughter of his even more.
"You called me, Dad." She starts. Trying her best not to be nervous or sound intimidated. Because she knows very well that once you reveal yourself as a prey into a beast, he will kill you in an instant.
"What happened out there?" he asks. "Where is Jeonghan? Did he just left you and his promise out in the cold?"
Thean stops for a moment, thinking. She was devastated that he left her but she can't tell that to her Dad. He.. he was something else. Instead of showing comfort, he will surely do something that she will regret. His father has ways that she knew about. She kept silent about it because he was a politician, but it doesn't mean that she's not against them. She won't let him hurt Jeonghan. He made a mistake but he was all she got. Her bestfriend and everything.
"I.. I told him to go home." she finally lets out.
"Hm. Why?" He asks. She starts to tremble and she has to keep her hands still.
"I break off the engagement, Dad. I'm so young. I'm only 19. I don't think I could be a wife to him."
"That's not upon you to decide, Thean." His father says that surprised her a little.
"Pardon, Dad?"
"I thought I had explained this to you since you were a kid, my only daughter." he says, suddenly getting up to his seat and leaning his back on the desk, beside Thean. Closing the distance a little between the two of them. "You are marrying Jeonghan because I need his family's support. You see, I am only in this position right now because of the people's rights. But with those people's rights, I'm merely a chosen puppy. If I don't do things my way, I will stay powerless."
"Dad.."
"On our world, love is pointless. People like us don't marry just because we're inlove." He says and then points into his brain. "We use this. Not this." he says, pointing to his heart afterwards.
"D-Dad, I'm sorry—."
"Why are you saying sorry, Thean? You can always go back and tell him to show up in another engagement party. You both can start again. It's the privilege of youth. Start and restart all you want, no one is stopping you." Those words may have seem encouraging to the ears, but she hated the meaning. He was saying that no matter how she or Jeonghan feels about this engagement, they had no choice. She was his daughter and it seems that he wants to keep everything on line for her, leaving no choice for her to decide. He was manipulating her.
"I'm sorry. It couldn't be helped." she says firmly. "I'm not going back on my word. I'm not marrying anyone. Not just yet. I'm not stepping into a mistake just because you want me to."
