"Do I really have to go?" he asked.
And she answered, "Yes."
He couldn't forget those desperate eyes, that pleading gaze.
"I want to see you up there—on that podium."
He watched her with glazed eyes. Those earrings Min-Ha had picked for her glimmered in the beauty of the night, catching his gaze.
And that song he had been listening to on repeat for the last two hours kept playing in his head.
"Please, if not for yourself, do it for me."
He couldn't say no to such a solemn request.
"The ceremony is live; everyone back home is watching."
One of them was his cousin, he knew.
The night was cold... and the limousine seats warm.
The view outside was beautiful, too.
It was like looking at a night sky full of stars. Despite being a poor imitation, it was there, as real as reality allowed it to be.
A barrage of flashes.
That's what was waiting for him outside—on that red carpet leading from his door to the venue entrance.
