Huy sat stiffly at the dinner table in the Nguyen household. Mai wasn’t there at the moment and he was sitting with her parents as they spoke about her coming of age/18th birthday celebration.

 

Huy had initially been very in tune with the conversation, he was very excited about making Mai’s birthday enjoyable for her but then everything took a turn.

 

“The young Master Le is who I think would be most fitting for her.” Mai’s father suddenly mentioned, “We have to make sure they meet.”

 

“…I think she would prefer the second son of the Tran family.” Mai’s mother argued with a furrowed brow.

 

“Well it’s not all about what she prefers, it’s about who would be ideal for her to marry. She’s old enough to know that.” Mai’s father responded.

 

“Um…” Huy spoke up.

 

“Yes, Huy?” They both turned to look at him, happy to hear his possible tiebreaker.

 

“Is Mai not going to be marrying me?” Huy asked.

 

“Huh?” The older couple was in unison.

 

“…I was under the impression that that’s why you took me in…” Huy looked a bit confused as he scratched his neck awkwardly.

 

“Oh goodness no! Huy, you are absolutely free to do whatever you want and marry whoever you want! You don’t have to be bound by us.” Mai’s father quickly responded.

 

“Oh…”

 

‘Why doesn’t Mai get such a right..?’

 

Huy had thought from the very beginning that his purpose was to marry Mai. He struggled to believe that Mai’s parents would pick up a kid who was as much trouble as him for no reason. He had spent almost every second since he met Mai trying to make her happy because he thought he had such an obligation.

 

He felt empty now that he’d been told otherwise. He definitely didn’t think he was really in love with Mai but being perfect for her had been his only real goal for so long that he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do from now on.

 

—

 

“Mai are you really blind to all this?! They want you to marry some random guy—don’t you love the young master!?” Loan exclaimed as she watched Mai contently doing her makeup and hair.

 

Mai stayed silent for a while.

 

“I do…but I’ve decided to stop,” Mai said and smiled.

 

“W-why?!” Loan exclaimed.

 

“Because…he doesn’t see me like that. There is no chance for us and I’ve come to accept that... I will marry for the sake of my family and be content with what I have.” 

 

Mai’s smile was slightly tinted with sadness but she smiled nonetheless.

 

“Mai… No, you can’t do this to yourself! Tell them you don’t want to!”

 

“It’s alright, Loan. Don’t worry about me.” Mai murmured and ushered Loan off so she could get ready for the party as well.

 

–

 

Huy wasn’t sure what he should be doing anymore. He had initially planned to escort Mai in and everything but as someone who was not her fiancee that was really inappropriate now that he thought about it.

 

He walked into the party alone, It had started already and he was certain Mai was already there. He had made himself late while lost in thought

 

“Anh!” 

 

Huy wasn’t surprised that Mai immediately called out to him, joyful as ever but he was surprised when he looked up at her and felt frozen in place. 

 

Had Mai always been so beautiful?

 

“Oh…”

 

“Is something wrong, Anh?” Mai looked at him with concern.

 

Huy was silent for a while, which only made Mai even more concerned. He was pale and looked like he was a bit uncomfortable.

 

“ … I just can’t...” Huy suddenly murmured and grabbed Mai’s arm, dragging her away in front of all of the guests.

 

“Eh?”

 

Mai didn’t even realize what was going on until she found herself high in the sky in Huy’s arms.

 

“Anh, I can’t just leave like this!” Mai exclaimed.

 

“Mai…I can’t just let you marry someone else.”

—

 

Mai giggled as she watched Huy cluelessly hold Loan’s daughter.

 

“I’m so excited for you, Mai,” Loan said and hugged Mai close to her.

 

She was smiling one second and nearly in tears the next.

 

“I can’t even begin to explain how sad I felt when I thought you would seriously be marrying someone else. I’m so glad everything worked out.” Loan murmured.

 

“ Thanks for always being there for me, Loan.” Mai chuckled and hugged her back.

 

“...By the way…Have you told your parents?” Loan asked, very curious.

 

“Yes…They were over the moon with excitement.” Mai murmured.

 

“...as usual they are blind to how much they’ve troubled your relationship in the past…” Loan sighed.

 

“It’s fine, they just don’t get us sometimes…they’re still great parents, I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” Mai giggled.

—

 

“Ah…I love weddings.” Elena chuckled as she joyfully walked through the halls of Viktor and Yue’s wedding venue in China. They had chosen to have a small sort of ceremony the week before the royal wedding in order to have a more private moment with the four and their family. The royal wedding was going to be quite the affair and they didn’t want to risk anything going wrong that day. If the ceremony failed the next week they could claim it was just a formality and they had married in private already.

 

“I know, you’ve been all over Yue and Vik about it…just like you were for Tasha and Alexei… and our wedding as well.” Andrei chuckled.

 

“I just want everything to be perfect for them, because my wedding was perfect as well.” Elena chuckled and kissed Andrei’s cheek.