Beautiful, Dirty, Rich (Monsta X Fanfiction)

Chapter Forty One: Let's Elope

When Minhyuk dropped me off, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

It was a text message from the devil himself: Wonho.

We can talk whenever you want. But you're not going to change my mind, Yuri. I'll show you that I'm the right one for you, not Shownu.

I rolled my eyes at the text message. 

Of course I wasn't expecting to reason with Wonho. He's the most stubborn person I ever meet, logic didn't always work on him. Part of me wondered if he was actually crazy, but he seemed too smart and calculating to be insane. 

I was the bone that Wonho just couldn't let go of. But I wasn't going to be an object to anyone. 

I was going to forge my own path to happiness. And I needed Shownu by my side to do that. 

I arranged a meeting with Shownu immediately. I sent him a super long but vague text telling him that I had something very important to tell him. It was the early morning, the sun was yet to rise. The only meeting place I could find was my family's café, before opening. It was cold inside the building when I first arrived, but I was too distracted and nervous to think about changing the thermostat. I paced, nervously, until I saw his familiar figure at the door. 

I quickly opened the door to let him in. 

Part of me hoped that Shownu would notice the difference in my hair, because Minhyuk did such an amazing job covering my dark roots. But I immediately noticed that he looked exhausted. Shownu had dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders were slouched. Shownu was just as distracted as I was, his eyes barely meeting mine.

I could tell something was wrong, very wrong, but I had to get this off my chest first.

"Shownu, there's something I have to say," I explained.

Shownu looked up at me through tired eyes, "Yeah, me too..."

"Ok, but let me go first," I said, squeezing his hands, "Wonho arranged an engagement with my parents," I expected Shownu to be shocked, yet he hardly reacted, "But I think I found a way out of it. If you and I get engaged... then this will all be fixed!"

I stopped, waiting for a reaction. Shownu was still silent, staring at the ground.

This could possibly be the best day of our lives. We could get engaged right now! Sure, the circumstances were terrible. I would rather be surprised with an engagement than have to force one. But this was our only hope to live happily ever after. 

"Shownu... is something wrong?"

He looked up at me through tortured eyes. 

"W-what's wrong?" I repeated, my voice shaking.

"My parents..." Shownu's voice cracked, his eyes watery, "they arranged an engagement between Harin and I."

I gasped, taken aback. My knees almost went weak at his words.

 Truly, my life was falling apart; both of our lives. 

"My parents found out that the Lee Conglomerate arranged a marriage with the family of a commoner... And then they figured out it was you. Every rich person in Korea knows who you are, you're the talk of the town. My parents decided that... since you are engaged now..." Shownu looked down again, fighting back the tears, "They decided there was no reason to wait anymore. They married me off as soon as they could."