My mind goes completely blank at the sound of his name. This is not happening. This shouldn’t be happening. I feel my chest tighten and I feel like I’m like a breath away from balling my fist and placing it inside my mouth. My eyes dart towards where he’s seated and I feel my legs turn into jelly. This is not real. Not real.

I gulp and face my mom who’s looking at me with an anxious gaze. I shake my head and bite my lip to keep it from trembling.

“Can I really do this?”

My mom nods. “I believe that you can.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself to nod at her words. How can she believe in me when I don’t even believe in myself? I take a deep breath and ball my fists. My mom opens the door wider and motions for me to come inside. I my lips and take my first step.

The wood creaks underneath my feet and all eyes turn to where I stand. I feel my throat become as dry as a desert. I gulp and offer them a timid smile.

“Good morning,” I greet in a soft voice. My mom nudges me forward and I do as I’m told. My dad’s over by their work table, grabbing a few more albums from the shelves. My eyes narrow at the one with the royal blue spine. It looks like mom’s able to find her most prized event album—the album that contains the best weddings she has planned so far. My father lays down the albums, including the blue one, on top of the glass table. I tell myself to walk some more until I’m at the opposite chairs facing my soon to be clients.

I look to my mom who has a calm expression on her face. Moments ago, her face said the contrary. I wonder how much effort she placed in masking that anxiety. She quietly places the tray of refreshments on the table before grinning at our two guests brightly.

“I apologize for the delay,” my mom says, gesturing over to the refreshments.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all,” the woman in the blue dress replies.

My mom starts to pour the tea into their respective cups before handing it with care to the two of them. The woman takes a sip and sighs contentedly. Her fiancé does the same and a soft smile escapes his lips. My mom’s an expert in brewing tea so it’s no surprise to have this kind of reaction from our guests.

I take a peek at the Yong Kijoon and almost swoon. The press isn’t lying when they say that he’s one of the most handsome men in South Korea. His black hair’s slicked back, keeping every strand in place. On other people, gelled hair looks a bit weird but on him, he makes it look elegant and stunning. He’s wearing a simple polo shirt and a pair of khakis—something that’s not portrayed in the magazines. From what I’ve read, they say he always wears something classy and jaw dropping. His eyes lock on mine and immediately I look down in embarrassment. I can’t believe he caught me staring at him. He probably gets it every time people see him in the streets but still, it’s embarrassing.

I stare at my shoes as if it’s the most interesting in the planet. I hear my mom go over to our couch and that’s when I realize it’s my cue to go over there as well. I carefully look up and meet the actor’s gaze. I gulp. I bet he’s going to glare at me cold-heartedly for staring at him or he’s going to flip me off using a silent but deadly look.

I prepare myself for the death look. However, that doesn’t happen. Instead, he flashes me a warm smile and instantly my worries melt away. Huh. He seems nicer than what the tabloids say. I walk over to where my parents’ are sitting and sit down on the space they reserved for me—which is right between the two of them. My mind’s practically screaming at me not to do it that I can still back out and run away from this place. I glance at the couple before looking back at mom who’s looking at me expectantly. I feel hands shake. I bite my lip and force myself to sit down and man up. From the corner of my eyes, I can see my mom smiling approvingly at me. I fidget under her gaze but continue to stare straight ahead.

“Welcome once again to Majica. My name is Minhyuk and this is my wife Hyorin,” my father starts. My mom bows deeply at our guests before giving them another smile. “And this is my daughter Dohyun,” my father adds, gesturing to me. The couple gives us warm smiles and even warmer responses.

“We’re very delighted to meet the family who made the dreams of countless couples come true,” Mr. Yong replies giving the three of us a look of respect. He then proceeds to introduce himself and his fiancée.

“I’ll formally introduce myself then. I’m Yong Kijoon.” He turns to look at his fiancée and smiles. “And this is my fiancée Byun Miran. We’re very happy to be here in the place where we hope to see our own dreams come true.”

