The wedding was a small, outdoor affair in Kauai, Hawaii. It came six and a half years after their engagement (a ringless, post-coital haze of an engagement, but the best damn proposal Sana could have asked for), during the rare occasion when Dahyun had more than two days in a row off from work. Due to the sporadic nature of the doctor’s job, the whole thing was sprung on the guests with little warning; as a result, the turnout was minimal. But for the two girls, that was okay. They wanted it to be an intimate gathering, one where it would be impossible for their loved ones to become lost in a sea of faces, where they could spend the best day of their lives with the people closest to them. And indeed, this was true: Dahyun and Sana’s fathers were there, Sooyoung and Yerim were there, all of Sana’s high school friends were there. Assorted cousins, uncles and aunts dotted the list, but they were few and far between. Dahyun and Sana flew out to Kauai three days before the wedding in order to enjoy a bit of downtime (the flight was directly after a gamut of seven twelve-hour shifts for the former woman) and to give themselves the opportunity to organize things. The stayed at an all-inclusive luxury villa that was paid for by both of their fathers. Sooyoung and Yerim (with some help from Momo and Chaeyoung) had set up the majority of the ceremony prior to their arrival. The wedding was to be catered by Jeongyeon’s sister’s restaurant. The location was right on the beachfront, a long stretch of white sand overlooked by the reds, greens, and yellows of the animate cliffs of Kauai. Seating was organized in fold-out chair rows beneath a swooping white canopy. It was haphazardly beautiful, the exact image Dahyun had in mind when she’d pictured her wedding.

    The day of the wedding, Sana’s friends picked her up from the villa at dawn. Though the couple didn’t believe in superstitions, both of their friend groups insisted that it was tradition for them not to see one another at all on the day of the wedding. Unbeknownst to them, Dahyun had awoken early enough to see her soon-to-be-wife off, catching the squirrel-like woman as she stepped out of the bathroom.

    “Tzuyu’ll kill us if she finds out about this,” Sana japed as she strode over to the bed-bound younger girl.

    “Seeing you first thing in the morning is more than worth it,” Dahyun whispered, outstretching her arms so she could capture Sana’s bare hips in an embrace.

    Sana Dahyun’s messy hair before framing the younger girl’s face with her hands and bending over to give her a kiss.

    “Can’t we just get married in here?” Sana asked, gesturing to the fancy, lacquered-wood and gold-trimmed room around them, “Just me and you, here in bed, whispering our vows to one another while we kiss and cuddle and-”

    “That’s for the honeymoon,” Dahyun cut off her lover before they got themselves caught up in something they were helpless to resist, “For now, get dressed, go with your friends, put on that pretty smile of yours, and meet me at the altar. I’ll be waiting for you.”

    “I love you, Dahyun,” Sana gave her girlfriend another kiss before hurrying off.

    Once Sana had been picked up by Tzuyu, Dahyun got herself ready as well, bathing and dressing in simple attire as the Haiwaan sun threw orange slats of sunbeams into the room. Yerim and Sooyoung arrived shortly after in a rented Mercedes sedan, the low hum of its electric engine buried by early morning rainforest wildlife. Dahyun wasn’t surprised by her best friends’ choice of car; they were both involved in the lucrative field of chemical engineering, and it was only fitting that people of their economic status should be in such a vehicle. In fact, she had a sneaking suspicion that the villa she and Sana stayed in was not solely funded by their retired fathers.

    Despite their newfound wealth, Yerim and Sooyoung’s personalities remained the same, and for that Dahyun was grateful. The pair burst into her room without warning, arms overflowing with boxes of makeup and beauty gadgets that Dahyun couldn’t even begin to guess the purpose of.

    “Alright Dahyun, let’s do this,” Sooyoung said as she unpacked, “Guests are gonna start arriving at nine, so we’ve only got three hours”

    “Only three hours?” Dahyun demanded incredulously, “Are you sure you’re not doing plastic surgery on me?”

    “In a sense, yes,” Yerim started her assault on Dahyun’s face with some eyeliner as Sooyoung pulled her dress from the closet, “But we’ve done more with less time. So no need to worry.”

    “I’m not. Seems like you guys are bouncing off the walls, though,” Dahyun laughed as Sooyoung stumbled in a mad dash to the bathroom, “Where’s the kid?”

    “The kid?” Yerim froze before, standing up straight, whipping her short-haired head around and calling out to Sooyoung, “Where’s the kid, Sooyoung?”

    “She’s with Nayeon and Jeongyeon. We dropped her off with them last night, remember?” Sooyoung’s voice echoed off the bathroom walls.

    Yerim released an explosive sigh of relief and went back to her work.

    The hours shot by in a blaze of makeup brushes, hair pins, lotions and fragrances. Dahyun hated being pampered, but she had no idea how to structure or assist with any of the doings that Sooyoung and Yerim engrossed themselves in, so she begrudging sat and let herself be transformed.

The dress that she’d picked out (with help from her two impromptu stylists, of course) was tailored specifically to accommodate her chair. It had a lacy, patterned with no sleeves that tapered down into a form-fitting shock of pleated white fabric. The streamlined nature of the garment prevented it from interfering with the wheels of her mobility device.

When Dahyun looked at herself in the mirror, she noted that the tan she’d gained over the past three days (she’d been burnt at first, but there’d been enough time for it to become more of a tan, and the makeup did wonders for blending the spots that hadn’t recovered yet) accentuated the pure white of the dress in a way that her usual pale complexion could not have. Her cheekbones and jaw appeared more angled now, giving her face a toned-down appearance that, in truth, disturbed her. The woman she saw in the mirror was gorgeous, but it didn’t feel like herself. Sana’s offer of a one-on-one bedroom wedding was growing more enticing by the second.

They launched out of the villa at quarter to nine. Dahyun’s stomach rumbled with hunger but she decided to save space for the plethora of food that would be at the ceremony. The silver Mercedes flew like a speeding bullet down the scenic Hawaiian roads, flashing by exotic tangles of bush and tropical trees, rolling across paved hills that sloped up and down throughout the mountainous landscape. The ride was smooth and filled with excited chatter regarding the events ahead. Dahyun found that her nerves were growing with each passing minute, a silly notion that she never thought would have befallen her. The wedding was more of a formality than anything else; there was nothing to be frightened of. So why was her heart drumming away in her chest? Why were her palms and forehead pricked by sweat? Why did her fingers drum against the cup-holder beside her?

They crested a final hill and began their descent to the beach’s parking lot. There was already a wall of cars formed at the fringe where asphalt met sand, and the canopy was overflowing with people walking about.

Yerim turned around in the passenger seat and offered her a comforting pat on the hand.

“This is your big day, Dahyun. Smile. Relax. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Dahyun nodded and gave her best impression of a person who wasn’t about to jump out of the window with jitteriness.

They pulled up, and Sooyoung moved to assist Dahyun into her chair. As she did so, Jeongyeon and Nayeon met them, wind-swept hair and sand-sprinkled dresses sparkling in the sunlight. Jeongyeon held out a bow-adorned three-year old, one with curled black hair and an eager laugh escaping from her lips.

“Mommy!” Haetnim called, practically jumping into Yerim’s arms.

“Hey sweetie,” Yerim cooed, kissing her daughter on the cheek, “Did you miss us?”

“Mhm,” Haetnim then proceeded to cling hard to Yerim’s shoulders, as if fearing that she would be taken from her mother again.

“Did she cause a lot of trouble?” Sooyoung asked, wheeling Dahyun over to the group.

“She wasn’t happy about being away from you guys for the night,” Nayeon said with a giggle, the dark circles beneath her eyes hinting that this was a massive understatement.

“Haetnim, I told you to be nice to your aunties...” Sooyoung scolded, though there was no actual sternness about her tone; Sooyoung was probably as relieved as her daughter was for them to be reunited.

