CHAPTER 40: The Race

 

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“ELFs, did you know?”

Heechul spoke through the mic as he made his way back to the main stage with the rest of the members; everyone was panting hard, Leeteuk handed him a water bottle and slung an arm over his shoulders.

“I'm getting married tomorrow?”

The screams got louder as the light sticks got raised up some more. Sweat ran down their faces; it was quite a performance after all. Heechul smiled at the reaction and took sip of his water before speaking any further

“But I still came here to see all of you and have a good time with all of you”

The crowd screamed louder.

“I'm spending my last night as a free man with all of you”

The crowd then began to chant a cheer in Korean. It seems to Heechul that they learned Korean well;

“CHUGHA HAEYO OPPA! CHUGHA HAEYO OPPA!”

“Will you all support me? My bride is waiting back in Korea right now”

“YES!”

“Do you want to meet her?””

“YES!”

“Then come to Korea...”

Heechul sniggered. Donghae slapped his arm while laughing.

“Anyway, I prepared a little something for you... please look at the screens, I asked someone to put in the subtitles”

Everyone turned to the large screens even the staff and the rest of the boys; no one actually saw this coming except for some. Even their manager knew nothing about this; soft music began to play and then all of a sudden Heechul's face appeared. It seemed like he was doing a self-cam and the audience was screaming when his face flashed.

 

Heechul fixed his hair, he then turned the camera and so it was facing a mirror showing what he wore. It was a white tuxedo. He did a wave with a smile then chuckled before holding the camera up to face him again.

“Annyeong Haseyo, Kim Heechul imnida... I'm here at a photoshoot for my wedding”

He looks to the side and sniggers.

“I look nice, don't you agree?”

Heechul walked around. Then all of a sudden he entered through a door then began to call out a name.

The fans began to scream when he began to speak

“Youngmi-ah... Youngmi-ah! Youngmi-ah!”

Heechul continued to walk then stopped as he knocked on a door.

“What do you want?”

Heechul stuck a tongue out at the camera and began to make snobbish girly faces, imitating what Youngmi had just said. He chuckled and knocked on the door again

It's like the sapphire blue sea was being electrocuted

“Let me in, what are you doing there?”

He knocked on the door continuously

“Waeyo? I'm changing clothes”

“Really? Don't change clothes yet!”

“I'm changing into the wedding gown, what do you want?”

“Just let me in”

The camera was now directed towards the door, a click was heard and the video went on slow motion as it opened. But it wasn't Youngmi who answered it, it was the stylist noona. She seemed surprised and immediately covered her face with a hand as Heechul laughed. He came inside and greeted the noona before the camera finally turned and there stood Youngmi.

And everyone went into spazz. Sungmin seemed like his breath was taken away, he and Ryeowook were clapping hands in adornment

“Noona looks so pretty!”

Ryeowook couldn't help but shout.

“What are you doing?”

she covered her face with the veil as Heechul came close to her and pulled the veil away but she then covered her face with her hand. The two of them were laughing

“I'm... tsk... I'm taking a video, don't cover your face”

Youngmi was holding back her laughter from erupting as she continued to cover her face and Heechul kept pulling her hands away.

“Stop that! Come on, greet my fans”

Heechul said from behind the camera. By now, Youngmi had uncovered her face. She was standing properly as the stylist was behind her, fixing her hair. She smiled and waved her hand, the other holding her stomach.

“Hello ELFs! My name is Youngmi”

Heechul sniggered from behind the camera.

-

Youngmi was now sitting down infront of a big mirror and beside her was Heechul. He was still holding the camera but let it face the mirror so that they would both be seen.

“Youngmi-ah”

He called out to her, she looked at him through the mirror

“What's your message for the ELFs? Make it long”

Youngmi thought for a moment then began to speak as Heechul directed the camera towards her. Her face was facing the mirror so it was only her side view but she took occasional glances towards the camera

“Everlasting Friends, I know we had a rough past”

Heechul laughed, stopping her

“Yah! What's so funny? Stop interrupting me”

“Your message, okay okay, please go on”

Youngmi glanced at Heechul, giving him a stern look before continuing

“I'm not going to steal your oppa, he was the one who asked me to marry him anyway”

Heechul slapped the side of her arm making her gasp as he yelled

“Yah! Don't blame me!”

“Stop interrupting me!”

-

“Alright, finally this time”

Heechul said; Youngmi was now facing the camera. Her veil was attached on her hair but pulled back, she was still sitting but now facing Heechul.

“Okay... ELFs, I hope you all would come to accept me one day, I will promise to be good to your Heechul-oppa even if he's bad to me”

She sent a glare at Heechul and he just sniggered and muttered a 'you're scary'

“I hope you all will continue to support Super Junior too; I know that you always look out for them so I'm relieved to know that you also take care of them in your own ways, please take care of yourselves too... what else? Uhm... Super Junior has come so far now because of their hard work and also because of you, I'm sure they are very thankful to all of you”

she smiled

“Thank you for the warmth that some of you if not all, have made me feel; I wish you all well and I hope to meet more of you soon, kamsahamnida”

she bowed her head.

