It took all of my strength to nod, numbly watching Kris slide the ring onto my finger.  When he stood up, he shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around me.

“Sorry.  You must’ve been waiting for a long time.”

I shook my head, tears still in my eyes.

“I had planned everything with Joonmyun for a while, but that idiot couldn’t find the light switches.”

“Joonmoney?” My eyes widened.  “So that’s where he’s been hiding the whole time we’ve been here?”

Kris nodded.  “He was helping me prepare for this moment.  He’s also the guy who got us all of the fast passes.”

I nodded.  The pieces were starting to fall in place.

“And the only way we could communicate without you becoming suspicious was through text messages, which was why I was on my phone a lot, in case you were wondering.”

“Oh.” I wiped the tears out of my eyes.

“And remember that lady that sat next to me on the plane?”

I nodded. 

“She thought that my Disneyland proposal sounded like a wonderful idea.”

I chuckled, regretting being slightly jealous.  If only I had known.

“The high school girls too.  They thought that it was adorable.”

“I thought that Joonmoney disliked you?”

“Did he?” Kris frowned.  “Well, he was going on about destroying some empire I apparently have, but besides that, he’s still the same from high school.”

“Kris…” I trailed off.  “This is beautiful.  Thank you so much.  You really didn’t have to go through all of this trouble for me.”

He patted my head.  “That’s okay.  I had fun doing it, and it was only right, even if we are in an arranged marriage.”

“I really love you a lot, Kris.”

“I’m in love with you, Hanbyul.”

We both fell silent, and as the fireworks continued in the sky, a completely different set of fireworks was going off in me.  Kris leaned down, pressing his lips against mine, and I felt time stop around me.

This…this is the feeling of love.

<:>

Our final hours in Japan felt like a dream, but all dreams have to end.  Our dream ended when we returned to Korea, and Kris had to return to work.  Mother squealed when she saw my diamond ring, and I rolled my eyes.

“Your father never got me one of these,” Mother sighed, taking my hand in hers to examine the shiny rock.

“Figures, you probably would have sold it for double the money Dad paid for it.” I grumbled.  “Anyway, I’m going to go out tomorrow.”

“To meet Kris?”

“No, Mother,” I replied, “Kris has work.  I’m going to meet with my friend Yuri.”

<:>

Yuri agreed to meet me at the only meat restaurant in Gangnam.  I arrived first, greeted Sehun, who commented about my ring, and sat at our usual table in the back.  Yuri came in a few minutes after I did with a big grin on her face.

“Hanbyul!  Congratulations!” she exclaimed.  “Kris told me about his proposal.  Ah, I wish I was there to see it!  You must’ve been super happy!”  And she looked genuinely happy for me, and I was glad.

“I was.” I smiled.  “But there was something I wanted to ask you, unnie.”

“Hm?  What is it?”

Sehun came around with the meat, and I began to grill the pieces.  As we stared at the meat cooking, I spoke again.

“So…my wedding is coming up in a few weeks, and our parents wanted to have a Western style wedding, since Kris spent a part of his childhood in Canada.  So we decided that we would have a best man and a maid of honor,” I said slowly, refraining from eye contact.  I didn’t want to even think about the possibility of Yuri declining.

“A maid of honor?”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  Kind of like the bride’s BFF.  I know that Korean weddings don’t really have them, and it’s kind of really late, but I was wondering if…you would like to be my maid of honor?” I looked up and stared into her eyes, relieved to see surprise and happiness.

“Me?”

“Of course,” I replied.  “You’re my best female friend, after all.  I wouldn’t want to get married if you weren’t there.”

“Oh Hanbyul,” she said.  “That’s so lovely.  I would be honored.”

“Yay!” I clapped.  “So it’s set?”

“But…” she continued.  “There’s also something I actually wanted to tell you.  And…if you take back your offer of being your maid of honor, I will understand.”

Although I was pretty sure I knew what was coming next, I asked, “What is it?”

She took a deep breath.  “You’ve always been so nice to me, and I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

I waited for her to continue.

“For the longest time, I was…jealous…of you and Kris.”

I didn’t say anything.

“But you were so nice to me, and I wanted to help you out, but at the same time, I didn’t want to help you.  You never noticed and only treated me kindly, even though I was acting selfish.  And I’m sorry.  I was a horrible person, and even worse, a horrible friend.  You don’t need to forgive me.”

I started to chuckle.  I guess Yuri thought that I was starting to cry or some weak like that, because her voice became even more panicked after that.

“I’m so sorry, Hanbyul.  I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“Unnie,” I replied, in between fits of laughter.  “It’s okay.  I had a feeling that you were from the start.”

“Eh?”

I tried to calm myself down.  “I’ve read enough shoujo manga in my life to pick up the signs.”

“Then why—”

“I trusted you.” I shrugged.  “And I wanted to be your friend.”

“Hanbyul, I—”

I grinned.  “Thank you for being honest, though.  And my offer still stands.”

I was never really a hugging type of person, but when Yuri hugged me, I couldn’t say no.