Engagement

Rhan, a simple comic artist who loves to attend parties and go home drunk, is now facing a reality which she hopes is better than her dreams but in reality, she hates it. "Engagement? How can you do this! I already left this family! I told you that I am no longer part of this manipulative family!" She shouts at the top her lungs while tears are slowly forming in her eyes. She was forced to go to the mansion even almost kidnapping her to meet her father and her fiancé.

Her father looks at her with no emotion, her mother tries so suppress her sadness, her sister bites her lips due to guilt, and Lix, he can't even look at Rhan. "No, I won't get married! I won't!" She clenched her fist and grinds her teeth, "No matter what happens I won't get married to this guy!" She pointed at Lix.

Her mother got surprised, even though Rhan grew distant from her, she knows her daughter, "What do you mean? You would rather get married with someone else except from Lix?" She asks. Rhian looks at her mother confused while his father chuckled, "My, you haven't changed at all. What's wrong with Mr. Lix?" He asks while looking at her pathetically.

"He's a pretty boy," she answers directly. Rhan looks away with a slight blush, Lix got surprised by her reason that he suddenly left a loud laugh. Shane, who's beside him, is confused with all that is happening.

"I thought you don't want to marry because it's arranged?" Rhian asks her worriedly. She's thinking her sister might be getting crazy. "Yeah, but mostly because he's a pretty boy and he's a star." Rhan sits down, she's the only one standing in the room and made her feel weird.

"What?" Rhian stands up and went to her, she pinches Rhan's face. "You don't want Lix because he's handsome? Are you crazy? Who wouldn't want that?"

Rhan groans while she's trying to pull Rhian's hands away from her. "Me! I am the only one who's not into handsome guys! Besides…" Rhan started to whisper, it's only Rhian who's standing in front of her while pinching her cheek can only hear her. "You know me, right?" Rhian suddenly stops pinching Rhan's cheeks, she's right. She knows why Rhan hates handsome guys. She, herself, should know. Rick, Rhan's ex-boyfriend, is the hottest guy in their school but he ended up cheating and breaking up with Rhan. Cameron, Rhian's ex-boyfriend, was also as charming as a prince, but he ended up toying with her feelings and even left her with nothing but a broken heart, Rhian gave him everything, thinking that it'll make him stay.

Rhian sighs. Rhan hates handsome men because they are mostly, not all, the ones who break hearts. Even though Lix is an old friend of Rhian, he's still a guy. Rhan thinks of him as a heart breaker already. Rhan's perception is very hard to change. She's quite dense because she wants to be ignorant of things that might hurt her.

"Okay… But, you know you can divorce, right?" Rhian winks at Rhan. "Oh, yeah, I can back out if he turned out to be like that," Rhian nods at her sister. Their mother and father just sighs with what Rhian suggested, Lix suddenly gulps while looking worriedly at Rhan, but her smiling face made him feel that everything will be alright.

"Anyways, I heard that song you sang yesterday, Lix, that was very nice of you to serenade a lady who doesn't act like one," Rhian sits beside Rhan. "Oh, thank you. I just suddenly felt the urge to write a song for Rhan when I saw her…" Lix suddenly stops when he noticed Rhian signaling him not to mention about that night in front of their parents, "Where did you saw her?" Their mother asks.

"Um, when Rhian showed me a photo of her." He smiles at them, charming enough to fool them. Rhian was even affected by his smile, she's looking at her with amazement. In this room, the only ones who aren't affected by his blissful smile is Rhan and his manager. Rhan just looks at her with a poker face.

"Since you are together, why don't you have a walk in the garden, Rhan? I think Mr. Lix will love to see the flowers you planted. They are being taken care of the gardener and they are in full bloom," her mother said with a sweet smile on her face.

Their parents stands up and left them, "Hey, Lix. Never tell them about how you saw Rhan, she's going to be killed!" She shakes her head to show disappointment of Rhan. "Don't worry, I won't do anything that will hurt Rhan." Lix smiled, Rhian went 'aw' but Rhan rolled her eyes. Lix suddenly frown with how Rhan responded.

"I'll leave you guys, Mr. Shane, why don't you discuss things with me?" Rhian pulls Shane, Rhian's a writer and one of her book is going to be a movie, she's thinking of taking Lix as a male lead. "Yeah, I'll leave you for a while Lix, don't be mean."

"I'm not a kid and I won't bully Rhan!" Lix massages his head, "You're so stupid," he whispered. Rhan folds her hand and crossed her leg, she looks sharply at Lix. "You know I hate you, right? Why don't you just back down? I can't do it because my parents wouldn't listen to me but if you did, they might listen."

