Even though Hana’s eyes are closed and she’s off in La La Land, light noises and scuffle sounds from the real world can be heard and it bugs her to no end. She opens her eyes and sees that Luhan isn’t sleeping beside her; in fact, the lamp is and his spot is cold, meaning he has been somewhere for a long time. Massaging her eyes and making her vision blurry, she sees the time displayed on her alarm and it shows that it is twenty-four passed midnight. She glances down at the edge of her bedside in hopes that Luhan is dozing on the ground while the game is still running, but no. His game is turned off and he’s not there at all. She looks at the bathroom and sees no light from it, so that means he’s also not in there, too.

Where is he?

Although she’d like to go downstairs, she’s afraid that she might meet something other than Luhan, so that idea is a no-no. Because she thought of that, she’s too scared to go back to sleep, so she grabs her cell phone and starts to play games on it to keep her mind off of it.

After playing for almost an hour and a half, she receives a fright when her cell phone rings in a ringtone she didn’t set it up; she usually has it on vibrate, no ringtone whatsoever. When she sees that the caller is none other than Luhan, she curiously but hesitantly answers it, “Yes…?”

“Hey, wake up.”

“I have been awake for almost an hour. Where are you?”

“An hour?”

She hears him laugh over the phone because she knows that he knows she is too scared to go look for him despite knowing that he is gone from the bed. She says to him without much shame, “I didn’t feel like moving, so I stayed here, wishing that you’d get eaten or something.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he comments while other noises are still made from the background. “Hey, can you do something for me?”

“What?”

“Come downstairs with the flowers you bought.”

“What?”

He repeats with a higher pitch, “Come downstairs with the flowers you bought.”

“For what?”

“Just do as I say.”

“Luhan, it’s almost two in the morning. What do you want?”

“Meet me downstairs, K? See you.”

After he hangs up, Hana finds herself lost, confused, uncertain, and bothered. What kind of crazy idea is he up to now, and at this time of the day? Although she’d love to find out what her unpredictable friend is going to do, she’d also love to not have a part in it. She’s tired and scared to be moving around in a big room. She has gotten used to either moving around with Taeyang or with Taeyang and Luhan, but not herself. Deciding to ignore her friend’s stupid request, she puts her phone back on top of the small dresser beside the bedside and tries to go back to sleep; however, seconds later, she receives a text from him reminding her to go downstairs. After counting to ten to gather her courage, she gets up and does what he says while trying to not think of anything that will frighten her because her curiosity wins.

As she stretches, she scans the room to see where she had placed the bouquet of flowers. She smiles when she finds them conveniently laid by the foot bed. She takes them and notices one particular flower.

A blue five-pedal flower.

The bouquet of flower she had asked for was for flowers in shades of reds, pinks, and whites. There is no blue and there shouldn’t be a blue.

Unless it is the flower from Kris’s guest.

During the opening of the presents, Kris had told her that his friend had bought that for her and for Taeyang as a small Happy Birthday and Happy Baby Shower gift since it would be bad to go to a party empty-handed.

Thinking of flowers, Hana thinks back to whom she had seen for a glimpse at the floral shop she went to. She felt bad because when that person locked eyes with her, that person stood frozen and looked like he couldn’t breathe at all. Even when she called his name and tried to speak to him, he ran away like he was horrified of her.

She touched the flower and she sadly says, “Baekhyun, I’m sorry.” Taking her mind off of that young boy because she has someone else waiting for her downstairs, she goes over to the door and opens it. To her surprise, she sees pedals of roses laid down on the ground with candle sticks lit up on each side to help brighten her way in the dark. A paper with directions telling her to not turn on the lights is taped on the wall for her to see.

What is this stupid thinking? She has a feeling that her friend is crazier than she had thought. To hide her pink cheeks, she puts on a stoic expression so that she can yell at Luhan downstairs for pulling something like this to her. As she follows and walks on top of the rose pedals, she fascinates over how elegantly he has decorated the hallway.

