When the dinner ended, Yoonsan and I walked out the restaurant with Kangjun and his parents. I really enjoyed talking to Kangjun’s parents, they were a lovely couple. Yoonsan and Kangjun again got into some weird staring contest that I don’t think Kangjun’s parents noticed. Seriously, what is up with them? While I was talking to Kangjun’s parents, a nice car had pulled up to the front of the restaurant. I didn’t pay it any mind since, well, it’s a restaurant so I continued on with my conversation, glancing down when I felt Yoonsan’s hand move in mine so our fingers interlaced. I just rolled my eyes, bringing my attention back to Kangjun’s parents. Boys are so strange.

I had been laughing with Kangjun’s parents when I heard a female voice speak excitedly in a foreign language. Yoonsan let go of my hand and went over to the girl, speaking in the same language. I watched their interaction, mainly confused since I didn’t know what language it was. My guess was that it’s French since the girl didn’t look Asian. She was very pretty though. She had light brown hair and fairly pale skin. It wasn’t as pale as skin here in Korea, but it was still somewhat pale. Her face was very doll like and from where I was standing, it looked like she had light eyes. I didn’t notice Kangjun come to stand next to me until he spoke.

“Do you know her?” I flinched out of shock, before composing myself.

“Ah, no, I don’t. I’m not even sure what they’re saying.” It was the first time I was in a situation where I didn’t know anything, book wise at least, and I didn’t like it.

“Well it seems like Yoonsan does.” I nodded my head, not sure what else I should say.

Kangjun and I stood side by side, watching Yoonsan and the girl speak and laugh until Kangjun’s car was brought by the valets. I bowed to Kangjun’s parents, telling them goodbye then turned to Kangjun, ready to do the same thing when he pulled me into a hug. I stiffened at first before I hesitantly hugged him back.

“See you tomorrow, Valedictorian.” He winked at me before walking with his parent’s to their car. It just left me there, watching Yoonsan talk with the mystery girl.

“Miss, your car is here.” I thanked the valet, taking the keys from him. I didn’t want to interrupt them—okay, that’s a lie, a big part of me wanted to go over and tell Yoonsan we had to go…it wasn’t jealousy, my feet just hurt—since that would be rude and I don’t think I’ve seen Yoonsan this happy and excited in the 8 months this engagement has been on.

I finally worked up the courage to go over and gently tapped Yoonsan on his shoulder. Him and the mystery girl turned their attention to me and I nearly panicked before remembering the car keys in my hand. I was about to tell him we needed to go when he smiled at me.

“Eunjung, I want you to meet a friend of mine from France. Eunjung, this is Colette Bellrose.” He then spoke to the girl and I only picked up on my name and hers so I’m guessing he told her my name. I smiled to the girl, bowing my head slightly.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I couldn’t say ‘I’ve heard so much about you’ since I haven’t and I didn’t know how great her English was.

“You too. I didn’t know San was getting married though. You two make a lovely couple.” Oh thank Shisus, she knows English! 

“Ah, the marriage was surprising to us as well.” I admitted. She laughed…why does her laugh sound like wind chimes? Why is she so pretty?

“Colette was telling me that she’s here as a model for a magazine.” She’s a model?! Why is she so perfect?!

“Oh, how long are you going to be modeling here for?”

“Two months but after, I’m planning on doing some charity work here so I’ll be here longer.” And now she does charity work? Is there anything she can’t do?

“Really? That’s amazing. Hopefully you’re here for the wedding, we’d love to have you there.” I smiled at her. I really meant it, she seemed super nice.

“That would be nice.” She smiled back but her tone seemed strange. I glanced over at Yoonsan, to see if he noticed but it didn’t seem like he did. Maybe the pain from my feet was making me weird.

“Uh, I hate to say this but, Yoonsan, we need to go. We’re blocking the other cars.” I pointed to a slowly growing line of cars and Yoonsan seemed to realize where we were.

“Oh! Right!” He spoke to Colette again in French and then they hugged. I’m not jealous. I have no right to be jealous. We’re only engaged because of our parents.

“Bye Eunjung, it was nice meeting you. We should make plans to meet up, you seem very nice.” I smiled at this.

“You too, Colette. I love your name by the way.” Her name was pretty…why couldn’t I have a pretty name?

Yoonsan opened my car door for me like he always did and I couldn’t help but smile. I turned to wave to Colette when I saw her glaring. At me. She was glaring at me. It was gone quick though and she was smiling. She lifted her hand to wave at me. I smiled a small smile—I really hope it looked like a smile because her glare scared me—and waved as well. Maybe the all-nighters and stress from this school year is catching up to me.

“I don’t know Eddie, the dinner was just…weird.” I had called Edward as soon as I got home and changed into my pajamas. Yoonsan said he had work he had to do so he was in his office now.

“So, one of your classmates and Yoonsan were basically acting like two dogs, that alpha male ?” Edward was silent for a while before he started to laugh.

“My ship is sailing!” He cheered.

