When I saw you walking in after the doors were opened, my sight couldn’t falter from your presence. I couldn’t hear the sounds of the march song playing, or the voices of the choir, as I was too stunned by your presence. Being able to see you in that white dress was a dream come true. You never know how long I longed to see you wear that dress. You were walking slowly towards me, holding a bouquet of your favorite flowers whilst smiling and greeting everyone inside the church. But none of those blocked me from seeing your truly bedazzling features. Your smile, glowing eyes, red lips are just perfect. I couldn’t ask anything more than your presence in my life. Bae Joohyun, you don’t know how much I want to be with you, how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I couldn’t express my feelings when we first met because I was just shocked by your goddess-like beauty. At that time, I thought you were very cold and cocky, but after knowing you for 5 years, your warm and charming personality have proven all of my assumptions wrong.

Like a blink of an eye, you had reached the front rows of the church. You stopped and held the hands of your little sister, Yerim, with a smile. Then, you hugged your mother tightly, followed by the flowing tears coming from her eyes. You smiled at my family’s side, hugging my sister, Sooyoung, and my parents, asking for their permission to be my partner in life. Lastly, you released your arms from your father’s hand and hugged him firmly, prompting tears to pour down his eyes. When the march almost reached the end of the song, you had only one more stop to go, which was to be on my side.

You looked at me with your usual glowing eyes, waiting for me to take your hands and say the vows. Just as the choir was about to hit their last note, your left hand released itself from the bouquet, asking me to take it wholeheartedly. At that time, I could only smile as our eyes met each other. I took your soft hands with my sweaty palms, inducing a small laugh from your mouth. We walked slowly towards the priest whilst mumbling our vows, practicing so that we’ll get it right later on. When our positions were set, the priest whispered to us, asking if we’re ready to begin the procession.

With a small nod from our heads, he began, “Dearly beloved, we have gathered here, in the sight of God and this company, to unite these two people in marriage. Their decision to marry has not been entered into lightly and today they publicly declare their private devotion to each other. The essence of this commitment is the acceptance of each other in entirety, as lover, companion, and friend. A good and balanced relationship is one in which neither person is overpowered nor absorbed by the other, one in which neither person is possessive of the other, one in which both give their love freely and without jealousy. Marriage, ideally, is a sharing of responsibilities, hopes, and dreams. It takes a special effort to grow together, survive hard times, and be loving and unselfish. If anyone can show their cause on why they may not be lawfully joined together, let him or her now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”

Suddenly, Joohyun’s little sister, Yerim, raised her hand, generating cold sweat and faster heart beat. But when I heard what she had to say, I was rather relieved.

She innocently said, “Can this be postponed? I don’t want Joohyun unnie to go away from me.”

Her words created an explosion of laughs from all of our family members and friends inside the hall. After hearing what her little sister had to say, Joohyun left my side and went towards her little sister.

Then, she knelt down and whispered this on her ears, “Yerim-ie, I’m not going to leave you. I just wanted to marry the one person I truly love and cherish.”

“But unnie, that means that you don’t love me or dad or mommy then?” she asked again, this time with tears trickling down her cheeks.

Joohyun, being the good sister she truly is, wiped the tears off her sister’s face and patiently answered, “Yerim-ie, I love dad, mom, and you very much, but Seulgi is the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“But unnie, …” she said again with more tears pouring down her face.

Just then, she called me, asking me to go towards her position. I complied, walked to where she was kneeling, and knelt beside her.

She wrapped her hands around mine and said, “Seulgi-ah, tell Yerim that you’ll take care of me with all your might and also tell her that you will still allow me to meet her everyday.”

I chuckled a bit, prompting an elbow strike towards my ribs.

Knowing that it’s a cue to stop laughing, I my serious face and said, “Yerim-ie, you’ve known me for 5 years, right? You know how much I love your sister, right? I promise to you that I will take care of her will all of my power and I will never prevent you to see her. If I break any of the promises that I just made, I’ll allow you to beat me up and kill me.”

“Pinky promise?” she naively asked while putting out her tiny pinky finger in front of me.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter