‟chapter thirteen

If Yongsun had to choose one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking moment in her life, it’d be a few seconds right before her very first debut stage. But now, she could assured everyone that this would be another one of those moments she’s ever had. Both Eric and her are sitting in a private room of a Korean Cuisine restaurant with both of their families presented - and, very surprising and last minute at that, but she was also the one who suggested this, so she’s not really complaining.

Up until yesterday, Yonghee had been abroad for her workshops, so Yongsun had been staying over at Eric’s house temporarily. Yesterday afternoon, while they were just comfortably cuddling up inside his room, watching Netflix and maybe doing something a little bit more than just watching movies, his family surprised them with an unannounced visit. Yongsun wasn’t sure if she was bewildered to find only their luggages in the living room with no presence of them in the house at all, or bewildered that they might have overheard them doing something they shouldn’t have heard and decided to leave the house to give them their privacy. But Eric’s mom’s smile later that evening when she met them after they returned back to his home made her very sure that it was the latter option.  

Yongsun knew her parents have been wanting to meet Eric for awhile now especially after how much Yonghee has been spilling everything to their parents about both of them, and his parents also hinted that they wanted to meet her family once if they get an opportunity to back when they visited them in Atlanta last time. She talked with Eric later that day if he was fine with both of their families formally meeting each other once, and he was more than glad about the suggestion. 

Their parents might have been a tad bits happier than them about getting to meet each other, and both Yongsun and Eric knew what they were thinking about. Formally introducing each other’s family would means things are getting steadier, and they’re ready for more. And, Eric didn’t see a problem with that either, because he knew they both were ready for more as well. 

    “You know,” Yongsun whispers and Eric turns to her. In a small whisper that is only loud enough for both of them to hear, she continues, “Moments like this are really rare. I wish we will always have more moments like this in the future as well.”

    Eric smiles. “You know, if we get married, then we can definitely have more moments like this in the future.” 

Yongsun giggles, a subtle shade of red flushes across her cheeks and he grins. She looks up and caught her older sister’s eyes. Yongsun almost chokes on her food as Yonghee grins teasingly at them, so she raises her eyebrows at her back in an attempt to tell her to shut up to which Yonghee just silently laughs. She enjoys teasing them both together since they first started dating, and Yonghee wishes the rest of Mamamoo were also here so they could enjoy roasting Yongsun and Eric together - it’s always fun to see Yongsun turning a tomato shade of red, and Eric’s ears looking like they’ve been set on flame whenever they get roasted. But the girls refused when they were invited by Yongsun to this dinner as well, saying that it’s family’s time so they’d like to give them their privacy, because they can always meet up after that. 

A few employees walked in to remove their empty plates for dessert. Yongsun found it amusing that they served pumpkin porridge as a dessert instead of an appetizer like anywhere else, but she didn’t give it much thought because she’s been obsessed with pumpkin porridge these days, and she honestly doesn’t mind having it before or after dinner. 

She took a quick glance at Eric, and watched as he ate a spoonful of the pumpkin porridge. She giggled when he tried not to grimace after tasting it. Eric hates porridge, that’s something she has noticed over the years. No matter how sick he was, he’d make an excuse of feeling better enough just so he wouldn’t have to eat porridge, and no matter how painful his sore throat was, he’d still forced himself to eat rice instead. 

Eric caught her watching, so he offers her some of his and she gladly took some of his. The good thing about them both having a completely different tastebuds is probably them being able to finish one another’s food if the other one couldn’t eat it. Now that she thought about it, Yongsun doesn’t remember them ever fighting over who’s getting the last bite of the food at all. It’s always been them happily finishing what the others couldn’t eat.

After finishing Eric’s portion, she went back to eating hers and almost choked on her pumpkin porridge when she discovered what resembled a writing on the bottom of the dish. 

    Will you marry me? 

She gasped, turning to Eric a little way too fast, she almost sprained her neck. 

    “What’s this?” She whispers, completely bewildered at the unexpected surprise.

He laughed nervously, then reached for something inside his pocket. The whole room gasped when he got on his knee, but all Yongsun could care about was how nervous he looked, and she had never seen him that way before.

    “Yongsun-ah,” He started. “you’ve always been someone who I hold very dearly in my heart, and you made me realized that it was possible for me to love someone this much. What we had to go through together back then helped make us a lot more stronger, understood each other a lot more better, and loved each other a lot more, and I thanks the world every night that they’ve given you to me. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you like the first day we ever fell in love, protecting you with all that I could, offering and sharing with you all that I had, respecting you with all of my heart, holding you from the harsh world, and growing old with you.” 

    He opened the ring box, and smiled. “Will you marry me?”

Yongsun cried, then broke into a small laugh. She nodded her head and gave him her hand, unable to utter an answer back. Eric grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger. As he pulled her into a hug, the whole room erupted into a cheer - some were crying, some were cheering, but they both knew from the smiles on everyone’s faces that everyone was genuinely happy for them and their decision to take their relationship to another chapter. 

There was a sudden loud popping sound of a champagne, so Yongsun looked up to see her members coming in, carrying a cake and champagne as they walked in. Yongsun broke down into a louder cry as the girls pulled her into a hug, each of them mumbling a congratulations through their tears. She looked at Byul, and the younger woman smiled back at her with tears welling in her eyes. 

    “I’m really happy for you, unnie. I really am.” 

Yongsun smiles at her and nods her head. Byul has been through all of it with her, she was the one who always held her when things were rough between them, was the one who helped them reconciled, was the one who was the happiest when they got together, and was the one who protected her when they decided to go public. She has been through it all, and Yongsun couldn’t be more grateful.

And, although it might be a little bit too early to start deciding, Yongsun already knows who her maid of honor will be on the day she’s walking on the aisle. She giggles at the possibility of making Byul wearing a white or baby pink dress with a flower crown on her head. 

Switching her gaze to Eric, she smiles. Yongsun guesses leaving written message on the bottom of a dish is their own little tradition now.