“This is exactly how I always imagine you will be on our wedding day, Tae. Very gorgeous. Very breathtaking.”

Minho snorted secretly, trying hard not to roll his eyes. He folded his arms as he gave Kim Jongin the side-eye.

Yet, Kim Jongin didn’t mind him even a bit. In fact, Minho even wondered if this rich guy actually realized that he was there, watching him flirted with his soon-to-be-husband in a few hours.

“You didn’t know how surprised I was, hmm, Tae?” Jongin said, throwing a betrayed look. “I was just back from Canada and a wedding invitation welcomed my arrival. Your wedding invitation.”

“Stop being overdramatic, Jongin,” Taemin scolded him. “C’mon, greet Minho too, will you?”

As if it was his cue, Minho was quick to be Taemin’s side. Minho was glad he wasn’t shorter than Jongin so he wouldn’t look like he was intimidated by the famous heir of Empire Group, who happened to take too much interest in his fiancé. His husband in a few hours, to be exact. A few hours, he repeated in his head.

Minho held out his hand to offer Jongin a handsake, while naturally placing his hand on Taemin’s back, “Thank you for coming to our wedding. You must be very busy.”

“Don’t mention it,” Jongin took Minho’s hand. His grip was firm, of course, he was born to a confident guy in a powerful family. “I have a meeting at Singapore, but of course I’m willing to push back my flight for Taemin.”

Minho didn’t really know Jongin before and he honestly didn’t really care about him. They just met once at SHINee Inc.’s GMS. At that time, Minho’s first impression was that Jongin was a smart and rational and he quite liked him for that. Now, Minho wasn’t sure anymore. There was this bugging feeling he got the moment Jongin appeared at the grooms’ waiting room. Maybe, he felt a little offended by Jongin’s ignorant attitude towards him.

“It means you won’t be here when the ceremony start?” Taemin asked.

“Unfortunately, no, sweetheart,” Minho almost puked by the pet name Jongin threw at Taemin. “But you can come with me,” Jongin added with a wink, made Minho’s urge to puke become bigger.

“Jongin…” Taemin glared at him.

“Just kidding, Tae,” Jongin held up both of his hands, grinning widely.

“Sir,” suddenly Jongin’s PA appeared. Jongin sighed, “That’s my cue to leave. I’ll contact you soon, Tae.”

Taemin nodded, “Have a safe flight. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you,” Minho smiled fakely, out of politeness, but it didn’t matter because Jongin didn’t pay attention to Minho. Instead, he reached out to caress Taemin’s cheek gently.

“You’re very beautiful today, Tae,” he said.

“Umm, okay. Thank you,” Taemin replied awkwardly, unsurely glancing at Minho who pretended to not care and busy playing with the hem of the back part of Taemin’s white tux.

As soon as Jongin left, Minho went back to his comfortable white couch. He leant back and crossed his legs, eyes staring at Taemin.

“I didn’t know Kim Jongin is obsessed with you.”

Minho somehow knew they must be close, or at least Lee Family must be close with Jongin family, remembering how Jongin who was never present actually came to the GMS to give his support to Jinki. But, Minho didn’t knew they were this close.

“He isn’t,” Taemin denied quickly. He took a seat beside Minho. “He’s just always like that.”

“Okay,” Minho said, but he didn’t believe it at all. “How did you become close to him?”

“Not just me. Jinki Hyung is close with him as well,” Taemin corrected. “His family...um…kind of helped my family a lot in the past, so we kind of knew each other. And one day he ran away from home to Japan and forced us—Jinki Hyung and I—to take him in. So we naturally became close after that.”

“He what?” Minho turned to Taemin to face him properly, surprised by the information he had just heard. “Why?”

“He wanted to learn ballet at college but of course his father didn’t want that. So he left home. Only took 3 days though, for his father to find him,” Taemin leant his back on the armrest of the couch so he could sit comfortably while still looking at Minho. “My father said it just took one day actually, but his father let him be for 3 days to cool himself down.”

“Wow, I didn’t know he’s quite…an idealist,” Minho said. “But now that he opened his own ballet school…I guess it somehow work out for him?”

“Maybe,” Taemin smiled faintly. “But maybe not. Who can know how people really feels except themselves? All may be just a mere assumption. He may be happy now, he may be not.”

