Kim Junmyeon

            Last time Junmyeon saw the entirety of his family was when his oldest cousin got married. Now, for some absurd reason, his father as well as Bae Joohyun’s mother thought it was a magnificent idea to call for a family gathering at the time he was trying to land a deal with a high corporate group for the entertainment industry. As much as he would love seeing his half-sister, half-brother, and their mother again, it wasn’t the ideal time to drown in wine and chit-chat with family members—all he was going to hear was, “Junmyeonnie, when are you going to get a girlfriend and get married?” or “You’re almost thirty, shouldn’t you find a wife already?” or “Why haven’t you settled down yet?”

            Yeah.

            Junmyeon’s almost hitting thirty, still in his prime, still looking as attractive as ever, yet his grandmother, Joohyun’s mother, and sometimes Joohyun herself would wonder about his relationship status. He wasn’t exactly thinking about settling down just yet; he couldn’t even focus on himself most of the times. Just take a look at his unkempt apartment every now and then.

            “Hi, Myeonnie.”

            Junmyeon glanced up from his assortment of charcuterie—of course Joohyun’s mother would have a platter of the finest aged cheese, prosciutto, and fruits. She had to illustrate her sophistication in some way. The Kim-Bae family were gathered at the Bae’s household, only because they had the biggest house yet (a two-story home in a gated community), in the living room with tables of refreshments and platters of food. Junmyeon was definitely going to stick by the food table, stuffing his mouth with delight so that he wouldn’t have to bother conversing with others about his love life.

            Yet, here was Joohyun, and he knew because only she would use that nickname on him.

            He was chewing on a stubborn block of cheese, remains sticking to the grooves of his teeth. “Hi, Hyun. What’s up?” He looked around. Odd. There was usually someone she clung onto, like her arm had to have that pretty accessory. “Where’s Seulgi?”

            Joohyun smiled. “She’s actually on her way. Work was holding her back a bit longer than expected.”

            Junmyeon remembered the first time he saw Joohyun and Seulgi together. It was an understatement to say that he was shocked, but at the same time he wasn’t really surprised. Being the same age as Joohyun and sharing the same father but different mother, Junmyeon had some sort of inkling deep down about who Joohyun truly was—to know what she was hiding behind a façade sometimes. She was always reserved with her doings, speaking in smooth, soft tones with her vague words—like they weren’t straight to the point, but you still fully understood her in some way—and the way she moved and acted was subtle to some degree. Watching her grace her way through high school and spending most of the time clinging onto Seulgi was kind of an ease in, and then he chanced upon their intimacy by accident at Joohyun’s 21^st birthday party at their local club, the two girls grinding against each other on the dance floor after downing one too many drinks. They snuck to the restroom and stayed in a stall for who knows how long.

            Their relationship was a kind that didn’t need to be directly told to anyone.

            You just kind of knew—how they looked at each other, how they held onto each other, how they smiled at each other.

            Some individuals were definitely too ignorant for their right, immediately dubbing them as best friends, but Junmyeon knew better. Joohyun never showed any interest in anyone, not even the ones who made advances towards her. It was only Seulgi.

            “How are you two, by the way?” he asked, curious. They had been together for such a long time now. What was their secret for staying together so long? He wanted to know—maybe then he would stop breaking up with three-month girlfriends and settle down with someone who could potentially last longer than a year.

            He sipped his red wine. Ah, it was wishful thinking—his career was definitely top priority right now.

            “We’re wonderful.” Joohyun grinned. There was a sparkle in her eye. “Better than ever before.”

            Junmyeon raised an eyebrow. “Wow, really? How long has it been—seven years? Eight?”

            “Nine, almost ten. Our anniversary is next month,” said Joohyun.

            Junmyeon’s jaw slacked.

            No way!
            Joohyun nodded and giggled at the sight, as if she understood his awe. “Two years in high school, all four years of college, three years after, and now almost completing another year.”

            “That’s crazy, Hyun.” Junmyeon was still in shock. How come no one ever asked her when she was going to get married? She was almost thirty, too! “And when are you going to get married to her, huh?” he teased. Someone had got to get a taste of what he had been receiving.

