COLLISION

Chapter 1

  

  Every human being comes across obstacles in life. Some more challenging than others. I never thought I would have to choose between my happiness, and soul mates well being.
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  I search through my bag for the keys to the shop as I make my way around the corner of 8th street. It's a rather cold Wednesday morning in late October. I open the icy glass door and step inside. I am greeted by the fresh scent of fabric and that cinnamon apple candle Yeji loves so much. "Morning y/n." I turn around and greet Yeji, who is standing behind me eager to escape the vengeful cold fall air. "Good morning Yeji, glad you could make it in today, I'm really sorry to have called you on your day off." She smiles at me and waves her hands up in defense. "Not a problem, I don't have plans anyway so a few extra hours would be great." She walks in placing her coat on the coat rack near the door and her bag at her desk. "I promise to finish this bridal set and buy you lunch." Yeji, who is now gathering fabric and thread in a basket, laughs and proceeds to tell me that it doesn't bother her one bit.

  "Y/n, I said it was fine, I really don't mind." She sets down the basket and begins fixing a dark green piece of fabric on a mannequin. "Did you hear Minho is coming back to New York? I haven't seen him since graduation." I pause what I'm doing and turn to look at her. "Lee Minho? I thought he left to study abroad?" Yeji looks at me confused, setting down her needle on the pin cushion that is resting on her desk. "He did, Changbin texted the group chat yesterday, did you not see?" I pull my phone out and open my messages. Sure enough I got 20 unread messages from the group chat. I curse myself for not opening them sooner. "Sorry, I was up late last night working on some new designs I didn't really pay attention to my phone." She shakes her head. "Of course you were. Anyway, you ok? It's been two years. Unno..." I set down my phone on the table and fix up the dress I was working on yesterday. "I'm ok, don't stress about it." She gives me an apologetic look and continues to work on the dress. "Do you think Daniel would be ok, unno with you guys being friends and all." I turn to look at her placing the last detail on the dress before taking it off the mannequin. "He doesn't have to know. Look it's in the past. Our families thought it was in our best interest to get to know each other and we found that we have some things in common. I don't know."

  After high school I decided to study business and open up my own designer shop. Thanks to the status of my family, it didn't take long before my small shop, turned into a successful clothing brand. My parents have always been supportive, however, when greed takes over the good ambitious people, your left with little choice but to follow along and hope someone can save you someday. My parents are two powerful individuals who own some of New York's famous clothing stores and high end shopping chains. Each in charge of controlling some of the things in my own life. Who I befriend, Who I work with, who I date, and now, who I get to marry.

  "I'm really sorry about everything, I really wish I could do more to help you." Yeji gave me a tight hug. "Thank you. It means a lot." I give her a smile and place the dress on a hanger. I go to hang it up and hear the door alarm chime and footsteps approach me. "Sorry we're not taking walk ins today." I turn to properly look at the person and notice that it's Daniel. "Don't feel like seeing me today?"

  "Oh hey, Thought you were at a meeting today." He leans on the desk, crosses his arms and faces me. "Yeah I was, but I managed to leave early. Thought we could get lunch before I get called back to the office." I smile and signal Yeji to give us some privacy, to which she understands immediately and walks into the fabric room. "That would be nice, but I have a lot of work to do so I don't think I can afford to escape an hour or two. I'm really sorry." He nods and grabs the pin cushion sitting next to my laptop. "Busy as always. Well I guess another day. I'll be home late today. Got some things to settle at the office." I nod and start cleaning up the small pieces of cut satin that lay on the floor. " Hey, you don't mind if I go out tonight with some friends? We want to get together since it's been a while and..." "What do you plan to do?" He looks at me, disapproval written all over his face. "Not a clue yet. A friend is actually flying back to New York and we haven't seen him in a while so I thought it would be nice for our friend group to get together and catch up."

  Daniel stands up, fixing his coat and steps closer to me. "I guess it should be fine. Make sure HE gets an invite to OUR wedding. I would love for your friends to be there too." With that he storms out, not saying a word before closing the door behind him. Yeji comes back into the room and comforts me. "Hey, it's ok. You don't have to get married to him, talk to your parents I'm sure they will understand." What could I possibly say to them? The only thing that matters to them is where they stand on the social latter and they'll take away my happiness to maintain that status. "It's not that easy. If it was you really think I would pretend to like him?" She gives me another apologetic look and helps me clean up. "We are meeting up at Luna's Bar, check the group chat for anymore info. Hopefully you can get things off your mind and stop stressing." Yeji gathers her things and makes her way to the front door. "Hope to see you there." She waves goodbye and exists the store. "God what am I gonna do?"