Beautiful | C.E.W.

Lie

In these times, nothing could ever go my way. It's always me being ordered to be a pretty princess like I should be, be prim and proper, to say things that are rehearsed multiple times in front of people I don't even know. You can never get what you want in life, and that's the sad part about it. Especially when you're the daughter of the richest kings and queens of this land who have very high expectations of you. And when I finally thought things could go my way and I could live happily ever after, I was dead wrong. Just like today.

My day couldn't be any better- it was my wedding day, I'm getting married to someone I don't even know, and most importantly, I have to wear this tight, heavy dress in the scorching sun! I just hope that this groom of mine was at least handsome or I'll really cause treason at some point.

And yes, he was handsome– extremely handsome. He seemed to be made of porcelain, his skin was perfect, his proportions were incredible, and his masculine figure- oh god, am I falling again? This is simply an arranged marriage- how could I be so happy about this? Just as I was about to celebrate how my groom was EXTREMELY perfect, I realize that everyone has flaws. I wonder what his flaws could be-

The answer to my question was: his personality. I disdain the way he acted so demure and proper, like half of the words that were coming from his mouth I didn't understand! He was cold and mysterious, and unlike other girls who find that attractive- I hate it. He did not speak unless he was told to, and he talked with too much sense. I don't know how he's able to intrigue people into such boring conversations!

My mother joyfully tugs at my arm and brings me forward to my future husband. She's always the type to assert me into such situations, while my father acted like an apparition that never existed beside me. As of this moment, I would want nothing more than to cower away and hide at this moment, because surely that would be the most ethical thing to do right now. At least that's what I would do.

He stares at me coldly with no expression, whatsoever. He didn't even acknowledge me. It seemed like I was just some facetious, boring display put up for him. He doesn't even care. I'm starting to not like him more, but the more we stare at each other, the more that I realize he resembles a kid I once knew who I saved from almost getting kidnapped. Interesting. I wonder what happened to that kid then.

The whole ceremony was boring- nothing happened, and it was so serious I couldn't even breathe. And after that, every single day of my life was just as boring as my wedding ceremony. He doesn't even acknowledge me as his wife, I don't think he even knows me! I don't even know his name (or maybe I do- I probably just forgot).

As horrible as things can be, as much as I tried to catch his attention, nothing seemed to seriously faze him.. I wished he was an indecisive volatile person, but this patience of his annoys me even more! I would rather marry a plebeian than being married to this guy, at least I'd be happier with them!

Walking for my daily afternoon walk, I walk through the rose garden and spot my husband and- wait who's that?? Eyes widened in aghast, I hid in the bushes and watched the two. For some odd reason, I couldn't help but feel my heart swell at this. As if a sharp knife struck my heart in the most painful way.

It was his concubine. Lisa. I heard rumors about her, about how she was dearly close to him- god, why did I even agree to let him have a concubine? I mean, not that I could've done anything about it, but still! It was plausible to me anyway as to why he had chosen her instead of me- I mean, just look at me! I'm a nasty rat who has no sense of being a royal. Who would wanna marry me? I stand up and walk away with my head down, heading back to our cold shared bedroom with a heavy heart.

As we settle in for bed, I lay on my side of the bed and watch him take his gloves off and rest beside me. I sigh and try to touch his face, but he quickly shoots a glare at me and moves away, back facing me. Tears settled in my eyes, and I stared at his back, letting them fall freely from my eyes.

"Wh-What was your name again?-"

"Eunwoo."

Oh, now that reminds me– Wait, that was the name that the kid I saved gave me! Could.. Could it be him? I try to shake this suspicion inside of me, but it keeps haunting me. I wanna ask him- I wanna desperately ask him if he remembers, but I don't think he'd like that very much.

"Oh.. okay..." I just nod, closing my eyes, not realizing when he turns around and stares at me. At least I think he turned around and stared at me. I'm pretty sure he was staring at me the whole night- I could feel his glare on me anyway.

Eyes fluttering open, I look at his perfect features again- without him glaring holes into my head, I can say that he's charming. He's pretty. His soft lips, his small face with a blush spread across it, his long eyelashes– god, who wouldn't fall in love with him anyway? If anime people actually existed, then yeah, that would be him.

His eyes open too, and we're both looking at each other in the eyes. We stay quiet, not moving away from each other, his hands firmly on my waist. "I'm sorry..". I tilt my head in confusion but stay in this position with him, reveling in it while it lasts. It's not every day that you get your daily dose of affection from people, especially Eunwoo.

"I wanna take a chance on you.. I'm sorry for putting you through everything. I—-" he paused, looking down then looking back into my eyes. I've never seen this side of him and I can't say I don't like it. "I remember you now."

My eyes widen at this- am I hearing this correctly? He remembers me?? "How..?"

"I remember now, Rue... You saved me– I wish I could've told you sooner I just don't know how... And I wanna make this right, I wanna end this lie.."

"But we're doing just fine-"

"No we're not!" he sat up, tears pooling in his eyes, a tinge of desperation in his voice. "No, no we're not.." he spoke weakly, voice breaking.

"I wanna fix this, I wanna end this beautiful lie. It's beautiful- It's unbelievable how we were able to lie to every single person around us, but I don't wanna lie to you.. I wanna make it right."

"I never thought any of this was a lie, anyway... Everything's alright, we'll be fine.. I promise" I smile, reassuring him while caressing his cheek. I just hoped he was being honest when he said this.

I wanted to believe everything was going to be alright, and even if I want to trust him, I can't bring myself to do so. It scares me that- somehow, everything will go wrong and out of our hands. I'm glad we're okay, and I'm glad we patched everything up but is this really the end of our beautiful lie? Lies aren't easily burned down, especially when it becomes bigger and bigger. We dug our own graves because we were both selfish. How to get out of this mess? I'm not sure. But for now, I'm content with stopping the lies and making things right.