“What’s wrong with you?” Wendy asked as she scrunched her nose.

, Chanyeol thought. She’s so beautiful. My best friend. .

“Uhm, earth to Chanyeol?” Wendy said, waving her hands in front of Chanyeol’s face. Chanyeol quickly shook his head and straightened himself.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, looking at his best friend in shock.

“I’m sorry, please don’t get mad,” she answered. “Your mom didn’t ask me to come, she was surprised when she saw me too.”

Speaking of Chanyeol’s mom, he saw her approaching them, along with the other groomsmen and bridesmaids.

“We’re starting,” his mom said. “Chanyeol, Wendy, you’ll assist Youngjae, okay? You walk right before Meejin.”

The two took their places in the line, just two pairs of groomsmen and bridesmaids before them. Wendy took Youngjae’s right hand, and Youngjae looked up at her and smiled the brightest smile he could give. Chanyeol stared at his nephew with disbelief, but he couldn’t blame Youngjae. Wendy was beautiful. He mentally slapped himself when he realized what he just thought of. What the was wrong with him?

“Why are you so quiet? You’re not mad at me, are you?” Wendy said, a hint of concern in her voice.

“I’m not... Let’s just talk later. It’s starting,” Chanyeol said as he took Youngjae’s other hand. The two pairs before them walked down the aisle, until it was their turn. Chanyeol could see her mother tearing up while snapping pictures of the three of them – him, Wendy, and Youngjae – as they walked down the aisle. Youngjae was playful, giggling all the way. The three-year-old put both his feet up and swung them, and Wendy and Chanyeol carried and supported the toddler with their hands. Wendy looked at Youngjae, laughing as she walked. Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile, too.

Meejin finally walked right after Wendy, Chanyeol and Youngjae found their seats.

“Wow, my mommy’s so beautiful! That’s my mommy!” Youngjae quipped, pointing to his mother.

Wendy looked at the groom, whose eyes were watering as Meejin walked down the aisle. The groom was overcome with emotion, and so was Meejin – they overwhelmingly had the odds stacked against them. Wendy thought of this as she stared at the couple, and she couldn’t help but wonder when someone will look at her the way the groom looked at Meejin.

Wendy and Chanyeol took their seats in the second row beside each other, with Youngjae sitting on Chanyeol’s lap. Chanyeol tried to keep the child still, but Youngjae kept on playing with Wendy’s hair, until Youngjae asked Wendy if he could sit on her lap instead. Chanyeol couldn’t help but scoff at his nephew. Wendy was more than happy to oblige, of course, and Chanyeol just stared at the two – Wendy wrapping her arms around Youngjae and resting her chin on the toddler’s head. It was ing cute, goddammit.

The ceremony passed by quickly, until it was time for the wedding vows. Meejin quickly drew a breath out of nervousness, but she delivered her vows first.

“Hi,” she stuttered. “I’m sorry, I’m a bit nervous.” The crowd smiled. “Falling in love with you wasn’t part of the plan. You were my best friend, that’s it. I was supposed to graduate, get a good job, find a good husband, have a happy family. But I guess it didn’t turn out that way... and I’m glad,” she continued.

“I already had the perfect wedding, perfect dress, perfect cake – everything planned, even when I was younger. But it’s just now that I realize that none of my plans really matter – as long as I had the man I loved beside me. You know, I had the ‘perfect’ idea of love I had in mind. I always thought that love meant that you couldn’t live without another person. At least that’s how I felt with all the other guys I’ve been with before. But with you,” Meejin paused, as her tears were falling down. “I could honestly live without you.” The crowd laughed, and so did the groom. “But I don’t want to,” she continued. “I choose to be with you and Youngjae. I choose to love you, and I promise that I will choose you, over and over again.”

Wendy tried to discreetly wipe the tears off her face, but Chanyeol noticed it, of course, and smirked.

“Someone’s emotional,” he whispered to her. That earned him a slight punch from Wendy’s elbow.

Wendy didn’t know why the speech affected her so much – was it because she felt like Meejin? She was the planner. Everything had to be perfect. And that’s how she felt with Sunggyu too. She was so careful; she planned every date down to the very last detail, but the relationship still ended in disaster.

Because Sunggyu wasn’t the right man.

Wendy thought that she deserved someone better. Someone she would always choose to love, and someone who would always choose to love her.

