Jan Di ran for the bus, screaming for it to wait. She got on just in time, and one of the seniors at the front gave her a hard time for being late. She apologized, went to the back of the bus and sat down. She was startled to see Ji Hoo sitting there.

"Sunbae!" she exclaimed. When she heard he was going on this volunteering trip, she had tried her best to get in too. Since he was graduating his schedule had been ridiculously busy, so she hadn't seen him as much as she hoped. Her grades had suffered terribly because of that too.

They arrived at the small village and started setting up. Jan Di was busy helping the senior students but kept making mistakes, much to her frustration. She glanced and saw Ji Hoo sitting with the kids. He would be a great pediatrician one day, she thought, as she walked over to him.

A little girl ran to him and gave him a hug. The kids had started calling him Doctor Prince. Most of them wanted to marry him when they grew up. Ji Hoo just smiled at them, his eyes bright. Jan Di sighed. She lamented on how easy school had been for Ji Hoo while she was quite possibly doomed to repeat another year. Graduation seemed such a distant possibility to her right now. She told him she never would even have made it this far if it weren't for him.

"You were my source of strength, sunbae."

"So, you want me to repeat too?" he asked, smiling.

She made a face. A part of her was afraid that if she said yes, he might actually do it.

They were interrupted by a loud noise and dust flying everywhere. They looked up and saw a helicopter flying above. A familiar voice echoed below: "Commoner, can you hear me?" it said, which was unmistakably the voice of Jun Pyo. "Geum Jan Di, respond. If you're there, meet me at the beach."

Jan Di furrowed her brow in wonder. "Gu Jun Pyo?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. She turned questioningly at Ji Hoo. "How did he know I was here?"

"I told him," he answered. "Go see him."

Jan Di walked slowly to the beach, still in disbelief. Jun Pyo stood there, waiting. He looked at his watch and frowned. "You took five minutes! Can't you walk faster?"

"Gu Jun Pyo, what's going on?" she asked as she reached him.

Why didn't she run to him and give him a hug? She wondered. What was wrong with her? She hadn't seen him in four years, for goodness' sake!

"What do you mean?" he asked. He was wearing a suit. His once curly hair was now straight. Jan Di's heart hammered in her chest.

"Gu Jun Pyo has come back for Geum Jan Di." He made fun of her white gown, as she still stared at him not believing her eyes. After four years...

"It's really Gu Jun Pyo", she declared, her eyes brimming with tears.

He pulled her in for a hug. She had her hands in her pockets, and didn't hug him back. He was a little disappointed at her lack of affection, but he shrugged it off. "I missed you," he said. "Enough to die. I'm never letting you go again."

Jun Pyo looked at her. "You promised, didn't you?" he began, "that when I come back you'd take responsibility of me?"

She laughed at this. "Look here," she said, "I never promised you anything. I said I would think about it."

Jun Pyo's face became serious and he knelt in front of her. Jan Di was panicking inside.

I'm not ready for this! She cried. He presented her with a ring.

"Geum Jan Di, please marry this great Gu Jun Pyo."

Jan Di was in full panic mode but her face remained expressionless. She didn't want him to think she was rejecting him, but she knew she wasn't ready to get married either. Help, she cried silently. The few seconds of silence that passed by seemed like hours.

"I object to that proposal!" a voice cried out.

Jan Di sighed inwardly. She knew that voice from anywhere. He must have heard her emergency bell on full blast.

"I object too!" another voice shouted.

"Me too!" and yet one more piped in. Jan Di was delighted to see her other two sunbaes walking towards them.

"You guys can't get married easily without our approval!" Woo Bin shouted, smiling.

Jun Pyo smiled back at his friends. He had told them to come witness this moment. Granted, it hadn't exactly ended the way he wanted, but he was glad to see them nonetheless. He gave them each a hug and they all stared wistfully at the ocean. They laughed and filled each other in about their lives. They were all back together, at least for the time being.

For today, it was all that mattered.

...

Jan Di found the next few days that Jun Pyo was back a little...awkward. She may have escaped responding to his proposal when they were at the beach, but she couldn't escape it forever. He brought it up every chance he got.

"What's your rush?" she asked him one day.

He pouted. "You would think one would be dying to marry the great Gu Jun Pyo."

She smirked at him. "I told you I'd think about it."

"What's there to think about?" he asked, curious.

Jan Di was quiet for a moment. She knew this day was coming. She had four years to prepare for it. So why was she delaying it? "I want to finish school first."

Jun Pyo rolled his eyes. "You can do that after we get married. Actually, I'd prefer it if you continued your studies in New York."

She stared at him, in disbelief. "I'm supposed to drop everything here and follow you?"

"Well, yeah." He leaned closer to her. His face was inches from her. She turned her head away from him, feeling uncomfortable. "Marry me." He whispered in her ear. He took her left hand and slipped the ring on her finger before she realized what he was doing. "See, it looks nice on you."

She looked at it and forced a smile.

He looked at his watch. "Oh yeah, mother wants you to come over for dinner tomorrow night. Father wants to meet you too." His dad had finally woken up from his coma a few months ago.