“Seriously Edward, what does this have to do with anything?”

“Yoonsan was jealous! This classmate likes you and Yoonsan doesn’t like that another guy wants your attention. He wants you for himself.”

“Edward…are you drinking?”

“Seriously Eunjung, how do you not see this?” I sighed, shaking my head.

“I don’t know, this is all…different for me!” I exclaimed.

“I know, don’t worry. I’ll be here to help you. Okay, enough of the shipping, what did you say about this girl, Colon or whatever.” I laughed.

“Colette. She’s a friend of Yoonsan’s from France. She’s here for a modeling job. She’s pretty and I think she’s nice.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, she got a weird tone when I mentioned her coming to the wedding and when I got in the car, she was glaring at me. Or at least, I thought she was glaring. I don’t know, maybe I was seeing things.”

“You need to keep your hold on your man. She likes him. And I mean like, like. She’s into him. Who knows their history when they were in France but, I’ll be careful of her.” I groaned. Why is my life full of drama? Why couldn’t my life be boring?

The rest of the week went by quick and soon, it was Friday. The whole week though, I hardly saw Yoonsan. Either he was working or he was out with Colette. For a model, she had a lot of free time. I was starting to worry that he might forget that my graduation was today and not show. Sooyoung eonni assured me that he wouldn’t and Edward threatened to shave off Yoonsan’s eyebrows in his sleep if he didn’t show up. That had given me a good laugh.

“Miss Eunjung, are you excited?” One of the maids was changing my bed sheets as I got ready. I looked at her through the mirror but making sure to stay still so Edward doesn’t mess up. He had come to help me get ready and was going to leave with me so he could get a good section and save it for whoever is going for me.  

“I am. It feels a bit surreal. I spent three years at this school and with these people and now, we’re graduating and might not see any of them again.” I let out a sigh, flinching when Edward flicked me.

“Sighing is going to mess me up.” I pouted.

“So would flicking me.” I muttered.

Edward finished just as the maid finished my bed. Edward leaned down next to me so that he could see his reflection in the mirror as well.

“I did good. You’re going to be the prettiest valedictorian that school has ever seen.” I smiled, leaning my head against his.

“Thank you Edward, for everything. I don’t think I’d have stayed sane in high school without you.” Edward smiled and wrapped an arm around me in a hug.

“Now, if you could help me get through the rest of life, that’d be great.” Edward laughed, shaking his head.

“Girl, you’re going to need someone else for that because I don’t know what I’m doing majority of the time.”

Edward left my room so that I could get dressed. We had to wear our school uniforms so I didn’t have to worry about picking out an outfit. My uniform had been pressed and dry cleaned and Mr. Shin picked it up early this morning. I wore heels though instead of sneakers which is what I usually wore with my uniform but, it’s graduation. You don’t wear sneakers to graduation. The heels were black pumps that rounded at the toe. When I was ready, I left my room, making sure I had the notecard with my speech on it.

When we got to the school, I had to go to my classroom where we would walk out together to the auditorium for the ceremony. I went straight to my desk, wanting to sit there one last time. I hadn’t seen Yoonsan at home and I was told he had left earlier. I hoped it was so he could be here and make sure that we could find a seat, but when I tried texting him, he didn’t respond.

“You ready, valedictorian?” I jumped, turning to see Kangjun smiling at me. I smiled back, taking a deep breath.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Kangjun laughed, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder.

“You’ll do great, I know it.” I thanked him just as our homeroom teacher came in, a bit teary eyed.

“Okay everyone, the other homeroom teachers are getting ready to leave. Let’s start going.” We walked out the classroom and saw the other seniors already heading to the auditorium.

When we started walking into the auditorium, you could hear the cheers and applause of the family members. I began to look in the audience, trying to find Edward, or Sooyoung eonni, or Junhyuk oppa. I found all three and then some. I smiled in their direction, waving to them and laughed when Kidmon oppa and Sungwoon oppa stood up, waving a sign.

“Eunjung, saranghae!” They cheered in unison. And you knew they were loud since I could hear them over everyone else.

We got to our seats and the ceremony began with a speech from the principal.

“I’d like to invite our valedictorian and class president, Kim Eunjung, to say a few words.” I knew exactly who was cheering for me as I walked to the stage. I could feel my hands shaking as I got to the podium.

I had my one index card in front of me, taking a deep breath before speaking.

“Well guys…we made it.” The students cheered, whooping and hollering. I smiled, happy at the good start.

“I’ll try to keep this short, sweet, and simple. Three years ago, we were first years, scared of saying or doing the wrong thing that would make our sunbaenim mad. Now, we’re graduating, leaving the title of ‘big, bad, scary sunbaenim’ for the next group.

But after we get our diploma and our principal presents us as official graduates, we’ll be the scared first years once again. But, just like we got past it the first time, we’ll get past it again, and again. We’re not a quitting class, we’ve gone through a lot, both here and personal. I mean, we all passed Hong seonsaengnim’s class, so we can get through anything.” The students laughed at the last line.