Dahyun took her leave then, allowing herself to be swept up into the crowds of people before her. There was a strip of rubber material that ran from the lot to beneath the awning in order to make it possible for guests to walk without getting sand in their shoes that served a double purpose as it made the going very smooth and easy for Dahyun. The guests were enamored by her appearance, paying her compliments she didn’t know how to accept and conversations she didn’t know how to keep up. She found out that Sana hadn’t arrived yet, which was decidedly against tradition (her older family members frowned at the mention of this) but Dahyun was glad. It gave her time to commence her assault on the trays of amazing food at the center of the awning’s shade. As she stuffed her face, Sooyoung and Yerim managed to find her once again, Haetnim now attached to Sooyoung’s hip and playing with a stuffed white dog.

“I got a text from Tzuyu,” Yerim said with a grin, “Turns out, dressing Sana in a suit took a lot longer than they expected. You know, finding that exact balance between masculinity and femininity?”

“I have no idea what that means but I’m sure she’ll look great,” Dahyun admitted, “How’s she supposed to not see me in my dress until the actual ceremony, anyway?”

“Blindfold, unironically,” Sooyoung said, giggling, “We’ll start as soon as she gets here.”

“Thank God. I just want to get that part over with so I can actually enjoy being with my wife.”

Yerim nodded and draped an arm around her friend’s shoulders.

“That’s why me and Sooyoung have been putting it off so long. We already know we’re in love, why do we have to spend six billion dollars to show everyone?”

Dahyun’s father materialized from the crowd then, a bespectacled man with a crown of greying hair around his head and an immensely proud smile playing on his lips.

“Wow, you look stunning, honey,” he said, leaning over to give his daughter a hug before addressing Sooyoung and Yerim, “You guys did a wonderful job. Thank you.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Sooyoung said with a wave of her hand, “Dahyun’s almost perfect at base, so we just had to do some touching up.”

“‘Almost’?” Dahyun chuckled in mock exasperation.

“Seriously though, Dahyun,” her father said mistily, “Congratulations. The fact that you’ve found someone to complete your life… I knew this day would come, but now that it’s here, it’s… a lot.”

“Come on dad,” Dahyun said, clapping her father on the shoulder for encouragement, “Don’t cry yet. You haven’t even walked me down the aisle.”

“Speaking of which,” Yerim cut in, pointing towards the street, “Looks like the groom’s arriving.”

A black Range Rover SUV was pulling into one of the few free spots left, and through the front window, Dahyun could see Tzuyu sitting in the front seat and Chaeyoung in the passenger. They wore outfits that were simultaneously elegant and casual, a mix of island chic and ballroom standard that they pulled off easily with their radiant visages and forms. The real star of the show for Dahyun, however, stepped out of the back carefully, a black strip of cloth obstructing her view as she did her best to her find her way into a standing position before being assisted by Chaeyoung.

As the three girls approached, Tzuyu and Chaeyoung flanking Sana and guiding her by the crooks of her elbows, Dahyun’s jaw dropped.

Sana wore the suit as if were the most natural thing in the world. It was a tight, sleek tuxedo. The undershirt sported a flanged collar that held up a slate gray tie that hung down and rested just above the belt of the high-waisted dress pants she wore. The jacket had an aesthetic bulkiness to it around the shoulders, becoming more slim at the sleeves and stomach. Sana’s auburn-hued hair splayed out across the upper fabric of the tuxedo, ends curling in subtle hooks of silkiness that bounced up and down as she walked. Her plump lips were parted in confusion, revealing that mild, charming overbite that Dahyun adored.

Around her, the wedding guests began to organize, herded by Nayeon, Momo and Yerim. Dahyun sat dumbly, allowing her friends to position her, unable to do more than autopilot her way through the beginning of the ceremony.

At the head of the aisle, beneath the arced spiral of white trim that was the altar, Sooyoung, Yerim (Haetnim now in her arms), Tzuyu and Jeongyeon flanked Nayeon, who wore an awkward smile, seemingly amused by the prospect of officiating (she’d received an online certification for it a month prior).

Dahyun was vaguely aware that her father was at her side, offering encouragement, but he may as well have been miles away; Dahyun had entered a dream-like state that was centered on a single person alone.