            “Soon.”

            Okay, he didn’t expect that answer.

            “S-Soon!?”

            Joohyun took a step towards him and whispered, “I’m planning on proposing to her on our anniversary.”

            “N-No way, Hyun!” Junmyeon exclaimed, and a big, fat, uncontrollable grin slapped on his face. “I’m actually so happy for you!”

            As they basked in happiness, a loud commotion took place at the front door of the Bae’s household. The half-siblings turned to look at the foyer and found the one and only soon-to-be fiancée of Bae Joohyun bowing and greeting the Kim-Bae family members.

            “Aigoo, Seulgi, you’re looking as pretty as ever!”

            Junmyeon watched as Joohyun immediately put her glass of wine down next to the charcuterie set, rushing over to glomp Seulgi into an embrace and plant a peck on her lips. It was as if all conversations suddenly came to a cease at the sight of her girlfriend coming in, as if her world only revolved around Seulgi.

            As Joohyun and Seulgi started talking to Junmyeon’s father and Joohyun’s mother, Jaehyun, the half-brother, popped up next to Junmyeon.

            “Hi, hyung,” he greeted, eyes still on the old, yet strong couple.

            “Hello, Jaehyun.”

            Joohyun was seen placing a protective arm around Seulgi, gently leading her away after their overbearing conversation with her parents. They settled down closely against each other on the couch in the living room, and Joohyun immediately starts feeding a combination of cracker, aged cheese, and a thin slice of prosciutto to Seulgi.

            “Seriously, what is their secret?” Jaehyun asked. “They still act like high schoolers in love.”

            Junmyeon shrugged. “I don’t know, but whatever bond they have, I hope I have that with my next girlfriend.”

            “Ah,” Jaehyun started, as if he suddenly had a revelation. “And when are you going to get married?”

            Sigh.

            Not the youngest brother, too.

Moon Byulyi

            When Byulyi was laying down in bed after a long day of selling high-end fashion bags, mind reverting back to the high school days where she would pull pranks with Hyejin, engage in a rapping battle with Song Minho, or harmlessly flirt with Yongsun, she didn’t think she would be missing her group of friends so bad. They had all gone their separate ways when the majority of them went to different colleges, only meeting up together at special occasions like birthdays or holiday parties.

            But the next biggest meet up ever was going to be Joohyun’s and Seulgi’s wedding in a few weeks. Everyone was bound to go, considering how the engaged couple had sent out their invitations months in advance so that everyone had time to call off work.

            She wasn’t a part of the planning process with the marriage, but because she was with Yongsun (since she was asked to help plan the wedding), she stole glimpses of the hectic and stressed lives. Just watching Joohyun threatening to rip her hair out and Seulgi sliding a palm down her face made her feel stressed as well.

            It was when Byulyi accompanied Yongsun to another wedding planning day at Joohyun’s and Seulgi’s penthouse. Joohyun was pacing back and forth in their wide living room, hand clutching onto the phone tightly by the ear, arguing with the florist who was on the other end of the line. Apparently when Joohyun had called to make some adjustments to her arrangement of flowers, the flower company didn’t have their initial order, so now Joohyun and the florist were spitting back and forth to see what had actually occurred.

            Yongsun was also feeling stressed out sketching the seating arrangements for the wedding, which Joohyun and Seulgi agreed to have in a garden. A spring wedding, it was. But what was stressing her out was the numerous individuals who Joohyun wanted to come to the wedding, but for some reason, a good amount of them had bad blood with each other. Well, that was usually the case when you were friends with basically everyone, but not everyone was on good terms.

            Seungwan, on the other hand, who was also in the planning process of the wedding, was jotting down ideas for decorations to make it one of the most beautiful weddings to ever grace this world. A beautiful wedding for a beautiful couple—it only made sense.

            Though, the behind the scenes work was anything but.

