[ C H A P T E R   N I N E T E E N ]

Atlanta’s wedding after-party has always been something Yongsun was looking forward to the most ever since she heard from Eric that Eddie’s wedding was an absolutely blast. She could have sworn that her members were more excited about the after-party than the actual wedding itself, but she’s not blaming them because she might have actually looked forward to that part the most as well — no alcohols for you though, Eric insisted but perhaps she could sneaked a glass when he’s not watching.

Donned in a white dress with her hair pulled into a low bun accompanied by a white veil that came down to her waist, Yongsun looked absolutely breathtaking. Her dress was simple, nothing too fancy nor too flashy, but it fitted her like a dream — the sight might have made Eric teared up a little, but no one could blamed him because he wasn’t the only one who felt like he was the luckiest man alive. The traditional part of the ceremony though, Eric couldn’t understand how she managed to look even prettier in her hanbok, the colors on her dress accompanied so well with the glows from her face, and half of the time, he was teased by everyone else to focus on the ceremony, and not too much on his bride. He tried, but it was impossible though.

They said their vows in the morning, the processes were pretty much similar to the one her sister had in Korea, except instead of their little cousins bringing them rings, Eddie suggested they have his son, Rocky to do the honor which Eric thought Rocky might be a little too happy because the guy loves Yongsun a lot. The first time he met her a few years back, he almost jumped over her for hugs and kisses, and everyone was pleasantly surprised because Rocky rarely even looked in a stranger’s way. They both shared a quiet giggle when they put their rings on each other’s finger when a little thought occurred to them — how many times are we even getting married? 

Yongsun was doing so well holding her tears almost throughout the entire ceremony that morning until Byul was the first one to started crying then the whole venue went straight into a crying domino. Yongsun would hit her arms and told her members to stop crying because it was ruining their makeups, but Hyejin would reassured her that their makeups were waterproof and cried some more — Eric couldn’t decide if he found the whole situation funny or moving. 

    “I can’t believe I’m still crying over you two getting married when you’ve already been married for three years.” Byul shot a glare at their ways as she tried to dapped her tears away with the tissue in her hand. “You two should really give us a little one now so I can have a different reason to cry about.” 

Eric laughed, and Yongsun only rolled her eyes at her best friend over that. Even after three years, the girls never really gave up on trying to convince them that they should really start thinking about giving them a little someone to spoil and dote over. Not that Yongsun would ever allowed them to spoil her baby when she has one, but with how much gifts they’ve already bought in advance, she already knew it was impossible to stop them. 

    “You better make me your baby’s godmother when you have one.” Byul would always insisted. “We have already talked about this among ourselves, you and I would be each other’s baby’s godmothers, while Wheein and Hyejin would be the godmothers to each other’s baby.” 

    Yongsun shook her head at her. “We’ll talk about that later.”

Eric was just amused the whole time at how far they were already thinking, but Byul being their baby’s godmother? He’s not complaining — she has been through everything with them for way too long, she’s been the bridge for them in almost every situation, and she has always been the closest to Yongsun, it’s only fair that they give her that title and although Yongsun acted like she’s done with them for already overthinking about everything, she might have already told him some other nights that she’d really love to have Byul as their baby’s godmother later on, but she’ll never admit it out loud to the younger woman because that’s how she has always been.

Yongsun wore a much more comfortable dress for their after-party in the evening — a spaghetti strap satin white dress and another similar high heels which Eric raised his brows at, but she reassured him that she’d only wear it for a few hours. Her ashy blonde shoulder-length hair styled into an effortless beach waves that brushed against her shoulders every time she leaned back and laughed. Eric was in his white dress shirt tucked into his black pants, his sleeves rolled up and although he looked ridiculously good holding a glass of champagne in his hand while talking and laughing with his friends, all Yongsun could see how how his face was slowly turning red — that’s it, enough alcohol for him tonight as well.

Before she could even took his glass away from him, her members joined them and Byul pushed a glass of champagne into Yongsun’s hand. 

    “I’m not a fan of you drinking, but it’s your happy day.” 

Yongsun stole a glance at Eric and gave him an I don’t have a choice look, but instead she got her glass hijacked and replaced with a glass of tea by him instead. Yongsun whined, but he played oblivious and initiated the cheers. Byul gave her a shrug like she couldn’t offer her any help, but Yongsun knew the younger woman actually had no intention in helping her at all, so she begrudgingly extended her glass of tea to clank with theirs. 

    Leaning close towards her, Eric’s voice came in a small whisper that she could barely caught amidst the loud music. “Sorry, I’ll get you all the best breads in Atlanta instead tomorrow.” 

    She shot him a quick glare. “You better do.” 

Their little talks were interrupted by his friends dragging them to the dance floor to which Yongsun refused because the heels were finally starting to get to her, so she found herself in a comfortable seat at their parents’ table with Eric’s tuxedo outer coat wore on top of her dress to ease the chilly air a little. The entire party was as she had imagined, it felt so much like a scene she would always watched in a movie and now that she was the one standing in this similar scene, she almost felt lightheaded at how surreal the whole day has been. They were too busy being rushed back and forth moving from one ceremony to another the entire day that she barely had time to take all of these in. They have been married and living like any other married couples for three years, sure, but hosting an actual ceremony finally hit her that they’re really at that chapter of their lives now. 

Six years ago, neither Eric or her would have thought that they’d be somewhere in this beautiful garden in Atlanta celebrating the new chapter of their joined future with their close friends and families, heck, neither of them were even dreaming of actually falling in love with one another in the first place. They had similar intentions when they first joined the show, all of it was to only helped them gained more exposure with general publics so their careers would took off, and neither of them were really looking to be in any sort of relationship at all besides doing whatever to build their careers, but instead they were caught in this whole emotional mess that she didn’t even know how they managed to went through at all.

But they’re here now, happily ever after like the ending of every movie or book that everyone would always dreamed of — Eric partying with their friends and families on the dance floor, perhaps having a little too much alcohol for tonight and possibly very tipsy as well but she could let him off for tonight, and her sitting comfortably with their families because her heels were killing her and she was deadly exhausted from running around the entire day, but they’re both happy. Very happy for words that she could bursted into another round of crying, but she was too tired to even cry anymore tears.

    “How are you feeling?”

Yongsun snapped back to reality at her sister’s voice, and she turned to see the older woman grinning at her. She has beads of sweat forming along her forehead, and her heels removed and dropped under the chair she was sitting on, Yongsun guessed she just came back from a having a rather too much fun on the dance floor. 

    “Exhausted, and my lower back and feet are killing me.” 

    Her sister laughed. “Now you know why I can’t really enjoy myself during my wedding while you guys were having a blast.” 

Yongsun laughed, and nodded her head. Back during Yonghee’s wedding, Yongsun couldn’t understand why her sister was the only one sitting down and watching others having fun when it was her own wedding. She was supposed to be the happiest, and Yongsun was sure she definitely was, but she looked like she was just ready to throw herself in bed and had a good 48 hours of sleep. But now that she’s the bride, she finally found the answers she was looking for — she’s very happy, but Yongsun wished so bad that she could just go straight to bed without removing her makeup or showering right now. 

    “This might sound crazy, but I didn’t expect this to be even harder than doing a solo concert. I was never this exhausted doing any concert.” 

    Her sister laughed and brought a glass of cold wine to her lips. Swallowing the cold sip of wine, her expression came alive again right away. “Can’t really relate to that because I obviously had never done a concert before, but yes, weddings are deadly exhausting and no one can convinced me otherwise.” 

But would they ever do it all over again? Yes. 

