Back In Reality!

Baek Hee: What? You mean you refused to marry him first because you don’t like the way he proposed to you?

Ailee: That’s a very big check Baek Hee-ah. Though she’s already carrying her TWINS on her tummy that time, she still crazy refused to marry Yoojin.

Rian: Being pregnant is not only the reason for two people to be sealed by marriage, mostly engaged in that situation ends only in divorce, you all knew that.

Hyemi: I agree! the most important thing is two parties are both 100% sure in marrying each other. You know marriage is not game that after you felt your already loosing you quit.

Pil Suk: Does it mean you two really married for LOVE? (She looks Rian& Yoojin)

Nana: Exactly! They are. If you guys are just there at their wedding…

Flashbacks

No woman could ever forget her wedding day. Especially the first, she was no exception to that fact.

She had been staring at the mirror for an awfully long time, without really doing anything. Her eyes scanned her whole appearance; every hair (coarse or fine) was under thorough inspection. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her own flawless reflection. Too engrossed with her scrutiny, she failed to hear the door behind her creaked open.  

There was nothing (absolutely nothing at all) that seemed out of place. Everything. Her clothes, her hair, her makeup was perfect. The weather had been fine. No indication that there was an incoming blizzard or a rainstorm. Nope. The weather was all sunshine and rainbows. But she was pretty sure that the universe was trying to tell her to enjoy the day before it ends.

She was about to unhook the pin holding up her hair when she felt someone swat her hand away. A familiar voice rang in her ears, teasingly. “Stop fiddling with your hair. It’s perfect.”

She folded her arms, gazing at another reflection forming on the vanity and gave out a fake pout, “I’m not disturbing it. It’s just that,” she paused for a moment, “I don’t know whether it’s a good idea to have my hair up like this,” she replied, gesturing at her head. “Yoo Jin might not like it.”

The foreign reflection carved out a large smile on her face, placed her hands on Rian’s bare shoulders and adjusted the pin slightly before she went to straighten the ribbon around her waist. “Thanks,” the actress muttered.

But less than a minute, Rian’s hands automatically went for the pin again, and this time both of her hands were whacked by a different hand and another feminine voice produced giggles. Rian looked up at her two bridesmaids, glaring at them when her attempt to adjust her pin (which she thought had been done poorly by Nana) was foiled. Again.

“Would you stop that? That pin is perfectly attuned to your hair. Do I have to spell it out to you?” Nana retorted, playfully. She smirked at Rian’s narrowed eyes while Ailee bemused, “I think you should spell it out. If you’re not doing it, I can do it.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. I’m not going to touch that stupid pin again,” she replied, warily. The bridesmaids, in turn, stared at the bride with Cheshire grins. The first one to speak out was the Korean-American songstress, raising a perfectly arched brow in an almost ninety degree angle, “All this non-stop disturbance towards your pin. It’s not really about the pin, is it?” she asked, coyly.

Nana’s eyes widened in astonishment, breaking into a wide, almost proud-like smile and clapped her hands briefly, complimenting Ailee, “That’s a good insight, especially coming from you.”

“Thanks, my last boyfriend used to tell me that I can be pretty receptive at times,” Ailee said, beaming with a satisfied smile. Now, they both cast their sights on the star of today’s event. Nana spoke, “I agree with her. You being this fidgety about the pin, and if I have to guess, the pin in this context would be a certain rock star.”

Rian scoffed at her reply, though she had the sort-of busted look carved on her face. Ailee nodded along as Nana continued on her talk of great insight “Just relax. It’s all going to be fine. The weather’s perfect. The venue is wonderful. He’s perfect and handsome too. You have Lady Luck on your side today.”

Rian’s ears perked up at the sound of his name, glancing curiously at Nana, who just winked at her and continued, “You’re perfect, even-

Ailee cut her before she could even finished her sentences, chirped helpfully, “With that baby bump.” Nana shot her a quick glare to tell her to keep lock on the sensitive matter. Ailee mouthed, “Sorry. Well, it’s really not that visible, since you’re still early.”

“I know everything is too perfect. What if suddenly a blizzard comes or even a rainstorm destroys the wedding? I feel like the universe is trying to tell to enjoy this before it turns into a fiasco,” Rian whimpered.

The other two chuckled. “You’re too paranoid. For starters, it’s summer. Ergo no winter, as for your rainstorm theory, the cute weatherman said there was no room for the possibility to rain today,” Nana returned.

“You’re having second thoughts, aren’t you?” questioned Nana, Ailee nodded in agreement but Rian remained stoic. “It’s normal for women to think of that, considering your little situation, I- Ailee nudged her with her elbows, earning a scowl from the other singer, but her expression made it clear that she wanted to be include in the conversation. Nana shot a fleeting glower before clearing and carried on, “-We can understand how nervous you are. Hell, you should be more nervous than most normal women.”

