Her cheeks are lit up with a tint of pink, her lips glossed over with a peach-colored lipstick. Heart pounding, she grabs the bracelet on the table and puts it on. But her fingers are shaking and she fails.

 

“Why are you so nervous, Sica?” Yuri puts down the blusher that’s in her hand and giggles at the wife-to-be’s nervousness. “You were the one who said that it’s just a wedding.”

 

Yuri squats down to help her with the bracelet, then noticing her silence. “Talk, Jessica, open your mouth or something. You’ve been quiet since this morning.”

 

Jessica glances at the clock instead of talking. Yuri looks up after finishing the clasp, and her expression changes when she catches sight of Jessica’s face. Standing up, she puts herself in the middle of Jessica’s line of sight, blocking out the image of the clock entirely. “You’re not okay, are you?”

 

The bride looks at her best friend and manages a chuckle. “I’m fine, Yuri! It’s my wedding day, why wouldn’t I be?”

 

“Jessica, I would assume that you’re just nervous on your wedding day. But this isn’t you being nervous.”

 

The finality of Yuri’s voice causes Jessica to waver with her own surety of what she’s feeling. “I’m just nervous, Yuri. Don’t worry.” She looks away and turns back to her own dressing table, avoiding her reflection on the mirror in front of her.

 

Before Yuri gets to retort, Tiffany barges into the room with a high-pitched squeal and a glass of champagne. “Eeek! Our princess looks flawless today. Come here, let me see how you look!”

 

Yuri glances between Tiffany and the jittery bride, then sighs and packs up the make-up that’s scattered around the table. Jessica stands, allowing her dress to flow with its beautiful white train sweeping the floor.

 

“You look flawless today, Jessi. Oh, how I wish I could get married too!”

 

“But you ARE married, Fany,” Yuri says, still clearing the make-up.

 

“But I’m jealous! I didn’t get such a beautiful dress for my wedding, okay?”

 

“Siwon-oppa got you that gigantic diamond necklace that weighed so much you probably grew shorter by an inch. Wasn’t that enough?”

 

Tiffany tilts her head up and tries to recall the necklace, and with a sweet giggle she nods. “Yeah, that’s enough.”

 

Jessica smiles. “It’s time we urge Yuri to get married, too.”

 

Yuri whips around. “Don’t try and shift the focus onto me, Jessica. I haven’t gotten your answer as to why you’re acting so weirdly today.”

 

Tiffany steps towards Yuri and stares questioningly. “She’s acting weirdly?”

 

“She hasn’t spoken more than 10 words since this morning until you came in, and her fingers were shaking just now.”

 

“It could be wedding jitters—“

 

“You should’ve seen her expression just now. It wasn’t. I’m sure of that.”

 

Jessica sits back down and manages a laugh. “I’m fine, guys. I’m fine.”

 

Tiffany freezes in her position for a while before turning around to look at Jessica. Her expression darkened, much like Yuri’s just now. “Jessi, you at lying. What’s going on?” Her voice was as firm as Yuri’s now, and Jessica felt like she was being cornered with all the interrogation.

 

“You guys… I appreciate the worrying, but I’m really just nervous. It’s not easy to think of how it’ll be like once I finish the walk down the aisle.”

 

Yuri folds her arms. “Well, it’s not like you don’t want to marry him—“

 

A flurry of things happen at that moment, punctuated by a very quick gasp from Tiffany.

 

The next moment, Jessica looks up and her two friends are out of the dressing room.

 

//

 

“Oh my God,” Tiffany whispers, in clear English.

 

“Oh my gahd indeed,” Yuri echoes, brows furrowed and fingers entangled.

 

It was the little twinkle that appeared in Jessica’s eyes that had rendered such reactions from them.

 

“Yuri, what do we do? This is serious.”

 

“We can’t do anything! This is her wedding, her marriage, not ours!”

 

“But this is her happiness, and we’re her best friends! We can’t just sit and watch, can we?”

 

“Fany, think about it. This is Jessica Jung. We’re her best friends, yeah, but we’re JUST her best friends. What can we do?”

 

“Well, if she doesn’t want to do it, then I’m sure there’s a way to turn things around—“

 

“Do you think she’ll allow us to do that? All the guests waiting out there, they’ve filled up the whole chapel. She’ll use that as a reason to decline our efforts.”

 

“Oh, come on. You know we’re perfectly fine with handling them!”

 

“I know we’re going to be perfectly fine, but the main point is that Sica will just say no.”

 

“But… Yuri, why? Why is she going to say no?”

 

“Because… Because she can’t say yes.”

 

=

 

To the bride, getting married was something she couldn’t wait to do.

 

Just a walk down the red carpet, and a quick whisper of ‘I do’, with the rings and the kiss and that’s it—she’s married.

 

A man was waiting by the altar at this point in time, waiting for her to show up, waiting for her to walk down the aisle, waiting for her to say ‘I do’… waiting for her to be his wife.

 

All these thoughts hit her and cause her to get light-headed with that dreamy grin on her face.

 

But there’s also a little cracking sound inside of her.