My mom blushes at his remark while my dad sits up straighter. He’s definitely proud of their accomplishments. Meanwhile, I observe all of them with a frigid stance and a distant look. I’m not part of them. I’m not part of the so called ‘family’ who made countless dreams come true. I shift in my seat, trying to make myself comfortable.

“We apologize if the office looks a bit untidy. We weren’t expecting any guests,” My mom says, frowning a bit at her unorganized office. I restrain myself from snorting at her comment because honestly this office is nowhere near untidy.

“It’s my fault. I dragged Kijoon all the way here because of my excitement. I’m sorry.” I glance at the woman. She’s fumbling with the hem of her dress, head bowed low. I can tell that she’s sincere in her apology and at the same time embarrassed. I hear Mr. Yong chuckle at her reaction before gently taking her hand in his. She looks up in surprise before letting her face soften. Seeing the two of them look at each other loving makes me want to cringe at the same time giggle.

“Well you’re not the first who came in here excited,” my mom chirps, grinning from ear to ear. It’s amazing how much she can transform herself in order to match the couple’s mood. My dad nods his head in agreement while I smile.

“If I may ask, what brought you here to Majica? It’s quite a surprise to see the nation’s most talked about couple here in our office.” My dad chuckles as if he made some joke while I just grin wider. My cheeks are starting to hurt but I disregard the pain.

“My friend referred me to this place. And also my wife has been telling me about your work since the day I discussed our wedding details with her.”

“I love how the three of you make an event so magical and beautiful,that it almost feels as if this place is a wish-granting factory,” the woman adds, giving us a small smile.

At this my mom beams. I sigh quietly and squirm around in my seat.

“Thank you for the compliment,” my mom says, giving them an appreciative nod.

Mr. Yong clears his throat and the three of us focuses are attention to him.

“I’m sorry for rushing but unfortunately, I have to leave in a while. If I may, I wish for us to start right away.”

From the corner of my eyes I see Ms. Byun sigh. Mr Yong notices this and gently squeezes her hand. She offers him a soft smile before nodding her head.

“Alright,” my dad begins. He nods at my mom who then nods back in reply. I grip the hem of my shirt and realize that this is it.

“In Majica we take turns spearheading the planning process so for this wedding,” my mom pauses and eyes the two of them. “Our daughter will be the one accommodating you in all your opinions and comments regarding the event. She’ll also be the one directing everything in your wedding as well as your reception.”

I feel the two of them stare at me. I decorate my face with a warm smile to hide the bottomless pit in my stomach that’s ready to hurl out everything. I can tell that Mr. Yong’s wary about this idea but his fiancée thinks otherwise.

“Oh, it’s all right. I have faith that we’ll be in good hands.” She turns to me and returns my smile with hers. Her eyes crinkle in delight at the prospect of me planning their wedding.

Looking at her smiling at me makes me want to go to the bathroom and vomit everything I ate. I don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to ruin her dreams. I don’t want to do this. I wring my hands together and smile some more. When I turn to look at Mr. Yong he eyes me skeptically but after one look at Ms. Byun, all his suspicions are washed away. It seems as though if she’s happy, he’s happy.

“Right, Kijoon?” Her fiancé startles but quickly recovers by nodding.

“Of course we are.” He then gives her a soft kiss on the forehead. I look away from the sight because it feels as if I’m intruding their privacy. My parents, on the other hand, didn’t even turn away. Instead, they’re smiling at them.

Mom nudges my arm and I gulp. I guess it’s time to start.

I stand up and bow at them. They look at me in surprise but I give them another smile to ease their worries.

“Then I’ll be in your care for the next few months. I hope that we will get along together in order to make the best wedding possible.”

“Oh, we should be the ones saying that!” Ms. Byun exclaims.

“We thank you in advance for your time and generosity in helping us,” Mr. Yong says, now grinning at me. Like I said earlier, all traces of wariness are long gone. It scares me to see that they have this much faith in me. My palm start to sweat and I rub them nervously. I bow at the two of them again before taking my seat.

“Well then,” I start, my voice shaking slightly. I reach for the albums and hand them over to the couple with both hands.

