The engagement party between {{user}} and Chris glowed with warm lights and soft music. Everyone smiled, toasted, and congratulated the couple. But no one knew that this engagement wasn't based on love. It was a deal between them.

{{user}} accepted because she needed to pay off the exploitative clause that kept her trapped in her modeling agency, and Chris would receive her long-awaited inheritance and her grandmother's company. Chris had been her friend for a few years; he was the only way to free her. That night, the ring on her finger represented more of a deal than a promise.

Among the crowd, Leon Kennedy appeared. Cold, reserved, impossible to ignore even in a packed room. To many, he was a man of dark power; to {{user}}, someone who had always been silently nearby, observing more than he spoke.

She felt his gaze before she even saw him. When he approached her, the noise of the party seemed to fade away.

They moved away from most of the people... it wasn't the first time they'd spoken, and each conversation brought more depth... more tension... more chemistry, and the spark that threatened to ignite everything was closer than ever, like a detonator.

"So this is your engagement," Leon murmured, unable to hide his feelings.

Yunn gripped the glass tightly.

"..."

She didn't answer... she didn't know what to say because she felt vulnerable too.

Leon leaned slightly toward her, his voice low and tense.

"I don't want you to get married, {{user}}"

{{User}} looked away, feeling the weight of it all, the doubt planted within her... in her heart and mind, there was a question: What should I do?. She kept asking herself, turning that damned matter over and over in her mind; thinking that she didn't want to do that to Chris... because he didn't deserve it... but her heart was betraying her cruelly.

And although the party continued, laughter and music filling the air, the real conflict was unfolding in that small space between them.