            Byulyi glanced up when she heard Joohyun raise her voice louder than ever, shouting a farewell before angrily hanging up on the call, throwing her phone down onto the white leather couch. Joohyun shoved her fingers through her messy tresses and clenched her hands tightly. Any further and she might rip a few strands.

            Seungwan and Yongsun stopped working for a while, padding their way to the stressed bride-to-be who was slumping against the couch.

            “Unnie, is everything okay?” Seungwan asked first, a hand on Joohyun’s shoulder as she tried to catch the latter’s lowering gaze.

            Byulyi noticed that whenever Joohyun became too frustrated, she would collapse into any spot in her home, sinking and curling into her body, wallowing in despair. Tears would come out against her own will, and Joohyun had voiced one too many times that she hated crying out of frustration.

            “Stupid florist!” Joohyun muttered. “She forgot the flower arrangements that I ordered three months ago, and when I tried to make some adjustments today, she acted as if I had never ordered from her before! It takes a good two months to get all of the flower arrangements from this florist—the wedding is in two weeks!”

            Yongsun rubbed Joohyun’s back. “I’m sure we can find another florist who can get us the flowers in no time, Joohyun.”

            “But they don’t have the flowers that I want!” Joohyun grumbled, and she leaned down, covering her face with her hands. “They’re the only place that has Seul’s favorite…”

            Byulyi frowned. She felt so useless sitting here and she desperately wanted to help Joohyun as much as possible, but time seemed to be the enemy here. She glanced down at her phone to look at the clock. Seulgi should be getting here any minute now, considering how she should have finished teaching a world-class dance thirty minutes ago. She wasn’t sure if Joohyun would favor her fiancée coming in to see her like this, but then again, if they had been together for ten years, Seulgi should have seen Joohyun in this state more than once, right?

            Byulyi stood up and made her way over to Joohyun as well, gaining stares from both Yongsun and Seungwan as if saying, “how are you going to comfort her?” She kneeled down in front of Joohyun. The poor girl was still crouched, face covered.

            “Hey, Joohyun…” she started. “I know your wedding is really soon and it’s the biggest day ever for both you and Seulgi, and you definitely want the best out of everything, but I am so sure that whatever flowers you end up getting, everyone is going to love it.

            “You wanted those flowers from the florist earlier because they’re Seulgi’s favorite, right? Everyone here—you, especially, you… you should know much more than us. You should know that Seulgi would love anything that you end up getting because at the end of the day she’s going to only care about you and only you and none of those flowers that’ll survive for only a few weeks.”

            Joohyun finally dropped her hands, face flushed from how hard she was palming herself, eyes red from how much it burned trying to refrain the tears from falling. Byulyi hoped that she was able to talk some sense into Joohyun, considering how she definitely was not thinking in her right state of mind while stressed. She had heard earlier from Yongsun that Joohyun was in the middle of trying to get a promotion for the modelling agency she was working at, so she was working her off day and night, impressing the higher-ups to consider her to take that step up the ladder. And with her wedding on top of that, with trying to make it more than perfect, it was taxing on Joohyun, breaking her down not only mentally but physically as well.

            Joohyun cared so much to make her wedding the best day of her life with Seulgi.

            So, she grimaced, standing up while wiping her eyes dry, face suddenly turning cold, “Thanks, Byulyi, but I still have to get these flowers. It’s only right.”

            Joohyun returned to her phone, probably searching up new florist companies that had middlemist red flowers by the sight of her thumbs flying away on her screen and her eyes scanning back and forth.

            Byulyi sighed; Yongsun patted her on the back and Seungwan sadly smiled at her. They both experienced being under Joohyun’s stress before, and it seemed the most appropriate decision was to let Joohyun be or else she would never be satisfied with the situation.

            Or let Seulgi come to her.

            Byulyi turned at the sound of the echoing beeps of the keypad and listened to the door smoothly slide against the marbled floor for Seulgi to pop through. Seulgi didn’t seem to notice the company, tiredly slipping off her worn Nikes and shoving her car keys in the glass bowl at the stand against the wall.

            “Hyunnie,” Seulgi called out in a soft, weary voice.