She instinctively stared at Chanyeol, who was listening intently to the couple. She looked down suddenly, realizing what she just did. This is not the time for this, she thought.

It was then the groom’s turn to deliver his message.

“We’ve been best friends for more than ten years now,” he stammered. “But I only realized I was in love with you when you were with another guy. I thought I was too late. And to some extent, I was. Maybe it was naiveté, my wasteful young self – but I never realized that I was in love with you the whole time. And I thank God still am. I know you’ve been through difficult times, and to be honest, we still are undergoing hardships. But I promise you, I will stand by you and Youngjae through all of that, as your best friend, now as your husband. Just as I always had.”

Chanyeol felt his heart beat faster when he listened to Meejin’s husband’s vows. The whole time the groom was talking, Chanyeol just stared at the still-tearing-up-but-trying-to-hide-it Wendy, with Youngjae still sitting on her lap.

The ceremony flew by, and Meejin and the groom were soon declared husband and wife.

Chanyeol (who was carrying Youngjae) and Wendy approached Meejin and her husband after the ceremony so Youngjae could spend some time with his newlywed parents. The attendees then moved to the tent set up nearby for the wedding reception, took their seats, and waited for the food to be served.

Chanyeol and Wendy sat with Chanyeol’s mother, with their table located at the more secluded part of the tent. Chanyeol’s mother made sure that the guests knew not to take pictures of Chanyeol – but the pair’s idol instincts kicked in and they chose to sit in a more isolated area.

“Wendy, you really didn’t have to come,” Chanyeol’s mother quipped. “I told you not to!”

“I’m sorry, I just had time and I really wanted to go,” Wendy replied.

“Don’t you have practice?” Chanyeol asked suspiciously.

“We have the weekends off, duh,” Wendy responded in annoyance.

“You two looked so cute walking down the aisle earlier,” Chanyeol’s mom said, trying to interrupt the pair’s bickering. “Especially you, Wendy. You look so, so beautiful.” Wendy smiled and her cheeks grew slightly pink – she still had no idea how to take a compliment after years of being an idol.

“Here, see?” Chanyeol’s mom said as she showed Wendy and Chanyeol pictures on her phone. “You look like a happy family with Youngjae.”

“Mom,” Chanyeol whined.

“I’m kidding,” she replied. “Anyway, Wendy, Meejin and Youngjae absolutely loved your baked goodies!”

“You’re the one who brought them?” Chanyeol asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I did,” Wendy answered. “I was just supposed to deliver them, but last night I just decided to go.”

“And thank God you did! Youngjae behaved so well,” Chanyeol’s mom said. “If it were only Chanyeol I’m not sure how it would have gone, to be honest.”

“Uh, thanks, Mom,” Chanyeol said sarcastically.

“Chanyeol, just eat quickly. You’ll sing in around 30 minutes,” his mom reminded him.

“You are?” Wendy asked curiously. Chanyeol just nodded. “If you want, I can sing, too. We could do a duet?”

“Wendy, you going here is already too much,” Chanyeol’s mom answered.

“I promise, it’s fine,” Wendy reassured her. “Besides, I sing for a living anyway. What’s one or two more songs?”

“Just make sure no one takes pictures or videos, Mom,” Chanyeol said. He liked performing alone, sure, but he was always more at ease when performing with another person, especially Wendy.

“There are just around 30 guests. And I reminded them millions of times,” his mom said. “Don’t worry.”

Around five minutes before their performance, Wendy and Chanyeol stood behind the small stage.

“I’m still kind of annoyed that you’re here, but let me just say that I’m thankful right now,” Chanyeol muttered.

“Uh, why?”

“Meejin asked me to sing For Life in English, but I couldn’t memorize the lyrics for the life of me,” he admitted.

“And you expect me to know them by heart?!” Wendy asked in annoyance.

“Are you kidding me?! You’ve sang it millions of times in our practice room,” Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “I’ll just be the backup and I’ll play the piano.”

“Fine,” Wendy agreed.

The emcee (Chanyeol’s sister, Yoora) called the pair to the stage and reminded the guests to not take pictures and videos of the two. The pair went up the stage, with Chanyeol sitting to play the piano, and Wendy standing behind the mic stand.

Chanyeol started playing, pressing the piano keys gently, sm