Sana and her father made their way down the aisle first, the woman still wearing her blindfold, guided forward by her father’s hand. When they reached the end, Sana was turned around, the blindfold dropping from her face and revealing a pair of disoriented eyes.

Dahyun’s heart shot into as her father pushed her forward.

As Sana adjusted to the influx of light, her expression shifted from confused to enraptured, a transformation that Dahyun nearly squealed at the sight of. It was akin to watching the first of the night’s stars popping up while the sun dropped below the horizon. She’d seen that countenance before, that wide upturning of lips, that flash of glossy white teeth, that bunching of those cheeks, that dancing spark in those chocolate pupils. Sana’s hands rubbed together before her body, soft hands that Dahyun wanted to hold and kiss and have splayed out over her shoulders.

The crowd watched as she and her father drew closer and closer to her destiny. She was magnetized, a mote of space dust caught in the gravity well of some impossibly large planetary body. Without her father controlling the pace, Dahyun would have been there in seconds, but she knew that it was standard for the bride to build the suspense in her approach.

They came to a halt inches from Sana. Dahyun’s father gave her a final pat on the shoulder before backing up to take his spot beside Sooyoung and Yerim. The wheelchair-bound woman gazed up at her girlfriend with awe, their hands clasping together with absent minded swiftness.

Nayeon gave rehearsed lines that Dahyun had heard at a million other weddings she’d been to in the past. The content didn’t matter. What mattered was the slim, grinning brunette above her, the brunette with the twinkling laugh and the sweet kisses.

The time for wedding vows came before Dahyun was prepared. Sana took the microphone from Nayeon (a microphone that the doctor hadn’t even realized Naeyeon had been using) and cleared before beginning. There was complete silence aside from the crash of the waves and the gusting of the wind.

Neither Sana nor Dahyun broke eye contact with one another. There was no reason for them to.

“Dahyun. Kim Dahyun. Just saying your name makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I know that’s cliche, but it’s true. You have no clue how hard it was for me to think of wedding vows for us. How could I sum up my love for you in what’s supposed to be a short speech? How could I sum up how much you brighten my day by just being around me? How could I sum up what you mean to me, when I can’t even begin to think of words that would come close to expressing the feelings I have f-for you?”

Sana had started to cry.

“I can’t. I can only hope that my actions, my unconditional love for you day in and day out, are enough to convey that to you. I love you Dahyun. You’re my life, my soul, my spirit. And I swear to you, no matter what happens, that will never, ever change.”

Tears dropped from Dahyun’s chin and onto the exposed skin above her collarbone.

Dahyun’s reply came automatic, for she, like her fiance, knew that trying to express the raw affection between them was a fruitless endeavor.

“Why’d you have to say everything I wanted to?”

Dahyun laughed, and the crowd followed, along with her wife.

“I guess I do have some stuff to add though… Sana, you were my first friend. Literally, the first friend I’d ever made. The first person who made me feel like I’m not handicapped, that I could do anything I wanted to in spite of my disability. You’re always there, pushing me forward, making sure I’m doing the best I can do, supporting me when I’m down and bringing me even higher when I’m up. You’re the reason that I’ve become the person I am today. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. I don’t know what my life would be like without you. I love you too Sana. And I promise I’ll continue to, forever and ever and ever.”

They didn’t wait for Nayeon to speak. The buildup had reached its peak, its breaking point, and they could wait no longer. They kissed.

Dahyun allowed the sensation to take her. She drifted away from the people and their cheers and claps, into a pink-hued sky with a lofty bed of clouds. She held Sana tight, tighter than she ever had, intertwined in a conjunction of bliss that exuded undulating waves of delightful eternity. Memories washed over them, fresh tears leaking from between their lids and mixing together like an elixir of soul. They put everything they had into that kiss, communicating through emotion what their words could not.

When they parted, their fingers remained wrapped together, tingling with electricity that flowed between them in constant, ethereal flashes.

They refused to break contact for the rest of the day.

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Took me awhile, but I think this story is finally over! Of course, that means I MAY do bonus chapters in the future, but if it happens, it won't be for awhile at least. After all, this is Saida's happily ever after (:

Thanks for reading<3