Upon reaching the stair case, the candle sticks have been downgraded to small-sized glass candle holders, and each of them are placed on individual stair steps to guide her down. Thanks to those, she breaks into a small laugh and her pink cheeks become redder when she sees that the stairs have been covered with the red poster taped on the stairs like a red carpet.

So that’s what it was for.

Once she has given the decorated stair case a good look—and laugh—she continues down the stairs and keeps a close eye out in case Luhan pops in out of the dark and scares her, something she knows he’ll do. But, halfway through the stairs, that thought gets thrown out of her mind when she sees her friend standing in the middle of the living room—he’s cleared and put the coffee table elsewhere— and how he handsomely stands there—even though he’s also in his pajamas like her—looking at her with eyes shining brightly like the stars.

And time stops for her.

The moment now seems—no—is perfect. The bright candles around them illuminate, sparkle, and glisten in the dark, which make the room looks completely different; it helps show just them.

That they are the only two in the world.

Luhan’s cough makes her flinch and brings her back to Earth. He casually walks on over to her, following the path made by the candles on the ground and then places his right hand over his stomach as he reaches his left hand out to her. He tilts his head to lock eyes with her and asks, “Shall we go?”

Even though she’s heard him speak thousands of time, touched him more than ever, and seen him all the time, she can’t help but be captivated by his gaze. Even though he’s in his pajamas and his left side hair looks like his bed hair, she still finds him stunning.

And it scares her.

Because she’s encountered this exact feeling before, and it’s a feeling she thought it’d happen once.

She. Wants. Him.

Luhan forms a small smile and decides to take her hand in his after waiting for so long but hasn’t receive any response from a frozen Hana. As he escorts her over to where he was standing, he lets go of her hand and turns around to have a better look at her. When he sees her face, it’s him who gets the surprise.

He sees her eyes are red with tears flowing down from her cheeks like rain.

This isn’t supposed to happen. He wanted to surprise her, not make her sad or cry. Because he’s taken aback, his left hand lightly brushes her cheek and he asks, “Hana, what’s wrong?”

She sniffs and bites her lower lip, “Luhan…wh-what are you doing?”

He lets out a laugh, “You can’t tell?” Taking in a deep breath, he explains, “It’s our virtual wedding.” He removes his hand from her cheek and holds both of her hands in his, “Today’s—um—yesterday’s parties were for you and Taeyang, but, I want to throw you your own party, and I got this idea after attending Luna’s father’s wedding when I realized that we never had a wedding.

“I know it’s not the best or the greatest, but I want you to know that as my virtual wife from now on, I’m going to do anything I can to make you happy. Never once will I make you hurt or sad." Luhan lets go of her hand and while he looks at her sniffing away, he gets on one knee, "For rich or for poor, for better or for worse, through sickness and health," he one-handedly searches his body and then finds his back pocket and takes something out. "Reality or pretense, I want to be with you. Will you virtually marry me?"

Because Hana is blurred by her excessive shocked and joyful tears of this virtual wedding set up by her virtual husband, she doesn't see what's in his hand, so she quickly blinks her tears away and wipes them off of her cheeks. When she looks at it again, a weak laugh escapes from her.

"I do," she answers him, nasally.

He smiles and stands back up on his legs and he takes a step forward to close the gap between them. While he undoes the “rings,” Hana puts out her hand and patiently waits for him to continue.

"May this slap bracelet," Luhan carries on as he lightly stretches out a thin slap bracelet with imprints of the yellow sun, "be the binding symbol of our virtual vows today and it will always be no matter how many times it breaks, comes off, or becomes weary." He pauses for a moment and mentally thinks of what to say next because his guts tell him that he's forgetting something; however, when he makes eye contact with her again, the magic words come to him.

This time, with a much gentler and softer tone, he adds, "May this bracelet be a symbol of friendship, respect, harmony, and devotion. Although this bracelet can break with the simplest force, I promise you that my affections will stay the same." He brings the bracelet under her wrist and then binds it over her at the top. When finished, he glances back up at her with a charismatic smile. "I'm glad I married my best friend."

To end the ceremony, he pulls her into a hug and she hugs him back. When he pulls away, he smirks and wipes her tears for her, “Yah, you ruined the mood.”

