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Iseul had left him drowning in a sea of his own regrets, the bitter taste of her scorn still lingering in his mind. Sunghoon stormed through the wedding venue, his footsteps echoing like the ticking of a bomb.

He barely registered the grand chandeliers or the perfectly arranged floral arches—symbols of a union that felt more like a funeral march than a celebration.

Inside the dressing room, chaos awaited him.

Rena sat slumped in front of a gilded mirror, her reflection distorted by the streaks of mascara running down her pale cheeks. Her white dress, short and puffed like a confection, seemed suffocating now—wrinkled, defeated. Her breathing was uneven, her sobs raw and ugly, filling the room with the sound of shattered dreams.

Sunghoon shut the door behind him with a finality that made her flinch. He spoke slowly, each word weighed down by exhaustion and finality.

"I can't do this, Rena."

She stiffened but didn't turn to face him.

"I thought I could force myself to go through with it," he continued, his voice low, a quiet storm brewing. "But I can't. I won't."

Her silence broke like glass. She let out a bitter, hollow laugh, wiping her tear-streaked face with shaking fingers. "Of course, you can't."

Sunghoon blinked, startled by her agreement.

Rena's voice, thin and trembling, sharpened with self-loathing as she pushed herself to her feet. "I always knew this was a fantasy. My fantasy. A little girl's dream of a prince who'd love her if she only tried hard enough." She met his eyes, a flicker of something fierce and desperate burning behind them. "But you were never my prince, were you?"

"I was already in love with someone else," he admitted, the words slicing the air like a blade.

She nodded, her lips curling into a broken smile. "I knew." Her hands, balled into fists, trembled at her sides. "I knew every time I saw you look at her. The way your voice softened when you said her name. I knew when you agreed to this, and I still—" Her voice cracked as she exhaled sharply. "I still wanted it."

Sunghoon clenched his fists, the truth searing through him like fire. "Then let's end it." He stepped forward, his eyes dark with resolve. "Now. Right here."

Rena's eyes filled with fresh tears as she reached for the wall to steady herself. "No." She shook her head fiercely. "No, you don't get to walk away so easily." Her words sharpened into daggers. "Do you think you can just break my heart in private and walk away unscathed?"

"I'm not trying to hurt you—"

"But you did!" she screamed, the force of her pain shattering the veneer of composure she'd clung to. "And I let you. I let you hurt me because I wanted to believe you'd change. That you'd see me. That I could be enough."

"Rena—"

"I can't be humiliated again," she interrupted, her breath coming in gasps. "I can't let them talk again. I can't be the girl who has been stood up twice."

Sunghoon sighed deeply, rubbing his hand down his face as if trying to scrape away his frustration. "That's not my concern."

Her eyes turned to steel. "It will be when your name is dragged through the mud alongside mine. Do you think the board will keep a CEO who's a walking scandal? Do you think you'll survive the fallout when this entire city turns its back on you?"

His silence was her answer.

She pressed on, her voice steadying as she twisted the knife. "We go out there. We smile for the cameras. We give them the show they want. And after that—" her lips curled into a bitter smile—"this engagement will disappear as quietly as it began. No gossip. No shame."

"You think you have the power to order me?" His voice dropped, a low growl, his anger simmering beneath the surface.

Rena's lips trembled, but she met his gaze without flinching. "I don't," she whispered. "But your choices do. And if you walk away now, Sunghoon, you lose more than just me."

His heart twisted painfully at the weight of his own failures.

"Smile," she whispered, her voice a ghost of its former self. "Just smile. One last time."

His hand, cold and unwilling, found hers. Together, they stepped out into the blinding world of flashing lights and eager eyes.

They smiled.

For a future neither of them would ever have.

He played his part.

For a fate he didn't want, for a fate that was pulling him tighter with each second.

But fate isn't always generous. And sometimes, it isn't merciful at all.

Finally, the guests—who had grown weary of the wait—began to clap. The sound rippled through the grand venue, hollow and unenthusiastic, as though the applause was meant to fill the silence rather than celebrate joy.

This was only an engagement, a mere announcement to the world that Rena would soon belong to him. No vows had been exchanged, no legal bindings signed. Yet somehow, it felt heavier than a lifetime of promises.

The atmosphere was suffocating. Guests mingled, their practiced smiles plastered on faces that gleamed under the warm glow of chandeliers. They raised glasses to toast a future none of them cared about, all while whispering behind perfectly manicured hands.

Rena smiled too, her lips curving into a graceful arc, but her eyes—bloodshot and filled with exhaustion—betrayed her. She laughed at hollow jokes, nodded at empty compliments, and stood beside him like a doll propped on a display. No one noticed the tragedy unfolding beneath the glittering facade.

Sunghoon didn't even bother to pretend.

His expression remained stone-cold, his jaw tight with the weight of everything unsaid. The applause echoed in his ears like a dirge. His hands hung limply by his sides as he felt the invisible shackles binding him to a life he had chosen out of pride, anger, and fear—everything but love.

Rena's words still echoed in his mind, cutting deep and unrelenting.

If he ended this engagement now, he would lose the backing of her family's company, the partnerships he'd fought so hard to secure, and the legacy his parents had spent a lifetime building. One scandal could tear it all apart. His entire future depended on this sham of a union.

But Iseul.

He closed his eyes for a brief second, and her face came to him—clear, bright, full of life, the way she had once been when they were together. Before the bitterness. Before the pain. He had told himself, over and over again, that he could do this.

That he could endure. That once this was over—once the attention faded and the business deals were done—he would finally be free to go to her.

But his chest burned with the truth.

He had lost her already.

He had traded her love for revenge. Pride. Fear. He had chosen ambition over her. And now, standing here with Rena's hand in his, the weight of that choice pressed down on him like a mountain, crushing the breath from his lungs.

He glanced sideways at her, who was smiling brightly for the cameras, as if this were a fairytale and she the princess with her happily ever after. She wasn't evil. She wasn't cruel—just desperate, like him. Trapped in a world where survival meant sacrifice.

"Smile, Sunghoon," she whispered through her perfect grin. "We're almost done."

He forced his lips to curve, but it felt like his face might crack under the strain.

"I've already lost everything," he whispered, more to himself than to her.

Her grip tightened. "No. You still have me. You still have your name. Your company. But only if we walk out of here together."

And for a long, suffocating moment, they stared at each other. Neither moved. Neither gave in. The violins played on, the perfect backdrop to a tragedy unfolding beneath crystal chandeliers and hollow applause.

Finally, with a clenched jaw and a heart screaming for freedom, Sunghoon took her hand in his again.

He smiled.

But it wasn't for her. It wasn't for the cameras.

It was the smile of a man drowning in his own choices, chained to a future he never wanted—one last act in a play he no longer believed in.

I know many of you are pissed off bc I continued with the engagement arc, but if it didn't happen, sunghoon's redemption arc wouldn't make sense at all.

By proceeding, he still has time to fix things while holding on to some power. It's not just his reputation on the line breaking things off now would ruin Iseul's career and future as well.

im also trying to explore reality they fiction our society thrives on appearances, not truths, and sometimes people are forced to make decisions they despise to survive the world they live in