“Let’s leave this school with open and ready minds, ready to take on the world and come back to our reunion with fun stories. I’m happy to have called myself your class president and valedictorian. Thank you.” I bowed to the thundering applause, shaking the principal’s hand before going back to my seat. Kangjun gave me a thumbs up as I sat down.

Eventually, they began to call out the names and hand out the diplomas. I had to hold myself back from running to get my diploma. I calmly—and carefully because you never know with heels—walked to get my diploma, thanking the principal and posing for a few pictures. I got back to my seat, now just having to wait until the whole thing was over. When the principal declared us as graduates, I stood up along with the other students, clapping. We all stayed there for a few minutes, hugging and congratulating those around us. Kangjun had given me a tight hug, saying he was going to miss me before leaving to find his parents. Once he left, I went to go and find my fairly large group of supporters.

I struggled to look around all of the bodies and groups of crying families to find my group. Even the height that the heels gave me didn’t help…it never did.

“Eunjung!” I looked around when I saw Yoonsan making his way towards me, big smile on his face. I broke out into a wide grin, relief flooding through me knowing that he actually came. I ran as best as I could to him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around me, lifting me to spin me around.

“You did it! You’ve officially graduated! I’m so proud of you. Now you just need to graduate college.” I laughed, giving him one last squeeze before letting go.

“I didn’t think you’d make it. I was worried.” Yoonsan smiled an apologetic smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ah, yeah, I had to do something earlier.” I reached over and ruffled his neatly done hair. He gave me an annoyed look, fixing his hair.

“You’re lucky it’s your day or-“

“Or what, San? Are you threatening my Eunjungie?” I smiled, hugging Junhyuk oppa who was followed by Moonkyu oppa, Kidmon oppa, Sungwoon oppa, Hojeong oppa, Sooyoung and Nayoung eonni, Mr. Shin, Edward, Sunny, Joan, Megan, and at the very back, Yoonsan’s parents and my parents. The last one, I was surprised.

“Eunjung!” Kidmon oppa, Sungwoon oppa, and Hojeong oppa hugged me while I was still hugging Junhyuk oppa, making a group hug.

“Ah, oppas, I can’t breath.” I tried to wriggle out of the hug but had no

“And her diploma is digging into my back.” Junhyuk oppa groaned. They immediately let go and Junhyuk oppa and I were freed. But as soon as I got a fresh of breath air, I was pulled into another group hug.

“We’re so proud!” Edward, Sunny, Joan, and Megan cheered in unison. Sunny, Joan, and Megan were going to be my bridesmaids. I’m still trying to find two more but I think I’m just going to have my mother find someone. Nayoung eonni and Sooyoung eonni were going to be busy helping during the wedding so they were out.

“You’re speech had me bawling. I had to go and reapply my makeup like, three times.” Megan exclaimed.

“You’re growing up and it makes me feel old!” Joan squeezed me tighter.

“Your bridesmaid dresses better make us look young and hot.” Sunny cried out.

“Uh, guys, I can’t feel my arms.” I tried to wriggle my fingers but couldn’t feel them move. Yep, group hugs are dangerous.

They continued hugging me for a few more seconds before letting me go.

Sooyoung eonni and Nayoung eonni gave me more gentle hugs, each separately while Mr. Shin patted my head. I heard some quick, hushed whispers behind me and was about to turn to see what it was only to have Moonkyu oppa bump into me, hitting my face with the bouquet of flowers he was holding.

“Uh, um. For you.” He s the flowers towards me, not looking in my direction. I smiled, taking the flowers from him before giving him a hug.

“Thank you for coming, oppa.” Moonkyu oppa patted my back twice before unwrapping my arms from him.

Yoonsan’s parents made their way over but Mrs. Yoon was the only one to give me a hug.

“You looked so beautiful and happy up on that stage. Your speech was lovely.” I thanked Mrs. Yoon, hugging her back. When we released, my parents came over.

“Congratulations.” My father said, face and voice void of emotion. I smiled anyways, bowing to them but not before shooting a warning glare at Edward who was giving looks at my parents, more specifically, my mother.

“Now that you’ve done what you wanted, we can focus on the wedding.” I pursed my lips at this. Thanks mother, really.

“Aye, Aera, let’s just focus on Eunjung’s accomplishment today.” Mrs. Yoon laughed, lightly hitting my mother’s arm.

“I agree. Now, I’m sure everyone’s hungry. Let’s go and eat.” Yoonsan came to my side, grabbing my hand. I smiled at him, glad to know that he was by my side.

A/N Eeep! I'm excited at how close you guys are getting XD Like, I've been wanting to get to this chapter so bad to introduce Colette! Haha! Anyways, now, it's just going to be wedding, wedding, wedding, and of course the development of Eunjung's and Yoonsan's relationship...it has become my OTP XD Comments make me happy and welcome my new subscribers!^^ Love you all!