"How did I?"

"You weren't supposed to cry; you were supposed to be surprised."

She coyly slaps him on the chest, "I am surprised." She bites into her lower lips and includes, "And I'm happy." She finds his hand and holds onto it, blushing, “And I'm the happiest and luckiest friend in the world.” Eyeing the slap bracelet representing the wedding ring, she realizes something and asks him, “What about you?”

“Me, what?”

“You don’t get a bracelet?”

He chuckles under his breath, “Stupid, it's your special day. I only bought it for you. I want to show you that you're special…and you'll always be.” He places an arm over her shoulders and leans inwards, “It may not be a ring, but it is the one and only bracelet with my artwork.”

“Artwork?” She gives the bracelet a better look and sees yellow markings.

Luhan nods, “Yeah, I drew yellow suns all around it. Think of it as Taeyang and me.”

Hana pushes him away and jokingly says, “Not you. Only Taeyang.”

“Fine, whatever.”

The two, for the first time, can feel that the air around them has changed. They don't know what else to say to eliminate the awkwardness in the air. They are usually okay with silence between them but this special night tells them that it's too special to be quiet to one another.

Hana averts her attention back to her bracelet and sees that she is still holding onto Luhan's hand. She wants to let go, but she wants to hold him longer. Her heart aches because she realizes she hasn't done anything for him ever since they've been virtually married. But, tonight, she's going to fix it.

“Ne,” she begins as she straightens up and speaks with a much calmer voice, “I, too, give you this seal as a promise of respect…um, harmony, and devotion.”

Hearing this, Luhan can't help but smile. She is giving him her vows this time.

“Even if it is forgotten…or replaced,” she squeezes his hand to show him that she's clearly thinking of him, “my affections for you will always be the same…Luhan." She takes a step forward, and with little space between them, she says in a hushed manner, “Thank you, for marrying me.”

She presses her hands on his shoulders and tiptoes up to him. Ignoring his confused complexion, she instinctively turns her head to the side and instead of the usual brushes or pecks on his cheeks that she has done the past few days, she gives him a full-on lip touch to his. After a few seconds, she gently pulls away and averts her gaze from him. She tells him, "And that's my seal for you."

Without another second to waste, Luhan takes her by the waist and he lunges her body to his while his other hand lightly tilts her head back to its position from before and instead of her initiating the light kiss, he gives her a passionate one.

He calmly breaks her lips apart and slowly shows her the ropes of how a “seal” is supposed to be done. It has been a long time since he’s kissed a girl, but her soft and moist interior melts him to the very core. He feels like flying in thin air and if he doesn't find any balance soon, he'll fall. The peppermint breathe soothes him and after seconds of her confusion, she gets into the embrace and she follows his lead.

She brings both of her hands over her shoulders and encircles them around the nape of his neck. One of her hands greedily slides from his neck to his head and then to the side of his cheek. At the same time, her upper body moves on its own, pressing against his chest and she knows that the only things in between them now are their layers of clothes. Although it scares her, she is surprisingly excited.

However, the two-minute long kiss comes to a halt when Hana senses that she's getting tired from constantly tilting her head left and right and from excessive lip moving. She doesn't want to pull away abruptly, so she paces the kiss and slows it down. When they stop and she decimated herself from him, she knows that her face is getting pinker and pinker because her body temperature is rising like she has a fever, so she drops back down to her feet and awkwardly walks backward.

As she tries to act as normal as usual, she concludes the virtual wedding with, "Y-you better clean all of this mess!" She runs up the stairs and stops halfway and pretends to look at him when she's really looking down at the ground, "M-make sure these candles are-are blown out, too!" Clearing and turning away, she gulps and says to him, "G-good night".

Luhan bashfully watches her shyly run off into the room, leaving him alone downstairs. His mouth begins to ache because he can't stop grinning at how adorable she is just because she's embarrassed that they've kissed, no his bad, they've French kissed. It's nothing bad, he guesses, because he's happy.

