You watched your older sister in her white gown where she sat at the front of the hall, beaming at her new husband. The DJ was playing a Frank Sinatra song while the MC was talking to the bridesmaids and groomsmen, whom he had gathered to the center of the dance floor to announce the start of a few wedding games. Meanwhile, you just continued to watch the happy couple.

Four years your senior and three times as pretty, everyone knew that your older sister would catch a handsome, rich man, which was exactly what her husband, Won Jeong, was. But whenever you looked at your sister’s smiling face and her husband’s contented grin, you could only think about that time in their relationship when Won Jeong used to have your sister in hysterical tears, crying after him when he left. You frowned a little. Despite the happy occasion, you couldn’t help but feel that she’d made the wrong choice.

Choosing to ignore those thoughts for the time being, you decided to focus on the bridesmaids. They were four of your sister’s friends from her college years, and their floor length dresses were a soft lavender that fell to the floor. Beautiful and elegant, they were perfect little pictures of soft grace. But when it came to beauty, there wasn’t a single girl in the room who could top your older sister, the bride herself.

She reminded you of a Disney princess in her heavenly white wedding gown, sleeveless and fitted at the bodice before the chiffon flared out in the skirt. Every single eye in the room was on her, and rightly so. You sighed a little; throughout all your years of knowing your sister, she always commanded a room. It’d been this way even when you were little girls; she better than you at nearly everything, and sometimes that though pleased you, and sometimes it made you feel like you were shrinking.

“Alright, settle down, ladies,” the MC said into his mic and then he called up the groomsmen. “Let’s start the next game, shall we? This one is for the groomsmen, this time! Gentlemen, you ready to play?”

The groomsmen were some friends and relative of Won Jeong: one was his brother, the other two were his friends from high school, and the fourth… well you didn’t quite recognize him. But he was shorter than the other three, and his hair style was more juvenile in comparison. He might have been around your age, and as he looked around the hall, he ended meeting your gaze.

You looked behind you at first to make sure he was really looking at you. When you looked back at him, he was still staring, but with the gentle hint of a smile this time. You weren’t sure what to make of it.

“This game is called ‘Bring Me’,” the MC said. “The rules are simple. I’m going to say ‘bring me’ and then tell you what I want to see. The first groomsman to bring it to the dance floor wins the round. We’re going to do five rounds, alright? That way if you four win a round each, there’ll be a tie breaker. Alright, questions?”

The boy stopped looking at you for a moment to pay attention. The MC continued.

“Here’s the first round: bring me… the most expensive wedding gift on that table!” he said, pointing at the table with the wedding presents. The groomsmen bolted toward the table and tried to choose the presents wisely while your sister warned them not to break anything.

Won Jeong’s brother won the round when he ended up choosing a package that contained a glass clock that had apparently cost a small fortune, courtesy of Won Jeong’s mother. The second and third rounds went on, the other two groomsmen winning each when they brought the youngest flower girl and an unopened bottle of champagne. The fourth round was to find the most distant relative and there was a tie between the boy who stared at you and Won Jeong’s brother when they brought two of Won Jeong’s distant cousins who happened to be twins.

Then came the fifth and last round, and you rolled your eyes. You’d been to weddings where they played this game before, and the last round was almost always the same. The MC cleared his throat, and he stated the last round.

“Last round, boys!” the MC said. “Get ready. This time bring them to dance floor, alright? For the last round, I want you to bring me… the most beautiful woman in this room!”

At once, the groomsmen ran to your sister and tried to convince her to follow them to the dance floor where she could claim her title of being the most beautiful woman in the room. It was always this way; it was a courtesy to the bride, of course.

“Come on!” said a voice suddenly, and to your surprise, one of the groomsmen, the boy, was standing in front of you and grabbing your hand.

“What?” you said, terribly confused.

“Come with me to the dance floor! Come on!” the boy said, and before you even had a chance to protest, he’d pulled you out of your chair and was running you over the middle of the floor.

“Hold on! Wait! But my sister –” you both stopped when you got to the middle of the floor, and everyone in attendance was watching you and him. Meanwhile, the MC and the others groomsmen suddenly laughed.

“What is this?” the MC said, approaching you and the boy. “Baekhyun, what are you trying to start here?”

The boy, Baekhyun, turned and looked at the other groomsmen, who had successfully convinced your sister to step out onto the floor, and they, also, laughed at Baekhyun little fumble.

“What?” Baekhyun said, confused and then suddenly laughing at his own blunder. You guess that he didn’t know that at the last round of the game, it was tradition to choose the bride as the prettiest girl in the room. It was her wedding after all. You laughed nervously.

“Settle down, boys,” the MC said, clapping Baekhyun on the shoulder. He still hadn’t let go of your hand. “Can’t blame him for following his instincts. But hey, let’s give ours groomsmen a round of applause for being great players! And now, let’s have the groom and the bride lead us in a dance!”