“Here you can see some examples of our previous works.” My parents sit back, observing the way I work. My throat feels parched but I pay no attention to it. Instead, I glance at the couple who’s looking at the albums with interest. I fumble with my fingers while waiting for them to say something.

“I must admit, these look well planned and organized,” Mr. Yong says, looking at them in admiration.

“Not to mention,” Ms. Byun adds, pointing at the pictures with glee. “They all look magical. Like a dream come true.” She sighs dreamily and flips another page. I catch her fiancé looking at her with the same dreamy expression Ms. Byun has and somehow this makes my heart ache.

What?

I place a hand where my heart is and scowl. Heartache? I shrug at the thought. Maybe a part of me wishes to have a loving relationship like they do. Maybe that’s why I felt a sudden pang in my chest—it’s because I have no one.

Well, that sounds harsh.

I brush those thoughts away and focus on the situation at hand. They’re still looking at the albums with much interest and I can’t help but feel proud all of a sudden. Sure I may not be the one who organized all those events but my parents did and I’m one proud daughter. I glance at my mother who has a small smile on her face. My father’s grinning as well as he looks at our two guests. He meets my eyes and then he discreetly gives me a ‘thumbs up.’

“You’re doing fine,” he mouths to me and I smile in reply, grateful for his words. I will myself to shake off the negative thoughts and focus on doing my best.

“If I may intrude, have the two of you thought of a theme for your wedding?” This is usually the question my parents ask in their first meeting with their clients. After many sit-ins in my parents’ discussions, I learned how to start and end our meetings, what questions to ask and what kind of attitude I should have. I hide my feelings of nervousness and anxiety behind a mask of professionalism and confidence as I look at the two of them with patient eyes.

Mr. Yong glances at his wife before answering. “We were thinking of having an enchanted forest feel for our reception.”

“How about a venue?” I ask, eyeing the two of them. Ms. Byun purses her lips before taking a glimpse at her fiancé. He nods her head and she beams.

“We were thinking of having the reception in ‘The Hanging Gardens.’”At the words ‘The Hanging Gardens’ I almost choke. I heard from my parents that that place is pretty difficult to score. You have to have the right people and the right connections to even reserve the place for a single night. I gulp and grin at them.

“It’s the perfect place to have our reception since it’s already correlated to our theme,” she adds, oblivious to my shock. She pauses and looks at me. “What do you think?”

I think that the venue you chose is quite extravagant and expensive. I also think that you’re going to give me a hard time planning this wedding and I don’t want that to happen because we all know that this wedding will headline the newspapers. I think that I’m going to die because of this.

Of course, I don’t say any of these. Instead, I nod my head enthusiastically and smile the anxiety away.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea!”

“I thought so.” For a moment there, I thought I saw a smug smile etch itself on her face but it was replaced with a small, embarrassed grin. I blink and wonder if I even saw it at all.

“Are the two of you sure about this venue?”I’m not sure how much the two of them earn in a year or earn in general but there’s no mistaking that the price of renting that venue for a single night is enough to feed me for four solid months.I interlock my fingers together and wait for their answer. Mr. Yong does some calculations in his head while his fiancée taps her finger against her chin. She’s looking at the ceiling and I’m thinking that she’s probably thinking about their budget.

“Ah,” I turn my attention to Mr. Yong who has a finger pointed upwards. “We’re sure about it.” Then, he turns to look at Ms. Byun with a smile—probably to reassure her that everything’s in their budget.

“Alright. We’ll coordinate with the venue right away.” I bite the inside of my cheek and question myself as to how I’ll coordinate with the people in The Hanging Gardens because as far as I know, this will be the first in our family’s planning history. I gulp and push those thoughts to the back of my head. I still have to ask other questions. “Any specific date in mind?”

“We were thinking of having the wedding on April 14 just in time for spring.”