She knew there was a reason for Nana and Ailee to be her group mates. Despite their rocky relationship at the peak of their HershE popularity, the friendship they built since their trainee days were unbreakable. But there are things she wished not to disclose with them. Somehow, would not shut and she continued to spill out more than she hoped for.

“What if this is a mistake? Sure, now we are doing fine. Five years down the road, maybe ten. I can’t say for sure that our marriage will last. I mean the man is marrying me because I’m having his kid. We are friends but that’s all we are going to be,” her voice lowered, laced with uncertainty and fear. She gazed absentmindedly at the necklace around her bare neck and it delicately.

“If he cheats on me with another woman or,” her voice began to trail off, “he finds the one woman he truly loves, I-I don’t think I can handle it,” she finished. Nana and Ailee gaped at Rian in amazement, then turned to face each other and Ailee gasped, “You do love him, don’t you?”

Nana nudged the other girl to keep quiet, putting her hand over Ailee’s mouth and cleared , “We can’t tell you what to do, Ji Kyung. It’s really your choice but what I can tell you is, if you really love him and don’t want to be hurt by him, tell him the truth before you get married,” she finished, handing her a cellphone before ushering the other woman out from the waiting room.

“Don’t keep him waiting,” she chided gently, before closing the door behind her. Rian gave the cell phone in her hand a stare, tapping the message icon and slowly constructed her message. The words formed and her thumb left hanging in the air, just above the icon.

Doubts engulfed her mind as she gave the text another read. She loved him but does he to her? Did she really want to bind herself in a one-sided love for a possible long time? And if so, will she strong enough to weather it through? All of the hardships she ever encountered, she had him to help her. If their marriage comes to an end, will he help her then? Most importantly, the question that lingered in her mind and bothered her the most was could she continue to love him if he only sees her as a friend? She did that mistake once, loving a man even though he only sees her nothing more than a dear friend. The pain still stings to this day.

She shook her head, carving a smile that looked slightly awkward on her beautiful face. She immediately got to her feet and left the cellphone on the vanity. Giving her appearance a last look, she headed for the room and closed the door behind her.

The simple necklace around her neck, she toyed with her slim fingers gingerly. Who knew such a cheap necklace would hold a huge significance in her life? For without it, she might not even have the chance to admire the handsomeness that Yoo Jin’s black tuxedo had bestowed on her husband. Deep in her heart, she was glad that she decided not to send that message after all. If he answered the latter, she would definitely left him at the altar.

The cellphone screen showed the message that she decided not to send before the screen light dimmed; do you love me or do you like me?

Her wedding was nothing like Shin Haesung’s. Yes, they had similar white dress, came from the same school and husbands happened to be their respective former classmates. But what set them apart was, Haesung and JB were in love at the time of their marriage. Unlike her; harbouring one-side love at the time of her marriage with Yoo Jin.                                                            

Once Nana and Ailee left her alone in the room to have their walk down the aisle first, she followed their suits and left the phone on her vanity. She walked down the hall; stopping briefly in front the mirrors placed in the hall and gazed at her reflection for the final time. Her breathing, previously irregular, had returned to its normal beat.

It doesn’t matter now. Just march in there and tell him that you loved him … in front of the whole guests. Maybe it’s not a good idea. If she needs to tell him those three words, it has to be private, only the two of them present.

She took a deep breath in, and then exhaled. Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, pumping one fist up in the air with the other firmly holding the wedding bouquet, she mused to the mirror, “I can do this. Fighting!” Within a second, all the traces of nervous and worries vanished from her face, replaced with the air of an excited woman to get married. If one to peer closely; could clearly see it was fake, at least she thinks Yoo Jin could.

Relax. You’re not Lee Ji Kyung. You are an actress who has a role to play; the role of a woman blissfully happy that she was about to get married to the man she truly love and love her in return. Not Ji Kyung, who was ridiculously in love with her best friend

She took a hold of the door and opened it. All eyes fell on her. Admiration, envy and happiness covered the guests as a whole. She saw him stealing glances at his worn out wrist watch, then, he looked up, staring at her direction with his famous sheepish grin on and the smile etched to his face.

Without her realizing that the effort she put to keep her façade was none as she was beaming for real. Somehow, to her, she noticed that he had a sort-of dazed look in his eyes as if he was there physically, not mentally. Taking her eyes off from him, momentarily, she graced the guests with her smile, hoping to dazzle them as she walked down the aisle.

