“Hi mom.”

He returned to that look of emptiness in his eyes,

That was when I realized we had never come up with a signal…

What was I waiting for?

I readied my legs and took a deep breath.

I prepared to push my way past them, and

Sprint out the door before they even knew I was gone.

I began to run faster than I’d ever run before,

but she managed to trip me.

I was going to f-

He caught me right before I hit the floor; in his arms.

We just stayed like that for a bit; staring into each other’s eyes…

Was this part of the script?

Did he mean for this to happen?

“You going to stay like that?” 

She asked annoyed at me.

I reflexively jumped out of his arms

and he quickly jammed his hands into his pockets.

“So, Li Woo-Jin”

That was weird.

A mother calling their son by his full name?

Were all rich people like that?

“So how does that sound?”

She asked; clearly demanding agreement.

Oh no I zoned out again…

“Give me one moment mom;

we just really need to go to the restroom”

He quickly grabbed my hand

and hurried down another winding set of hallways.

I heard the girl yell:
”The men's and women’s bathroom are on opposite sides of the building!”

He seemed annoyed when he heard her say that.

We stopped abruptly in an area that was clearly not a bathroom.

“Can you please continue to act for a bit longer?”

He pleaded holding my hand with both his hands;

his eyes filled with desperation.

“Why do you need me anyways, aren't you the CEO?”

Shouldn’t he be able to handle two people, who trespassed no matter who they were?

“Well legally, my parents still own the company;

I’m just the face of the company...”

“Why did they announce you as the new CEO then?”

He paused for a moment and sighed.

“Are you familiar with the history of Royal Intermarriage?”

“No?”

“Well, it’s how royal families expanded power;

They would marry other people in power”

He gestured to himself and in the direction of the rich girl.

“So they want to expand their power by marrying you two?
Why would they need that?

Lition Corporation is the largest in Korea; there shouldn’t be a reason”

I was confused why his mom thought this was a good idea.

Wouldn’t this just give another company more power?

I understood the whole concept of what he was talking about,

but it didn’t have a real purpose.

Lition corporation practically dominated the largest field of business in the whole country.

What more would they need?
What more would they want?
What more would they even get from it?

“My mother is power hungry;

just like monarchs in those time periods.

Simply put, it’s not logical; she just wants it.”

He said, glancing off to the side and sighing between certain words.

Like he was thinking about something important…

And personal..

I felt at least a bit empathetic towards him;

maybe just because of his beautiful hands,

but he must’ve been through a lot.

His eyes seemed to darken, as he thought about his personal sadness,

so I thought I should at least try to distract him.

“So how much are you paying me for this?”

I asked gesturing with my hand;

the one he wasn’t holding.

“Oh! Right, pay…

How about I get you a deal with this agency instead?”
He seemed to dodge the question like he was hiding something,

but it’d probably make him feel worse if I kept asking about it.

“Did I earn it?”

I was desperate for a record deal, but not that desperate.

I wanted to achieve success through hard work;

I didn’t want to be thrown into success through luck.

“If you don’t trust me, I can get you a proper audition”
He seemed like he genuinely wanted me to succeed my own way.

That felt nice.

“I would like that”

I was happy;

I wanted a second chance to prove myself.

“So could you please pretend a bit longer?”

He asked again hesitantly.

“Sure!”

I was happy with this,

as we made our way through the winding hallways;

I wondered why they were so complex.

Also why were there no maps,

like someone wanted you to get lost in here…

I had gotten so focused on the hallways,

I forgot to put my hood back up.

“You’re that girl!”

The rich girl immediately yelled the moment I returned,

which caused both of us to realize the mistake I made.

I quickly put my hood over my face again,

but it was too late.

“Who is that girl?”
His mom sounded ominous,

with every word that she said.

“She’s one of the girls that auditioned

 with some of our company’s contract singers.”

“Now why would he be dating a girl auditioning to be a singer,

who was coincidentally here…

Perhaps this is all an act?”

They figured us out…

Do we run now?
Is that our best bet?
I just stared at him, as he looked dumbfounded by her seeing through him.

Did he do this often?
Was this the first time she figured it out?

Luckily the rich girl was just bad enough at reading the room,

that she accidentally defended us:

“Well Woo-Jin did bring her here.

He personally brought her here, and annoyed all the other girls.

He wanted to cut all their time for her.”

She abruptly said,

completely saving us unknowingly.

“Moon Hana.

Thank you for your insight,

but that was not necessary”

She was clearly mad that-

She was Moon Hana?!

Like the daughter of the corporation that dominates the entertainment industry?

He just skipped out on the most important detail!

No wonder his mother wanted them to get married.

They could dominate a field instead of competing, and basically own a country.