I’m torn between groaning and beaming when she said those words. If their wedding is during spring, it’ll be a whole lot easier on my part to get the right flowers and other arrangements since it’ll be looking alive and well. However, it’s going to be a bit problematic since the season before that is winter and finding the right people during that season is going to be hell. I shrug the negative thoughts away and tell myself to deal with them later. For now, I have to accommodate their needs so that I can plan the ‘best’ wedding for them. And then after that, I’ll be able to get my parents to accept my wish—to get out of the wedding planning business.

“Perfect,” I say before beaming at them.

My mom nudges me and hands me a small notepad and that’s when I realize that I should really be taking down notes. Hastily, I grab the notepad and start to scribble down everything we’ve discussed about their plans. I write down the venue, theme, as well as the date. As I stare at the words I’ve written down, I can’t help but feel giddy for this couple. I look up from my notepad to see if the couple’s staring at me weirdly but instead I see them staring into each other’s eyes and whispering something to each other. I look away again and scribble some more details in my notepad. I can feel the heat rise up to my cheeks. I grip the pen tighter and write the words faster.

I keep jotting down words, listing down my own ideas and opinions as well when I hear a phone ring in our room. I stop and take a look around only to see Mr. Yong speaking into his mobile. His fiancée is looking at him worriedly but he returns her look with a simple smile, one that says everything’s fine.

“Is it time?” I hear Ms. Byun ask and Mr. Yong nods his head.

I hear her let out a small breath. I clear my head and force myself to look away. I don’t want to be a person who eavesdrops at other people’s conversations.

 I turn around to look at my parents’ who are deep in thought, looking at the albums. I sigh. I feel like they’re just there to watch me and not to point out if I make any mistakes. My mom looks up and I notice that her brows are furrowed. She mouths, turn around and I do as I’m told. Just in time, I turn around to hear what Mr. Yong has to say.

“Once again, we really appreciate the three of you helping us out on this.” Mr. Yong is looking at us with eyes full of gratitude. My grip on the pen slackens and I force a smile on my face, again.

“The pleasure is ours,” my mom butts in before I can utter a single word. I’m glad that she did that though because I wasn’t entirely sure what words might come out of my mouth.

“We would really love to stay and discuss our wedding details some more with the three of you,” he continues. He peers at his fiancée and she nods. I see her frown a bit but the next thing I know she’s keeping a blank face.“But unfortunatelywe have to take our leave,” he finishes. I tear my attention away from the woman and nod my head.

Finally, I think as I close the notepad and tuck it inside my coat’s pocket. I don’t think I can last another minute in front of these two before breaking down. The two of them stand up at the same time, the timing startling me. How can they be so in sync?

“We’ll make sure to schedule our appointments this time,” Ms. Byun adds, giving the three of us a sheepish smile.

“We look forward to working with you in the next coming months,” I reply, beating my mom to it. I take a peek at her and she’s biting back the words that were supposed to be heard. She catches me eyes and gives me an approving nod. I turn back around in order to hide the small smile I have. It feels good to see that my mom’s not looking at me with disappointment anymore.

My dad gets up as well and leads them to the door. He and Mr. Yong start to talk to each other in hushed tones while Ms. Byun stays a few steps back. She looks around the room one last time and I can’t help but watch her. There’s something about her that calls my attention. Maybe it’s the way she carries herself. Or maybe it’s the aura she gives. I stare at her some more but then I’m caught red-handed. She’s looking at me with those curious eyes and I gulp. I feel myself redden which in turn makes her chuckle. My eyes widen and she gives me a small nod. In return, I bow slightly as an apology for staring at her.

My dad finishes talking to Mr. Yong and the two of them shake each other’s hands. I don’t know what they talked about but from the look on Mr. Yong’s face, it was a pleasant talk. My dad opens the door wide enough for them to pass through.

“Thank you once again for your hospitality as well as your services.” He bows at us and his fiancée does the same. They make their way out the door but not before Ms. Byun waves at us goodbye. She meets my gaze and flashes me a wink before leaving.

I stand there, mouth agape. This situation is so familiar yet so new. I shake my head and shrug it off. I turn to my mom who’s already clearing up the table. I walk towards her and help her out.