 

=

 

When did she last see him?

 

A year ago? Or was it two?

 

No.

 

It was one year ago.

 

He was the one smiling, the one holding her hand. The one who whispered ‘I love you’, the one who promised that he would never leave.

 

Only, he was also the one frowning, the one standing a painful 3 inches away. The one who whispered ‘I’m sorry’, the one who left.

 

She didn’t know what went wrong between them, but one day it ended and then one year passes just like that.

 

Today she’s getting married. To become Mrs Lee.

 

But today she realizes she still misses him. She’s becoming the wrong Mrs Lee.

 

=

 

“It’s been a year, Yuri. And she still misses him?”

 

“Fany, you know the answer yourself too.”

 

“I’ve always known that she misses him, but… Not to the point where she can’t get married properly.”

 

“Correction. Can’t get married without having another man in her head.”

 

“Yeah, that. So are we supposed to help her become a runaway bride?”

 

“No! I mean, we’ll need to hear her out first. And Jinki…”

 

“Aw man, Jinki…”

 

“We’ll hear the girl out first before doing anything, okay?”

 

=

 

“Jessi?”

 

Jessica looks up at the accented call of her name. She smiles. Sort of. “So what did you guys conclude?”

 

“Sica, this is no laughing matter,” Yuri retorted.

 

“I’m not laughing.” Pause. “I’m… I’m getting married.”

 

Tiffany broke the presumably peaceful interrogation session with one fluid swoosh, and she’s kneeling beside Jessica with the bride’s hands in hers, her expression, her body language, her eyes, all pleading to her. “Please don’t do it if you don’t want to.”

 

“Tiff, when you were getting married to Siwon-oppa, we asked you the same question. You said yes, and you meant it. If I’m saying yes now, why do you guys think that I don’t mean it?”

 

“Because we’re your best friends, Jessica.” Now it’s Yuri’s turn to kneel beside Jessica, and her two best friends surrounded her and cornered her literally now.

 

“Yes, we should wish you well, but not when there’s a chance you might not be happy with the outcome. It’s your life on the line, Jessi. The next half of it, at least.”

 

Wrenching her hands out from her best friends, she sighs tiredly and turns. “You guys don’t see it, do you? We’re ten minutes away from the walk down the aisle. I can’t… I can’t back out now.”

 

Yuri shoots a look at Tiffany, who shoots a look back. For once, they were doubting their intent for her.

 

Because Jessica was right. She can’t back out of a marriage she had already agreed to, one that was taking place in ten minutes. The wedding of a lifetime.

 

But right or not, they were her best friends after all.

 

“When you first started dating him, we asked you why,” Yuri began, still staring at Tiffany.

 

“And you told us that when it came to love, nothing was impossible,” Tiffany continued, also staring at Yuri.

 

“In relation to your conclusion about your situation,” Yuri continued.

 

“You can back out now,” Tiffany finished.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

“Girls, are all of you ready?” Siwon’s voice is heard outside, along with three quick knocks on the door.

 

“The whole crowd’s waiting!” Jongwoon follows up, a little drunken from the way he exclaimed. “Oh, and you wouldn't believe it—Donghae actually came back from London for this!”

 

Siwon’s quick laughter is heard. “Yeah, he ditched his exams for this, that guy.”

 

The girls stare at each other. Tears were quickly forming in one pair, while intent was seen in the other two.

 

“So you girls need to come out soon and not let the guests wait!”

 

A moment.

 

“Tiffany, are you okay? Are all of you okay?” Siwon asks, voice getting louder.

 

Tiffany smiles. “Yeah, oppa, we’re okay. We just have a little something to do.”

 

=

 

He sat in his seat, fiddling with his suit, the one he had last tried on two years ago for a manager’s wedding. It felt small and a little uncomfortable at the sides, but he fitted perfectly well and still looked dashing in it, as commented by Heechul.

 

“You look fine, Donghae. Stop messing with it.”

 

“Sorry, just a little nervous.”

 

“Whatever for? This isn’t YOUR wedding,” Heechul snaps, stating what couldn’t be more obvious.

 

There is an inward groan and an outward sigh and a pang of pain that hits him like an eight-wheeler collision.

 

One year.

 

Has passed, just like that.

 

One year of sleepless nights because he did miss her, no matter what he said or what he did.

 

Because he still loved her, no matter what he said or what he did.

 

He’s glad that one year later, he gets to see her and her beautiful self, strutting down in a beautiful dress to be bound to her eternal happiness.

 

That wasn’t him. Could’ve been, but wasn’t in the end.

 

The bridegroom is standing by the altar, head hung low as he looks as the ground. He’s nervous, and his shaking could almost be seen by the guests all the way at the back of the chapel. His hands are clasped together behind him, and his best men are stifling chuckles as they observe his jitters causing effects.

 

Donghae smiles and stifles a chuckle too. Jinki was a nice boy. Is a nice boy, he corrects.

 

He’s glad that Jessica’s eternal happiness is Jinki.

 

Glad… He’s glad.

 

Just not glad enough to ignore that stinging feeling inside him.

