30 minutes.

She's 30 minutes late.

I started walking aimlessly inside the dressing room, massaging my temples as I took glances at the wedding dress that was hung neatly beside the mirror. My hands had been fiddling my phone for a while now, waiting for it to somehow ring or vibrate with a message. I'd stop for a few seconds but continue to roam around the room again. Where is she? I thought to myself.

The next moment came with a loud BANG and from the door came Sehun panting. "Noona!" he panted. "Seul-ki noona...huff... Seul-ki noona's not home!" he finished his sentence. My body tensed at his words and I looked at him in shock, "What?" "It's true. I looked for her everywhere. At the campus, the noodle place, she's just gone," he spoke as he sat, catching his breath. It took me exactly seven seconds to register what was going on before I landed on the ground. Sehun rushed towards me and he started saying things that I couldn't hear as memories flooded my mind.  And when one thought hit me hard, I nearly screamed.

She wasn't joking about last night.

No.

Flashback

"Sekyung-ah, can I ask you a question?" 

I turned to face her, hands still loaded with the flowers for tomorrow. "Go ahead Seul," I said before continuing to arrange the bouquet of purple roses. "Do you know how I met Im-Chang?" she said, and I nodded, looking at her with interest, "Yup. You told me that you, Hyungwon and Changkyun were groupmates for your Chemistry project. And that he asked you out on a date before proposing you a year after you dated, right?" I asked and Seul-ki laughed before nodding. "Do you know that there was someone else there?" she said. My right eyebrow lifted in curiosity and I shook my head.

"There was.His name's Kihyun.  And I... I... Oh Lord how can I say this?" she said. I patted her shoulder, "That's okay. Just spill the beans Seul," I said and she huffed. "I've been in love with him and I'm planning to run away with him tomorrow Sekyung," she confessed."I'm not coming to the wedding," she continued. I shook my head  as I stood up, not believing what she said and let out a small chuckle. "Seul-ah, your jokes are getting heavier this time," I remarked. "But-" "No buts Seul. Go to sleep. Geez, do brides get this anxious on wedding nights?" I chuckled before leaving the room with the flowers. 

"Oh my god. She really meant what she said last night," I muttered.

Sehun stopped shaking my shoulders, "What? What did she say noona?" he asked, eyes straight into mine. I turned to meet his gaze and mumbled, "She..." My eyes watered, "She said... She said she was not coming to the wedding," I closed my eyes, tears rolling down my cheek. "What? What do you mean she's not coming noona? Today's her wedding day and hyung has been standing there for hours!" Sehun ruffled his hair in frustration. And the worse part was when the groom had decided to appear right at that moment.

My mind couldn't focus as our eyes locked. So many questions were running through my head. I pushed those away before helping myself up and opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it. "So it's true? Seul-ki's not coming?" he spoke, his voice calm but his eyes shaking. I opened my mouth to retort but no words came out but tears kept flowing. He let out a desperate chuckle, "So he was right. Seul-ki was already his from the beginning. I should've believed him. I guess love did make me blind," he said before taking a seat on the bench.

"I'm sorry," I spoke, and his face twitched in surprise, "Don't be. It's not your fault that her heart had been claimed by another," he smiled in despair. I couldn't help but to sob harder as I crashed onto Sehun's chest. His words were so beautiful that it pained me to see those hurtful brown orbs. Sehun hugged me tightly, knowing how much his sister needed him at the moment. It took a few minutes before I calmed down, and I faced the groom. He stood up and fixed his clothes before approaching the door, and somehow I held onto his arm, "Where are you going?" 

He smiled, "Outside. I'm going to apologize to them for waiting so long and tell them the wedding's canceled," I shook my head, "No, there's so many people out there. How are you going to face them tomorrow?" "I have to Sekyung-ssi. We can't let them wait forever. Unless there's another solution to it," he let out a bitter laugh. "Like if a rescue bride would show up and save the wedding," he said before carefully pulling off his arm of my grasp. Out of reflex, I held it tighter before speaking without thinking.

"Wait at the alter. Give me 10 minutes to solve this,"

There were three of us in the Choi family.

Me, my younger twin sister Seul-ki and my younger brother Sehun.

