Yi Soo bowed to her father and to the rest of her family before stepping up in the podium where he would be giving a few words about their engagement. She has read through the said speech earlier so she pretty much know what he's about to say.
As planned, she stood beside him to show everyone that Yi Soo is speaking on their behalf.
She looked through the crowd and saw Dan and her family, Mr Hong is there as well with some of the managers and department heads she's familiar with. Yi Soo glanced at her as he shares how they are excited to have this new chapter in both their lives and with their families' companies.
She nodded and smiled at him as she is expected to. She focused all her energy to not commit any mistakes today, no matter how much she wanted to run away earlier, what Yi Soo said earlier kind of woke her up.
Yi Soo ended the speech by thanking their families for the support, congratulating himself and Seri for their new position in the company and asking for the support of both the investors and the employees.
He stepped back and reached for her hand naturally as they went back to their places.
Yi Soo's father gave the closing remarks and some of the future plans to look out for but Seri's mind is not processing anything any further. Now that they're out of the spotlight, all she wanted to do is to drag Yi Soo away and to beg in any way possible to keep whatever he knows as a secret.
Finally, the program has concluded but before she could ask Yi Soo if they could talk, her father's assistant showed up on the side of the stage to guide them to the exit. She followed, thinking that they would just be escorted outside to leave the building but to her surprise they would just be meeting and greeting the investors before they leave.
Seri is sick of pretending by now and she's not sure how long she could take this any further. She saw her mother giving her a certain look but she couldn't be bothered to care anymore.
Luckily, Dan found her and approached her. She is with her father who first greeted the newly engaged couple and congratulated them before turning to his friends to discuss some business. Dan followed her father's lead and did the same thing. She hugged Seri and so she took the opportunity to whisper to her friend, "He knows about him."
Dan let go of the hug and looked at Seri in disbelief, "Who?" she asked with her big round eyes wide open. "Jeong Hyeok ssi?" she mouthed without any sound coming from her.
Seri nodded and faked a smile to hide the panic. Dan turned to Yi Soo who is looking at them and gave her quick congratulations. "Are you okay?" she said to Seri, not caring if he is listening.
Seri gave her arms a squeeze and nodded, "I'll talk to you soon." she said assuringly as Dan leaves with her father.
They met a few more people who basically tells them the same thing over and over again.
"Oppa, I'm not feeling well... I think I ate something bad earlier..." she said. Yi Soo nodded and knew what she is up to. He then wrapped his arms around her to which she flinched at first but gave her a look to calm her down.
"Abeoji, Seri is tired. Can we go?" he asked and both their fathers gave them a proud look seeing how close they are and nodded, signalling that they could go. Seri sighed in relief and bowed before saying that they'll be heading out.
Yi Soo reached for her hand as they made their way to his car. Seri doesn't have a choice as she rode with her parents this morning. And to be frank, she needs to talk to him and so she doesn't mind a ride.
He opened the car door for her like the gentleman he always is around her. The gesture made Seri comfortable to a certain extent. She felt a slight glimpse of hope, isn't this what she hoped for this morning?