The party lasted almost past midnight when majority of their guests finally decided to call it a day, it was a fun mess and they both were glad that everyone was having just as much fun — perhaps too much fun, Yongsun and Eric hoped no one on the Internet would be bothered by how much their friends probably had put on their respective social media handles. Eric and her members were equally a sweaty mess they finally joined her at the table, but Yongsun could only laughed because the girls clearly had it worse because of their heels. Except Byul though, Byul came prepared — she packed her sneakers to the wedding venue and the two youngests have been complaining the entire evening that she didn’t even bother reminding them to do the same. 

    “Do you want to eat something?” Eric asked, his voice almost slightly concerned and Yongsun finally realized she barely ate anything today except a few croissants. 

    “Breads.” She giggled at Eric’s expression when he heard her response. She might have eaten more breads these past few weeks than she ever had her entire life, and Eric clearly was not used to that. “Did you get to eat the croissants, they’re really good.” 

It was past midnight, but Yongsun guessed all those dancing got everyone famished again so they went for another round of food. She silently giggled at how well the girls were actually eating even though they’re one of those people who have the most Korean palate, but maybe exhaustion and hunger made everything possible at this point — she’s surprised these past few days they have been in Atlanta, Byul hasn’t started looking for Kimchi even once, or maybe she sneakily had Korean instant food silently by herself in her room without anyone knowing because it’s Byul she’s talking about. 

Eric wasn’t really eating much, but instead he was constantly drinking water and Yongsun guessed he’s trying to dilute all the alcohols he drank today. He raised his brows at her when he caught her staring, and she shook her head with a little smile. She was getting sleepier as the night got deeper, and she wasn’t sure when exactly would they get back home. Eric’s little nudge on her hand woke her up a little, and this time she was the one to raised her brows at him somewhat a little sleepily that he only laughed. 

    In a small whisper, he asked, “Do you want to do it now?” 

She nodded, she almost forgot what they were planning to do and now that her eyelids were getting droopy and her body was slowly losing every bits of energy within it, she lets Eric did the entire talking and instead, she tried to keep herself awake so she could also listened. With their free hands tightly clasped together under the table, she gave him a reassuring smile to go on. 

    “Hm… so, I just wanted to start off by saying how grateful we are to everyone of you here ever since we first started dating until today, thank you so muc—”

    “Why are you suddenly being grossed?” Eddie joked and their mom laughed and gave him a slap on his arm to keep quiet. 

    “Shut up, Eddie.” Eric laughed, but his fingers were drumming against Yongsun’s hand almost nervously. “We have something to tell you guys. Since everyone of you has been bugging us so much about this, we decided to break the news to you today, Yongsun and I are finally going to be a parent.” 

Maybe they both should have known better how their families and friends would reacted to that — their faces scrunched in surprise from the amount of screaming that followed his breaking news, and their eyes widened at how half of the table was almost spitting their drinks out from their mouths. They both shared a glance and shrugged, a laugh escaped their throats and the whole situation was just a funny mess to them. 

Rocky might have been the only one very calm in the entire venue, but he sure knew everyone else was a mess. 

    “Shut up!” Eddie almost half screamed in response. Turning to Brian, he said, “Dude, can you slap me? I think I’m too drunk, are my ears crazy? Did I hear this right?” 

Eric rolled his eyes at his brothers, but he broke into another laughter at how ridiculous they were — couldn’t really blame them though, he could have sworn Yongsun also had the best time of her life laughing at his reaction when she first told him, he might have been even messier than Eddie was. 

    “Wait, you guys are actually giving us a little bab—” Byul gasped, the steak she was eating happily awhile ago completely forgotten. Her hand suddenly went to Yongsun’s stomach. “No, hold o— You’re telling me there is already one in here?”

    Somehow managing to recover herself after choking on the wine she was drinking, Wheein followed suit after Byul. “And you’ve been acting like there isn’t going to be one anytime soon when we asked earlier?” 

And Hyejin… Hyejin was just a crying mess and started hugging Yongsun so tight, Yongsun could almost feel every croissant she had earlier creeping up . 

    Flashing an apologetic grin at their ways, she said in a giggly tone to which she earned herself a glare from the girls. “That’s what surprises are for.”

When the entire families didn’t seem like they were going to calm down anytime soon, Eric and Yongsun sneaked away to somewhere he said he wanted to show her — his secret hideout when he was younger. It was dark with little to no lights accompanied along the path, but he made sure she was stepping on the right path as they made their ways to where there was finally light, probably too many lights and a little hut, and a breathtaking scenery Yongsun didn’t really expected. 

    “I used to tell you how I’d just shouldered all the burdens and troubles all by myself when I was young because I didn’t want to burden my family, right?” His tone soft and gentle, and he had almost a bitter smile on his face as he gazed at the scenery in front of them. “I’d always come here, just sit for hours until I feel better before I go home. No one really knew about it. Each time I come here, I’d always promised myself that I’d come back here one day with someone I love and trust with my life, someone who would listened to everything that troubled me.”  

    “Is that why you chose this location for our wedding?”

    He turned to her, and with a slight nod, he smiled. “Yeah, I finally found that person so I wanted to keep the promise I made years ago.” 

    Yongsun smiles, and she reaches her hand out to hold his. With her head on his shoulder, her tone ever comforting like every time she holds and comforts him whenever he needs at least one person to be there for him. “I’ll always listen, so don’t ever think that you have no one. We can always come back here again in the future with this one and maybe have a little picnic, if you want to.” 

    “I know, Yong. Thank you so much.” He heaves a sigh in relieve and gives her a quick kiss on top of her head. “We’ll come back here again one day with our own little family, I promise.”

    “Just wondering…” She started. “If we really have a daughter, do you have a name in mind?”

    “Eden, it means delight, like how we make each other feels through every moments we shared together, both the good and the bad.” 

    Yongsun smiles and hums a familiar tune that she couldn’t quite recalled where she heard it from. “Eden, I like it.”

The air was getting breezier, the night sky was still as stunning accompanied by so many stars even though it was getting deeper and deeper into the night. With their hand tightly clasped with each other’s, she closed her eyes and took in the comforting silence around them. They passed the end, then they began to chase forever, and here it was, welcoming them with open arms. It was a good six years long of fight against every odd, all of it was heartwarming and heart-wrenching, somewhere through it they were tempted between going on and giving up, there were storm and rainbows, but they fought through it all to be here inside each other’s arms, feeling like they found the home they have been searching for within each other.

They were chasing for forever, and now they have it — forever and ever, and this time they’ll not let anyone takes it away from them anymore.

Soooooo this has finally reached the end, ahhhhhh ;--; Thank you so much to everyone of you who have been reading this and have always beenn supporting me, I'm really grateful for all of it. Tysmmm for being so kind even though my writings are still lacking in so many areas ;-; Ddongie to me feels very special compared to any other ships that I'v ever shipped, so writing about them and being able to share it with you guys really mean a lot to me, and especially to know that you enjoyed reading it as much as I've ever enjoyed writing it so far. This might be potentially my last ddongie fic for a really long time as I'm about to get very busy with my online classes again very soon, and I'm not sure how long would it be for me to start writing another one about them, but in these past few months that I've been writing about them and getting to know that there are also people who still support them like I do, I'm realllllllly happy ;-; We had a lot of ddongie moments last year in 2019, and those little moments inspired me to start this account and to write about them and I hope we'll be able to hear good news about them soon in the future, but whatever happens, I'll always keep rooting for both of them individually bc they're two amazing people who deserve all the happiness and supports in the world ;---; Until then, I'll see you guys laterrr. Tysm once again for keeping up with me even though sometimes I took really long to update, or sometimes I made unintentional mistakes in any chapter/fic, tysmmm and have a nice day! Stay safe everyone, byee :) ♡