Chapter 31 - Punch And Make Up

“So, is your boyfriend coming?” asks Mr. Gong.

Minzy is quite shocked by the sudden question but she manages to play it cool. She simply shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly, heaving a soft sigh as her eyes wander around the venue. It has been a tiring morning and the event has barely even started. After talking to Daesung (or more like trying to calm him down), the father and daughter proceeded to the main entrance, where all the guests would be entering.

Along with Mrs. Song and a few of Mina’s close relatives, they welcomed and thanked each of them that came. Thankfully, they only invited a handful of people since the bride requested for a simple, private wedding. Or the greeting would take forever, considering how her father has so many acquaintances – from business partners to investors, from politicians to celebrities.

Perks of being a successful and respected businessman.

“I heard that he’s a handsome man,” the old man continues with a playful grin on his face, earning a questioning look from his daughter, “Mrs. Song talked about him a few times.”

Minzy cannot help but roll her eyes at her rather excited looking father. “Don’t get your hopes too high, dad, he’s really not that handsome,” she retorts.

But of course, that was all a lie. He may not be the most handsome man in the world, or even in South Korea, but to her, Yongguk is definitely handsome enough to be a singer or actor, if not a supermodel. The man is attractive, very attractive, in his own ways. And his gentleman nature is definitely a bonus! Something some men seem to lack of in this modern day.

Just when the doors are to be closed, two figures suddenly come rushing in. From the way they are panting heavily, it can be deduced that they have been running. A lot. Minzy’s heart skips a beat or two once she recognizes one of them as her boyfriend. He looks astonishingly dashing in his red on black suit. His hair gelled up to the back in a sleek manner, accentuating his already handsome and manly facial features. And the few beads of sweat rolling down his face and neck just make him look even hotter, ier.

Well, damn.

“Sorry, we’re late!” announces Eunmi finally after catching her breath.

Minzy, however, is still in her dazed state to notice anything. She does not even realise how her boyfriend bows respectfully to her father as he introduces himself. And she definitely does not realise how her boyfriend yelps in pain merely a second later when Mr. Gong hits his shin with his walking stick. The girl is too mesmerised by the beauty that is in front of her. It is not until Yongguk shaking her arm that she finally wakes up from her trance.

So when she looks up, she is beyond surprised to see a pouting Yongguk, looking as adorable as ever. Her heart softens at the charming sight but anger soon takes over when she is suddenly reminded of the night of their fight. How could he possibly act like nothing ever happened? After all those stupid accusations he has thrown at her, does he not have any shame at all?

Unable to control her frustration, Minzy roughly stomps on his left foot causing the male to let out another painful shriek, “Ow! What was that for?!”

Everyone that is there cannot help but laugh, not feeling a little bit sorry for the struggling man, especially Eunmi, who thinks her cousin deserved that blow more than anything.

“That’s my girl!” Mr. Gong hurrahs in approval.

Feeling a bit dejected, Yongguk can only let out a defeated groan. He kind of deserves it, to be honest. And he knows that fact very well. He actually plans to apologise to his girlfriend today, in the right way. But the instant he saw her face just now, that beautiful face he has been yearning for, everything that he has planned in his head suddenly disappeared. 

“You should be thankful that she’s not wearing heels,” Eunmi pats his shoulder, chuckling, before trailing behind Minzy and everybody else into the main hall.

Yongguk then finds himself being left all alone to mull over his silly mistakes. Or so he thinks. Little does he know, there is still another person in the hallway with him, simply observing every of his move from behind. Despite only meeting him for a few minutes, the latter can see that the man standing before him really does love his daughter. The way his eyes sparkled when he looked at Minzy just now was the same as whenever he looked at his late wife once upon a time ago.

Of course, he was angry with the boy at first. Well, he did make his little girl cry. If he were healthier, he would have probably punched him in the face for that. But hitting him with his stick would suffice for now. Besides, he somehow feels indebted to this young man. If he did not fight with Minzy, the girl would not run into his arms crying that night, and he definitely would not have the chance to fix his broken relationship with his daughter.

“She’ll come around, just give her more time,” Mr. Gong finally voices out, startling the living hell out of Yongguk. 

The surprised expression on the boy’s face is so hilarious that it makes the old man laugh. He really seems like a deer caught in the headlights. Adorable! “Come on, boy,” Mr. Gong chuckles as he grabs onto Yongguk’s arm to steady himself, “Help me get to my wheelchair, this old man is tired.”

