The wedding is too cheerful and bright for Seoyul’s liking. On top of everything, it looks poorly prepared. Even though the guests don’t mind because it’s a known fact that ordinary people don’t spend on weddings due to the taxes they must pay afterwards, it still makes Seoyul’s stomach twist a little.

Seojin, her brother, could’ve at least used real flowers to display at the dining table where the guests are seated.

Next to her is where Jongin is seated—attire too expensive to be worn sitting on a rugged chair the wedding provides—and he looks dashing. His hair is pushed back, a look Seoyul always enjoys when she gets the chance to. Both of them had turned a dozen of heads when they entered the wedding venue, and Seoyul’s heart burns with pride at the attention she’s getting.

Especially when she can feel the jealousy most of the women attending has towards her for scoring such a handsome, and more importantly, rich husband.

“I don’t think I can make it until the end of the wedding,” Jongin tells her, hands and eyes glued onto his phone like it always is other day. Seoyul doesn’t show her husband that she’s disappointed that she doesn’t get to boast to her high school friends about her successful husband, but sends him a smile anyway.

“Okay,” she replies. “What came up?”

“Work.” He says, before sliding his phone into his back pocket, finally staring back at Seoyul.

“Can I come along, then? I don’t even like weddings—you know that.”

Jongin chuckles, patting her hair like he always does when he finds the things his wife does amusing. Seoyul’s heart doesn’t skip a beat, she kind of hates it when Jongin messes up her hair.

“No. That would be disrespectful—your brother is family,” Jongin responds, reminding Seoyul of how much he values family so that she should too. Not that she needs the reminding, the pictures of his parents, brothers, and daughter plastered all over their house’s walls does the job fairly well.

“Alright, alright. When are you leaving?”

“Now.” Jongin stands up, and presses a ginger kiss on her cheeks before she can say anything else.

Seoyul knows that her husband’s answers are always short and precise.

“Also, the shipment of your new phone arrived in my office this morning. I had them sent over just now—it’s also custom colored to match that car you’ve been begging me to get you since last year.”

Seoyul blinks.

“The car is parked in our garage at home.” She doesn’t miss the slight curve of Jongin’s lips before he turns to leave, and her heart skips a beat at Jongin’s words.

Seoyul hates people who don’t say much, but when it comes to Jongin, she doesn’t mind.

***

The wedding feels unbearable without Jongin by her side. Without her successful husband around, the purpose of her wedding attendance disappears too.

The part where her brother and his bride exchanges their outdated wedding vows irked her and made her stomach upset for some reason.

For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death—she’d said the same words on the wedding altar six years ago. But the words didn’t radiate as much happiness as her brother and his bride had on their faces, and it feels unfair.

Her circumstances were better. Her wedding was grand and attended by the most important guests, and both Jongin and her had benefitted much more from the wedding than Seojin ever will.

Her life expenses were going to be paid and secured for the rest of her life, and Jongin had avoided the execution of either him or his newborn daughter. Love was not a part of their wedding, but it’s not like love is important when both her and her brother were on the verge of death, starving and homelessness.

She hates how some of the guests are touched to the point of shedding tears, when none of them should be congratulating the impending doom of her brother’s future. His bride—Seoyul can’t remember her name—isn’t even that pretty. What they should be crying over is the fact that her brother is going to die.

Lost in her own thoughts of hatred and anger, she only realizes that the wedding ceremony is over when someone sitting next to her touches her shoulder and tells her that the food has been served.

The low-quality steak served makes her lose her appetite, but she thanks the person reminding her anyway.

“Thanks—” she stops short when she sees that it’s one of her friends from university, a senior named Byun Baekhyun who she used to hang out with from time to time. He isn’t a silver-spoon like practically every other student in her campus, so their common family background had become an easy foundation for them to build their friendship on.

But that was years ago, and Seoyul barely remembers what her life was like before Jongin.

“Sunbae!” she quickly greets him, unconsciously leaning forward and touching her chest in fake-shock to display the pretty diamonds that adorns her wedding ring. Seoyul quickly retracts her hand in shame when Baekhyun looks down on her finger with an unreadable look—showing off her wealth and status had been a habit she’d acquired ever since marrying Jongin.

Her high school classmates used to ridicule her and forced her to kill herself instead of continuing living, and she’d gotten accustomed to displaying her wealth when she meets someone from her life prior to Kim Jongin. Baekhyun isn’t one of them, though, so tries to shake off the feeling of shame that creeps inside of her.

“And she finally notices me,” Baekhyun beams, yet contrary to his bright attitude, it reminds Seoyul of her days of being poor and under-fed. They had been close, once, and Seoyul honestly can’t remember for the life of her when she last talked with Baekhyun and what kind of conversation they had had. Their friendship just stopped in the middle of it, and then it was over.

It doesn’t help that Byun Baekhyun looks practically the same from all those years ago—the same hair, the same