“So let me get this straight…you’ve been hooked up with some guy by your parents in order to get money, and the wedding is next week?” Sang-hee* asked, shocked by the sudden turn of events in her best friend’s life.

 

“Exactly,” Ae-young nodded in boredom.  Any whiff of this subject got to her nerves.  She couldn’t stand the fact that her life was taking such a gigantic turn…and for the worse, too. 

 

“So what are you gonna do about it?”

 

“What can I do about it?  The wedding has already been set and my parents’ stubborn asses won’t change anything.  They need the money, and I guess I do, too… or else, it’s ‘goodbye’ to my happy college life forever,” Ae-young replied in pure defeat.  Even hours after she had been told of her arranged marriage with some unknown guy, she was still in denial of what was happening, but it was something that she would have to learn to accept-the wedding was only in a matter of days, anyway.

 

“Okay, Ae-young.  But if you wanna talk about anything, I’m here for you,” Sang-hee apologetically reminded her, feeling sorry for her friend.  She extended her arms out to Ae-young.

 

“I know, Sang-hee.  I just wish that life didn’t have to be so hard,” Ae-young replied, as she responded to Sang-hee’s invitation for a hug.  The two girls embraced one another in front of the school, just after classes for the day have been let out.

 

Ae-young and Sang-hee parted ways at the front gate of the building and Ae-young sauntered down the direction of the bus stop.  However, just as she was about to take a seat on the bench by the stop, she saw a car whoosh right by next to her.  The window of the door slid down, and the driver seemed to be motioning something to Ae-young.  Ae-young walked over closer to the door so that she could hear him.

 

“Please get in the car, Ma’am,” the driver nonchalantly said.

 

“W-what?” Ae-young asked, taken aback by what the driver asked her to do.

 

“I need to take you to The Wedding Palace, Ma’am.  It’s in the city.  Your parents are waiting  for you there,” the driver replied, with no indication of any change of tone in his voice.  He must’ve chauffeured thousands of university girls to their hell of wedding preparations.

 

“Uh, okay,” Ae-young said as she opened the side door and adjusted her skirt so that she could get inside.  She closed the door, and the driver went off.

 

“Uh, mister?  How much will this ride cost?” Ae-young asked, not sure if she really wanted to hear the price. She didn't even know whether she had any money on her.  Usually, she only had her identification card and an old gumball in her purse.

 

“Haha,” the driver chuckled.  “The limo and my services have been provided as a courtesy of your suitor.”

 

“Oh,” Ae-young replied.  He must be some rich fellow…But then again, that is why I’m marrying him.  “Will he be there at The Wedding Palace?” she asked, crossing her fingers that she wouldn’t have to meet him.

 

“I’m afraid not, Ma’am.  He has a lot of business to tend to.  You see, he’s a very busy man-always has meetings and conferences to attend to and whatnot.”

 

Ae-young sighed.  She was so relieved that she wouldn’t have to encounter the mongrel that day.

 

Once she stepped into the gargantuan building for The Wedding Palace, she was met by some women who greeted her at the desk.  They personally led her to the elevator where they brought her to another floor.  Ae-young gasped at the sight. 

 

The floor’s ceilings reached the heavens and they glimmered with crystal-like chandeliers.  The entire atmosphere of the place shined with grace and even the smell of new merchandise was enough to send one into a frenzy.  Along the place were strands of couches and armchairs where guests could relax.  Elegant carpets were strewn along the floors, occasionally being met by beautiful tile arrangements that were set in particular patterns.  There were assortments of glass stalls throughout the place, each one a different station for different merchandise.  Associates who worked for the company were dispersed throughout the floor, each one occupied with working with their clients and assisting them in their wedding arrangements’ options. 

 

Ae-young’s father and mother stared wide-eyed.  There were too many sights to look at all at once.  Ae-young, on the other hand, tried to hide her amusement.  She didn’t want to give off the least ounce of interest in her settings, although she had to try hard to look preoccupied with her cell phone.  She tried to distract herself by skimming through her miniscule list of contacts.  She pretended that she was busy texting someone, although she didn’t even have texting on her obsolete phone model. 

 

Ae-young and her family were greeted by another woman.  She was blonde and fair-skinned.  Although she spoke in Korean, she had an American accent.  She bowed to them and smiled, revealing her pearly-white teeth.  “Hello.  My name is Michelle Williams and I’m the personal dress consultant here at The Wedding Palace.  I’m glad to meet you all.  Today, we’ll be going through some wedding dress options and from them, you will choose the one for your big day.”  She glanced over at Ae-young and emphasized her smile.  Her smile was so large, you’d think that her cheekbones were going to crack from how far up her face they had to travel. 