Still in a bit of a shock, Yongguk can only nod his head in reply. After helping Mr. Gong settle on his wheelchair, they then head into the main hall where the ceremony will commence in a short while. On their way, he spots the girl of his heart, looking oh so stunning in her bridesmaid dress. The coral colour really brings out her natural skin tone and compliments her red hair.

Wait, she dyed her hair? His eyes widen slightly at the realisation but hey, he ain’t complaining. Not at all. The colour actually suits her very well. He continues to admire his girlfriend’s beauty from afar for a few more seconds until a certain someone suddenly decides to show up and ruin the whole moment. He has almost forgotten that Minseok is going to be at the wedding.

The jealousy starts to creep in once again. He knows that it is quite childish of him for feeling this way but he just cannot help it. After what had happened in the past, Yongguk cannot help but feel a little bit insecure at times. Especially when Minseok is added in the equation. With a sigh, he continues to push Mr. Gong towards the main hall.

Everyone is already seated on their designated seats when they enter. They all seem happy and excited as they chatter with one another animatedly. Mrs. Song approaches them with a smile and she then takes the handles of the wheelchair from Yongguk’s hand, bringing Mr. Gong to the very front of the row.

Yongguk takes this moment to study the decoration of the hall. As per requested, it is kept fairly simple yet, still quite elegant. It is not only because Mina wanted it to be so, but it is also because Daesung wants his bride to be the main centerpiece, the main focus of this magical event. After all, she is the main character of their fairytale, and her beauty to him is enough to light the whole place up.

The ceremony goes on pretty smoothly. There are a few awws and sniffles when the bride and groom exchange their vows. It is really a beautiful moment, to be honest, and Yongguk cannot help but imagine himself being in Daesung’s shoes the whole time. But of course, Minzy will be the bride. It is probably too early to be thinking about marriage but he really cannot see marrying another woman other than Gong Minji.

After the I dos and the most anticipated first kiss, everyone gathers at the backyard garden for some refreshments. Immediately, his eyes wander around the small premise, looking for a particular face. His heart skips a beat when he finally spots his target. With a nervous heart, he strolls across the carpetgrass towards the smiling girl. Oh how he missed that smile!

Before he can reach her, though, another man beats him to it. Kim freaking Minseok. Why does he always have to be such a er? And as usual, his heart is suddenly filled with jealousy and a little bit of annoyance, too. With an exasperated grunt, he hurries towards the two, determined to show the other guy that Minzy is his and only his.

“Hello, beautiful,” he says with a smile, kissing her temple as his hand wrapped around her waist securely.

“What do you think you’re doing, Bang Yongguk?” Minzy asks between gritted teeth.

Sure, she has missed him these past weeks. And there is nothing she wants to do more than to hug him tightly right now. It really takes all of her self-control not to jump at him and smother his handsome face with kisses. But she knows better than to tolerate his lack of courtesy to apologise. Come on, what is so hard in saying a simple ‘I’m sorry’? Even a one-year-old kid is capable of doing that.

“What, can’t a boyfriend be happy to see his girlfriend?”

“Ugh, idiot!” Minzy huffs with a roll of her eyes.

The girl then walks away to talk to the other guests, not even bothering to spare her boyfriend another glance. And yet again, Yongguk finds himself left all alone, dumbfounded. “Same ‘ol Yongguk, I guess some habits never change, ey?” a voice chuckles from behind, patting his shoulder lightly.

“Shut up,” Yongguk almost growls at the shorter guy, before running after his girl, “Babygirl, wait!”

Minseok cannot help but chuckle as he shakes his head in amusement watching the two quarrel from afar. Some things really never change. He would really love to share a piece of his mind, or maybe offer an advice or two but decides not to. Besides, he has an unfinished business with Yongguk that needs to be taken care of first before anything else. For now, having a glass of cold beer sounds like a better idea. So with one last look at the couple, he then strides towards the bar area.

“Hey, I’m really sorry okay?” Yongguk keeps pleading with all his heart but to no avail so far.

The couple has left the wedding venue a while ago and settled at a nearby park, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention. Yongguk does all the talking thus far, with Minzy grunting or rolling her eyes as a response every now and then. She is being unusually stubborn today. Even she, herself, is shocked by her drastic change of personality.