There was silence for awhile, before Taemin couldn’t stand it, “What? Stop staring at me.”

“Well, I think I can understand why he’s obsessed with you.”

“What do you mean by that? Is that a compliment or an insult?” Taemin asked defensively.

Minho couldn’t believe that Taemin literally accused Minho thinking badly of him when he actually thought otherwise.

“A compliment, okay?”

“For real?”

“For real.”

“This is weird,” Taemin shook his head.

“What is weird?” Minho frowned.

“You. Complimenting me,” Taemin titled his head, thinking, before his teasing smile appeared. “Don’t tell me…you’re falling in love with me?”

“Oh, please,” Minho denied, couldn’t help but to roll his eyes. His heart might beat a little bit faster in satisfaction once in a while due to Taemin’s constant flirting or sweet talk, but he wasn’t some teenage boy easily falling for something like that. Moreover, Minho’s stress from Taemin’s antics came a lot more than the skip of his heart beat from Taemin’s flattery words.

“Knock, knock,” a familiar voice interrupted their meaningless banter.

Both of the grooms instantly looked at the direction of the door, finding Kibum who was dressed fashionably as always and Jinki who looked stunning in his neat, black suit. They stood up to welcome the two guys who automatically went to their respective close partner. Kibum stopped in front of Minho as Jinki was quick to be by Taemin’s side.

“So, how’s the tux? All good? Fit perfectly? Of course, right?” Kibum immediately turned into a designer mode, eyes closely observed both Taemin’s and Minho’s attires.

“Everything is perfect except we look like a pair of pawn chess,” Taemin muttered under his breath, but everyone in that room could hear him clearly.

Jinki’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold back his laughter, while Minho didn’t care and just broke into a laugh. Only Kibum glared at Taemin, protested, “Yah, I made this—this wonderful, amazing suits in two weeks and is this how you thank me?”

“Minho who said it first! He kept saying we should just have the chess board motif carpet for the aisle,” Taemin pointed at Minho, defending himself. He was honest. Forget the compliment, Minho just kept making fun of him the moment they finished dressing.

“Yah, Choi Minho!”

“Well,” Minho tried to speak properly between his laugh. “We do like a pair of pawn chess, don’t we? That’s why I said we should just pick one color.”

“But it’s a tradition!” Kibum pouted. “One wears black, one wears white. Women wears white wedding dress all the times and no one say they look like a pawn beside their groom.”

“C’mon, the suits are lovely and you both look lovely,” Jinki—although still smiling—calmly said, finally stepping in before the war broke between the two close friends, “The moment you both are out there, these pawns joke will be forgotten, really.”

“Really, Hyung?” Taemin turned to Jinki. “Do I really look okay?”

His hand moved to fix Taemin’s crook bowtie, and he smiled softly as he said, “You look perfect.”

“Thank you, Hyung,” Taemin gave him a soft smile as well.

Blinking a few times, Kibum suddenly had this weird, uncomfortable feeling rush into him. Like he was witnessing something very intimate that he wasn’t supposed to see. Shaking his head, he tried to divert his attention to Minho who happened to miss the scene, because he was busy with his troublesome cufflink that got loose. Kibum quickly helped him, trying to fix it.

Jinki glanced at the best friends, noticing they were busy. He got closer to Taemin, whispering to the younger guy as low as possible so no one could hear him, “Tae, you sure with all this?”

“Yes,” Taemin answered in a heartbeat, frowning why his hyung suddenly asked him that. A few hours before the wedding, on top of that.

“You know Tae,” Jinki still whispered but he pretended to help smoothing Taemin’s uncreased suit. “I’ll be at the entrance.”

“You’re supposed to be at the front row, Hyung. Right beside Dad.”

“Just know everytime you think you’re stuck, I will always make a way out for you,” Jinki tapped Taemin’s shoulder for the last time, smiling assuringly.

“I know,” Taemin answered him, half smiling, half holding back tears because eventhough it wasn’t Jinki’s intention, Taemin’s mind wandered to his sixteen-years-old self, sitting on the floor with eyes staring blankly at the bars.

“Come here,” Jinki saw Taemin’s crestfallen eyes and pulled the groom into his hug. “All I really want is you, to be happy.”

“I know,” Taemin’s voice cracked.

