Note : Every artist deserves credit for even an excerpt and I feel terribly sorry for forgetting to credit 'Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara', a Bollywood movie. The marriage proposal and misunderstanding part originally belongs to the movie. Nevertheless, enjoy my story. Yes, the rest of the scenes are mine :)

Listen to Cover Girl by Infinite : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKm2o-yNPeU

“Marry me.”

“Woohyun please…”

“Okay.” Woohyun lifted the ring higher and cleared his throat. “Marry me, please.”

Seungyeon’s eyebrows furrowed and Woohyun gave a soft smile. “If not now, when? This had to happen in the future right? You’re an interior designer, I’m an architect, our families love each other… How more perfect could we be Seungyeon?”

Seungyeon continued staring at Woohyun, almost as if boring a hole into his soul.

“Seungyeon please hurry up, my knees are hurting.”

The girl’s poker face broke apart into laughter and as she nodded, the man slipped the ring onto her finger, embracing her with a soft peck on the lips.

“What’s wrong bro?”

I woke up from the memory and stared at my best man, SungGyu. Sungjong, his younger brother, echoed my childhood friend’s concern and I shook my head with a smile. SungGyu patted my shoulder.

“He’ll be fine once he says I do,” Sungyeol muttered while playing on his smartphone. “It’s just cold feet.”

The men bumped their fists and playfully punched me. I tried to laugh but all that came out was a sound that scarily reminded me of Mickey Mouse. As soon as the boys moved out, asking me to hurry up or I’ll miss the bride, I sighed and threw myself on the couch.

I do. Two simple words. Hearing the two words made me cringe. How could I make a lifetime warranty with them?

                                                                              *****************************************************

“It’s the wedding of the century!”

“Which is why we should go!”

“Noooo!!!!!!!!!!” Dongwoo howled as I ignored his pleas and with a cheeky grin, followed the crowd that was entering the grand farmhouse. It belonged to Nam Corporations and the young but popular heir of the company was getting married to the country’s princess, Han Seungyeon.

Who am I?

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was the perfect average girl. She would get the right marks, followed the rules and regulations set out by society and more importantly, never went against her parents’ wishes. One day, her parents died in a car crash and the girl realized that there is nothing more important than money. Loan sharks have to be paid and though they weren’t as mean as they showed in television dramas, they were a burden nonetheless. She had to skip a year of college to work at cafes, something she didn’t mind but at the same time, the interest on the loan payback grew and she had to find a way to make money as fast as possible.

A miracle came along in the form of a middle-aged woman, stuck on deciding what to wear for her engagement party. While walking down the streets of Kangnam, the girl bumped into a woman and casually suggested that she instead go to a shop in Hongdae that had better outfits at a cheaper price. The rich woman grew excited and dragged the girl with her for a shopping spree. The woman was her long-lost school friend Jang Dongwoo’s elder sister and now that they had a common acquaintance, the woman decided to help the girl. From that day on, the girl became a personal shopper, helping the rich women of Seoul to decide what to wear when. It was something the girl had always been good at but a chance encounter had set things in motion.

But even after being financially secure, the girl found that something was missing. The loan sharks had gone and the adrenaline in her life had been out. That’s when she decided to become a part-time prankster. To celebrate the increment in her monthly payment beyond a certain amount, the girl would go to different spots all over Seoul, sometimes even other districts, and play pranks that would liven up the atmosphere and excite her until she was satisfied. Some pranks were as small as injecting vinegar in a bunch of bananas, others were risky like pretending to be a North Korean spy. But the girl was good looking enough and had wit beyond bounds, thus helping her to cover up her pranks and get out of the situation with all misunderstandings cheerfully cleared.

“The North Korean spy one was risky enough,” Dongwoo continued whining as we pretended to be distant relatives, bowing to every single uncle and aunt in the house. “But this! Saya, there are cameras everywhere, this time you’ll be caught!”

“Calm down will you?” I spoke through gritted teeth. “There are three different marriages happening in this hall, we’ll just say we walked into the wrong one.”

“This is a farmhouse Saya,” Dongwoo reminded me. I rolled my eyes and pointed to a board.

“A HUGE farmhouse,” I pointed out. “It’s a country club sorta thing. You should know, you must have celebrated your tenth birthday here.”

Before Dongwoo could start on his ‘I’m-not-that-rich’ talk, I spotted the small counter that had a sign saying ‘Nam Woohyun – Han Seungyeon’. I grabbed Dongwoo’s wrist and ran towards it, hiding behind a broad pillar and making sure no one was around.

“Okay,” I spoke in a hush. Dongwoo burst into a nervous fit of laughter and I lightly slapped him on his arm.

“Pay attention!” I whispered. “Okay, so here’s the plan. The moment the priest asks if anyone objects, I’ll storm inside and say this is not done, blah blah blah. Then you’ll walk in and say, ‘Wrong hall Julia!’”

“Julia?” Dongwoo asked.

I shrugged. “Couldn’t think of any other name. Any way, don’t burst in immediately. Only after you hear me….” I then made a noise that sounded like a yelp and Dongwoo nodded.

“This will be fun,” I sighed to myself and waited.

                                                                    **********************************************************

“Why leave her job?” I asked in a flustered tone, as SungGyu fixed my tie, ignoring my complaints. My jaw was hurting, thanks to my father’s order to keep smiling no matter what.

“You’re known to be pleasant and comfortable to get along with… maintain that image.”

I gritted my teeth through my smile, nudging SungGyu for a response. “What?”

I sighed and repeated, “Why leave her job?”