But truth be told, she has already forgiven him the moment he gave her that annoyingly adorable pout and puppy eyes of his. She just wants to a little bit more. He deserves the cold treatment, anyway. The girl is not sure how much longer she can handle this, though. The look on Yongguk’s face as he begs for her forgiveness is just too cute and funny that it is getting harder and harder for her not to laugh.

“Baby, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Yongguk is stomping like a spoilt brat by now, before turning around with his mouth still pouting, “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean all the words I said that night. I know that you’re not cheating on me, I don’t even know why I said that in the first place. I’m just so stupid, I know!”

When Yongguk starts to pace back and forth, pulling on his hair like a madman, that is when Minzy cannot take it anymore. The front that she has put on for the past weeks suddenly vanished and without hesitation, the girl runs to hug him from behind. “I’m sorry, too,” she mutters softly against his back.

Yongguk immediately stops walking when he feels a pair of arms around his waist. His heart suddenly thumping against his chest as thousands of fireworks begin to explode in his stomach. Instinctively, he turns around to hug her properly and oh-so-tightly like he does not want to ever let go. He cannot stop repeating the word ‘sorry’ as he wraps her safely in his arms.

The two stay like that for a few minutes, relishing the warmth of each other’s embrace. It really feels as though the time has stopped at that moment. Only the sound of birds chirping accompanies the calm autumn breeze as the beating of their hearts steadied, becoming one.  

They have only been apart for a couple of weeks but it surely felt like years. They have missed each other, a lot. Their random conversations and jokes, their late night heart-to-heart talks, the spontaneous cuddling sessions and even their pointless bickering over the silliest things every now and then, they missed them all.

“I’m sorry,” they both say at the same time before bursting into laughter.

“I miss that,” Yongguk sighs after some time, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ears.

“Hmm?” Minzy looks at him, acting confused, “You miss what exactly?”

“Your voice, your laughter, your smile, just… you. I missed you.”

“Bleurgh! Someone’s been eating too much cheese, I see.”

“Hey, I’m just telling you the truth, alright? Besides, didn’t you miss me as well?”

Minzy acts like she is thinking hard about the question. Her forehead creases and her lips pout slightly as she taps her forefinger on her chin. Yongguk seems to grow impatient by the passing second. And after around ten seconds and the girl is still not saying anything, he becomes annoyed. Really annoyed. What is so hard about the question anyway? All she needs to do is either say yes or no, as simple as that. She does not even have to take that long to think because the answer should be yes!

She did miss him as much as he missed her, right? She should be.

“Babe?” he attempts to prompt an answer from her but the girl simply chuckles before pinching his cheeks with all her might, “Ya, let me go!”

“Of course I missed you too, babe, I missed you very much,” she giggles cutely, causing his heart to suddenly do somersaults, “But I’m sorry, I just have to do this.”

“Do… what?” Yongguk asks, eyeing her suspiciously as she takes a couple of steps back.

“Do this!”

And before he can even blink his eyes, a hard punch lands on the left jaw causing him to stumble over his feet and fall onto the ground. The pain was immense. Probably not as bad as when Himchan punched him back then but it is still very painful. But the most important question is why? Why did she suddenly punch him?

“Sorry, babe. I just have to get that out of the system,” Minzy shrugs with an innocent smile on her face, “Come on, let me help you with that bruise. Eep! I think I hit you pretty hard, sorry!”

“You think?!”

“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a crybaby!”

“You’re lucky you’re too cute and I love you,” Yongguk huffs, slightly struggling with his words.

“I know, I know, I love you too,” Minzy smiles her cheeky smile causing the guy to shake his head in amusement, stifling a giggle.

“Ugh, you’re so gonna get it later!”

TO BE CONTINUED.

Author's Note: I know, I know. Minzy's being too nice for forgiving Yongguk that easily. I figured that not seeing each other for two weeks is an enough punishment for the two. Besides, at least she punched him in the end, didn't she? Haha! There's going to be more bickering between the two (more jealous Yongguk) but I'll save that for later. So for now, let's celebrate their reconcilation! :D And oh, Jihye's baby father will appear soon. Any guess on who he is? ;p I hope you enjoyed this chapter! <3 Thank you for your support, as always! Subscribe, upvote and comment~ ^^

Story by: afagyel | Poster and background by: Tomoe Graphic Shop