A.N.: Took me so long to come up with this, though I still have some reservations with the plot in mind. Let's see how it goes. Thanks for your continuous patience and support. Hopefully, this one is up to your expectation. If not, do share your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, other than the new ones.

Published: February 14, 2017 (my time)

That girl was pretty, but his girl was beautiful.

That girl was nice, but his girl was kind.

That girl was polite, but his girl was polite and warm.

Whatever good traits that girl had, his girl was far, far better.

He did not care if people thought that he was biased. He admitted it. He was biased. How could he not when his girl was his girl? His Ga Eul. His Ga Eul was the best girl that ever happened to him. His Ga Eul was his everything.

That girl was Master So's best friend's granddaughter. Master So and his best friend had long made a pact that they would marry off their grandchildren to further strengthen their relationships but most importantly, to make sure that their families' business and wealth would be expanded and secured. "What better way to do it than to make sure that the wealth run only within trusted people?" as Master So told Yi Jeong during one of their numerous heated arguments about the marriage matter. And by trusted people, the elder So meant his best friend. He so believed that his best friend would not backstab him or steal his business and wealth.

Yoong Hae Mi. The girl he had to marry. She was two years younger than him. She graduated from a prestige university overseas. Her degree was Industrial Design. She wanted to be a renowned international designer.

Yi Jeong first met her four days ago. His grandfather set the meeting at one of Seoul's seven-star restaurant. The old man and his best friend were also there. His grandfather threatened to send his men and drag him to the venue if he protested.

The meeting went well, according to his grandfather, though the old man thought that Yi Jeong could have put more effort in getting to know his future bride and contributed more to their conversation. But it was alright, that was only the first meeting. There would be more, said his grandfather. Yi Jeong cursed the old man inwardly. He did not want any more meetings. If ever there was one, it would be for him to tell the girl that he did not want to marry her.

Yoong Hae Mi was also quiet during the meeting. She did give him a few glances but as their eyes met, he could not decrypt what her eyes were saying. How did she feel about this marriage arrangement? Was she happy? Was she mad? Was she going to just follow her grandfather's plan or was she going to protest? She looked like a spoiled girl, whose every wish must be fulfilled, yet at the same time, she also exuded some kind of pleasantness. But a more perceptive person could also see that she was someone who would stand firm on her beliefs and would fight for them.

Yi Jeong decided that he was going to have a heart-to-heart talk with Yoong Hae Mi, without the presence of their grandfathers.

Yi Jeong's heart ached every time Ga Eul came into mind. No. Scratch that. Not every time. It was every second of his life. He missed her. He missed his girl. He missed his Ga Eul. He missed his Ga Eul very, very badly.

It had been a week since their last day together. Not being able to see her was driving him crazy, but not being able to talk to her, to touch her, to embrace her and to kiss her was killing him. He hated his evil grandfather to the core.

He did not fail to notice added men following his every step and move. He was aware of the heavy tinted black sedan car always two or three cars away from his when he stepped out of the So mansion. It would follow him wherever he went. He knew that his every move was reported to the old man.

Jan Di and the F3 tried their best in suggesting ways for him to secretly be in contact with Ga Eul, in whatever ways, but he would not risk her, him and them. They were all devastated to see the two of them in pain of missing each other. Ga Eul was losing her vibrant self and started to lose weight. Her family was worried. Her smiles were slowly missing. Yi Jeong's heart shattered to millions of pieces.

"No. Not yet." Those were always his answers. "It's still too early. Grandfather's men are all around me and her. I have to stay away from Ga Eul for now."

It crushed his heart to say those to Jan Di and the F3.

"But please tell my Ga Eul that I love her. She will always be in my heart. She is my life. Please tell her to be strong and hold on to our love. Please tell her to have faith in us. We will be together, one day. Please tell her to smile and tell her that her smiles make me happy. She wants me to be happy, right? Please tell her that I can't stand knowing that she's sad. If she misses me, tell her that I'm there for her, in her heart, always thinking of her and protecting her. But for now, please tell her to be strong. Please, for her and for me. Please give me some time."

Yi Jeong knew that his grandfather had a way with his cell phone. He could not text or call her. He, too, did not want to take the risk of writing her letters or notes and pass them through Jan Di, or else, she, her family and his Omma would pay the consequences. His grandfather was that evil. He could not believe that the old man was his own flesh and blood. He wished that he could purify his own blood to rid of any link to the old man. He wished that they were not related.

