“Gaeul-ah…” the father of the bride whispers with surprise.

Gaeul spins around at the sound of her name. She looks at the man in front of her with confusion. She was surprised and terrified that the bride’s father knew her name.

“Excuse me?” She asks for clarification, just in case she misheard.

Jongin, catching onto the situation quickly, pulls Gaeul closely to his side. “Good day, Dr. Son.” He places his hand forward.

Sohee and Gaeul’s father, Dr. Son looks down at Jongin’s hand. He was also shocked to see Gaeul here.

“Dr.Son?” Jongin presses again.

Dr.Son tries to snap out of his surprise. “Yes, Jongin. Good day. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How are you doing? How’s your sister?”

“Good sir. She’s in Canada right now. I’ll come visit you soon.” Jongin bows and quickly pulls Gaeul into the ballroom.

“Did he call my name?” Gaeul whispers into Jongin’s ear as they enter the ballroom.

Jongin shakes his head. He forces a lie. “Nope. Didn’t hear anything. Must have misheard.”

Gaeul frowns. She swore he called her name…

“Let’s a take a seat.” Jongin grabs her hand and pulls her to a table.

Immediately, Gaeul’s heart starts to pounce rapidly again. Her cheeks flush red, and her blood sends adrenalines through her body.

Jongin pulls a chair out of the table and seats Gaeul onto the chair. He lets go of her hand, and Gaeul feels a wave of disappointment rush through her. Why was she so easily effected by him?! Gaeul pouts again. She was angry at herself for being so fickle.

“What’s wrong?” Jongin whispers cautiously. He noticed Gaeul’s face looked disappointed again. But he didn’t understand what he did wrong.

Gaeul shrugs. “Nothing.” She replies bluntly.

Before Jongin could ask further, the lights of the ball room dim and the marriage moderator enters the stage with a mike.

“Everyone, thank you for coming out tonight! Firstly let’s keep this wedding short and get to point. I want everyone to clap so that the Groom can enterrrrr!!” He roars with an upbeat tone.

Gaeul forces her palms to clash, trying to enforce something like a clap. Jongin, constantly glancing over at Gaeul, claps his hands too. Worried that her heart might go crazy again, Gaeul keeps her eyes to the stage and the moderator, strictly away from Jongin.

The clapping extends for a while, but the groom is still unheard of. As the clapping extends, people start to stop clapping and glance at each other anxiously.

“Uhm…maybe a louder clap and roar for the shy groom!!!!” The moderator, who seems a little bewildered, tries to make up for the missing groom.

Gaeul glances back at Jongin. The two exchange confused looks. But they clap as everyone claps and waits for the groom to enter.

After ten minutes of clapping and hoping for the groom to arrive, the audience also loses interest and everyone starts to talk. People question where the groom is and come up with random theories. Finally, the moderator leaves the stage and goes behind to find some answers.

“What do you think is happening?” Gaeul asks Jongin.

Jongin shrugs. “I’m not sure.”

Gaeul had spoken to him this morning, so she was more confused as to why Baekhyun wasn’t here. Gaeul tries to remember her conversation with him and realizes that there was something strange. When she spoke to him, it was already 2 hours before the wedding but he was still in his doctor gown and he seemed almost dreadful to go to wedding.

Suddenly, her conversation with Baekhyun floods into her memory.

“He’s…not coming…” Gaeul whispers softly. Baekhyun’s conversation with her clarified that Baekhyun was not going to come today. He was going to be a runaway groom. 

Time passes again, and people slowly leave the wedding. Abruptly, Sohee, in a large wedding dress, storms into the ballroom. She scans the ballroom angrily like a bridezilla. In the corner of her eye, Sohee spots Gaeul sitting next to Jongin. She stomps over to Gaeul with her heart pouncing. Her breathe is heavy and her eyes are filled with anger and tears.

Jongin, realizing that Sohee is paving her way to Gaeul, stands up and moves in front of Gaeul. His forehead forms a crease as Sohee approaches them, and unconsciously he gets into battle position. Gaeul looks at Jongin who is standing in front of her with confusion. She didn’t understand why he suddenly stood up and chose to block her view.

