I watch her backside as she helps my mother cooking dinner for our family. Her family comes over to talk about the preparation of our upcoming marriage, which is only two weeks away. Yes, marriage. I can’t believe I’m marrying her. And I never thought it would happen in the first place. Our love story is not as exciting as couples on tv drama but it does have those little sweet moment that make us fall deeper into each other’s love. Trust me, it’s cliché. Or maybe not that cliché.

                It started eight years ago, when we were seniors at school. I was this average high school student that you wouldn’t even look at me twice if I ever bumped into you. My uniform was always neat and I only had a few friends who were really annoying. I hung out at the library a lot and read tons of books there. You can say I was a nerd, but I don’t think I was a nerd. I was more like a normal boy who wanted to be good in his studies and tried his best not to cause troubles.

                And then, there was her, Yoon Injung. She’s my classmate and she topped the ranking every time there were tests and exams. Just like me, she’s not that popular and not that less known to other students. Average, normal, and…. average. She only had a friend and she always went everywhere with her. She’s quiet. She only talked when she needed to. She always did her work together with other classmates who were in need of some helps when our class had free period.

                I didn’t pay much attention to her in class or even outside of the class. She’s too quiet that it’s hard for me to notice her. The only times I know she actually existed in class were when our teachers wanted her to answer questions written on the blackboard and when she was the class attention whenever our exams result was out. I also saw her doing homework at the library, sometimes. It’s always her with her books and her friend, Yuyeong. So inseparable.

                Not so long before winter break, she started to become someone who was actually pretty interesting and appealing to me. It happened on late November. The class was busy with preparations for winter festival and everyone was chattering and planning on what they were going to do to make the festival memorable to each of us, the seniors. Then, a voice broke the excitement. Everyone, including me looked at the source of the voice and I was a little surprised that it actually belongs to her, Yoon Injung. She finally spoke. Loudly, I mean. She smiled to us who were staring at her weirdly and then placed a basket full of chocolate muffins on top of her desk. She said those muffins were made by her and her mother as early Christmas gifts for us.

                Everyone was pretty hyper when she started distributing the treats to the whole class and I have to say that I was amazed. She was so kind to actually bake some muffins and gave them to us. Bless her and her family. She flashed a warm smile as she approached my desk. Her strands of hair fell off her shoulder as she bowed a little to give the chocolate muffin to me. She was so beautiful up close and she looked so gentle, so ladylike. I was too caught up staring at her and it hit me. I knew I had to get closer to this girl. I was sure she had more hidden attractions besides that one.

                It was almost winter break and I still didn’t get the chance to talk to her. The moments were there but I always got interrupted by bunch of friends who always asked stupid Chemistry questions at wrong times. Wrong timing, they said. And yes, I had to wait until winter break was over so I could actually approach her. When we were back from the break, my eyes were always on her. I didn’t know why I was so fascinated with Yoon Injung. I watched her as she studied at her desk in the classroom. I watched her as she ate with her friend at the cafeteria. I might sound like a creep but I didn’t care. She looked like an angel in every single thing she did. She chewed her food slowly, she covered a small part of when she laughed, she spoke gently to people around her.

                I finally got to talk to her without any distraction from my friends. The library seemed a bit quieter and I saw her. She was busy writing something on her notebook and I took that chance to approach her. I slowly took a sit beside her and placed my Biology textbook on the enormous table. I asked her to teach me about some parts I didn’t understand on previous classes and she willingly helped without hesitation.

                I was very happy because I expected her to sigh or frown a bit because usually people didn’t like it when somebody disturbed them when they were working. She taught a few things and some easy ways to help me understand the notes better. She was very friendly and graceful. And she smiled a lot too. Hmm, it was pleasing to sit with her and talk together about school stuff but I felt like they were not enough.

                Since then, I would always talk to her and ask her how her day was. My friends were thrilled to watch me interacting with her because they knew I didn’t talk much to girls unless if I had to. Talking to her really made me happy, you know, like that happy clown. I even walked her home after school. I thought it was dangerous for her to go home alone. Sometimes, when I knew our teachers wanted the class to do projects on certain subjects, I would personally tell them to pair me up with her. I just couldn’t stand seeing her doing work with other students.

                She is really an angel. I still remember when we walked together after sports practice and we found this cute little puppy near a drain. She carefully took it into her arms, squealed and smiled as she admired the little creature. I looked at her amusedly as she it gently as if it was fragile. She told me she wanted to take care of it and she even promised that she would give it a lot of love. She took it home and I knew she would be the puppy’s right owner.

                A few weeks after that, I spotted her crying behind the school hall. Her eyes were red and puffy and she was sobbing terribly. I didn’t know what had gotten into me at that moment but I pulled her into a hug and cooed her with soothing words. She told me that she’s not a good person. She told me that she didn’t take a good care of her puppy. Hearing those words coming out from hurt me a lot. I told her that she was the best owner that it would ever have. She nodded but still sobbing in my chest.

                A few days after the incident, we hung out a lot together that my friends started to complain about me ignoring them. But they actually just laughed it off because they knew I am someone who really cherishes our friendship. Injung and I, hmm, how should I say.. let’s say that I was slowly falling in love with her. You heard it right. Love. I told my friends that I found myself missing her when she wasn’t around and they said I was madly in love. Madly? Really? Perhaps. I did feel that way when she’s not on my sight. And when we walked together and sit together, I had the urge to just stare at her and hug her. I wanted to tell her about my feelings towards he but I was afraid. What if she said she just thought me as a friend and told me to just stay as friend until the end? No, I didn’t want that.

                I braved myself one day and told her to meet me at the park. She simply agreed and even told me not to make her wait or she wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore. Of course she was just joking but I took her words seriously. We met at the park as promised and I… confessed. I told her that I want her to be my girlfriend. She was definitely shocked and immediately ran away with her trembling hand cupping her thin lips. Only God knew how frustrated I was at that very second.

                Later that night, I got a text from her, telling me to call her as soon as possible. I didn’t want to, at first, because I was still upset but I called her anyways. She was nervous, I could tell it by her shaking voice. She told me about the confession and I knew where it was heading. I was about to hang up on her when she suddenly said those three words. “I love you. I really love you, Jaeseop.” Ah, I will never ever forget it. I felt like flying to her house and hugged her as tight as possible. I was really thankful that she actually loved me back. I had no idea she really had feelings for me because she never showed it to me. She told me she gave me a lot of signs and gestures when we were together as friends but yeah, I was too dumb to notice all of those. We finally dated but kept it as a secret until we graduated from high school.

                After graduation, we went to different universities and that was when we found it hard for us. Since her university was very far away from mine, we couldn’t meet each other that often and phone calls were not enough for both of us. She told me to study hard and even took 3 hours ride to visit me at the campus. Still, our relationship stayed strong despite the distance between us. When both of us graduated from university, I started to look for jobs and got accepted as an executive at broadcasting company. Meanwhile, she achieved her dream of becoming a teacher. Knowing that we were working and busy with works and stuff, we would go on weekend dates and spent a lot of time talking about us and our life.

                When I knew the time was right, I brought her to this amusement park. She nagged at me on how ridiculous we were when we arrived at that place and how we tried to look like other teenage couples. I just chuckled at her remark and then there were a lot of kids holding red and white balloons gathered around us. She tried to run away and pull my hand while mumbling something but I stopped her. A boy went to her and passed a red rose to her hand. She was stunned at first but then thanked the little boy. Another boy walked to her and did the same. She started to feel weird when all the kids gave her roses of the same color. I swore her reaction was priceless. It was like she thought someone was trying to pull pranks on her.

                I slowly walked to her after the kids had done their job. I pulled out a red rose from my hoodie and kneeled down in front of her. My hands were shaking because I was too nervous. And please tell me who doesn’t? After taking a few deep breaths, I looked up to her and held out the rose. Nothing came out of my mouth. I stared at her and she stared at me. When I got the courage, I exhaled and proposed to her. Her eyes started to water as she nodded and I quickly stood up to give her the rose. She hugged me tightly and hit me softly on the chest. She also told me not to do things like that anymore because she felt like punching me hard for making her everyone’s attention in the amusement park.

                And now here she is, settling dinner for our family with that wonderful smile of her. I walk to the balcony to get some fresh air after remembering all those moments of our relationship. As I admiring the beautiful garden outside of my mother’s house, I feel a pair of arms wounded around my waist. She nuzzles her nose against my back and I let out a soft chuckle before turning around to face her.

                “Dinner’s ready?” I ask.

                She nodded. “Yup, let’s eat!” She pulls my hand but I do not budge even a bit.

                “Jaeseop oppa.” She rests her hands on her waist. Oh, she’s so cute while trying to be mad.

                “Stop playing around.” She whines and shakes my arm. I laugh and kiss her lips in which she starts to react and makes me feel like kissing her more.

                “Hey! She’s not your dinner, hyung!” We pull away after her younger brother yells at us. She turns scarlet and then punches my stomach lightly. She’s brutal but I don’t mind that. Cute brutal is cute.

                I follow her and join our family for a wonderful small feast. We are greeted with their teasing and you don’t have to worry, it does not last long.

                I watch her as she flashes the brightest smile at my parents. God, this girl is the best gift in my life. I love her. She might start as an ordinary person to me. But now, she owns my heart.

*edited