“Sorry…”

She apologized quickly and quietly;

Like I did to her…

I guess there’s always a bigger fish somewhere,

not that it made me feel any better;

since both of them were teaming up against us.

“So mother, we’ll be going now.”

He still hadn’t let go of my hand;

he began leading me outside,

but we were stopped by the security guards from earlier.

Oh right, she’s The Real CEO.

“I know another way out,”

He said running back into the elevator.

“I already towed your car,”

His mother calmly said,

as he pressed the Basement floor button as fast as he could.

The doors closed for a moment then reopened in the parking garage,

which was the only thing I’ve seen in this building

That was normal.

He looked around the parking garage,

and saw a few guards surrounding a surprisingly normal small white car.

“I knew she was lying”

He muttered under his breath;

like this was a common occurrence.

We walked towards the guards,

and now that I could see them clearly, there were 5 guards.

They were also dressed in a different uniform…

“Let me in my car”

All they did was pause to acknowledge him;

Then return to facing each of their respective directions.

Like human robots…

It didn’t bother him though;

Because he continued striding forward until he grabbed the car door handle.

The car door opened, and just as he was about to enter:

The guard next to him slammed the door shut.

Grabbed his wrist,

and kicked him in the stomach sending him flying back,

which caused him to let go of my hand.

“Why do you guys listen to her so much?”

He asked as he got back off the floor;

Dusting himself off.

He went back and tried to open the door again:

Then the guard grabbed his wrist,

kicked him the stomach,

and sent him flying back again.

“This time”

He smiled and pointed at me;

sprinting towards the passengers side this time.

It worked until he tried to crawl over to the driver’s seat.

Then they pulled him out of the car,

Grabbed him,

Kicked him,

and sent him flying back towards me.

“Stop…”

I said, grabbing his wrist.

It had red hand marks covering it entirely.

He was covered in dust,

and he was bleeding from his face and hands.

He held my hand and whispered:

“More emotion”

That was when I understood why he was doing this.

He wanted to prove to his mother that we: 

“really loved each other”,

And this was the quickest way…

He kept acting like he was trying to get in the car.

He’d kick one of the guards.

He’d try to climb in from a backseat and lock all the doors,

but they just smashed open a window to drag him out.

I knew what I needed to do;

unless I wanted to get banned,

from the entire entertainment industry.

I covered my face, and thought about the saddest moment of my life.

When Brad, my best friend, passed away…

Before our last year of classes,

a couple came in a blonde woman wearing a tan dress and sunhat,

and a man wearing a similar coat and pants.

They declared that their son Brad was dead,

and had been hit by a car that very morning.

This was strange; because of several reasons:

One, they looked nothing like him apart from the way they dressed.

Secondly, they almost seemed happy; when they told everyone their son died.

Lastly, his mother was blonde.

The last detail was important;

because he had been dress-coded,

and yelled at by teachers for dying his hair,

but he never talked back.

He just ignored them.

Like he really did dye his hair, and it wasn’t genetics.

It could be that he did dye his hair,

but his father had mentioned in a sad scene straight out of a bad TV show,

that he had his mother’s hair.

I thought a lot about this in class,

and brought it up,

but no one really seemed to care.

Despite dressing like a delinquent;

Turns out I was the only one he ever talked to.

They even made jokes,

 when I pointed out where his parents’ story didn’t add up:

”He’s probably a spy for the secret government then?”

One kid snickered.

“I mean he did always just stay in the music room;

no one knows what he did when Sujin wasn’t there…”

One of the other kids continued.

To them he was some sort of weird kid,

who hung around in the music room,

and had no friends,

but to me,

He was a fun loving guy who’d never give up on his dreams.

He’s one of the reasons I keep chasing my dreams,

but he’ll never be able to chase his…

Tears began to roll down my face just when he got back up off the ground.

I put in all the sadness I could muster and yelled

“PLEASE STOP!”

He paused right before he reached the door,

and the guard didn’t grab him.

He kept looking at me to continue,

and I managed to muster a few more words.

”We promised we’d be together right?
Don’t do this all by yourself…

I’m fine! Really…

We can meet your mother even if you’re scared she’ll hurt me”

He paused for a moment,

looked at the guards,

and returned to embrace me.

”Sorry, I was just really scared…”
He spoke loud enough to make sure,

that the guards would hear us.

“When did you take acting classes?”
He whispered under his breath.

I could hear the glee in his voice.

I just kept in character and held his hand;

until we got in the elevator.

“That was pretty good wasn’t it?”

I smiled, tears still running down my face.

“Yeah, but now comes the hard part.”

He leaned on me,

Just as the elevator doors opened;

I prepared for the most stressful moment of my life.