In fact, he's so happy he thinks what happened just seconds before didn't happen; it's so surreal. He has kissed his best friend.

I kissed her! I kissed her! We kissed!!!

He rests his fingers on his lips and mentally says to himself, it'll never be forgotten or replaced.

*

“This is important?” The elderly man eyes the food on the table. It has been a long time since he’s seen, smell, and eaten anything other than convenience store-bought foods because of his career; He has other things to worry about, such as the germs he and his lab mates have kept in a petri dish in a warm-temperature room. They are on another discovery to find if new discoveries about germs. He slants his wrist watch and glances at it, “I’ll give you ten minutes before I leave.”

The elderly lady across from him in a royal purple dress forces a smile, “About thirty years ago, you would’ve given me all the time in the world.”

“That was thirty years ago,” he clears his throat in discomfort. He dislikes talking about the past because he’s all about the future and how to fix it. That is what he does for a living anyway—making the future a better place. “We’re no longer young like then and our time only gets shorter within each day.”

“Exactly,” she butts in, “we’re not getting younger anymore.” She lets out a hopeless laugh and looks at her husband for the first time in all of these years that they’ve been apart due to their jobs, “That’s why I’m quitting my job. I’m going to devote my last years with you…and…” although is open, she doesn’t finish what she says because she knows what she wants to say will make the mood even sour than now. But she can’t choose.

She’s no longer a traveling journalist. That life has ended. She’s going to focus on what she was supposed to do since the beginning of her parenthood.

“…I want my sons back,” she confidently and proudly finishes.

His icy glare shows he isn’t impressed. “What?”

“Dear, look at us! Look at—” she desperately tries to find a family around their table and she finds one at a corner behind her, “—at them! I can’t miss that because I’ve never had that. And, now that I want it, I can’t have it because we pushed our sons away.”

“They’re all grown up. They can take care of themselves.”

“Thank you for trusting our children,” she sarcastically says to him, “But, don’t you ever miss them? You’re always surrounded by four walls with only one door out to the outside, and even when you do go outside, it’s only to come do laundry or get something from back at home.” She takes in a deep breath and composes herself before continuing, “I do the same, too, so we’re no different and I’m not going to reprimand you for something we both are wrong at.”

“Wrong?” He scoffs with a smirk, “How are we wrong? We’re the parents, we can’t be wrong.” He reaches for his glass cup of water and holds onto it, “Our children grew up fine. They don’t need our help and if they did, they would’ve asked.” He puts the cup to his lip and takes a drink to clear his thirst. When he finishes, he puts the cup back down and fixes his shirt, “Well, it seems that you called me out for something trivial as this and nothing else, so I’m just going to say: do as you please. We may be married, but we have our own lives to deal with. I can’t stop you and I won’t.” He stands up, ready to leave.

“Dear,” she whispers, eyeing his empty seat and trying to hold back her tears, “did you loved me?”

“What?” He finds the question absurd and turns around and looks at her. “Of course I did. That’s why I married you.”

“Then,” she lifts her gaze to him, “do you still love me now?”

He awkwardly looks around, “We’re not young anymore, so don’t—“

“—do you?” She persists.

He pauses, not because he’s hesitant or unsure. But the look in her eyes and her composure tell him that no matter how honest he is going to be, she will still doubt him. Believing so, he turns around and says to her, “I’ll be leaving first.”

“I met our grandson,” her haste confession halts her husband from continuing. She shifts her eyes from his back to the window on her right, showing the lit up sky. “It’s been a year, you know, and he’s grown so fine.”

“He has no involvement with us.”

“You’re not curious?”

“Why should I be?”

“Even if he shares blood from a woman we don’t know, Taeyang also has our blood in his, too.”

The elder man turns around and asks in disgust, “Taeyang? They named it?”

“Our child having a child of his own is the best thing that has happened to him; I’ve never seen Luhan laugh so much when they walk home together, and when I see how he joyfully interacts with his son, he made me realized that he’s a better parent than I am. Because he’s there for him.”

“Sir,” A waitress comes over to the table with a worried expression, “is there a problem?”

Mr.