Later that night  

At the Bae Family residence   

After the dinner with their daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Bae were now in their bedroom preparing to sleep. Both were already in their pajamas and sitting side by side in bed.  

Mrs. Bae was reading a novel while her husband was checking emails on his tablet. After a few moments, Mrs. Bae closed her book and placed it on the bedside table before looking at her husband.

“Dear, what exactly made you change your mind about Seungwan?”

Mr. Bae suddenly stopped in his task upon hearing his wife’s question. He looked at her in the eyes before saying,

“Yeobo, believe me when I say that just like you, I still believe that Seungwan is the one meant for our Joohyun.”

His wife’s brows furrowed at his answer.

“If you’re rooting for Seungwan to become our daughter-in-law, then why did you push her away from courting Joohyun?”

Mr. Bae smiled at her softly. He closed his tablet and put it away before he continued their conversation.

“Remember the time when I was still courting you back in college? And what it took to finally have you accept my feelings?”

“Yes... But what does that have anything to do with Seungwan and our Joohyun?”

Mr. Bae just looked at his wife with a small, teasing smirk and waited until she caught on to what he was implying.

Mrs. Bae’s eyes eventually became bigger as she realised her husband’s schemes.

“Did you... plan all of this?”

“You and Hyun-ah have so much in common, yeobo. And I can also see myself in Seungwan so I’m just trying to apply the same principle. Simply put, after 5 gruelling years of courtship, the only thing left is to make our daughter realise how Seungwan has already become an important part of her life.”

“So does that mean the engagement tomorrow is just a fake set-up to make Joohyun aware of her feelings? And that Seungwan is fully informed of your plans?”

For the first time since laying out his cupid-like schemes, Mr. Bae suddenly looked hesitant and began to carefully avoid his wife’s piercing stare.

“Actually... the engagement party isn’t fake and Seungwan has no idea at all.”

“WHAT?!”

Mr. Bae cringed at his wife’s loud and angry voice, feeling scared for his life.

‘Like mother, like daughter indeed’, he thought as he remembered the similarity with Joohyun’s scream in the restaurant earlier.

“I didn’t inform Seungwan about everything. I just asked her to avoid Joohyun at all costs and wait for the results. And knowing how stubborn our daughter is, it takes something as drastic as this engagement party to make her realise how much she actually loves the latter. I don’t want to completely control their actions, and I think that their mutual feelings are enough to finally lead them back to each other. Don’t you agree, yeobo?”

Mrs. Bae had an exasperated expression on her face.

“Dear, didn’t you ever consider how exceptionally kind Seungwan is? Even if she loves Joohyun, it won’t be a surprise to me if she goes through the marriage with Jisoo just for the sake of their family businesses! And no matter how brazen our daughter is in getting what she wants, she’s not the selfish type who interferes if it already involves other people’s feelings or relationships. Don’t you see, the two of them will just get hurt in the end!”

Mr. Bae paused at her answer and remained silent for a few seconds, all the while looking at her wife in confusion. Afterwards, he smiled mischievously (reminding Mrs. Bae of his astounding resemblance with Yerim’s teasing look) and shook his head.

“You’ll see what I mean tomorrow, yeobo. I believe in Seungwan and our daughter that they’ll do what they need to do. Trust me, okay?” he said before leaning in and softly kissing his wife good night, signalling the end of their conversation.

Mrs. Bae couldn’t do anything but stare as her husband tucked himself to sleep under the covers.

She eventually decided to just join him in dreamland, all the while praying and wishing for a happy ending between Joohyun and Seungwan.

—-

The next day

6:30pm

It was a night wherein the merger between the Son Enterprises and the Kim Group of Companies will be formally announced.

More importantly, it was an event which will reveal the marriage between heiresses belonging to two of the most powerful businesses in Asia and North America.

Press releases were made about the engagement party just yesterday, creating chaos and confusion among the public and the employees from both companies.

For the longest time, all have assumed that the Son Enterprises will have a merger with the Bae Industries. This event, however, proved them all wrong.

The venue for the engagement party, a grand ballroom in one of the Son Family’s 5-star hotels in Seoul, is now filled with thousands of employees from the Son Enterprises and the Kim Group of Companies. A significant number of distinguished guests have also been invited to grace the event, coming from the fields of business, politics, and the arts. Cameras of different local and international news agencies are already in place, with everyone anticipating the arrival of the 2 families which will formally start the event.

While eagerly waiting, the attendees are busying themselves with the lavish buffet and cocktails that have been provided. At one corner, the Bae Family can be found in a roundtable with Mr. and Mrs. Bae exchanging pleasantries with business partners and investors. Their youngest is also joined by her girlfriend-slash-fiancé Kim Saeron, the couple sitting side-by-side and sweetly feeding each other with sumptuous food. 

On the other hand, the last member of the Bae family was sitting by herself with a very dark aura surrounding her goddess-like features. Many have tried to approach the beautiful CEO for a conversation but she has simply rejected each and every single attempt with just a simple shake of her head, all the while staring attentively at the entrance doors like a hawk hunting for its prey.

A prey in the form of a long-missing ferret.

The Bae CEO was also surrounded by several empty cocktail glasses, with her reddened face a dead giveaway of her drunk state. She has been drinking ever since they arrived to numb her mixed feelings which have been confusing her all this time. And the fact that she only knew about this engagement just yesterday, which made her unable to sleep again last night, was making her feel more anxious than ever.

But she only knew one thing.

She just needs to see and talk to Son Seungwan ASAP to finally sort everything out.

As if on cue, a booming voice came out from the speakers surrounding the ballroom, signalling the arrival of the Son and Kim families.

Her prey finally walked into the venue. After 3 weeks of not seeing the latter, Joohyun noticed a lot of changes on the younger heiress. Seungwan no longer had her two-toned hairdo and is now sporting a straight styled, dark violet hair which suited her quite well. She also looked more beautiful and much healthier than ever, with her