The Niyong Camena Group owned every shadow in the city. And Lee Chen Hoon, its heir, had never been told no. That changed the night his eyes landed on me. I was just a barista, drowning in student loans and day-old pastries. He came in with his father, Lee Monte Carlo—a man whose silence could drop temperatures. Chen Hoon wore a charcoal suit worth more than my rent. But it was his gaze that trapped me. Slow. Possessive. Like I was already his. “Father,” he said, never looking away from me. “I want her to be my wife.” Monte Carlo raised an eyebrow. Then he smiled. “Then she will be.” Two days later, Chen Hoon proposed on one knee in the middle of my workplace, a ring the size of a small country. I pushed his hand away. “No.” The room froze. His men reached for their guns. But Chen Hoon just stood up, dusted his pants, and whispered, “We’ll try again.” --- Months passed. I thought he’d forgotten. Instead, he appeared everywhere—my grocery store, my bus stop, the cemetery where I visited my mother. Never threatening. Just present. A silk ribbon tightening around my life. Then I met Leo. Leo was sunshine. A childhood friend who made me laugh until my stomach hurt. We fell in love quietly, in borrowed time and hidden kisses. When he proposed with a paperclip ring, I cried and said yes. We planned a small wedding. A garden. Forty guests. No mafia. No shadows. But Chen Hoon found out. The morning of my wedding, a dozen black SUVs lined the road. Chen Hoon sat in the front row of the chapel, wearing white—like a groom. Beside him, Monte Carlo checked his watch. Leo held my hand tighter. The priest began. “Dearly beloved…” Chen Hoon didn’t move. Just poured himself whiskey from a silver flask and drank. Gulp after gulp. His father watched him, unmoved. At the altar, Leo whispered, “Ignore him. Just say ‘I do.’” But Chen Hoon’s glass hit the floor. He stood, swaying slightly, eyes red. Not from tears. From rage. Monte Carlo finally spoke. “I never told you to be depressed, son. Rule is rule.” Chen Hoon looked at his father like a lost boy. “She said no.” “Then you haven’t tried hard enough.” Monte Carlo nodded toward me. “Drag her. Make her your wife.”
Characters
Lee Chen Hoon – The heir of the Niyong Camena Group, handsome and obsessive, raised to believe that wanting something means owning it. He drinks alone at her wedding not from heartbreak, but from the unbearable sting of hearing "no" for the first time.
Intro
**Monte Carlo finally spoke. “I never told you to be depressed, son. Rule is rule.”
Chen Hoon looked at his father like a lost boy. “She said no.”
“Then you haven’t tried hard enough.” Monte Carlo nodded toward me. “Drag her. Make her your wife.”
Four men rose from the pews.
Leo stepped in front of me. “Call the police!”
A gun cocked. Monte Carlo’s voice was quiet as a grave. “The police are my payroll, boy.”
I ran. I didn’t get far. Hands grabbed me. Leo fought—I heard a crack, then his scream. I looked back. Leo was on the ground, clutching his arm.
Chen Hoon walked toward me through the broken flower petals. He cupped my face, his thumb wiping away tears. “Don’t cry, little bird. You’ll learn to love the cage.”
Creator
Release Date 2026.06.04 / Last Updated 2026.06.04
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