The rest of the crowd clapped while Won Jeong came out from behind the table and took his bride into his arms, leading the company in the first dance of the evening. The MC escorted you and Baekhyun off the floor, and Baekhyun only let go of your hand once you were off to the side.

“Sorry,” he mumbled nervously.

“That’s ok,” you said. You both watched the couple dance quietly until it became too awkward and you decided to speak up:

“You’ve never played this game before have you?” you asked.

“What?” the boy asked suddenly, turning to you and looking slightly embarrassed. He flushed.

“No. No I haven’t,” he said with a laugh. “Is that a thing? Are all the groomsmen supposed to latch onto the bride?”

You smiled politely and rubbed your elbow.

“Well, she is the bride, you know?” you answered. “Today’s supposed to be her special day. Fluff up her ego a little bit.”

“Well, maybe someone should have given me the memo earlier today,” he answered, laughing nervously again. He looked down at his shoes a bit and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Would it have stopped you?” you asked, joking.

“Honestly, probably not,” the boy answered. His reply made you raise your brows at him, and he bit the corner of his lip.

“Sorry, I’m being totally rude,” he said, putting on a smile. “I’m Baekhyun by the way.”

Baekhyun outstretched his hand and you took it in a handshake, introducing yourself. Baekhyun repated your name to make sure he had the pronunciation correct, and you gave him a thumbs-up. Then, he looked you square in the eye and snapped his fingers, as though trying to recall something.

“Wait, so does that mean… you’re – ” he asked.

“The sister of the bride?” you said, completing his sentence. “Yeah. Nice to meet you.”

“Gosh, well then I’m totally sorry if I embarrassed you, or your sister for that matter,” Baekhyun said.  “I mean, I should have thought this through, you’re just so pretty. I mean, well, your sister is beautiful, too. Obviously, she’s the bride and she caught a man with her beauty, but you, you’re… beautifuller. Well, not ‘fuller’, I mean… more beautiful. Not that I’m saying your sister’s ugly. You’re both very good-looking women. Not that I… I just want… you are both good embodiments of what’s typically considered attractive, I just – ”

In the middle of his nervous monologue, it suddenly registered in you that Baekhyun thought you were pretty, and to be quite honest, you weren’t sure if you really believed him.

“You think I’m prettier than her?” you asked, to be sure.

Baekhyun shut up for a moment and another shy smile broke across his face. He fidgeted with his hands a bit before answering.

“Well, I think I awkwardly made that obvious already when I pulled you to the dance floor,” he said and then playfully pretended to slap himself. “Smooth. Sorry, I just totally blew my chance, didn’t I?”

You laughed.

“No, no you didn’t,” you said. “I just… am not really used to compliments, you see.”

Baekhyun shifted his weight to his other leg.

“Well, what a sad thing to miss out on,” he said, looking at you. You smiled gently. Although you’d been watching him from afar since the wedding reception started, you only started to notice that Baekhyun was… conventionally handsome, and he was cute… in a dorky, clumsy sort of way. And like a girl, your thoughts were already bouncing from this, your first meeting, to courtship to engagement to marriage in a matter of just a few seconds. You tried to shake such silly thoughts, but it’d be a lie if you tried to tell yourself that you didn’t like him almost at once.

You noticed Baekhyun watching you somewhat expectantly and your shoulders and spirits fell slightly.

“Okay, well before this flirt session gets any further,” you said, breaking the silence. “I just want to warn you that I don’t dance. I’m sorry. So, if you were hoping I would dance with you, I highly recommend reconsidering.”

“You don’t dance, or you can’t?” Baekhyun asked, genuinely curious. It pleased you how interested he sounded. You weren’t used to people taking an interest in you, either.

“A little bit of both, really,” you said. “But, please, just don’t be the jerk who asks me to embarrass myself at my sister’s wedding.”

Baekhyun let out a small laugh and then watched your face again. Lost in thought, he finally cleared his throat and put up another suggestion.

“Well, in that case,” Baekhyun said. “Would you care to… go outside and engage in some… stimulating conversation?”

You slowly started to smile at him. You tried to keep yourself from falling too quickly or risk seeming too desperate. But Baekhyun was making this all too easy, and in the quiet corners of your heart, you started to hope that this wouldn’t be the first and last time you saw him, and you hoped that he wasn’t just doing this for kicks and giggles, and you hoped that he wasn’t in love with anyone else, or at least not until you had a chance to fall in love with him.

“I do,” you said.

Baekhyun nodded and started to lead you outside. And meanwhile, you wondered what on earth had possessed you to say “I do” instead of “yes.”

“So, I’ve heard the bride and groom’s story from other people, but what’s your version of it?” Baekhyun asked when the two of you got outside. It was a warm night, and you sat down on a low brick wall just outside the glass doors of the reception hall. You could still see the wedding couple dancing inside. You scooted over a bit, trying to maintain a comfortable distance from Baekhyun. You didn’t want to seem too forward.