 

Now a man came up to them, bowed, and introduced himself to them as well.  “And I’m Michael Phillips.  I was hired as the wedding planner of your wedding.  I’ve arranged a quick private consultation with the flower vendors downstairs, and then we can go on to the table settings and cloth designs.”  He politely bowed again in the direction of Ae-young’s father, motioning him to follow.  Ae-young’s father was left in awe and followed the man into the elevator.

 

Ae-young and her mother, on the other hand, were led by the woman from before into another mini-room.  Although it was smaller than the entire floor they had just seen, it was just as magnificent.  Against three sides of the walls encircling the entire room was the largest sofa Ae-young had ever seen.  It was meant to fit the entire family so that they could all see the girl when she tried on her dress.  However, it was just Ae-young and her mother here.  Along the walls of the perimeter were portraits and landscapes of all kinds, most of them being pictures of happily married couples on their wedding day, little bridesmaids dressed up and holding delicate flower bouquets, or other happy images that made Ae-young want to puke her heart out.  The glass table in front of the sofa was clothed by a heap of magazines.  Ae-young caught several covers of wedding magazines with articles like How to Find the Perfect Wedding Dress, Losing Weight for the Big Day, Dealing With Cold Feet Before the Wedding, etc. 

 

Ae-young rolled her eyes at the mindless chatter of the lady who worked for the company.  The woman sat Ae-young and her mother down on the sofa and took out a large binder, the catalogue for the selection of wedding dresses available.

 

“Unfortunately, we have such a limited time to get a dress tailored for you.  Therefore, it’d be wise to choose one from our varied and accommodating selection of dresses.  All the dresses are one-of-a-kind, designer-brand dresses.  Therefore, they simply can’t be found anywhere else.”  The woman smiled before going on.  “So please tell me what you’re looking for in a dress, and I’ll be happy to help you find just the right one!”

 

Ae-young was getting annoyed at the woman’s enthusiasm.  Was finding the right dress really this interesting? she thought.

 

Ae-young’s mother broke in and spoke for Ae-young.  “Well, you see, we want a dress that will be simple and yet elegant…something fit for a princess on her special day.  But, it also has to cover her fat…you see, she has a plump belly.  She drank too much milk when she was a kid…couldn’t stop eating.  I think she had some eating disorder.  We were going to get it checked out by a doctor, but we didn’t have insurance at the time so we just let it be.”  She turned over to look at her daughter and smiled so sweetly, a smile that made Ae-young sick to her stomach.  She couldn’t believe how cliché her mother was being about the description of the wedding dress.  Her mother had no idea how to choose a wedding dress out.  In fact, for her own wedding she just wore a regular white dress that was the cheapest thing she could find at the store.  The only reason her mother even used the words “simple and yet elegant” was because she heard them over and over again on the shows she used to watch on the Wedding Network-except here’s the difference: those girls actually WANTED to be married, and weren’t SET UP by their stupid parents.

 

“Well,” the Caucasian woman smiled, “I believe we have some that will pique your interest.”  She began to turn through sections of the book and stuck post-it notes on certain pages with dresses that would be suitable for Ae-young.  She discussed things with Ae-young’s mother.  Ae-young’s mother didn’t understand a word, but just kept nodding her head and going along with whatever the woman said.  Ae-young glanced at the price figures on each of the pages of the catalogue and gasped.

 

“Umma,” she leaned in and whispered into her mother’s ear.  “How are we going to pay for all this?”

 

The sales woman, having heard, smiled politely and said, “No need to worry Miss Lee.  All of the wedding details have been planned by your suitor’s wedding consultant.  Your suitor has also already paid for all of the expenses.  The only thing left to do is for you to select your wedding dress.”

 

“Ah…I see,” Ae-young said, a little amazed at how easily things had been taken care of.

 

“Well, let’s head over to the dressing lounge then,” the sales woman said.

 

Ae-young found yet another surprise as the woman clicked a button on a nearby remote and the wall in front of them slid to the side, revealing a curtained area.  They were led inside into a heaven of clouds-wedding dresses.  Racks and racks of dresses lay hung on the metal bars encircling the place.  There were several other women working there, each of them being personally assigned to help their client, Lee Ae-young.  Quickly, Michelle told each of the women which dress models she believed would best fit Ae-young.  A petite woman with a tape measure came by and rapidly measured every inch of Ae-young and noted some measurements in her notebook.  All of the women went about searching for the models that Ae-young would try on.