“Did,” I pause and glance at her. Her attention’s on the cups and saucers but I don’t take this as a signal to stop. “Did I do an okay job?”

My mom hands me the tray and I stumble back a bit at the sudden weight. I raise an eyebrow. “Mom?”

“Take those to the kitchen, will you? I’ll arrange these then I’ll follow.”

I frown. She didn’t even answer my question.

“But—“I stop myself and realize that it’s no use. She’s already arranging the albums on the shelves paying me no heed. I heave a sigh and exit the room as silently as I can.

I see my dad close the front door and seconds later, I hear the roar of an engine come to life. I peek at our window and see the black car roll down the street. I guess I’ll be seeing more of that black car in following weeks to come.

As I make my way to our kitchen, I bump into my dad who then gives me a big smile. The cups rattle for a bit and I panic.

“You did good today, Dohyun.” I tear my attention away from the tray and focus on my dad. His eyes are crinkling and it actually makes me think that I did pretty okay back there.

 “Thanks, Dad,” I say, grinning from ear to ear. After a while, my face falls. Is this really what he thinks? Or is he just saying the things I want to hear?

“But, did I really do okay?” I mumble quietly. My dad hears this and places a finger on his temple.

“Well,”

I stiffen and grip the tray in my hands. Will he bash me and disown me because of my mistakes? I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

“For starters you could have sat down.”

“What?”

I think back on our whole discussion a while and that’s when I realize that he’s right, what was I doing standing up the whole time? I glance at my feet and start to notice the dull pain shooting up my legs. I grimace.

“Wow. Didn’t know standing up could be so tiring,” I say, chuckling slightly at myself. I guess I was too nervous about talking to them that I didn’t even bother to think about myself.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

I snap my head up. “Used to what? The pain?”

My father smiles and places an arm around my shoulder, accompanying me to the kitchen. We walk at a slow pace and I bite my lip wondering what he has to say.

“Since you’ll be going around walking, talking, coordinating, I think your legs will get used to it.”

“Oh,” I sigh. We’re around a foot away from the kitchen and then I realize I should probably ask him now—the question I’ve been dying to ask since my mom told me to handle this wedding.

“Dad,”

He looks at me and waits expectantly.

“When did Yong Kijoon become our client?”

He mulls over this and then shrugs.

“Yesterday, I suppose. His family called in and told us a heads up that he’s going to come here.”

I furrow my brows. “Okay. But why me? Aren’t you guys scared that I’ll ruin everything? It’s going to be seen in the newspapers, the tabloids, the internet and many more. What if something bad happens?” I can already picture it—the cake tastes bad, there aren’t enough tables and chairs for the reception, I trip and land on my right in front of the guests. I shiver at those thoughts and look at my feet.

“Because your mother and I think that this wedding will be best handled by you.”

I snort. “Right.”

“It’s true,” my father says. We reach the kitchen and I place the tray on top of the counter. I sigh before spinning around to take a good look at my dad. His once black hair now has gray highlights and his once youthful looking skin now has a few wrinkles. The thing that didn’t change though is the bright and hopeful look in his eyes and the warm grin that never seems to falter whenever he talks about me.

“I think you’re best suited for this wedding and I have no qualms at all that you’ll do great.”

I feel my lip tremble slightly. The amount of trust all these people have make me feeling guilty but my dad, his trust in me makes me want to believe that I can do this. He makes me want to believe that things will be okay.

I grin up at him and wrap my arms around him.

“Thanks, Dad.”

He gently pats my head and returns the hug.

“Of course, Dohyun.”

“Just you wait,” I say, grinning. “I’ll plan the best wedding for this couple and make the press go crazy.”

And let’s pray that they will go crazy for the right reason and not because I messed up horribly.

A/N:

Hope this chapter wasn't that boring and um, long. Huhu. Thank you all for subscribing! I know I've been gushing about you guys for a while but I'm really happy. :) Really hope you guys are liking the story so far. Let me know your thoughts!

P.S. if there are any errors I'm sorry. I havn't thoroughly edited this yet.

P.P.S. Tao :(

xo