Suddenly, Sohee charges in her direction and screams, “Move!!!”. Violently, she pushes Jongin aside and tries to reach Gaeul. But Jongin grasps onto her and pulls her before she gets to Gaeul. He blocks her firmly from reaching Gaeul.

Gaeul, terrified at Sohee’s sudden charge for her, stands up from her chair.

“I’m fine, let me go.” Sohee says calmly. Her sudden change in attitude surprises Jongin. “I won’t do anything. Let me go.” Her voice is subtle and her anger is suppressed.

Jongin looks at her with doubt, but unconsciously the strength in his arms has already disappeared. Taking advantage of the situation, Sohee escapes from Jongin’s grasp and raises her hand high. She slams her palm down, slapping Gaeul’s right cheek.

Gaeul’s head twists to the side, as she feels her right cheek burn.

“Sohee!!!” Jongin shouts angrily.

But Sohee ignores Jongin and keeps talking, “Where is he? Where are you hiding him?!!”

Gaeul looks at her obliviously. She was confused as to why Sohee was asking where Baekhyun was. “I don’t know…” she mutters softly. Her cheeks were burning and Sohee was glaring at her with fury. Gaeul felt scared.

“What did you say to Beaekhyun in the morning?” Sohee demands.

“I-I said he shouldn’t get married to a person he does not love.” Gaeul stammers as she feels terrified and terrible at the same time. She was afraid Sohee would harm her, and at the same time she felt like a horrible person for ruining her wedding. With tears filled in her eyes, Gaeul closes her eyes, ready to embrace the punishment.

Jongin looks at Gaeul astonished. “Gaeul…” he mutters with a tone of shock and disappointment.

Gaeul purses her lips. Even Jongin thought she was a terrible person now. Feeling alone again, Gaeul accepts that Jongin was never going to be on her side. Jongin’s eyes already felt like a slap to her, and she didn’t want to see him anymore. So she squints her eyes shut and waits, trembling with fear.

Sohee glares at Gaeul spitefully. If she could just kill her right here, she would!! With her murderous glare, Sohee raises her hand again. All she wanted to do was strangle this little that was ruining her life. Just as she was about to slap Gaeul again, a reflection of herself overlapped in Gaeul’s face. How is it, that this girl, who had a completely different mother, looked like her? With two different characters on her shoulder telling her opposite ideas, Sohee battles through her mind. One side told her to slap Gaeul and just kill her. The other side told her that she couldn’t slap this girl who resembled her so closely.

Alas, Sohee roars, “Get out of my sight!!!!” She realized that the more harm she causes to this girl, she would only be hurting herself further and cause greater confusion. “Just please disappear!!” Sohee screams but almost begs.

“Enough!” Sohee and Gaeul’s father step into the scene. He pulls his legitimate daughter away from Gaeul and hugs her warmly. “Sohee, darling, calm down.” He whispers into her ears softly.

Gaeul opens her closely shut lids and sees Sohee crying in her father’s embrace. As she sees Sohee safely protected by her father, she no longer feels terrible or sorry. At least she has a father who can take care of her.

Jongin, glancing at Gaeul who is looking at Sohee and Dr.Son with jealousy filled with sadness, he pulls Gaeul towards him too. He holds onto her wrist tightly and drags her out of the wedding hall.

As they get out of the ballroom, Gaeul roughly pulls her hand out of Jongin’s grip.

“Don’t touch me.” She mutters softly. Within her fragile voice, Jongin senses that she has been severely affected by the scene just now.

“Gaeul…” he calls her name gingerly.

But she shakes her head firmly. “You’ll always love Sohee. Don’t pretend you care about me. You’re only breaking my heart by being nice. Just be a doctor, fix my heart and leave.”

Gaeul pulls her phone from her bag and rips the string that attaches Spongebob to her phone. She throws Spongebob onto the floor and turns around to walk away. The tears she held back fall like a waterfall as she walks away from him. For a split second, she hopes Jongin would run after her, like a scene in a drama, but of course not. Life isn’t a drama.