            She must have had a long day of dance, considering how she climbed up the ranks to teach world-class level choreography to groups in the entertainment industry who were trying to make it big.

            Joohyun shifted on the white couch and tried to make every sign of her frustration disappear.

            Seulgi’s footsteps got closer. “You in here?” She rounded the corner and saw Joohyun rubbing the frustration out of her eyes, Yongsun and Seungwan diligently working on their own wedding tasks on the floor in front of the glass table, and Byulyi reclining on the one-seater. “Oh. Hi, all.”

            Byulyi waved at her with a grimace whereas everyone gave her a nonverbal response as well. Joohyun went up to her instead, wrapping her arms around Seulgi’s waist and burying her face into the crook of her neck.

            “Hi, Seul.”

            Seulgi returned the embrace, hands rubbing up and down Joohyun’s back. “Hi. Is everything okay?”

            Byulyi expected Joohyun to nod her head and play it off, but the latter surprisingly stopped forcing up a strong demeanor, for she shook her head and tightened the hug.

            “No, I’m just… stressed again…”

            Seulgi frowned and combed her fingers through Joohyun’s hair, untangling a few knots here and there. “Aw, baby, what’s wrong? Tell me.”

            Byulyi observed as they walked toward the other end of the living room, standing by the vast expanse of windows where their view was overlooking the city. Joohyun was holding onto just Seulgi’s hands now, head hanging. Seulgi was staring at her intently, face contorting to match whatever Joohyun was telling her at that point.

            There was something about Seulgi to Joohyun that made the latter crumble in her defenses. Byulyi had seen it a few times when Seulgi was comforting Joohyun when she was distressed. She became overly affectionate for Joohyun, planting soft pecks anywhere on her face, rubbing circles on the back of her hand, rocking her back and forth in an embrace. It was as if all Joohyun needed was to be in Seulgi’s arms for a long time.

            And it seemed to be true, Byulyi softly smiling at the sight. Seulgi was the one speaking now, hands cupping Joohyun’s soft cheeks, head lowered to match their eye level. Joohyun was nodding every now and then, as if whatever Seulgi was saying to her was obviously the correct thing to hear, as if the words spewing out of Seulgi’s mouth were the only words that can make any situation better for her.

            They gazed at each other for a moment’s longer.

            Joohyun and Seulgi were definitely made for each other. They have gone through thick and thin with each other, pushed through invisible yet high barriers to establish their relationship, fought with each other and overcame it like any other couple would. Yet, in the end, despite whatever struggles they faced, they have each other at the end of the day, and it was like they always knew that in the back of their minds, always knew that whoever were to antagonize them, it would still be Seulgi and Joohyun together.

            Byulyi glanced over at Yongsun, who was huffing to herself after scribbling another round of sketches for the seating arrangement.

            She could only wish their relationship would last just as long and impenetrable as Seulgi and Joohyun’s.

            The wedding day came around faster than any of them knew it. Byulyi was pacing around in the flower-heavy garden, weaving her way through round tables and hanging lantern decorations to greet long lost friends. There weren’t any middlemist red flowers, but there were Seulgi’s second favorite—orchids. Sooyoung and Yerim were hot on Seungwan’s trail to assist her in hanging up the decorations (it was more so Sooyoung hanging them because her heels gave her an extra three inches) on trees here and there. Junmyeon, Soojung, and Jongin were talking to each other before Chorong stepped in to join in on the conversation. Minho and Seungyoon just walked through the arched entrance, glancing around in awe. And finally, Byulyi caught up with Hyejin and Wheein, who were coming out from the indoor reception area.

            The wedding was scheduled to start in about an hour. Last minute adjustments were being made, Yongsun was pushing the guests to their assigned seats, Seulgi and Joohyun were still inside the indoor area to touch up on their appearance. Byulyi only saw them in full blown makeup but casual clothing when she first arrived, but she knew that whatever wedding dress Joohyun ended up donning and whatever outfit Seulgi had on as well, they were going to be one of the most sought-after, desirable couple to ever exist.

            And soon, there were five minutes left.

            Three.

            One.

