Chaebol

Chapter 1

A week later, I was meeting up with Hohyeon and his friend from his music company. I'd had dinner with Sangwon and Junhong the day before, which made me pray even more that our plan would work out. I talked to my brother about the situation after the gathering after he brought up how much he hated that I had to marry him. Obviously, Junhong knew about what Hohyeon told me about him, and he tried to warn me as well, which is when I mentioned the plan. Thankfully, Junhong was completely in support of it. 

We met at a cafe near their company. It wasn't very hard to find Hohyeon when I got there. He had a tendency to be quite loud, and I'd heard that his friend was loud as well. Hohyeon's back was facing the door, so I silently stalked closer, gesturing for his friend not to say anything. When I was right behind him, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders from behind, squeezing softly as I cooed "oppa~" into his ear. 

Hohyeon was clearly not sure if he should be flustered, confused, or to laugh, so he did an extremely awkward combination of all three. Laughing at my success, I sat down next to Hohyeon and introduced myself to his friend. "Hi! I'm Choi Y/N, Hohyeon's best friend since grade school."

His friend smiled, and it was one of those smiles that you could see a hundred million times and still melt at the sight. He was truly a beautiful man, and I was not surprised that he was wealthy as Hohyeon had told me. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Choi Hayoung, one of the guys who will be debuting with Hohyeon in a few months." 

I shot a glare at Hohyeon for not telling me that he'd be debuting soon, but I'll deal with him later. "Did Hohyeon tell you about my situation?" 

Hayoung nodded. "He told me as soon as he got back to the dorms after the event that your engagement was announced. He was fuming as he asked me to help." 

"Would you really be willing to do that? You don't even know me." I couldn't help but smile a little at the thought that such an attractive man could also be so kind to a random girl he's never met. 

"Trust me, Hohyeon doesn't shut up about you. All of the members and staff at the company probably know everything about you. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's secretly in love with you." 

"Choi Hayoung! I am not in love with her! She's been my best friend since we were little. I love her like a sister. Don't talk like that." I noticed a hint of red in Hohyeon's cheeks as he scolded his apparent bandmate. "But his family is really famous in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and China for their company. His dad does it all. Think of something a company can do, and his family does it. On American standards, they'd be considered billionaires. That's something not even your family can attest to, and Sangwon isn't as wealthy as you are."

My eyes widened a little as Hohyeon spoke, slowly turning to look at Hayoung. "There is no way all of that is true. I can't even contemplate how much that is. (one US dollar is over 1,000 won)" 

Hayoung laughed a little. "It's true, and my mom doesn't work for my dad's company. She's a project manager for a smaller company." 

"What do you do with all that money? That's insane! I barely know what to do with the money my parents have." I was in complete awe of what I was hearing. 

Hohyeon and Hayoung both seemed very amused by my shock as Hohyeon began speaking again. "Anyway, Hayoung already talked to his dad, who has not only been trying to find a fiancee for Hayoung but also hates Ahn Sangwon and everything about his family. Not to mention that he saw a picture of you and thinks you're really pretty, or at least pretty enough for his son." 

As if on cue, my phone started ringing. Seeing "엄마(mom)" written on the caller id, I rolled my eyes as I reluctantly answered. "왜? (what)" 

"Is that anyway to speak to your mother? What is wrong with you? Are you so rebellious that you would convince someone to lie about their wealth just to get out of marrying Sangwon? That'll break his heart after he finds out." Even just those few sentences was enough to give me a headache. This is one of the few moments that my mom wasn't screaming at me or cursing at me.