You reconsidered his question, though, and your warm smile began to disappear.

“To be completely honest,” you said, dropping your shoulders and looking down at your hands. “I’m not the biggest fan of this couple.”

Baekhyun seemed a little confused.

“Why not?” he asked. “Everyone else seems to love them.”

“Yeah, but they don’t know him like I do,” you said. You rubbed your arms a bit, more out of anxiety than from the cold. Still, it didn’t stop Baekhyun from asking if you wanted his jacket, which you politely declined. Baekhyun cleared his throat and brought you back to the conversation at hand.

“This isn’t one of those ‘my-sister-married-the-guy-I-love stories, is it?” Baekhyun asked, his voice sounding somewhat troubled.

“No, of course not,” you assured him. “It’s just… he’s got a history of being real mean to my sister.”

Your thoughts swam back a few years, through all the painful moments that made up a good portion of your sister and her new husband’s past courtship. You didn’t notice Baekhyun scooting toward you.

“Mean, how?” he asked.

You pursed your lips before replying. “He once broke up with her because he was seeing another girl while he was in law school.”

The memories came back when you spoke about it: it was a tumultuous time in yours and your sister’s life because anything that had to do with her ultimately affected you, too. It was time full of screams and crying and confusion and anger. You thought for sure that that would be the end of Won Jeong and your sister.

“But they’re together now aren’t they?” Baekhyun asked, and against your will, you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah,” you said. “But only because my sister’s too soft and she doesn’t understand that when someone does something like that to you, you never go back to that person.”

“But she loves him, doesn’t she?” Baekhyun asked, becoming more and more intrigued.

“Well, what difference does that make?” you said, a little too harshly and you regretted it at once. “It doesn’t change what he did.”

Baekhyun bit the inside of his cheek. He wasn’t terribly close to Won Jeong but he had heard something similar to this story involving him. But this wasn’t at all like the happy young man dancing with his bride inside the hall, who cried when she walked down the aisle and again during the first dance of the night.

“But it might have changed the way he is,” Baekhyun said. You clenched your fists.

“People don’t change.”

Baekhyun scooted closer again, and this time you noticed and you looked at him. He smiled to alleviate any awkwardness that might have ensued.

“Maybe not entirely,” Baekhyun said. “But in some ways and in some degree, they can.”

You kept your gaze on him and waited for him to explain. Baekhyun laughed a little.

“Weddings aren’t supposed to be all about the past anyway,” he said, finally closing the gap so that your thighs were touching as you sat beside each other on that wall.

“Weddings are supposed to look forward,” he said. “Even if nothing looks like it’s changing day to day, when you look back, he might be different. When you look back, it’s all water under the bridge.”

You looked over at your sister and thought about what she might be thinking, dancing in her new husbands’ arms. Was she thinking about what he did to her? Or… was she thinking about what she would do tomorrow, her first day as a wife?

“You’re not taking his side, are you?” you asked Baekhyun. “Even if Won Jeong is going be her tomorrow, that’s not a totally valid reason to just forget about yesterday.”

Baekhyun thought a while before answering.

“I’m not saying that what he did to her was right,” he said slowly before looking at you. “All I’m saying is that love is a strange and powerful thing. Just a little bit can go a long way.”

You looked at Baekhyun again and let his words sink into your understanding, and what you understood is that he was telling the truth. You looked at your sister again and you were suddenly filled with so much admiration for her. You used to think that the brave thing to do when someone hurt you was to shut them out forever. But the truth was that your sister was braver than you were; the courageous thing to do when someone hurts you is to love. You smiled and turned to Baekhyun again, who was waiting with a goofy smile of his own. You laughed.

“You’re really smart, you know?” you said. Baekhyun laughed and then offered you another question, which he also genuinely wanted to know.

“Do you really think you’re not as pretty as your sister?” he asked. You opened your mouth to speak but then realized that you weren’t exactly sure how to answer. Your older sister had always been prettier; that fact was almost unanimously accepted by everyone in your family, but Baekhyun seemed to want a straightforward, truthful answer. And you weren’t sure.

“Well…”

“You know, getting used to compliments is hard when you don’t hear it a lot,” Baekhyun said before you could answer. He kept a confident grin the entire time he spoke.

“But you can’t be with people all the time,” he said. “You should compliment yourself sometimes. And someday you’ll be the bride.”

You blushed at his mention of you being the bride, and again you had to stop yourself from launching into the future and imagining being with him. But you demurely let your eyes fall to the floor, trying not to smile too wide.

“You think so?” you asked.

Baekhyun smiled, and he wondered what on earth possessed him to answer with two, particular words instead of a simple “yes”. He had said:

“I do.”