 

Heechul’s conversing a little too loudly beside him, so he tries to use the volume as a distraction. He turns and sees Heechul conversing, a little too loudly and way too animatedly, with Yoona beside him. They are talking about how people have pissed him off and how people were pranked by her.

 

Donghae tries to get into the conversation. “What are you two talking about?”

 

Heechul pauses and turns around. “Oh, nothing much. Just how Siwon is bragging about his happy married life with Tiffany and how Yoona played a prank on Yuri and almost caused the latter to go in front of her boyfriend.”

 

“Yuri has a boyfriend?” The boy muses.

 

Of course, it was a year since he had been gone. How would he have known?

 

“Yeah. It’s Jongwoon.”

 

Donghae can’t help but to laugh at the revelation. Them? He couldn’t see that happening.

 

Then he feels a quick tap on his shoulder, and he turns to find the abovementioned girl staring at him, another eye-smiling one beside her. “Yuri? Tiffany?”

 

“Donghae-oppa, we need you to help us with something.”

 

“O-Oh. Sure, what is it?”

 

“Come with us!”

 

=

 

He’s running out of the chapel the next moment, led by the two girls in flowing, pastel colored dresses.

 

There’s a third girl, also in a beautiful dress, but that one is sitting in the convertible meant for the soon-to-be-married couple.

 

“Je…”

 

“…Ssica, yeah, Jessica,” Yuri finished, dragging the slowing Donghae to the car. “Don’t slow down now, come on!”

 

He stops, halting with a force that Yuri cannot overcome. “Wait, what is this?”

 

Tiffany sighs tiredly and gestures at the car. Donghae stares at her, expression unchanged. Then Tiffany laughs and smacks her forehead. “Come on, I’m sure you get it.”

 

Yuri shakes her head and attempts to drag Donghae along again. “No, he doesn’t.”

 

Tiffany helps this time, and they manage to move him.

 

But then he stops again, and this time he’s backing away.

 

Because the image of the girl he once loved so dearly—and still does—came into focus, and he’s overwhelmed by what he sees.

 

She’s still beautiful and she’s still Jessica, but she’s in a wedding dress meant for the wedding that wasn’t taking place with him as the bridegroom.

 

And one year has passed just like that, separation still hanging in the air.

 

The thought hits him harder than the eight-wheeler collision, and he starts to shake his head.

 

Yuri and Tiffany were nuts, but he didn’t know they were nuts to this extent.

 

But they were. They gave an exasperated groan and glared at the male. “You know we wouldn’t believe you if you told us that you didn’t love her anymore, right?”

 

He tears his eyes away from the car with much difficulty and looks between the two friends. “Girls, I—“

 

“You should check the mirror and check out your expression now, like hell we would believe that you’re out of love for Jessica.”

 

Then a hand shoots out to separate the two friends from cornering Donghae to mental death, and he sees the bride staring at him now. Her eyes are unreadable—always have been, he muses—and her expression’s equally as enigmatic.

 

She reaches out, the same hand that broke the two friends apart now reaching towards him.

 

He can’t do this, he thinks. He can’t just run away with her.

 

So he backs up further, with each step that she takes towards him.

 

“Aren’t you going to take my hand?” He hears her question loud and clear.

 

Silence hung in the air now.

 

Time freezes, it seems like.

 

Then her hand starts falling back to her side.

 

She kind of expected this. One year away from him; who was she to hope for the prolonged existence of his feelings? It had always seemed like she was the one waist-deep into the whole thing, and he was the one just knee-deep. She wants to laugh, at her friends for being crazy and stupid, and at herself for thinking that he still loves her, because she got it wrong and—

 

 

 

 

 

Her hand is caught before it manages to make contact with her dress.

 

“I’ll only take your hand if you’re serious about this,” he replies.

 

Heck it, he already took her hand.

 

Tiffany’s the one who breaks the sweet moment with a little squeal and a little hop and a little fist in the air.

 

Yuri’s the one who pulls them all back to earth from cloud nine. “Uh, not trying to be the party pooper, but I’m sure everyone would start suspecting us already. Share your moment after you’ve run away, okay? Just—get in the car and get the hell out now!”

 

They don’t move, because one year of feelings come rushing back and hit them in all the right places.

 

=

 

They throw themselves onto the chairs in the dressing room, panting their guts out after having run ten miles in their heels and flowing dresses.

 

Siwon and Jongwoon rush in just moments after they settle, and they see their other halves half-dead on the chairs.

 

“Girls! Where’s Jessica? The whole chapel is waiting!”

 

Yuri and Tiffany catch their breaths with one big gasp and hold their hands out to stop their boyfriends from talking further. “We can explain—“

 

Jinki appears behind them, and the girls stand up, almost knocking their chairs over.

 

“Where’s Sica?” The groom asks, an amused smile on his face with eyes that still twinkle like when he had first met his bride-to-be.

 

The girls share a look. “She’s…”

 

The smile on Jinki’s face fades. Siwon and Jongwoon’s eyes widen when they finally understand what the girls have done.

 

Jinki undoes his bowtie, and it falls to the floor.