Chapter XIII

Wedding Bell

*This ficlet takes place after chapter 63 on TWT

I, Jinki, take you, Gwiboon, to be my lawfully-wedded wife. I vow to always trust you, respect you, care for you, and encourage you, for who you are today, and who you will become tomorrow. I will share in your dreams and support you as you strive for them. I will listen to you with compassion and understanding, and speak to you with encouragement. As I have given you my hand to hold, so I’ll give you my heart to keep.

I, Gwiboon, take you, Jinki, to be my lawfully-wedded husband. I promise to always be your biggest fan and partner-in-crime. I vow to stand by your side as we build a home filled with joy, laughter, patience, understanding, and love. I will love you faithfully through the difficult and the easy. I love you unconditionally, for you as you are, and for you as you will become.

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The sun is close to setting by the time they walk back to the tent, chatting among themselves and laughing too loud at the jokes being thrown back and forth. Jonghyun is telling a story about Jinki’s Grandma harassing him (and Jinki's mom coming to his rescue a tad aggressively) to a smirking Amber and an amused Gwiboon. Attached to Jonghyun’s right arm, Younha is talking to Minho about the best restaurants in Japan for when she visits next time. Once they reach the tent, everyone gets settled, with the bride and groom occupying their assigned seats, stretching their legs out as two masseuses get into position.

“Whoa, I want a massage, too, damn,” Junmyeon says, amazed. Jinki gives him two thumbs up before leaning back on his chair and closing his eyes, with his one hand flapping around looking for Gwiboon’s, who gracefully takes it before he can smack her anywhere.

“It’s one of Jinki’s Dad’s wedding gifts,” Gwiboon tells him, straightening herself a bit to let the hairdresser fix her hair. She touches her face and scrunches her nose when the tip of her finger meets slightly oily skin. She gestures at Irene and then her face. Irene nods and goes to order people to find the MUA—she ain’t about to strut out onto the sand unless it’s absolutely necessary.

The next few minutes is pretty much coordinated chaos, with Taemin and Minho slipping in and out of the tent, talking to the WO crew about one thing or another. After about fifteen minutes, Jonghyun and Younha head out, too, possibly to prepare their performance and monitor everything that has to do with the music. The rest of the wedding party are either sticking noses to their phones or running around to make sure everything is in place.

Gwiboon accepts the phone Irene gives her and scrolls through the chaotic group chat almost lazily. She watches as her friends banter back and forth, thinking back to the planning days when she would run around places on her own. Next to her, Jinki is snickering, scrolling down as fast as she does.

“Will your Nana be okay, though? Shouldn’t we just let her stay at the hotel and rest?” Jinki asks, turning to his new wife. Gwiboon shrugs.

“There’s really no use arguing with her.”

Jinki hums and nods, knowing fully well the meaning of ‘no use arguing with her’, because he’s seen that stubbornness she passed to her granddaughter up-close. Frowning at his phone slightly, Jinki presses the play button to listen to Jonghyun’s voice note before turning to Gwiboon, confused. Gwiboon shakes her head, telling him to ask Jonghyun to elaborate.

The rest of the hour blurs by quickly, and soon they’re both changed into their reception outfits; Gwiboon with her below-the-knee Valentino off-shoulder dress and Jinki with the white-on-white-on-white look. Minho comes in at the last minute, handing the heels to Jinki who immediately gets on one knee to help Gwiboon slips her feet into them. At the same time, Soyou hands Gwiboon her bouquet and gives her an OK gesture just as Jinki stands back up and offers her his arm.

They all make their way out of the tent and head to the reception area. Gwiboon’s heels are thick enough to not sink into the sand, but not thick enough to make them seem clunky, and she’s mentally patting herself on the back for the apt choice.

As they approach, Jonghyun’s voice is getting clearer, and Jinki couldn’t resist moving along to the She Is tune, twirling a laughing Gwiboon as they make their way to their designated seats. Jonghyun points a finger at them, making the guests all turn their way. Jumping off the stage, Jonghyun waltzes his way to the bride and groom, eyes dancing and voice filled with mirth that is strong enough to show through his singing. Once the song ends, he bows in front of the bride and groom, giving them an exaggerated wink before heading back towards the stage to meet Younha, who meets him halfway.

The next song is Love Belt, and as soon as the melody begins, Jonghyun’s voice fills the room once more, much more sensual than before. He offers a hand to Younha before they both walk to the bride and groom. Younha takes Jinki’s hand and Jonghyun takes Gwiboon’s, before they lead the couple toward the dance floor and place their hands on top of one another. Jinki grins, pushing his shoulders up almost sheepishly before taking Gwiboon’s hand in his and looping an arm around her waist, while Gwiboon places a hand gently on Jinki’s shoulder. Jonghyun taps the small of Gwiboon’s back once and takes several steps back as the couple begins to sway along the music; the guests’ round of applause momentarily drowning Jonghyun and Younha’s voice.