The F3 worked hard in getting witnesses and victims to build up cases against his grandfather. Yi Jeong was not allowed to get involved for it might arouse Grandfather So's curiosity. But it was not an easy task. Most witnesses and victims had already moved to different cities. Most were also afraid to talk about Master So's cruelty and crimes toward them and their families. They still feared of what the old man would do if he found out that they were spilling the beans about him. Master So was one powerful cruel man. Unfortunately, he was also a good actor. To the people, he was such a great man and businessman. He was the guardian of South Korea's valuable national artifacts and history. It was going to be hard for the people to believe that he would do such evil.

But the F4 were not giving up. They had to try. They had to before it was all too late for Yi Jeong and Ga Eul.

Every night in his bed Yi Jeong would talk to her, imagining that she was there with him.

"Ga Eul… How is your day? Did you take your meals? Do you miss me? I miss you very much, my love."

He spoke of his day, his plan and his love for her. They were the only way to keep him sane from the torment of missing her.

He did not have a single picture of hers. All her and their pictures in his phone were deleted after he had transferred them to Woo Bin's. The Mafia Prince was to keep the pictures safe from his grandfather. Moreover, Yi Jeong did not need to keep her pictures for his Ga Eul's beautiful face, smiles, laugh, kisses and more were already embedded and rooted deep in his heart and mind.

Tonight was the same.

Yi Jeong let the tears pathed down his dimpled cheeks.

He remembered their last night together.

She was perfect to him in every way. Her soothing voice, her lovely smiles, her loving gazes, her sweet kisses, her angelic beautiful face and her warm soft tender touch. She was everything that he had wanted for in a woman, friend, companion and soulmate.

Two cruelly broken hearts tied by their promises and love. Her last wish for him not to forget her shattered his heart. Her tears ripped his crushed heart. The pain and anguish, as she waved that last goodbye watching him entered the elevator car, trampled his heart. When the door closed tight, it felt as if the world had blackened, shutting her out of his life forever.

But he needed her to be stronger. He already knew that she was a strong person. She was strong when he rejected her feeling for him once upon a time. She was strong and determined in finding Eun Jae's message for him. She was strong in her belief to teach him a life changing lesson. She was strong in sacrificing her feeling for him when she said goodbye on those cold Namsan stairs. He prayed for her to again be strong in this hurtful time until they were finally reunited.

His lips then slowly curved upward as he remembered their special love moments. He was initially surprised when she asked him to love her. Prior to that night, he had always respected her request to save herself until their wedding night. He was a former Casanova. It was a tough request but for her, he was willing to wait. When he fell for her, he reminded himself that that type of intimacy was no longer the highest priority that he wanted from a woman, though of course there were numerous moments when she was in his arms, his manly urge and desires protested hard.

He understood why she decided to it and he would never look down on her for wanting it. He wanted her too. He knew that she wanted to show how he was her only love and to her, he was her only husband, even if it was not sealed in black and white. It was her way of telling him that there would never be another man.

His smile widened and his heart felt warm as he reminisced her gentle yet burning touch and kisses and more. Being with her was the most amazing thing that ever happened to him. Her innocence, her inexperience and most importantly, her love, took him to the highest high of wonderful amazing mind blowing euphoria. There would never be another woman for him.

"Saranghae Ga Eul."

Another set of tears quietly trailed down his face.

Tomorrow was Valentine's Day. He wished that he could be with her celebrating the day of love. There were so many things that he wanted to give her. He could envision her bright eyes and happy smiles. He knew that she was not a material girl. A simple hug, a kiss or even a single red rose were enough to take her to the haven of happiness.

He remembered the Valentine's Day a year ago.

Flashback

"Tomorrow?"

"…"

"Forbidden Love? A new movie? Your favorite actor is in it?"

"…"

"Of course I'm not jealous of him." He rolled his eyes though his heart admitted that he was very jealous of the guy. She talked about the guy all the time. So he tried to make her jealous by saying that he, too, had a favorite actress who was sexy and gorgeous, but she saw right through his act. He did not have any.

"..."

"What? At the cinema?"

"…"

"Ga Eul. You know I don't watch movies at the cinema. Each one of us F4 has our own mini movie theater at home. Why do we need to go to the public cinema? We can just watch the movie at my place, Ga Eul, in comfort."

"…"

"There's a popcorn kiosk at my theater too, and candies, and soda, anything that is at the cinema, I have them at home."

