It'd been almost a year since Chorong and Eunji got back to each other again. In that one year, they kept on tiptoeing around each other - afraid of repeating the same thing again, but it was mostly Eunji. Chorong didn't mind it, but Eunji hadn't been able to act like everything had returned to their usual routines. Although Chorong had forgiven the younger girl, it was still hard for Eunji to find everything was real.

In this one year, Chorong had already graduated from college and had accepted the offer to work in one of the biggest entertainment company in the capital city. Turned out that the girl rejected the offer for working abroad. One of the reasons was not being able to handle the pressure of long-distance relationship. She was still in the middle of fixing her relationship with Eunji. She didn't want to waste the chance and make it better than the previous.

With Eunji had started her last year, it was time for both of them to get serious with their relationship. And after going through a lot of hardship, it was the time for them to get married.

After 3 years of dating and 3 years of being engaged along with months of walking on a thin thread, they decided to tie the knot today, on the first day of winter.

Both Chorong and Eunji's parents had done the preparation since months ago and they deliberately didn't let the daughters to help, so they could focus on their own preparation. Their friends also helped the girls preparing. Starting from catering until the dress fitting. It was an exhausting process to get through. But the final result was worth the effort.

And right now, at one of the churches in Seoul, it was still a few hours from the ceremony and they were rehearsing for the actual thing later. The choir voices resonated in the whole room and the others were busy making sure everything was going to go well.

The brides were in their separate room after hours to do their make-up and changed into their attire so they wouldn’t have to waste any more time. Eunji was a nervous mess since morning and she’d been fidgeting around. Even though she was seated still while getting her makeup and hair done, her best friends - Hayoung and Bomi - noticed her anxiety and used that chance to ease the usually well composed girl.

“You’re getting married. Stop fidgeting around.” Bomi said as she gently squeezed her best friend’s hand. Hayoung who was busy playing a game Eunji didn’t bother to know, looked up and gave Eunji a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay to be nervous, both of us are like you when we’re about to get married. If it makes you feel better, Bomi is actually the worst between the three of us. You’re the normal one.” Hayoung’s remarks earned her a tissue ball thrown at her direction and a playful glare from Bomi. With that, Eunji finally managed to let out a small smile for the first time since the morning.

Right, Hayoung was long married with Namjoo while Bomi got married only 3 months ago. But somehow hearing those words from her best friends really helped her. She was feeling better thanks to them. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled. Her hair was braided into a half ponytail with her bangs cut short, covering until her eyebrows. She was also wearing a white suit which Bomi and Hayoung had chosen.

With her lips painted into a nice coral pink, Eunji was done with the final touch-up. Hayoung beamed at her and threw her phone onto the couch she was sitting at. She walked over and stopped behind the older girl. “You’re so pretty.” Hayoung complimented with awe written on her face. Bomi felt proud looking at her best friend. She suffered so much during the time she and Chorong was separated. And to see Eunji was finally going to marry the woman she had been fighting for, it made her felt proud and touched.

“I’m nervous upon the realization of I’m actually getting married today.” Eunji finally admitted the nervousness she’d been feeling since earlier.

“If it wasn’t for your wedding today, I would laugh at you for being like this.” Bomi teased again and Eunji rolled her eyes.

“Should I accompany you to go for a stroll? Maybe it would help you relax before the ceremony.” Hayoung offered. Eunji thought about for a few seconds before finally standing up from the chair and left the room with Hayoung and Bomi beside her.

They walked around the church and saw how pretty it had been decorated. There were flowers such as freesia and pink camellia and baby blue along with baby pink cloth covering the back rest of the pew. Eunji wanted to cry at how she understood the meaning of all those.

The three of them then proceeded to walk toward the empty grass covered garden at the back of the church. When the soft breeze caressed her cheeks, Eunji finally relaxed and felt okay for the first time since the start of the day. “I wish my mother is here to witness her only daughter getting married today.” Eunji sadly said. She’d missed her mother so much and today was the peak. Not only was she nervous, she was feeling emotional too. Especially after one hell rollercoaster ride of the up downs from her relationship with Chorong. It was a surprise for her that the older girl didn’t call it off.

“Stop thinking about how you don’t deserve it, Eunji. You deserve it. Both of you do. The two of you are made for each other. Don’t you think so?” Hayoung was looking at her with a soft look which often directed at Namjoo. But it was directed at Eunji at the moment. Looking back at Hayoung, Eunji noticed that she looked happier than the usual. Even though she didn’t know the reason, Eunji was happy that Hayoung looked happier now.