Our parents had long gone from our lives, due to an accident that happened when we were very young. The three of us were waiting at school that day, and we all wondered what was taking our parents so long. Night came and our neighbour Mrs. Chae picked us up from school with a sad look on her face. I remembered seeing Hyungwon at the front seat holding a bouquet of pansies. I stared at them curiously as Seul-ki and Sehun were fighting about video games. The route that she was taking wasn't back to home but to the hospital. 

I remembered how hard Seul-ki and Sehun had cried and how I was frozen at the sight of my blanket-covered parents on the hospital bed. The tears, the wails were ringing in my head and it became a dark memory nailed in my past. Mrs. Chae kindly took us in and raised us as a single mother for 17 years. We lived together as five in a small apartment happily. Hyungwon became my brother, and we got along pretty well as we were of the same age. We went to the same highschool and university, me taking business management, Sehun taking performing arts and Seul-ki and Hyungwon studying medics. 

We grew up being a dance instructor for Sehun, Seul-ki being a medical lecturer and Hyungwon being a successful surgeon. I became a fashion designer of my own label and I designed Seul-ki's wedding dress.

Seul-ki's supposed to be wedding dress.

The memories flashed as I stared at it before taking it off the hook.

The audience were murmuring as the bride was now an hour late. Changkyun was debating whether or not to just grab the microphone and tell them the truth or just sit still as I told him to. I hope you know what you're doing Sekyung, he thought. In the end, he tapped the priest and asked for the microphone. Turning to the audience, his mouth opened to speak but the opening of doors had his mouth agape.

I was standing there, in the white gown holding a bouquet of white roses with Sehun beside me. The spectators were confused but they simply stood up and the organ began playing as we walked down the carpet. I saw Hyungwon beside Changkyun who seemed as confused as everyone else was but as I locked eyes with the groom, my heart seemed to calm down looking at his calm face. He smiled as he extended his hand to take mine and we both stood facing each other before the audience took their seats.

The priest cleared his throat and opened his mouth, "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of a man and a woman, the sealing of their marriage in holy matrimony, which is commended to be honorable among all men; and therefore - is not by any - to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly - but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly," he paused before taking his breath, " Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace," 

Silence.

He cleared his throat once again before speaking, "Say your vows, bride first then groom, " he spoke. I took a deep breath before taking the microphone from the saint, but Changkyun swiftly took the mic from me, causing the whole church to laugh. "Can I do it first?" he asked, earning a small nod from the priest. He himself took a deep breath before saying his vows.

"To have and to hold," He must've customized them, I thought. " For better for worse, for richer for poorer," he continued, " In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, til' death do us part," he took a deep breath before giving the mic to me. The whole church were confused as to why he did not finish his vows, but went silent as I took the mic from him. I inhaled before meeting his eyes and saying Seul-ki's.

"And I promise to encourage you and inspire you, and to love you-" I stopped midway, controlling myself not to tear up, "And to love you truly through good times and bad. I will forever be there to laugh with you, to lift you up when you are down, and to love you unconditionally through all our obstacles in this marriage." I breathed before completing mine, "And I, Choi Sekyung, promise to love you Im Changkyun with tenderness and unselfish devotion, my husband."

The church clapped, and I returned the microphone to the priest, "Please give the rings," he spoke. Hyungwon gave Changkyun my ring and Sehun gave me his. I slipped mine into his finger which I found long and delicate. I looked up at him and smiled softly. To my surprise, the man took the mic once again from the priest before speaking, "With this ring, I give you my heart. I promise from this day forward, you shall not walk alone. May my heart be your shelter, and my arms be your home," the spectators awed and he slipped the ring into my finger, "I, Im Changkyun, take you, Choi Sekyung as my lawfully wedded wife," he said, earning applause from the audience.

Once the microphone had been returned to the priest, he smiled, "You may kiss the bride"

I felt my chin being lifted and my eyes met a pair of sparkly brown ones before a pair of soft lips sealed with mine. But the kiss wasn't just a simple peck but I sensed longing as I closed my eyes. And after we broke off the whole church cheered, not knowing the tragic reality that we were both suffering from. A nightmare that both of us can't seem to wake up from. A twisted fairytale that wasn't written in any storybook children read. A marriage that was never real from the beginning.

I looked at Changkyun with empathy, for his actions were contrary to his words.

The moment our lips touched, a single tear had rolled down the groom's cheek.

"A young bride is like a plucked flower, but a guilty wife is like a flower that had been walked over,"

- Honore de Balzac -