“I don’t know dude,” SungGyu muttered. “Ask her. Or tell her that you don’t mind her working after marriage, that you get by an independent woman.”

I ignored the last line and in an even more flustered tone, said, “I did! I told her to continue working, I have no problem with her earning for herself. But nooo, marriage is about sacrifices, commitment…. Sacrifices for what? Are we tribals???”

SungGyu brushed off something from my shoulder then waved me to move closer. He looked around a bit then in a hushed tone, asked, “What’s going on? Weren’t you the one who proposed to Seungyeon?”

I curtly nodded then in the lowest volume possible, said, “This is what happened.”

“Seungyeon!”

Woohyun tried patting his girlfriend’s knee but she was turned towards the other side, chatting with her friends as we all sat around the dinner table, celebrating Ms. Nam’s 56^th birthday. Woohyun glanced at the box in his hand and sighed, hoping his mother would like the gift. It had been a long time since he last celebrated her birthday with him and he wanted to make up for all the years he had been out of touch due to work and study. Nevertheless, some reassurance that he chose the right gift would be nice.

“Han Seungyeon!”

Seungyeon finally turned to face him and in an irritated tone, hissed. “What?”

Woohyun smiled and revealed the box. “I had bought this for—”

“OH MY GOD!!” Seungyeon stood up, catching everyone’s attention as she covered with her hands and started squealing in happiness.

“Seungyeon? What happened?” The whole table looked towards the two of them and Seungyeon pointed at Woohyun, a huge grin on her face.

“WOOHYUN JUST PROPOSED TO ME!!”

“WHAT?”

I placed a finger on my lips as SungGyu started muttering incoherently at how ‘stupid’, ‘careless’ and ‘pathetic’ I was and how ashamed he was of me. “Hey, I tried to fix it,” I sighed.

“By asking her to marry you?? What’s wrong with you Woohyun??”

“What? I later told her it was a gift for mom but she got really upset and in the end, all I could do was…” I shrugged, making SungGyu pinch the bridge of his nose. Suddenly wedding march started playing.

My intestines tangled into each other and my throat locked all notions of sound as the doors opened. “SungGyu…” I pleaded, pasting a grin on my face. “What do I do?”

“Pray for a miracle, you doofus.” SungGyu shook his head and smiled as Seungyeon stood next to me. “Best of luck,” he whispered, raising his eyebrows at me. Seungyeon smiled while I gulped. I need that, I thought and closed my eyes as the priest started talking.

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“….speak now or forever hold your peace.”

I smiled to myself. Here I go.

“OPPPPAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

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My heart almost leaped out of my chest when the doors that had been closed for some time now, slammed open and a girl ran in.

“OPPPPAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What the---“ SungGyu’s eyes widened in alarm as the girl came closer, heaving in exhaustion and resting her palms on her knees. Slowly, she knelt down and broke into a sob.

“Please…” she cried. “Don’t….”

The only thing that crossed my mind was how pretty she looked while she cried.

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Nam Woohyun was walking towards me.

I continued crying, kept up the act but goosebumps spread all over my body as he walked towards me, a sharp look embedded in his eyes.

Jang Dongwoo…. Where the hell are you…

I watched as Woohyun knelt down in front of me and everyone in the hall held their breath. From my peripheral glance, I saw his to-be wife, Seungyeon, throwing daggers at me with her gaze. Don’t blame her, I thought.

“Do you know her Woohyun?” she said. Woohyun continued staring at me and my eyes widened as he slowly cupped my right cheek with his hand and in a murmur that was loud enough for everyone, said, “Let’s go.”

Let’s go.

Let’s go.

Let’s go.

The echo of those two words reverberated across the walls and muted out the cries of shock and disbelief as Woohyun and I continued staring at each other. What was this guy doing? I felt myself floating as he lifted me on my feet and walked towards the door, his hand wrapped around my wrist. I saw Dongwoo enter with a grin that soon changed into a ‘WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-GOING-ON-HERE’ look as he saw me being pulled by South Korea’s most wanted bachelor.

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I continued walking, refusing to let go of the girl even though she hadn’t made any protest yet. My mind floated back to Seungyeon’s eyes, the eyes that screamed betrayal even before I had said anything. My heart hurt with the realization that this was not the first time I had seen that expression and after taking a deep breath, I had walked away.

We were being accompanied by a guy with blonde hair as he continued spewing out reasons as to why both of us should go back to the hall and apologize. When none of us responded to him, he decided to keep quiet.

We were now in Hongdae. How much had we walked? I turned around, my hand still around the girl’s wrist. She was staring at me with glazed eyes, confused at what was happening.

“Don’t ask me why I did it,” I said. “I won’t ask you why you played that prank.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

I shook my head, hinting for her to not say anything else. I rested my hand in my pockets and with a small smile, said, “You know, I’ve never disobeyed my family. I was the prefect in my school and I have never even brushed upon the police van.”

                                                                                         ***************************************************

I gulped. Was he trying to make me feel guilty?

But before I could give any more explanation, my senses froze when Woohyun wrapped an arm around me, locking me in a soft embrace.

“I don’t know what you’ve done to me,” he said in a soft whisper, “But I now understand the meaning of freedom. I was able to abandon all the chains that had been fastened onto me for the past twenty-two years just by one look at you.”

Woohyun slowly pulled himself away and grinned as he saw my flushed face. “Merry Christmas,” he said and waved towards a giant Christmas tree and the line of shops lit up beyond it. Dongwoo had already left us alone and as I let my gaze melt into his eyes, my lips turned up into a smile.

“Merry Christmas,” I said and walked hand-in-hand with the perfect stranger.