Might as well take the chance now to gloat. Might never know if she will have the chance to have another wedding, she joked. Even if she had a second wedding, she would no longer be in her primetime. This was also her time to show to Haesung that she too can rock the red carpet (to her altar) in a near similar dress, despite her having the invisible bump. Ha! Take that, Shin Haesung.

In spite of unable to actually see the guests properly, she however managed to make out their outlines, correctly guessing who was who. She spotted Go Hyemi, her once rival in the acting industry, e of her good friends with her husband, a very famous singer and world star artist Song Samdong, they were whispering in each other’s ears. There was also, among the guests, their former principal turned counselor, who looked like he had not age but the gray color of his hair had intensified.

Even though she claimed to want to have a small ceremony with family and close friends, she was one not to deny that she purposely sent invitations to most of her friends who were A-list stars. She had a good reason for this. At that time, she thought to herself, she was tying the knot with Jin Yoo Jin, famous rock star, successful actor, accomplished dancer and prominent model. She just had to flaunt for the others that she had taken the most eligible bachelor off the market to boost her reputation (though in reality, there was no need for her to do that).

Someone, or two people seemed to be missing. She nodded at both her sides to get a clearer look at the guests. No JB. No Haesung. She was pretty sure she had sent them invitations, but they may be just running late. Not that she has time to worry about them on her wedding day, so much for flaunting to Haesung.

“Wow, Rian-nie looks so gorgeous in that white Valentino dress,” Nana whispered to the woman next to her, to which Ailee replied, “I knew it! She looked much better in this, just like a real princess.” Out of the corner of one eye, she saw them slipping into the hall and quickly sitting on the bench with the other guest.

At the altar, she stood straight, facing Yoo Jin whose grin remained. The organ’s reverberation of Canon echoed through the hall, waking up some of the guests who had fallen asleep somewhat while waiting for the bride to grace them with her appearance and walk down the aisle.

She wished the priest would speed up a little, not only she felt like she wanted to heave but her stamina was fleeting precariously as she stood in front of everyone, wrapped in her white wedding dress, hugging her figure.

Nana and Ailee, both had smiles on their faces, at least one of them had. The other was too busy trying to prevent her makeup from melting away; thanks to the salty water she called tears. She sniffled quite loudly, earning a fair nudge on the ribs by her former member. The scowl on Ailee’s face lasted only about a fraction before a smile stole her face. Inching herself closer to Nana, she whispered, “It’s hurts!”

“Shut up, stop sniffling. You’re deafening,” she shot back, without moving an inch of muscle on her face. Ailee, though not so efficient in the ventriloquism, tried her best to not move any muscle. “It’s beautiful and this is a wedding. You’re supposed to cry. Why aren’t you crying? The whole church is and your ex-lover is weeping like a freaking baby,” she hissed. Nana sighed. Looking ahead of her, there’s Hong Joo was, crying his eyes out, and Ui Bong, dabbing his eyes with the ends of his sleeve.  

She had filmed a lot of wedding scenes and she preferred those compared to the real thing. Those scenes were much shorter and less talking. All she had to was to wait for the director to yell out “Action” and off she goes, crying, smiling (whichever the scene required) and bam! She be locking lips with her on-screen fiancé-

When the priest posted the famous question, “Do you take Lee Ji Kyung as your lawful wedded wife?” It seemed like she snapped out from her inner ramblings and focused on Yoo Jin, who gulped down and replied, “I do.” The priest turned to her and asked her the same question, she answered, “I do.” She heard him sighed but got distracted when the priest announced that the bride and groom might kiss each other.

She leaned closer to the man she now called her husband, they closed the distances between them. Normally, she had been the one who lead the kissing, whether it was during their playtime or showcasing their fake lovey-dovey affections to the public. But for the first time in her entire life with him, he was the first to lean and kissed her. (In exception to their first kiss during their graduation at Kirin)

Then he hoisted her in his strong arms, as expected since she wanted him to at least mimic the normal after finishing the kiss scenes, where the hero brings the heroine out from the church with a dramatic but romantic flair.

And he went for the lift, which she would not mind having him carry her but considering the fact that she was pregnant, it was a little risky. She shot him a warning look, not to drop her. He grinned and replied, cockily, “Trust me, princess. I was born with six-pack and superhuman strength.”

The wedding went rather smoothly than she had anticipated. Who caught the bouquet flowers? Was it Nana? Nope. Seul? She missed it by several inches. Ailee? She wished but then, she would have no use of the bouquet except to watch it wilt in the span of couple of days. The winner of the bouquet flowers was none other than Sondong. She never mentioned about Sondong in the wedding, did she? Sondong spent her time giving out free fortune advices to selected celebrities about the prospect of their future (Lee Jun included, who looked grim at her advice). Enough about them, what about them after the wedding? Everything was fine until Yoo Jin landed them in a catastrophic mess.