Jinki might be able to notice the slight change in Taemin’s eyes, yet he failed to catch the wary eyes watching their intimate interaction.

The seats located on both side of the aisle were almost completely full already. It seemed like all of the important guests had already arrived. They didn’t invite many people, only close relatives and friends, as well as their major business partners. One thing that Taemin and Minho agreed on right away was the number of the guests. Both didn’t want a crowded, big wedding.

The ceremony would be started soon, so Kibum as Minho’s best man hurriedly made his way to his designated place, making sure it would be easy for him to pass on the wedding rings to the grooms. But Kibum still took his time to stop his steps where he could admire the decoration once again. He was skeptical at first when Minho and Taemin told him they would have a garden party. There were so much instances that couldn’t be controlled, like rain, windy weather, or the blasting sun. Now that he saw how beautiful it was, it seemed the garden party was a pretty good idea.

They made the entrance from a lot of dried branches, decorated by green leaves and flowers in three colors. White, yellow, and purple never looked this good for Kibum before. The entrance made a resemblance of the gate to the fairytale world Kibum remembered seeing on the fantasy books he used to read when he was a kid. And it did. It was really looked like a fairytale wedding. They used a lot of woods and dried tree branches to be the four pillars on each of the corners, and each pillars branched off to give some abstract, but sturdy frame on top of the venue. They put white, a little transparent clothes all over that well-made roof, so the people under it wouldn’t be bothered that much by the hotness of the sun, but would still got generous light. Meanwhile, the aisle started from fairytale gate ended at the altar where the grooms would exchange their vows. The altar was under two big trees—real trees—where they put another transparent white clothes at the branches of each trees that met in the middle. White and pastel pink flowers were added to give beauty in it. Under the two branches, the wedding officiant was already standing, ready to marry the couple off.

Seeing the officiant, Kibum continued his steps. Yet, he stopped once again when he spotted Jinki stood no too far away at the entrance. He approached him without thinking, “What are you doing here, Hyung?”

Jinki seemed startled by the sudden greet, but his face softened immediately when he realized it was just Kibum. “Oh, it’s you, Kibum.”

“You’re not going to the front?” Kibum frowned.

“I’ll be here.”

“Why?”

“Hmm…” Jinki didn’t look at Kibum, instead he was looking at the door where the grooms would appear later. “In case Taemin changes his mind, I’ll be ready to take him away.”

Kibum’s heart thumped, to the point it felt a little hurt. “What…”

His face must look ridiculous right now, that Jinki looked at him and chuckled, “I’m just kidding,” Jinki flicked his forehead lightly. “What did I tell you? No frown.”

“Hyung!” Kibum rubbed the spot Jinki flicked.

“Go,” Jinki turned him around and pushed him towards the altar. “You get the rings, don’t you?”

“But you…” Kibum glanced back to Jinki who kept smiling.

“I’ll go there later.”

Glancing to Jinki the last time, Kibum half-ran to his spot in the front, because he heard the MC informed that the ceremony would be started in a few minutes. As soon as he stood where he was supposed to be, Kibum looked at Jinki once again. The older man was still there, and Kibum couldn’t help but thinking if what he said was really a joke or not.

I must be crazy, I must be crazy, I must be crazy…

Those words kept repeating in Minho’s head when he stood there at the altar, in front of all of the guests, waiting for Taemin. The two weeks of the wedding preparation flashed like a lightning and honestly, Minho didn’t really think much about all of this. But he couldn’t help but to think he was insane, right when he would be married any minutes now. His heart was beating like crazy that he started questioned if anyone who got married was like this or it was just him.

His eyes accidentally met with Kibum and his best friend mouthed ‘smile’ to him with a glare. Only at that time Minho realized he must look very nervous. Minho quickly put on a smile, that he really wished didn’t come out as a grimace.

Weirdly, his nervousness started to cease to exist the moment he saw Taemin walked down the aisle with Mr. Lee. It looked a little bit awkward because Minho never came to a same- marriages before, so he was used seeing a woman linked arms with her father in a white dress with a bouquet of flower. But the awkwardness was able to make Minho smile heartily, especially when seeing the absence of flower bouquet. It reminded him the sulky Taemin—who was already irritated because he would be the one who played the ‘bride’ role in this marriage with the white attire and the walking down the aisle—strongly refused the addition of the flower bouquet to his costume. Of course, Taemin had no choice to take the ‘bride’ role, because there was no way Minho’s father would walk him down the aisle to marry him off to the son of a family’s enemy.

