Sometimes, when their argument spirals out of control and the feelings of regret began to form, she twists the ring on her wedding finger nervously. Reminding herself of that feeling she thought she had lost. The feeling of truly had fallen for someone, just like she used to have with JB. The feeling that is hard to achieve after they broke up.

The café they frequently visited was always empty from six to eight. It was always so that the two of them decided to only visit the café, hidden in small alleys in the famous streets of Hongdae. The employees of the café knew of them and helped them to earn their privacy, closing to other customers before eight in the morning. Some other famous artists joined them sometimes, including the national couple, Jokwon and Son Gain, veteran singers H.O.T Kangta and others, just to name a few.

Yoo Jin held the newspaper opened wide, his whole body was hidden behind the newspaper while Rian preferred to enjoy her meal by giving her book an occasional glance after putting a mouthful of porridge (gracefully). The two normally enjoyed their mornings with idle chatter before leaving the café, careful not to speak of really private matters.

“Yah, I’ve been thinking,” he paused, taking a quick sip of his black coffee. Rian, barely bother to tear away her eyes from the book, questioned, “About what?”

“Since we are already living with each other and with the recent developments in our relationship, I thought that we should seal the deal,” he replied, blatantly. This time, Rian snuck a quick glimpse at him but only saw the newspaper, covering him whole. “What deal?”

“Oh, you know. Marriage. Want to marry me?” he returned, casually with a loop-side smile. She narrowed her eyes at him, before firmly bawled, “No.” This prompted Yoo Jin to slam the newspaper on the table, eyes widened in astonishment. “Why?” moaned the rock star. He shot her a bewilderment look on his face.

She ignored him and went back to her novel, snorted. “If this is your idea of a proposal, I rather say no. I want it to be romantic.”

“What? You want it to be romantic? As if you have any other choice. With that mini-me and your impossible attitude, not even Lee Jun would want to propose to you,” he retorted, folding the newspaper violently on the verge on ripping it apart. “No wonder, the guy didn’t cry a river when you two broke up. For all you know, he must have been happy with the news.” He glimpsed at her face. And froze, awkwardly.

She tried to wipe her tears away with the tissue, muffling some cuss words as she did so, even glaring at him when their eyes met briefly. He scratched his head; panic began to set in as he fiddled with a nearby spoon. He shoved his hands into his trousers’ pocket, upturning each pocket to find more tissues and with his free left hand; he grabbed her hand and prod her to take the tissues he found. She hastily snatched it and dabbed on her eyes, before her tears ruined her make-up.

Stupid hormones! She cursed both him and her hormones for the tears accumulating in her eyes. She would never cry over some useless matters, like a proposal. Okay, maybe a proposal is not as useless as she thought it would be … but she shouldn’t shed tears just because he a little. She’s stronger than this.

“Alright, alright. You win, princess. I’ll make sure you will have the most romantic proposal that will make other people envy you for ages and they will never be able to beat it even if they sell their souls to the devil,” he sighed in defeat.

“Y-you … promise?” she asked, almost close to a whisper. He nodded frantically, his head bopping up and down with great speed. “You have my word,” he said, beaming with a huge grin. “Now, please stop crying,” he begged, leaning closer to her, cooing her with a hand held out a tissue.

She always claimed that his proposal was the worst proposal that one could ask for. Nana and Ailee disagreed on her statement, stating that she was too embarrassed to admit that she was smitten by the cheesiness of his proposal. It was not that she was too embarrassed by it, but the fact it was his proposal evoke the long-lost feeling of a certain fondness.

On the long-waited day (it was just a week after he did the proposal over breakfast), she received a text from Yoo Jin to head for the Ritz Hotel and searched for an item in a suite. It was a game, something like a treasure hunt. She asked the receptionist at the reception counter for the key to suite 303 and took off to the room. Without realising Ui Bong trailing behind her like an amateur Private Investigator.

She eventually reached the karaoke room after spending a total of three hours and a half on the hunt. She pushed the door to the karaoke room open. The coast was dark and silent. And it remained that way for as long she spent the time waiting for something to happen (a total of ten minutes). She spurned around, after hearing unfamiliar footsteps. It was none other than Ui Bong, panting hard and the expression on his face was equivalent to a cartoon deer before being hit by an oncoming truck.

She tilted her head to one side, glaring at him, “This is Yoo Jin’s idea of a romantic proposal? Is this some kind of a joke? I’m done playing this hunt. Telling Yoo Jin that we are not going to get married after his little “stunt”. I’m going home,” she spat furiously at Ui Bong, whose anxiety was getting the best of him.

She took several steps ahead when he yelled, “Rian, wait! There was a misunderstanding. The venue is not here. Just go to the actual venue. He’s there, I swear.” Rian was determined to leave, ignoring his words, she continued to walk. Ui Bong threw his hands up in frustration and immediately tried to catch up with her fast striding. Spotting Hong Joo in a corner, Ui Bong motioned him to come closer and the frantic wave caused the singer to quicken his pace.

“Err, Rian, where are you going?” he questioned, timidly. Rian stopped on her tracks, shooting daggers at the two helpless men and snapped, “Home.”

Out of the blue, the idea of a single mother doesn’t seemed too ridiculous to her. She could just move to the United States, focus on conquering the global market and live there with her child, devoid of the netizens’ criticisms. Yes, that was plan B if and when plan A (marriage with that jerk) failed to commence. Absolutely a good idea. She will definitely have to purchase a ticket to US later when she reached home.

“No, Rian. Please give him a chance,” pleaded Hong Joo. Ui Bong nodded in agreement, “Yes, this is all our fault. He’s not playing a joke on you. He really went out from his normal cheapskate ways to prepare this event for you,” he added. Both men cut off her path and got to their knees on the floor and held their hands up, “If you wish, hit us but please, we beg you to give him a chance,” they said in unison. They breathed out of relief when Rian returned, “Hurry up, tell me where it is.”

They stood up and ushered to the Ritz Hotel’s ballroom hall. Ui Bong told her that from there onwards, she will have to go on alone until she spotted something familiar. She went in, her heels tapping the floorboards and there was nothing but her and the dimly lit halls. She did as she was told until she spotted a table, fitted with candles, cutlery and a vase of roses like the one you normally see in movies.

Just then, she heard sounds of a guitar echoing in the big hall and the familiarity of his voice. She turned to face him, singing Lee Seung Gi’s famous romantic song, ‘Will You Marry Me?’

Then her perfect vision became blurred, by the tears swelling in her eyes. There were no words that could describe her feelings at the moment. All she knew was that she was being very emotional. Even though she had wiped her tears away, carved an embarrassed smile on her face and whispered, “It’s beautiful.”, her tears refused to stop flowing.

He closed the distance between their bodies, wiping a single tear that managed to escape from her eyes gently with his long, slim finger.