They sway along with the slow-paced song, bodies pressed close and eyes never leaving one another’s. Jinki twirls Gwiboon a few times, the movement slow and so natural it almost seems like a reflex, despite Jinki being the worst dancer out everyone else in their group. The both of them look content and happy, perfectly unaware of the hundred pair of eyes following their every move. There’s only the two of them in the world right now, and when the song finally reaches the end, the guests start another round of applause and Gwiboon snaps out of her trance, laughing as she lets Jinki press tiny kisses on her cheeks, nose, eyes, and lips.

After that, things start to move to a faster pace. Gwiboon dances with his father, Jinki’s father, Jonghyun, then Minho and Taemin at once, while Jinki dances with his mother, Gwiboon’s mother, and Amber. Gradually, the rest of the guests start to join them on the dance floor, swaying to the slow songs and waltzing to the slightly faster ones.

Once the general ruckus dies down, the MC takes over and wills everyone to take a seat as the speeches are about to start. She calls Minho up first, eliciting a wild, exaggerated reaction from the bride, groom, wedding party, and their friends. Minho rolls his eyes at them, but he’s smiling all the same. Taking the mic from the MC, he clears his throat, and the room falls silent.

“Evening,” he begins, his voice deep and almost intimate. “My name is Choi Minho and Jinki likes to claim I’m his best friend.” Gwiboon chuckles and leans her head onto Jinki’s shoulder. “But I like to think that we’re so much more than that.”

Minho takes a full swing of the drink in his hand and shakes his head a little, his perfectly styled hair coming undone just a tiny bit. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes are bright, the first signs of him slowly losing the battle with alcohol. It’s unusual for Minho to show this casual, boyish side of himself, but then again, this is an unusual occasion, Jinki supposes.

“According to the rule the bride sent me, I’m supposed to tell you about how I met Jinki, the groom, first,” he gestures at Gwiboon with a nod. “Now, while I’m not particularly eager to retell that story, I’m a traditional man, so I’m gonna give you a summary. To cut it short; our friendship began when Jinki was six and I was three. He smacked me in the face with a toy truck, my late brother yelled at him, he apologized and promised he’ll make it up to me by being, quote, my bestest friend in the world ever, unquote. So here I am,” Minho raises his empty champagne flute in salute as the crowd ripples with a wave of laughter. Jinki hides his laugh behind his new wife’s shoulder as Gwiboon shakes with laughter also, cooing at Jinki all the while.

“It’s no secret among our circle of friends that Jinki is, for the lack of a better word, an absolute disgrace when it comes to getting girls—full offense,” he adds to Jinki, whose ears are turning pink at the attention he’s getting. Gwiboon doesn’t stop laughing. “He got most of his dating advice from me, who is both younger and gay. However, I think I can safely say now that I wasn’t that bad of a mentor. At this point, I’m fairly sure we can all agree that my methods are, in fact, quite remarkable, because if you haven’t noticed, the beautiful angel gliding through the aisle a couple hours ago is Jinki’s lady.” At this, Amber wolf-whistles loudly and Jonghyun hoots, drawing another round of laughter from the guests. Gwiboon winks at Minho, who winks back with a small, smug smile.

“I remember the first time these two met. It was at MoMA, back when they were both studying in NY. Jinki video-called me that night—I was in London—and told me about this beautiful woman he met at the museum. Now, it seemed like a normal conversation between friends, but the words he used to describe Gwiboon made all the difference.” Minho pauses for effect, eyes scanning the guests at large, before stopping at the amused, twinkling eyes of his lover. “Usually, when he met a woman he wanted to pursue, he’d send me a text or e-mail consisting one dumb, disgusting phrase: Chicky Chicky Bang Bang.” There’s a collective groan among the guest, with Jonghyun and Taemin’s voice dominating everyone else’s. Gwiboon laughs so hard she has to hold onto Jinki to prevent herself from falling off her chair.

“In case you need the stupidity spelled out for you: yes, it means he found a chick he wanted to bang,” Minho rubs his eyes tiredly, shaking his head in absolute exasperation. Jinki’s ears are definitely red now, and he’s shrinking in his seat a little bit as Gwiboon laughs at him. Despite the embarrassment, however, he can’t fight the grin that’s threatening to split his face. “He didn’t describe Gwiboon that way, though. He told me about how gorgeous she was, how bright, how enthusiastic. When I asked what she did and he said ‘fashion designer’, however, I was ready to buy a couple bottles of soju and get my shoulders ready in case the blow of the rejection is harder than he expected,” he has to stop talking for a while because both Jinki and Gwiboon’s parents are laughing so hard. Minho bites back a grin.

“You see, I’m not usually a pessimistic man, but Jinki is—when I heard ‘fashion designer’ and heard how smitten he sounded back then, I was just…” he makes a vague hand gesture and shrugs. “The tales of Jinki’s lack of comprehension about fashion is not my forte, so I’ll leave it to the Maid of Honor to describe to you how horrible it is.”

The guests chuckle and cheer as Amber stands and bows down dramatically. Minho smiles and takes a deep breath, growing more serious. “The second time they met was at a noisy little club in Brooklyn, and they exchanged numbers. That was all I know, because Jinki wasn’t the type to kiss-and-tell once he began actively pursuing someone. However, about a year later, he asked to meet up for lunch