"Let's get married!"

Woohyun choked on his water. "Now?" he asked, sputtering. He looked at Maeri who was calmly lying down in the grass, watching the clouds pass by. A smile crossed her serene face.

"No, like when we're old. Like 30," she said, turning to Woohyun. For once, Woohyun was speechless. His mouth was hanging wide-open. Water was dripping out of his mouth, down his chin. She pulled her stunned friend down to lie in the grass with her. Both of them looked up at the clouds wordlessly.

They had just finished practicing soccer together, which they tried to do at least once a week. But lately, their weekly practice had turned biweekly, then monthly. Maeri felt like they were drifting apart. Each of them being busy with their own team practices, schoolwork, and different circle of friends. Their last year of high school was slowly winding down, and they'd be going to different colleges next school year. The colleges were still just an hour apart from each other, but that was an hour more than they had ever been apart from each other (The both of them living just down the street from each other). Maeri was scared of losing her best friend. She wanted him to stay by her side forever. She needed some way to maintain their connection, no matter how desparate it sounded. Before she knew it, her proposal snuck past her lips. Not being able to reel it back into , she tried to play it off as coolly as possible, but inside her heart was pounding as fast as a hummingbird's wings.

A deep, throaty laughter came from her side. She turned around to see Woohyun rolling around in the grass, clutching his sides, laughing uncontrollably. Her heart stopped. Maeri didn't know what to make of this reaction. "What? Did I say something weird?" she asked.

Woohyun finally calmed down, taking in deep breaths. "Me? You want to marry me?" he asked, pointing to himself. Maeri simple nodded. "What should I do? I'm already marrying Hyori."

"Hyori? Lee Hyori? The singer?" she asked. Woohyun nodded innocently to all of her questions. Now it was her turn to roll in the grass laughing hysterically.

Woohyun curiously observed her with a slight smile. "What? She's the perfect woman for me. My heart only belongs to her," he finished clutching his chest and looking up dreamily into the sky.

Maeri, gasping for air, finally conquered her giggle fit. Wiping tears from her eyes, she asked, "Okay what if by some crazy circumstance Hyori doesn't marry you?"

"She has to be crazy not to marry me," Woohyun said in all seriousness.

"I know, right? But let's say she did," Maeri continued.

"Okay," Woohyun said cautiously, allowing his friend to finish up with her crazy hypothetical situation.

"And we're both single at 30 and completely out of options," the more Maeri built up this situation, the more her voice drifted into doubt. "And we're still good friends."

Woohyun looked her in the eyes. She had never seen him look so serious. "Why wouldn't we be?" he asked.

That question immediately warmed her heart and filled her with the confidence to finish her question. "WIll you even consider marrying me?" Maeri finally asked, focusing her attention onto the ground, playing with the grass in between her fingers.

Woohyun grabbed her hand, which was laying next to his. A big smile took over his face, and his eyes melted into his smile. "Of course. Even if I had options, you'll still be my number one choice," he said, making the number 1 with his free hand.

Maeri squeezed his hand in delight. "But after Hyori?" she asked. Woohyun nodded. Maeri scoffed, "What does she have that I don't?"

"s," Woohyun joked. Maeri sat up, began to pull grass from the ground, and throw it at him. "Yah! Yah! Yah!" he yelled, trying to avoid her grass attacks by rolling over. "That's not good for the field."

Maeri immediately stopped and dropped the fistfuls of grass from her hands. "Oh right." she meekly agreed. She smiled apologetically to the ground and began to pat it gentle. "I'm sorry, soccer feild. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me, and let my team win our game tomorrow. If you could make the other team trip and fall flat on their faces, I promise never to hurt you again."

As Woohyun watched his friend apologize to the earth, he couldn't fight back his smile. Even then, he knew that he wouldn't ever forget the promise that they made.