"…"

"What if there's chewing gum on the seat? What if the person next to me is a girl and she can't take her hands off of me? What if a guy sits next to you and keeps flirting with you? What if there are unofficial movie reviewers and commentators in the theater? I want to watch the movie in peace."

"…"

"What? Oh, Ga Eul. Come on. You can't do this to me."

"…"

"You know I can't bear not seeing you every day?"

"…"

"I don't care. I don't want to go there. Let's just watch it at my place, please? I'll ask my assistant to get the film."

"…"

"Good. I'll come pick you up at six tomorrow. But hey, are you… are you upset?" He began to panic. Why did she sound sad?

"…"

"OK. Bye Ga Eul. Saranghae."

He then swiped on the red end call icon. It was a relief that she finally agreed to his suggestion. He could not understand why she insisted on going to the public cinema to watch a movie. Why went through the hassles of queuing for the tickets, popcorns and drinks and risk getting sick from the possibility of having sick people among the audience?

She said that she never asked much from him, but she wanted to experience going to the movie with her boyfriend like other normal couples. Once. Only this once, she pleaded. But he was not like other normal guys. He was So Yi Jeong, an F4 member. Plus, wouldn't his presence there only make things difficult for her and for both of them? How were they going to watch the movie in peace? Thank goodness she finally agreed that it would be much, much better to watch the movie at his place. But why the sad voice?

Tomorrow came and he was in front of her house at 6 p.m. sharp. He had a busy day earlier and so did she. Five minutes later she came out and hugged him but her smile did not quite reach her eyes. He wondered why. Tired from a long day at work? Might have been so. He would ask later.

The twenty minutes ride to his place was not as usual. She was not too cheery and her answers to his questions were short. She mainly fixed her gaze on the road in front.

He took her straight to the mini theater on one floor of his Mansion. Like he said, all that a cinema had, he had them too. He told her to take anything that she wanted while he went to see a staff about something.

She entered the theater alone with a box of caramel royal popcorns and two bottles of high-quality mineral water. She looked around for him, but he was not there yet. She then took a seat right in the center.

He surprised her when he sat next to her.

"Ga Eul, are you alright? You've been quiet. Are you sick?"

He could see that her nose and eyes were getting red. She shook her head as her eyes locked on his.

"Then why do you look sad? Did I do anything wrong? Are you angry at me?"

She shook her head again. She smiled at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Still, her smile was a little off. He kissed her forehead. The light went off and the movie came on.

It really was a romantic sad love. Indeed, it was a forbidden love between the two main characters. The guy's family was against their relationship since the girl was a poor orphan. For Yi Jeong, it was as cliché as it got. But he had to endure the 'torture' since his girlfriend seemed absorbed in the storyline. Whatever was bothering her earlier, was now gone.

Halfway through, there was a sudden blackout. She screamed a little and automatically grabbed his arm.

"What's going on, Yi Jeong?"

"Let me go check. Will you be alright alone? I won't be long."

"But…can't you just give your staff a call?" she was a little afraid.

"Don't worry Ga Eul. I'll be quick." He gave a light kiss on her lips to comfort her.

"Hurry, Yi Jeong."

"I will."

He then left.

Three minutes later, the screen was back on but it was not the movie. On the wide white screen was him, So Yi Jeong. Ga Eul's eyes widened. She looked around for him.

"Hi, Ga Eul." She looked back at the screen. His screen-self wore a wide grin, no, a wide gorgeous grin.

"You must be wondering why. Right?"

She nodded vigorously. The Yi Jeong on the screen laughed.

"You are so cute." He laughed again but then turned serious.

"I figured that rather than you watch that guy..." he rolled his eyes, "…on this screen, why not watch me? I'm your boyfriend, for goodness sake, woman." He pretended to be angry. She laughed out loud.

"Chu Ga Eul, what you are going to watch is my life after you came and disturbed it." She scowled at the screen. "Aaa, no scowling, Chu Ga Eul." Ga Eul was surprised. He surely knew what her reaction was going to be.

"As I was saying, this is my life, all because of you. I love you, Ga Eul." He blew a kiss and the screen went black again.

"Yi Jeon g? Yi Jeong?" She called out his name. "Where are you, Yi Jeong?"