 

Trying on the wedding dresses, for the most part, was a painful task for Ae-young-literally.  Most of them were made for extremely skinny women who had anticipated getting married months before they actually had to go through with the ceremony.  Therefore, they had time to lose weight and whatnot.  Ae-young wasn’t in the best shape to be wearing such slim-fitting wedding gowns.  The corsets of each of them were tight on her and choked her to the point of tears.  The neckline on some of them were so low-cut that she had to hide what little s she did have.  She tripped on some of them while making her walk around the enclosed area.  She grew exasperated, experiencing all levels of dresses.  Some were too long, some were too short, some showed no skin, and others consisted of little clothing.  Even Michelle was going bonkers over such a client.  She had never met such a girl before.

 

After trying on the last dress within Ae-young's body figure, Michelle thought it’d be best to call it a day.  “I’m extremely sorry, Miss Lee.  Your body has some unique proportions.”  She nervously chuckled.  “But we’ll be receiving a new shipment of dresses tomorrow.  If you’d like, we’d love to make another appointment with you,” she lied through a fake smile.  She knew that although Ae-young and her mother were penniless folks, her suitor had a lot of money.  Dealing with the wedding gown preparations for the soon-to-be-wife of such a celebrity would only increase her fame as a wedding dress consultant.  Soon, spreads of her designed dresses would reach the magazine stands if they hadn’t already.  She couldn’t afford to screw this up, not when it was with such a prominent client.

 

“NO!” Ae-young shouted.  She looked around and saw the scared faces of the women who had helped her into her dresses, as well as the disapproving look on her mother’s face.  “I mean…” she tried to change her tone into a more innocent and less demanding one.  “I mean, the wedding’s soon and since I’m here, I may as well get my dress.  I’m not leaving without one…especially not after all the hours I’ve been here.”

 

Ae-young recalled one dress model that she had taken a glimpse of in the catalogue while some of the women were finding her other dresses.  It was crepe-colored.  It showed everything it had to show, and concealed whatever was unnecessary to show.  There were embroidered patterns on the bottom skirt of the dress, running the length of its hem.  Sure, it wasn’t Princess Diana material, but it was the last hope Ae-young had.  She turned to Michelle.  “Do you think you could get model AK8745 for me?  I think the designer’s name was Liz Kim.”

 

Michelle’s face seemed confused at first, as she tried to recall what the model looked like.  Then, as though she had experienced an epiphany, broke out into a wide grin.  “Ah, I can’t believe I totally overlooked that one!”  She rushed to the enclosed area and searched for the model herself, still talking about it while she was searching.  “This one was made by my great-aunt some time ago.  It’s truly breathtaking, if I may say so myself.”  She finally paused along one side of the racks, and pulled out the dress, hanging on in all its glory.  Ae-young stared at the dress, twinkles dancing in her eyes.  The women around her rushed to fit the dress on her.  It was a perfect fit.  Ae-young turned around and dared to look in the mirror.

 

She was left completely speechless.

 

“Ah, it’s perfect,” she heard Michelle say.  “It hugs you in all the right places!”

 

“It makes you look like you actually have some s, and slims you down, too!” exclaimed her mother in joy.

 

Ae-young furrowed her eyebrows and decided to ignore her mother’s comment.  She couldn’t stop starting at herself in this dress.  She turned to look at herself at different angles, and made different poses as well.  She couldn’t believe that she actually found a dress that she was proud to be in.

 

(I actually found a picture of a dress that looks fairly similar to the description I gave.  ^.^

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZkaaTuwwZ1Y/SLBFndFd9GI/AAAAAAAAcBI/r_oCtbxqYAs/s400/Wedding%20Gown,%20wedding%20dresses.jpg)

 

All her life, she had been the “Plain Jane.”  Her sister Hana was usually the one people looked at.  Ae-young was just the girl that you’d talk to when you needed a favor done or to borrow something. 

 

But today was a different story.  For once, she was the one in the spotlight.  She saw tears fill her mother’s eyes, but she didn’t blame her mother for crying.  She wanted to run outside and scream out that she was beautiful for once.

 

“Yep,” she grinned, taking another glance into the reflection of the princess in the mirror who was staring back at her. 

 

“This is the one.”   

 

♥-♥-♥

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

*Note: It’s been a while since I mentioned her, so just wanted to remind you all that Shin Sang-hee is the friend that Ae-young met in class one day (Chapter 2).*

 

POLL TO THE READERS: What is the prettiest wedding dress you have ever seen? Please include links to pictures. You can give several links of different dresses, too!