After we all sat together, my parents were having a chitchat with Wang while I was playing with my phone under the table. I know it’s rude but I am uncomfortable, especially when Yael and Henry are staring at me. "Good evening. Sorry, I'm late." I immediately raised my head when I heard that familiar voice coming from our back. He’s here. Looking at the time, I guess he just came from his work. I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Wang didn’t even glance at him while Yael and Henry only glanced at him. "And who is this handsome man?" Mom asked after Mark sat in front of me. Just by looking at his face, he didn’t notice that I was there. He might be thinking that this was a coincidence but it was not. He didn’t know me- the real me so I will assume for now that he also didn’t know my family… personally. "Oh! He's Mark. The boy we adopted at that orphanage." Mrs. Wang said like he was nothing. I didn’t feel that they cared for him but why? Why adopt him if they are going to treat him li

“You knew about that? My arranged marriage?” I asked my brother after I sat on the couch. Just by looking at his guilty face, he knew it. “I’m sorry. It’s already late when I found out about it.” He answered. I nodded. “And what’s more amusing about it was you chose their adopted son instead of Yael and Henry, huh.” There’s sarcasm and interest in his tone. I shrugged, “Though he is adopted, Wang faked the paper, so Mark is not their family. It’s interesting, right?” I said to him as I wiggle my eyebrows. Kieffer shook his head at me as if he was proud at the same time thinking that I was crazy. “Why do you think they faked his adoption? Do you think Mark knew about it also, his friends?” I asked again. “I don’t think so. His friends knew that he was adopted because Mark said it himself to them. I could not imagine how Mark would react if he knew that.” Kieffer said. “That poor guy,” I whispered as I sighed. I became silent for a few minutes when I didn’t notice that my brot

It was like visiting and entering that orphanage will make the wall Mark built collapse. In the following days, I remained in my place. Since the majority of my friends are abroad, I don’t have any friends to hang out with except Lanie. But she was busy with her life so I decided not to bother her. I entertained myself by watching series and sometimes, reading the files that Nikki sent me about Mark. I looked at the door when I heard the doorbell ring. I am not expecting any visitors right now. When I opened the door, my lips parted when I saw who was standing in front of me. He was wearing a plain white shirt, black shorts, and white shoes. In his right hand, he was holding a paper bag. He looked at me casually. I tilted my head as I looked at him again from head to toe. “Glad to see you alive,” Mark said. “What?” “You’re not going out for the past few days. I’m just checking if you are still breathing there.” He said before he stole a glance inside my place and then, looked a

Then, he sighed. “Okay, then. I’ll tell them to cancel the dinner.” With that, I immediately looked at him. “What?” “I’ll cancel the dinner, Katherine. We both know that it is not just a dinner. We- no, They are planning our wedding.” He smiled a little after he said those. Yeah, we are both aware that it is not just a regular dinner. “Don’t do what you don’t want to do. Please do what you want to do without caring about what they will say about your decisions. That is your life, Katherine.” He stood up. I remained sitting as I looked at him. Then, he smiled at me, put his hand above my head, and caressed my hair gently. “After all, we are all just people who want freedom, not a chain, right?” I felt a hot liquid forming in the corner of my eyes. He kneeled in front of me as he continued caressing my hair. He is tall, so when he kneeled, our gazes were just equal. “I know you went here to get your freedom. I don’t want to be the reason, and my family, why can’t you get that?