Bomi patted her shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. “You’ll do great in the future. Even though it’s unpredictable and scary and you’re still unsure, it’s going to be okay. You have Chorong by your side.” Eunji turned to look at Bomi and gave her a small smile. But just as Eunji was about to say something, Hayoung and Bomi’s phone rang loudly in the empty garden. The two of them looked at each other and grimaced as they answered the call.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE THE THREE OF YOU?” Namjoo’s loud voice resonated loudly in the empty garden. Hayoung started to think that her wife was a walking megaphone from her loud voice. It still managed to make her winced and surprised, even though they’d been married for a long time.

In the other hand, a softer voice of Naeun gently rung out from the speaker. “Is Eunji with the two of you?” Bomi felt bad because she had to make Naeun worried for a simple reason.

Looking at each other dumbly, Hayoung answered her wife with a simple, “Garden at the back of the church.” While Bomi answered Naeun’s question with a soft and gentle, “Yes, she is.” Bomi could hear the soft exhale of breath from the other line.

“That’s great to hear. Now, can you please bring her back? The ceremony is about to start.” Bomi answered Naeun with an okay before ending the call.

Eunji burst into a laughter fit when she saw the expression both of her best friend’s face. “Let’s get back now. The ceremony is about to start.” Bomi said as she turned her body around. Hayoung and Eunji followed her from behind and headed toward the main hall directly.

“Don’t tell Namjoo I said this. Sometimes I either find her voice alluring and hot at a certain time, but it’s kind of annoying also.” Hayoung said with a smile while Eunji looked at her with a roll of her eyes.

“You know I don’t need to know about the first one, right?” Hayoung gave her a sheepish smile as they continued walking.

And when the three of them arrived, the ceremony officially started. If Eunji had been nervous since the moment she woke up, she was absolutely wrecked this time. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of . Hayoung and Bomi were besides her as her best women and they literally did nothing to ease her nerve.

The door was opened and it was the time. Taking a deep breath, Eunji bravely took a step and got inside the hall. And everything after that was a complete moment Eunji couldn’t remember due to the nervousness. She was already tearing up when the priest started his speech. Moreover, when the door of the entrance was opened and Chorong walked down to the aisle together with her hand against her father, Eunji burst into tears. She didn’t know if it was from her happiness or from the nerve. All she knew was Chorong looked so beautiful and perfect in that beautiful white dress.

When Chorong and her father had reached Eunji, the father handed her daughter to her spouse and with a smile he said to Eunji, “I’ll hand my daughter to you, Eunji. I know that you’re the right person for her. The two of you will do good in the future together.” Eunji sobbed harder at the words but nodded her head nonetheless. She accepted Chorong’s hand and both of them walked together to the altar where they would exchange their vows.

Naeun and Namjoo who were Chorong’s bridesmaids looked like they were crying silently. But no one would make a comment on it when all of them were tearing up as well after they witnessed Eunji’s tears. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to tell if Chorong had shed tears too since her face was covered with white veil. But one thing for sure, as the brides took a step together, their hands were tightly intertwined. Both afraid to let go of each other as if it would be their last day together.

They stood in front of the altar together the priest started saying something the two of them couldn’t comprehend. Everything seemed to pass by faster and in a blink of eyes, it was time for them to exchange their vows.

Both Eunji stood in front of each other, hands not letting go and still tightly intertwined. When the priest announced that they would exchange their vows with Eunji starting first, she wiped off her tears and tried to even her breathing. It was the moment she’d been waiting for. To make Chorong listen to everything, know the truth of the secret she’d been hiding all along.

“To be honest to say, when I first met you at the back of our high school building, I didn’t expect I would end up with someone like you. Someone who’s softhearted and calming, charming and endearing, passionate and understanding. You were and still are too different from me. I’ve always thought that I don’t deserve you, not after what I’ve done.” The short pause didn’t make anything better, in fact Eunji felt like she was tearing up again. She was about to confess her weakness and showed a part of herself which she’d been hiding from the world to see. Would Chorong still want her with all of the broken pieces? Her heart might’ve mended already, but the line of the shattered pieces was still there. Deeply engraved.

A tear escaped from the corner of Eunji’s eyes when she caught Chorong looking at her with a warm gaze and smile. She still looked at Eunji like she was the center of her universe. And Eunji’s heart broke again.

“Ever since I met you, knew you, love you, date you, everything inside me changed. I’d always wanted to stop the things I did back then. But no one was able to make me stop until you found me, patched me up and fixed me to the core. I want to be better to have you. To make you accept me wholly. This might sound weird, but the moment you gave me that smile of yours, I knew what I wanted. And that was to be with you forever.”