And then, the music came on. It started with some pictures and videos of Yi Jeong and the F3 when they were small and when life was still full of rainbows. He was a cute boy. Then, the scene changed to the F4 lounge. Each F3 said Hi and Hello to her, and talked about how Yi Jeong slowly changed into a different man since she came into his life. They also thanked Jan Di for bringing her along into their lives.

Jun Pyo was honest when he said that he first thought the idea of Yi Jeong falling for Ga Eul was hard to believe as she was way too different from Yi Jeong's preferred women way back when. But he had to admit that if Jan Di was the Wonder Girl, Ga Eul was the Superwoman. How many women and girls had tried to tame the wild Casanova Yi Jeong but failed? Countless. But she, Chu Ga Eul, managed to do so in her own special way. He thanked Ga Eul for the Yi Jeong now.

Ji Hoo, on the other hand, said that he was the first of the F3 to notice Yi Jeong's interest in Ga Eul, to which Woo Bin quickly disagreed. Woo Bin claimed that it was him. He first noticed Yi Jeong's interest in Ga Eul after Ga Eul left the potter's studio that night, angry. Yi Jeong might not admit it then, but Woo Bin knew his best friend better. The F2 fought for a few minutes on the subject, earning laughs from Ga Eul. In the end, Ji Hoo and Woo Bin agreed that they wanted Ga Eul and Yi Jeong to be together until forever. The new Yi Jeong was much calmer and kindlier.

Then, the scene changed again. This time it was only Yi Jeong. He was in his studio. He reminded her about their first fight in that exact spot. He said that Woo Bin was right. His interest in her started right after she left, fuming that he had humiliated her best friend. He also said that the studio was a special place for him for this was the place where he and she had so many talks, arguments, lessons about life, his and hers, and most importantly about their beliefs in soulmate.

He remembered clearly the night when she said that it was the first time that she saw him as a human. It was the night when she saw him past the mask that he had worn to protect himself for so, so many years. He also recalled the time when she came reprimanding him for giving up on his career when he thought that his broken hand was beyond repair, just like his heart. He then smiled and winked. He asked if she remembered their almost kiss. He said that he wanted to throw away her cell phone when it rang.

Ga Eul wiped away the falling tears.

Next was a picture of the famous Namsan Stairs. He thanked her for leaving him rooted to the steps. If she had not done it, he would not have had the courage to tell her, though indirectly, that he wanted to be with her.

He then said that the four years in Sweden were a challenge but thanked the modern technologies. He said that he would have gone crazy should they met thirty, forty years ago. How in the world did the people endure a world with snail technology? Ga Eul laughed at his exaggerations.

But his life became wonderful after he came back. He was now nearer to her. Videos of them at the beaches, parks, the F4 lounges and much more were shown. In all of them, Ga Eul did notice that he was happy and all smiles and laugh. They were at the happiest points of their lives.

The last video showed him at the beach next to a sand castle.

"Ga Eul, do you like this castle? I am going to build you this castle and we are going to live there together forever. But before we can do that…"

The screen went black again.

"What?" Ga Eul was again, surprised. What was he going to say?

The lights came on.

"Will you marry me, Ga Eul?"

He was next to her. He held an opened crystal clear box with a gorgeous diamond ring. Ga Eul jumped up a little, startled. But it was soon replaced by a different kind of surprise. She alternately looked at him and the ring. Tears started to swell.

His handsome face was hopeful.

"Yes. I will."

Red and white shimmering glittering confetti instantly showered down on them, together with red and white rose petals. Ga Eul looked up to the ceiling. How many surprises did he have in store? She then shifted her attention back to a wide grinning him. His expression was priceless.

Yi Jeong took her hand and slid the ring on her finger. He then quickly pulled her closer and kissed her senseless and she returned the kisses as passionately.

"Happy Valentine's Day Ga Eul. I love you."

"Happy Valentine's Day Yi Jeong. I love you too."

Now she knew why he insisted on watching the movie here in his home. Now she knew why he did not wish her so this whole day. She felt guilty for being angry at him when he refused to go to the public cinema.

This was the best Valentine's Day in their lives.

End of flashback

But this year, tomorrow, was a totally different Valentine's Day. Oh, how he wanted to go to her and be in her arms. His grandfather be damned. But no! No! Yi Jeong! Not yet! Yi Jeong wanted to scream very badly.

For who knew how many times tonight, he wiped away the fallen tears.

"Good night my love. Happy Valentine's Day Ga Eul. I will see you in my dream."

But tomorrow. He was going to meet Yoong Hae Mi. Alone.