That was why when Taemin finally arrived in front of him, Minho could send the shorter guy a big grin, which was replied by a huff from Taemin, as if the younger guy understood that Minho was teasing his awkwardness. Mr. Lee smiled at the antics of the two boys. He handed Taemin’s hand to Minho after giving his only son a quick peck on the cheek. He patted Minho’s arm while sending a warm, full of gratefulness look to him. Minho nodded to him in respect, before taking Taemin to stand in front of the officiant.

The officiant’s words were long and to be honest, Minho didn’t really pay attention to it. In his head, Minho kept repeating his vow, afraid he would forget because there was no way he could improvise without making it absurd. After all, he took it from the internet—irresponsible, he knew—choosing the least corny one he could spot. Kibum had helped him to revise it here and there so Minho just needed to memorize it. Which he did. Just one night before the wedding.

Minho even didn’t realize he or Taemin had said ‘I do’. He just knew he was given the ring and the officiant finally told them to hold hands and face each other. And this was it. Time to say his vow.

Taking the deepest breath that day, Minho cleared his throat and started to speak:

“With this ring, I, Choi Minho, take you, Lee Taemin, to be my husband. I promise you that I will never let go of these hands, to be your light even in your darkest time, to be the air for your breath, to be the shadow who never leave your side, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

As soon as he was done, Minho put the ring on Taemin’s finger, almost robotically like they had rehearsed before. He didn’t miss Taemin’s teasing glint when their eyes met. It made Minho wondered if he spoke his vow just fine or if it sounded flat and people found out he just memorized it.

Fortunately, his, and everyone’s, attention was diverted because now it was Taemin’s turn declare his vow. The younger guy looked directly at Minho’s eyes, and Minho almost choked up when Taemin started spoke dramatically:

“With this ring, I, Lee Taemin, take you, Choi Minho, to be my husband. I vow to always protect you, to dedicate myself for your happiness and your comfort. I promise to be your biggest support, to hold your hands when you’re unsure, to give my shoulder when you’re weary, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

Then, Taemin put the ring on Minho’s finger. He didn’t forget sending Minho a winning smile because—Minho admitted—Taemin didn’t sound as stiff as Minho, although Minho also believed he was way overdone it.

“Before all of these witnesses, both of you have pledged to be joined in marriage and completed the pledge with your wedding rings. By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you to be husbands. You may now seal your vows with a kiss,” the officiant said.

For a moment, Minho was stunned. They had forgotten this part. They didn’t discuss this beforehand. Minho was at loss, and when he looked at Taemin, he was as clueless as Minho. Minho still held Taemin’s hands tightly. Should he kiss him on the lips? Should he go for the forehead? Short and sweet? But they had done most of the part traditionally, right? After all, both of them was an adult, and it was just a kiss….right?

Breathing deeply, Minho decided he shouldn’t think much and just did it. So he leant closer to Taemin, who kept blinking his eyes but didn’t move away or anything. Minho kept getting closer and he started to feel Taemin’s hot breath on his lips and the tip of his nose touched Taemin’s. His heart started beating fast again like it did before the ceremony, so to chase away his nervousness—why should he be nervous anyway? It was just a kiss, he told himself over and over again—Minho closed his eyes.

Finally, he closed the gap between him and Taemin.

Only to be welcomed by the soft skin beside Taemin’s lips. Minho opened his eyes, realizing the younger guy had turned his head just a little in a split of second before their lips met. The guests were cheering, unaware by the fact. But Minho didn’t mind any of them, or any of the voices around him, because his eyes now were glued to the shorter man in front of him, all flushed with wandering eyes, refusing to meet Minho’s eyes, still kept blinking shyly.

And for the first time that day, Minho finally agreed with Jongin, Jinki, and the rest of the people who had complimented Taemin.

That his husband was extremely, completely, and breathtakingly gorgeous.

Whatever you're thinking about Jinki...it's right. Or wrong. I don't know, tell me what you're thinking.

P.S. The chess reference is for commemorating Taemin's comeback Advice on May 18th!

XOXO