Mirae’s POV

“Luhan, are you ready?” I called out from the living room. I had just finished putting on my shoes and waited for Luhan to come so that we could get going. Our appointment was not until 3pm, but I felt that it would be good to have some extra time. I had dressed in a black 1960th style dress with quite high neckline and wide shoulders, along with a red thin, leather belt, red leggings and then pumps, also in black. Since the neckline showed little of my collarbones I chose to only wear earrings, not a necklace. My bangs had been newly cut and the rest of my hair was straightened and put up in a neat, high ponytail. I had a light makeup, though I had marked my eyes with a smoky eye in black. The only accessories I had, beside the earrings, was a watch in silver and black. All and all, I thought I looked both grown up and beautiful at the same time. I could see my reflection in the TV and almost beamed at the sight. What if my mother could have seen me right now? She would have fainted from disbelief... Too bad for her she will not get the opportunity to see me like this. Perfect as she wanted me to...

“I’m ready as soon as I have tied my damn tie!” Luhan responded from the bedroom. I giggled at his frustrated puffs and decided to offer my help. I opened the door to the bedroom and walked inside to see Luhan standing by the mirror in a pair of black trousers, a white dress shirt and a black, simple tie in his hands. His hair lay flawlessly on his head and I saw that he had chosen to keep it clean and simple. His dress shoes stood by the bed and his jacket lay on the bed. Luhan looked up when I closed the door behind me and his eyes widened. I smiled and walked up to him.

“Do I look okay?” I asked shyly as I turned him around to help him with his tie. Luhan’s eyes scanned me from top to bottom before he looked me in the eyes and smiled widely.

“You look so stunning, my love,” he complimented. I chuckled and finished his tie and turned to take his jacket and gave it to him.

“You look so handsome, my love,” I pointed out. Luhan shrugged his shoulders and put on his jacket then sat down to put on his shoes.

“I have to try, don’t I?” he joked and winked at me.

“Mhm...” I hummed teasingly and stuck out my tongue. Luhan just chuckled and got up. I reached out my hand to him and together we walked down to the garage and drove off to the courthouse. We were going to start there and then proceed to the police station to fix our passports, Luhan’s driver’s licence and a lot of bank papers. It felt good that both Luhan and I had gone over this a ton of times in our heads and decided that we truly wanted to take this step. It might have seemed unnecessary to some, or even insane, but to us this had to do with identity. We were no longer those who we had been born to be and therefore required a change of name as a certificate to prove that there had been a change of character as well, and this we had to prove not only to ourselves, but everyone else too. As we walked up to the courthouse, hand-in-hand, Luhan and I let out a long sigh of relief together. We looked at each other, nodded and then opened the doors, knowing that this was the last time we would be Lu Han and Kim Ra Hael. After this meeting, we would be: Shen Luhan and Shen Mirae.

“So... is it official now?” Mi Song asked when I and Luhan met her and Sehun a couple of hours later. We sat down in a café and while Luhan and Sehun went to order, Mi Song and I sat down by the table. I nodded my head.

“Yes, it’s official. I’m not Ra Hael anymore, just Mirae. Shouldn’t be too much of a change for you, right? You’ve always called me Mirae, and you’ve never called Luhan ‘Lu Han’.” Mi Song perched her lips together. I could see that she wasn’t one hundred percent on board with this plan. Then again, it wasn’t her decision to make.

“Why did you choose ‘Shen’ as your last name?” she wondered, sounding a bit curious. I bit my lip. If there was anything I was proud of, it was my last name. Even though it was Chinese, both Luhan and I had discussed it and knew that we wanted our name to mean something special.

“It means ‘men who don’t yield to power’. We wanted it to be a symbol of breaking free from our parents and the power they had over us. That and it sounds pretty good in my ears,” I said proudly. Mi Song smiled and nodded understandingly. I wondered if she fully understood what this meant to me, or if she would just try her best to accept it without knowing why.

“My ladies,” Sehun cooed and put down a tray on the table. Luhan put down the other and sat down next to me. “Well, congratulations then,” he continued and raised his cup of coffee. The three of us followed suit and clinked the cups, saying ‘cheers’. “