“YOBOSEYO?”

Her sweet voice filled his ear and for a minute, he couldn’t trust himself to speak.

“Yoboseyo? Dongwoon?”

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he managed to say, “So… Mrs. Choi Nicole huh?”

“Well.. Minho... He could be so persistent you know? Did you know he was proposing to me every single day for the last three months?”

There was laughter in her voice and it struck him how happy she was. The realization felt like a punch in the gut.

“...And I thought, why not? I’m not getting any younger and  you know I’ve always wanted a big family.”

He did.

And five years ago it was him  she wanted to marry; it was him she was dreaming to start a family with. Daehan, Minguk , Manse — He had already named them, whispering in her ear every night as they lay in the dark, his arm wrapped around her small frame, that he wanted three boys. No girls.

Because she will always be the only woman in his life.

“...So I better get cracking!”

She was laughing now. He tried laughing with her but no sound came out. He was too fixated on her wedding invitation in his hand, his eyes burning holes through it; his grip on the phone so tight his knuckles were turning white.

“Hey, still there?”

“Yeah.” He stammered. “I just called to say congratulations.”

He heard her smile through the phone. “Promise me you’ll come to the wedding?”

“I promise.”

Tell me that you turned down the man

Who asked for your hand

'Cause you're waiting for me