Jan Di's heart lurched. "Tomorrow night?"

Jun Pyo nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, my sister will be there too. And mother doesn't really hate you anymore."

Great, she thought nervously. This should be fun. Like getting my teeth pulled kind of fun.

...

To say dinner was awkward would be an understatement. Jan Di sat there, staring at her food. They said it was beef wellington - which, she noted, was just beef wrapped in puff pastry. She tried a small piece, savoring every bite. It was good, she supposed.

She tried to smile now and then. Jun Pyo sat beside her, talking excitedly about something he did while he was in New York. He seemed to love it there and kept talking about possibly settling down there with her. Jan Di sat there quietly, her mind drifting off elsewhere.

"So Jan Di, have you guys decided when the wedding is yet?" Madam Kang asked, staring intently at her.

Jan Di almost choked on a piece of beef. "Not exactly," she stammered.

"A spring wedding would be perfect," Madam Kang continued. "It will be in line with the opening of our new shopping mall. We could use the publicity to our advantage."

Jun Pyo gave his mother a warning look.

Madam Kang arched an eyebrow. "I'm just saying, you guys should pick a strategic date." Madam Kang smiled widely, though Jan Di thought it looked a little forced. "It will be the wedding of the century. We'll show them Shinhwa is back at the top." She beamed at Jun Pyo. "Thanks to our Jun Pyo and our Jun Hee of course." She noticed that Jan Di had stopped eating. "You don't like beef wellington?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

Jan Di shook her head nervously. "No, it's really good." She stuck her fork on a piece of beef and started chewing it faster than she should.

Madam Kang sighed. "Good. It's probably a relief from all that fish you've been eating."

At the mention of fish Jan Di's thoughts drifted off to a warm summer evening when she, Ji Hoo and Grandfather had gone fishing. Jan Di had managed to catch the biggest fish of the day, and they sat in anticipation as she cooked her famous spicy fish stew.

"I like fish," she muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Jun Pyo asked.

Jan Di looked up from her plate. "I make really good spicy fish stew."

Madam Kang wrinkled her nose and said, "that's nice."

All throughout dinner Jun Pyo's dad sat quietly observing them all. Jan Di kept glancing at him nervously and once she caught his eye he just gave a little nod. Jun Hee was delighted that they're finally getting married, and offered to help her in planning it.

Jan Di sat there, unable to move. She noticed the ring on her finger. It was a solitaire ring, with a huge 2 carat diamond on top. It was probably worth ten times the cost of her house. She frowned when she realized she actually hadn't said yes yet, but she felt it would raise too many questions if she took if off and handed it back to Jun Pyo now.

That Jun Pyo, she thought, he didn't give me a choice, did he?

From the moment she met him he hadn't given her a choice or considered how she felt. He had forced himself into her life, and she had fallen in love with him eventually.

Or did she?

She knew the guilt she felt when she hurt him, even though she never asked him to do all those things for her. He had done them expecting that she'd like him back for it.

"Is something wrong?" Jun Pyo asked, as they walked around his garden that night. The moon was bright and she could see a few stars twinkling in the night sky. He had taken her hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Huh?" Her mind must have drifted off again.

"Aren't you excited to see me?" The hurt was evident in his voice.

Jan Di felt a little tug of guilt inside. "Of course, I am."

"It doesn't feel like it." He looked at her, then leaned over closer to her face.

Jan Di swallowed hard. His face was inches away from hers. She closed her eyes, and waited.

Jun Pyo shook his head and sighed. He pulled away. "Are you mad at me? This isn't what I expected, you know."

Her mind raced. What did you expect? You left me for four years! You never even came to visit once! We've spent way more time apart than together in the course of our relationship, and the times we spent together we were mostly arguing. All I can remember of our time together was when I was crying or pining for you! Or being terrified out of my wits because your mother was hell bent on ruining my life!

She wanted to scream those out loud but she couldn't. She just couldn't. She had no idea she had all this pent-up anger inside her.

It's not his fault, she tried to calm herself down. You love him. It's not his fault.

"I'm sorry," was what she said.

...

When Jan Di saw the black car parked outside her house, her heart leapt with excitement.

He's here to pick me up! She hadn't seen Ji Hoo for almost two weeks.

She opened the door and got in, only to find a grumpy looking Gu Jun Pyo looking back at her. She couldn't hide the disappointment on her face.

"You really go to school this early?" he yawned. He handed her a cup of coffee. Her eyes darted automatically to the side and her heart sank a little when she didn't see the smiley face drawn there.

"How did you..." she began

"Ji Hoo told me," Jun Pyo interrupted before she could finish. "He thought I should take over now that I'm back."

Jan Di sat in silence, sipping her coffee. It even tasted different.

Why am I like this?

She looked at Jun Pyo, who sat there with his hand tucked under his chin, eyes closed.

This is the guy you chose, she reminded herself. Sunbae has given you back to him. He wants you to be with him.

An overwhelming wave of sadness washed over her. She looked out the window.

The sun was shining brightly that day, but somehow, it just wasn't bright enough for her.