            The pastor at the front cleared his throat.

            “Welcome, guests. Please take your seats as we begin the wedding ceremony for Kang Seulgi and Bae Joohyun.”

            Yongsun finally huffed down next to Byulyi after seating the last batch of guests. The latter smiled at her and softly rubbed her hand.

            It felt like eternity before Seulgi made her appearance first, striding down the aisle in high heels to stand next to the pastor. Guests were in awe at the sight of her. She wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, but she wasn’t wearing an ordinary tuxedo like a groom would either. Well-fitted black slacks and buttoned blazer, accentuating her curves, with an accent of white from the flaps of the inner shirt she was donning. She looked sophisticated and beautiful all at the same time, long, dark brown hair cascading over her shoulders in waves, makeup stunningly applied to emphasize her sharp, charming eyes and full lips.

            Seulgi was effortlessly attractive in her own right, and if she could look this good with what looked like minimal effort, Byulyi wouldn’t want to know what killer appearance Joohyun would make.

            No one had seen Joohyun yet except for Seungwan when the latter finished setting up the decorations early and proceeded to check on the bride. So, no one except for those two expected to feel their heart stop when she graced the garden, a shy smile etching across her features, calculated steps small and paced. Byulyi swore her, and practically everyone else’s, jaw dropped at the strapless, white wedding dress Joohyun had on. Her hair was down, swept off to one side of her shoulder, with a white veil trailing down her back.

            Saying that she looked beautiful was somehow an understatement.

            As everyone watched Joohyun walk down the aisle with her father linked with her arm, Byulyi chanced a glance at Seulgi and found her with her hand covering , tears b her eyes. This was surely one of the biggest days of her life so far, and she was probably wondering what in the world did she do in her past life to deserve something like this—someone like Joohyun.

            Joohyun was close to tears as well when she stood in front of Seulgi. She let out a laugh, like it was kind of ridiculous to start crying on a day that was supposed to be the happiest moment of their lives. But when they saw each other in their outfits, when everything leading up to this point felt so surreal, it finally dawned on them.

            They were getting married.

            They were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

            They were demonstrating their love in one of the purest ways possible.

            Byulyi thought their love was one of a kind—pure, wholesome, inspiring. Like they were soulmates.

            The whole wedding ceremony was something to always remember. When they read their vows to each other, how Joohyun choked up on her tears when she ended up speaking from her heart towards the end; when their tears couldn’t seem to stop streaming down their cheeks; when they slipped on their rings for each other; when they fully kissed each other, crowd cheering and hollering (Byulyi swore Sooyoung and Yerim shot off a confetti gun at the end, by the likes of them whooping and hollering out of their seats).

            Joohyun and Seulgi remained in an embrace even after they kissed. The latter leaned her forehead on her now-wife’s, fingers reaching up to tuck away loose hair strands behind the ear that stuck out as much as hers did. They couldn’t seem to stop smiling at each other, looking like a pair of lovers who were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship.

            “I love you… so much,” Seulgi seemed to have said.

            But regardless if she said it or not, Byulyi knew it wasn’t even needed to be real. The way that they looked at each other was enough.

            She smiled and wiped away a tear of her own.

            Who would have thought that Byulyi was able to witness a love grow from the very beginning to reach the stage where it was inevitably the end—the surefire way to know that anything from here on out was near impossible to break them now.

            She heard a sniffle from her side. “They went through so much together…”

            Yongsun was bawling, napkins wiping away at her eyes and then nose. Byulyi only laughed and helped her girlfriend dry her tears.

            “And now they established a bond to everyone else to show that they are going to go through the rest of their lives together.”

            “Oh, Byulyi.” Yongsun hiccupped and blew her nose. “They are definitely soulmates.”

            Definitely.

This was probably one of the favorite things to write, considering how quick I finished up this story! So, there you have it: two POVs per chapter that looks over certain parts of SeulRene's life, which was high school, college, and now full-blown adult life. I might write up a bonus chapter that looks at only how Seulgi and Irene look at each other, but we'll see!

Thank you for reading, everyone~!