Lix smiled at her, "My parents will kill me if I did, Miss Rhan. Don't worry, I know what you feel." No, he doesn't because he doesn't hate Rhan, he loves her. Since when was it? Yes, the first smile she gave him. During their college years, Lix was already well-known back then but only Rhan smiled at him like he's not the star that everyone sees him as. She was with a man back then, he only wished for his happiness. And when he found out he's getting engaged with his parent's friend's daughter, which is Rhan, he didn't hesitated. Not only because he likes Rhan but also because his parents won't accept his refusal.

Rhan sighs, "You know what, you really have a nice voice, and can you sing that song?" Rhan asks like it's a normal request but when Lix chuckled, she blushed. "I don't mean like I like it, you just have a nice voice, and I wonder why I haven't heard you. From what Rhian told me, you're a child star." Lix smiled at her. He felt nice because Rhan recognizes his talent. "Yeah, I wonder too. Maybe you had a weird taste before?"

"Maybe, what's your album?" Rhan stands up, "I'll buy it later, come on the sun's hidden, and we can walk around the garden." Lix stands up and followed her, "It's called Found, I'll give you a copy, and it's quite expensive. You don't have to buy it." Lix messages Shane to give Rhan a copy of his album. "You think I can't afford it?" Rhan stops walking, "We aren't married yet but you're already thinking of me lowly." Rhan remembered how her parents tells her that she can't buy things because she's just a comic artist.

"What? No, I mean… Why? I just want to give you an album, but if you don't like it, then it's fine." Lix breathes in deeply, he got surprised by what Rhan said. It offended him a bit. His voice seemed irritated and Rhan can't answer. "Hey, I'm sorry. I was… uh, I'll be honest. I am offended." He lets it out. Their relationship haven't started yet but they are already having conflicts. Lix doesn't want to sugar coat his words because sooner or later, he might not be able to handle his emotions.

"I'm sorry, I just remembered something when you said that. I'll be happy to take your album, thank you." Rhan started walking again. Lix face palmed, "Hey, if you don't like something, say it directly. I would take it the wrong way if you jump into conclusions that fast. I want to have a smooth relationship, Miss Rhan." Lix follows her from behind. They are already outside the mansion, the light's blinding him as they get to the exit. He closed his eyes for a bit to adjust and when he opened his eyes, Rhan's standing in front of him, smiling, the wind blows her hair and the flowers in the background radiates her beauty, "Yeah, why not," she said.

"You won't do that, I know. Your smile's fake." Lix whispers while Rhan went to the garden. He knows what her real smile looks like. She just didn't want to have a longer conversation with him. She hates him even though she's speaking with him. "What happened to you?" He asks himself as he watch Rhan pick roses from the garden.

"You planted this?" He asks while looking around the garden. There are a lot of types of flowers around. You can smell the faint fragrance of the flowers and the wind blows the petals around, Rhan is bowing while tugging her hair behind her ear she looks beautiful that Lix stared at her unconsciously, "Yeah, I loved flowers before." Lix woken up when Rhan stands straight while smelling the roses she picked.

"Loved?" He asks.

"Yes, I hate pretty things, they hurt you at the end. Just like this rose, it has thorns." Rhan threw the rose on the ground and walks. Lix just followed her while glancing at the rose, 'Then, do you hate yourself?' he thought.

"If you're not careful, you really will hurt yourself." Lix commented as they go around the garden. He just follows Rhan from behind, even though she's only wearing shorts and a shirt, she still looks elegant. But she suddenly stops walking and turned around, she looks at him with wide eyes, like she just discovered something, "Yeah, I should be careful." Lix suddenly felt weird. Why does he feel like he did something wrong that will cause problems for him?

'Be careful around pretty things, huh? Then I will act careful around you, if that's what you want,' Rhan thought. 'Why do I have this urge to run from him, leave him then go home? I don't like his presence, he feels so… extreme. I mean, he feels like an idol. I somewhat feel insecure.'

"Miss Rhan, I am sorry I have to go somewhere. My father asks for me." Lix looks at his father's message resentfully. "Yeah, that's fine. I have some work to do too," Rhan just walks to the mansion while Lix follows her but before they can enter, Lix pulls her hand, making her look at him.

"Please, give me some time, I'll prove to you that I won't hurt you," he looks like he's begging. His frowns and voice, they are clinging for her. Just like how she did before. 'How long? Seven years isn't enough, you can still hurt me by then,' she thought as she smiles.