Chorong nodded her head, understanding and knew fully what Eunji meant by that. She knew it had been painful for the younger girl, but she wanted to hear more from her. Eunji was and would be her only one after all.

“I still remembered what you told me, Chorong. You told me I could have you fully if I was willing to open myself for you. Back then, I realized I only opened up part of me and gave it to you, yet you still accepted me anyway. And even though it was hard, you still stayed, waited, and willed yourself to get hurt from my selfish wishes. I knew I love you for a long time. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be with you.” Another pause and all the invitees were all crying.

Bomi behind Eunji was making a lot of effort to keep her tears at bay. But when Eunji continues her next words, she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it in anymore. Her eyes were red and hurting and snots were slowly coming out. Thankfully Hayoung was there to take care of their best friends.

Eunji chose her words carefully and hid all the pain and knots in her chest as she was afraid that she would tell the entire thing she was feeling to Chorong and it would last all day. They didn’t have the time for that at the moment. But they would once they arrive in the comfort of the 4 walls of their room.

“Even after complying with all my ridiculous requests, you still stayed beside me while hiding the pain you were feeling. I realized I’ve never told you this before, I’m so freaking in love with you that it hurts me not being able to give you all you deserve in this world, Chorong. I was happy when I met you, I was happy when dated me and I am finally happy when you said yes to me 3 years ago. But…” Eunji needed to take a pause to breathe since she was literally sobbing and choking out the words she’d been keeping inside. Suddenly all those memories she’d spent with Chorong flashed up like a camera roll playing. All the small gestures Chorong had done for her, the smiles, the tears, everything.

“But I always wondered if you’re happy after meeting me. After deciding to know me, date me, or even marry me. I wonder if you have regretted your choices by staying as mine. Have you regretted any of it when I hurt you? Because if I was in your shoes, I would hate myself for being an for you all this time.”

‘I’ve always wondered if you’re happy after meeting me.’ It was a simple sentence but it managed to stab people’s heart from how broken Eunji sounded when she said it. Even from the veil, people could tell Chorong was crying and probably was in a condition that was no different from Eunji.

“Back then, I couldn’t promise you anything because of my uncertainty. But now, I can. I can promise you I am never going to hide anything from you again, whether it was comforting or heartbreaking. I don’t want to waste any more time in vain when we could make it to the fullest. I can promise you I will love you through every moment, any challenges world has prepared for us. I love you so much, Park Chorong and I wouldn’t want to lose you once again. I will and I am going to love you for eternity until deaths do us apart.”

“I’m doing this not only for me, but for you as well. If people ask me why, I’ll tell them that I’ve finally found the meaning of love. My special someone that would be my everything. My friend, my lover, my family, my home. And I will make sure I’m going to be someone who’s worthy of your warmth, your care, your attention, your affection, and your love.”

And when Eunji ended her heartbreaking speech, everyone waited for Chorong to give her speech as well.

“To be honest to say, it was hard for me as well for the first time. To love someone who didn’t even know what was the meaning of love itself. But I knew I was happy and I wanted you to be mine. I wouldn’t lie when I said it hurt me when you did all those things to me. But if you were losing your confidence and would ask me why times to times, I’d always tell you the truth with honesty that I will run back to you so you won’t doubt yourself anymore, even though people would wonder why.”

“I just want you to realize that all this time, it’s only you for me. No one else. Because if you leave later on, I don’t think I will ever can find someone I can love this deep like when I’m with you. No one can replace you, Jung Eunji. Just you. And that’s why, I’m telling you that I’ve always been in love with you and I will never regret it. Not even a bit. Hell, people would even get jealous of me because it’s you that I’m marrying. And now that we belong to each other, I’m telling you that you don’t have to be so anxious about me leaving you because I won’t and I’d be too stupid if I did so.”

“I love you, Jung Eunji. Today, tomorrow, and forever until deaths do us apart.”

With Chorong’s speech done, the invitees and their friends along with the family clapped their hands and the ceremony continued with the brides putting the ring to each other’s fingers. The brides smiled and giggled when they realized they were trembling just to do a simple task that felt so difficult.

After the ring was done, the priest finally announced them, wife and wife. And Eunji took the hint to lift up the white veil that had been covering Chorong’s beautiful face since earlier. Cupping her – now – wife’s face in her hands, Eunji stepped closer to lean in and close the distance between their lips until they finally touched and sealed their wedding in a soft kiss that meant a new beginning to them.

When they parted their lips and shared a meaningful gaze, the invitees clapped their hands whilst standing up and cheered for them.

Today marked the day Eunji and Chorong became one and the new start of their lives together.

~ finished ~