The car ride there was filled with me thinking of all the horrible things that could happen at this lunch.  For instance, I could accidentally set something on fire.  Or worse, my dress could get caught in my underwear.  It’s not that I was nervous about meeting the guy, I just didn’t want to put myself in a miserable situation; like marriage.  When we walked into the restaurant we were led by a waiter to a table that had three other people.  As we approached it the people stood up to greet us.

“Moon family, welcome!”  The women greeted, pulling my mother in for a hug.  She then went over to me.  “You must be Elizabeth!  Oh, you’re absolutely gorgeous!”  She exclaimed as she hugged me.

“Actually no one really calls me Elizabeth, I go by Effie.  And you are?”  I said awkwardly.

“Oh of course!  You can call me Mrs. Wang or mama.  Whatever you feel comfortable with.”  She then went over to an older man.  “This is Mr. Wang…”

“Please call me baba.”  He smiled as I nodded.

“And this, this is our son Jackson.  Your…”  Mama giggled before she continued, “your fiancé!”

Our mothers were freaking out as Jackson and I greeted each other.  Embarrassment shut me up all throughout our meal.  I was already going into this marriage, the least our parents could do was save the dramatics.  Jackson didn’t say anything either.  We were both trying to seem busy eating so our parents wouldn’t ask us anything.  Every now and then I’d take a peek at him and find him nodding along to whatever our parents were saying.  Was he okay with our future marriage?  There is no way that he isn’t at least a little discouraged about the situation.  It was no secret that Jackson was handsome; he must have a girlfriend or something.  And if so, here I was ruining someone’s relationship unintentionally.

“Dear why don’t you and Jackson go outside for a bit, where the fountain is?  The parents have boring wedding details we need to discuss.”  My mother suggested.

Jackson and I looked at each other and sat up from the table.  Outside of the restaurant was beautiful.  Why didn’t we eat out here so I had something other than the floor to look at?

“So…” Jackson said from behind me.  When I turned around he had his hands in his pockets.  “Oh, I’m supposed to give this to you” he said while pulling out a box from his pocket.  He handed it over to me and I realized there was an engagement ring inside.

“Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee?” I joked.

“Do you want me to?  Because I will!”  He was beginning to get down on one knee when I felt this overwhelming sense of embarrassment as people walked by.

“Get up!” I exclaimed.  I walked over a bench by the fountain overlooking a bunch of rose bushes and trees.  Jackson laughed as he sat down beside me.  “How are you already embarrassing me?”  I asked.  We both laughed before it went silent again; back to awkward.  I took this time to put the ring on my finger.  I tried to his my smile as I marveled at how beautiful it was.

“So…why do you want to be called Effie?”  He questioned.

“Elizabeth just sounds so formal, like I should be wearing a gown at all times.”  I answered.  “Only my parents have ever really called me Elizabeth anyways.  It’s always been Effie.”

Jackson nodded in response.  I was searching my mind for something to say next to keep the conversation going.  It was just hard when you don’t know the person.  Needless to say, it was even weirder when you didn’t know the person and you had to marry him.  I mean for all I know he could be a serial killer.

“…you’re not a serial killer are you?”  I asked carefully.

“What!”  The question took Jackson by surprise.  “No! … Are you?”  he asked back.

“No!”  I shouted back.  Jackson was laughing hard.

“Well good.”  He said through his laughter.  “Because if you were I might have to question my marriage to you, even though you’re pretty.”

Did he just complement me while also excusing me of being a psycho?  How am I even supposed to react to this?  Jackson finished laughing finally and looked over to me.

“Why did your parents want to set you up anyways?  Is it because guys think you’re… strange?”  He asked.  It sounded mean but I know he wasn’t meaning it to be.

“Excuse me!”  We both heard someone say from beside us.  Jackson looked around confused while I knew exactly whom that voice belonged to.

“Key?  Where are you?”  I cooed playfully.

“Who?”  Jackson asked, being clearly puzzled.

“Me!” Key claimed while jumping down from a tree.  “I’m Key, and this girl right here is far from strange!  She is the most beautiful, kind, funny person to ever exist.  And you...”  I cut Key’s rant off.

“Now now, let’s calm down.  Were you spying on me this whole time?”  I asked him while patting his hair.

“I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t an .”  Key said.

Jackson looked at the two of us in our loving nature and asked, “Is this your boyfriend?”  Key and I burst out into laughter before we managed to answer.

“Yes, yes I am.”  Key said plainly.  I pushed him before he started laughing again.  “I am though!”

“No you’re not!”  I looked over to Jackson before continuing, “he’s not my boyfriend.”  Jackson was so confused by the boy who came down from the tree.  He was about to say something but the pairs of parents had went outside and interrupted the scene.

“Elizabeth it’s time for us to leave” my mother said.  She looked over to Key, “Kibum, how am I not surprised to see you here.”

“Just looking out for my number one, momma.”  Key put his arm around me.

I looked over to Jackson and his family before leaving.  “Thank you for lunch” I awkwardly bowed.  I smiled at Jackson who waved back before I got in the car.

                When I got home, Key started bombarding me with questions.

“I couldn’t hear clearly from the tree, but did he ask you if you were a serial killer?”

“Yeah, but it was only because I asked him first…” I said before Key cut me off.

“How dare he!  Like my Effie would ever hurt a fly!”  He yelled.

It went on like this for a while until we decided to take a nap.  Before we fell asleep I turned over to look at Key and whispered, “can you believe I’m going dress shopping tomorrow?”

Key’s eyes were shut already but he still answered back with, “no, but when we do, let’s go for strapless.”  Key and I had been thinking about my wedding dress since we were little.  We both fell asleep with the thought of the perfect strapless white dress to look for tomorrow.