“Yongguk, look!” He glanced up to see a colleague of his prance into his office. She was beaming brightly as she showed off the ring on her left hand. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

            Yongguk grinned at her. “He finally proposed didn’t he? Congratulations!”

            She laughed and pulled out a seat in front of his desk and sat down. “Yeah, it was such a romantic confession too. He prepared roses and champagne and everything.”

            “You’re really lucky.”

            She gave him a megawatt smile. “And I know it. There’s just one problem though and I feel horrible saying this.” She gave a tragic sigh and Yongguk leaned forward. “I can’t get married.”

            He was taken aback. “You can’t get married? But why not?”

            “Because, I just can’t!”

            “Is there something wrong? Do you parents to approve? Does that matter though?             You already are engaged. What’s the matter?”

            She leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. But I once made a promise with my best friend that we would get married together. And, as you know very well,” she added pointedly. “She’s not even engaged!”

            She sat back and stared at him with unwavering eyes and Yongguk chuckled a little. “You don’t really need for her to get married to get married. I think each girl deserves her own wedding, her own special day.” He nodded fervently. “Yes, yes. You shouldn’t feel pressured to wait for her.”

            The woman before him slapped her hand on his desk. “Excuse me, this is my wedding. Don’t tell me what I want. The two of us are going to get married together. And you have three choices but two of them aren’t even options. You can hold up my wedding, which is really inconsiderate of you. Or you can always wait until another man comes along and takes her from you. But then there’s choice three, also known as your plan of action and what I want you to do, you can propose to her. Preferably by the end of the day.”

            “The end of the day,” Yongguk choked. He nearly spat out the water he was drinking.

            She smiled angelically. “Choices one and two can always happen too.”

            Yongguk nodded. “But why by the end of today?”

            She shrugged. “That way we can start planning our wedding together! I’m excited. I want to start today. Don’t you dare rain on my parade.” She narrowed her eyes at him and Yongguk nodded slowly.

            “I see.”

            His coworker got up and waved at him, waggling her fingers. “I expect to hear a happy phone call some time tonight.”

            The moment she disappeared, Yongguk choked again and dropped his head onto his arm. How was he supposed to do this in, and he glanced warily at the clock, seven hours? He did not have much time. Yongguk hurriedly called her but got her voicemail.

            “Hey, let’s meet tonight. Does eight sound good? The outside café with the really good mushroom sauce. I’ll meet you there.” Then he hung up and began to fly through his work. He handed in his packet to his manager and rushed out. He passed by a certain coworker’s office and she blew him a kiss. Yongguk’s insides churned and he racked his brains for ideas.

            His first stop was at the jewelry store. But when he was faced with row after row of engagement rings, he felt a gigantic headache come again. “Sir, do you need help?”

            He turned and stared at the saleslady. “Ah, er, yes, please.”

            “Sure, what style and what size are you looking for? How would you like the stone to be cut and do you have a preference of the jewel?”

            What? “Um, show me some of your nicer engagement rings please.” He was at an utter loss. She led him to some of the more stylish ones and he shook his head. “Something a little simpler. A large stone with maybe more around it.”

            “Ah, so you want an inlaid diamond with surrounding sprays of diamonds too?”

            The jargon went right over his head. “Yes, please,” he said simply because she knew what she was talking about and he didn’t. She showed him another three rows and finally Yongguk picked one.

            “Size please?”

            “Isn’t it one size fit all?” Yongguk glanced at his phone. He didn’t have much time left. He didn’t have time to go home and change.

            She gave him a weird look. “An estimate please?”

            He gave her a hopeless shrug. “Six maybe?”

            She blinked and prepared the ring. “You can always get it fixed once she accepts,” she said kindly and Yongguk smiled at her nervously. She patted his arm after he paid. “You’ll be fine. A handsome boy like you will definitely get a yes.”

            Yongguk ran to the flower shop and decided flowers were overrated. He didn’t know what else to do so he went to buy a mini stereo system. She’s always liked it when he rapped for her and maybe this time he can think of a rap and wing the proposal. His mouth was dry and he bumped into his friend.

            “Hyung! What are you doing?”

            “Oh, hey, er, Daehyun, do you want to come with me? I sort of um, have something to do.”

            The younger boy shrugged. “Sure. What do you want me to do?”

            “Sing during my proposal,” Yongguk blurted out and Daehyun laughed.

            “Isn’t this a little last minute?”

            Yongguk looked about to argue but gave up. “It is. I had all of three hours to get all this ready. I was given an ultimatum. So, are you willing or not?”

            “Sure, what song?”

            Yongguk grinned sheepishly. “Free style it.”

            The two of them walked to the café with Daehyun peppering him with questions. Yongguk made a shushing noise and then peered around the wall. She was sitting there, holding out her cup and waiting for him. His heart thumped.

            “Aren’t you going to go?” Daehyun asked and Yongguk turned back to look at him.

            “I can’t do this.”

            “What do you mean? Yes you can! Go get the girl, Hyung!”

            “Yongguk?” The older man froze. Darn. He turned back to his girlfriend with a large smile plastered across his face. “Why don’t you come over here? What are you doing?”

            He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a shy smile. “Um, yes. I,” he glanced back and Daehyun pushed him forward. Yongguk smiled as brightly as he could.

            “Will you marry me,” he blurted out. He dropped on his knees and held out the velvet box. She looked absolutely shocked and this was when Daehyun came in, singing loudly about Yongguk’s love for her and she gave a small giggle.  

            She glanced down at her boyfriend who was blushing to his ears. She took his hand and whispered, “Yes I will marry you, you fluffy bear.”

            Yongguk gave her a happy gummy smile and slipped the ring on her finger. Daehyun clapped happily and slapped Yongguk on the back. “I guess my fiancé can hear happy news tonight.” And at this Yongguk, glared, remembering the reason for his hasty proposal.

Fluffy Yongguk

OH MY GOSH. OH MY HEART.

COFFEE SHOP

can they please stop