The video ended there and the screen turned blank, the next song then played.

-

A knock came on Youngmi's door that evening. She quickly ran to open it and saw one of her female cousins along with the designer and an employee from the dress shop that carried a bog white box.

“Youngmi!”

Her cousin squealed and hugged her, she stepped aside from the door and let them in. the girl set the box on top of her bed and the designer opened it; a person came through the door carrying a black mannequin and the designer took the gown out and put it on the mannequin as Youngmi watched with great awe. It was really here. As soon as the gown was settled, she walked over to it and touched it to see if it truly was real and as soon as her fingers felt the pearly white beads, it was indeed a reality.

“Wait, what about Heechul and the other members' tuxedos?”

she asked; her cousin smiled and answered

“His parents' room is right under yours so the tux is there, the others' tuxedos are in Heejin's room”

Youngmi nodded her head in understanding. She then turned to the designer

“Uhm... Auntie, why don't you join us for dinner?”

“Ah, aniyo... it's okay Youngmi-ssi, we just came to deliver the dresses and tuxedos”

“No, I insist... really, please”

Her cousin smiled and clasped her hands together getting their attentions.

“Alright then, shall we all go down?”

Youngmi told them to go ahead; she walked to her bag and tossed it in the closet before grabbing her room key and running out of her hotel room.

-

“Kamsahamnida!”

They all did their final bow before slowly leaving the stage. As soon as they got into the back rooms, a camera was waiting there. Ofcourse, all of them did their bows to the staff aswell and said their thank you's. Heechul wiped the sweat off of his face; he smiled as soon as he saw the camera and did a peace sign.

“Youngmi, I'm coming home!”

-

“Tomorrow's the big day!”

Mrs. Kim chimed; she was sitting across Youngmi's mother who was sitting beside Youngmi. The dinner table was quite lively; Heechul's family, her mother and sister and Hangeng was present.

“How I wish Heechul was here though”

Mrs. Kim sighed; Heejin turned to her umma

“Umma, even if Heechul was here, he won't be able to see Youngmi since isn't it bad for the groom to see the bride before the wedding?”

“Yeah, if the wedding doesn't go as planned, I won't be able to see my grandchildren anymore!”

Heechul's grandmother says. Youngmi's side of the family was pretty quiet; according to Heejin that is. They were a family of doctors, her cousins were either nurses or doctors themselves. Hyunjung was probably the only one who strayed away from the medical field.

“Are you nervous, Youngmi?”

she shot her head to the left, where her grandmother sat a little farther away.

“Ah, a little... halmeoni”

she put on a nervous smile.

-

“Come on! Hurry up! We have to get to the airport!”

Leeteuk rushed his donsaengs, barging into each of their room. The van was waiting downstairs already and their flight was due in mere minutes. Heechul impatiently tapped his foot on the ground, waiting by the open door of the van. Fans were surrounding the hotel but at the moment, it felt like his anxiety blocked off the screams. He saw the elevator door open and Siwon, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun stepped out.

“Hurry! Geez! We're going to be late!”

“Calm down hyung! Your wedding isn't due for another set of hours... geez”

Kyuhyun mumbled, entering the van. Heechul slapped his making him wince.

“The flight takes up lots of those hours, you idiot”

Ryeowook and Siwon chuckled before they too entered the van. The others soon followed, Yesung & Leeteuk being the last. Soon, the van moved out. Quite slowly at first because of the gathering fans but then successfully left the perimeters of the hotel.

“Ah.... I'm really getting married?”

Heechul asked, turning to Leeteuk. The leader snorted a laugh.

“What? You suddenly can't believe it's happening?”

Heechul let out a dramatic sigh, putting a hand to his heart as he leaned back.

“I'm really nervous right now!”

“Hyung, after you get married, where will you be staying?”

Shindong asked, turning around from his seat. Heechul mentally face palmed himself; the two of them never really talked formally about it... maybe at Youngmi's house for the mean moment.

“We'll talk about it at the reception! But right now, I just want to get to that damned wedding!”

However...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the airport; the worst just had to happen.

“The flight has been delayed”

their manager broke it to them. Heechul's eyes widened

“WHAT?!”

Everyone began to worry aswell. Although, this was not their wedding, it was their brother's and they were all a part of it aswell. Their manager let out a sigh and said

“It's not until another hour”

Heechul felt his legs shake. This was horror... it just couldn't happen. He walked over to the seats and sat down at quite a distance, pulling out his phone and bit his lower lip as he pressed it onto his ear

-

Youngmi was alone in the hallway, making her way to her room. As soon as she entered, she heard a faint ringing sound coming from the closet so she walked over to it, entered and answered her phone in haste as soon as she read the caller ID

“Oppa?”

“Youngmi-ah...”

Her heart skipped a beat. He didn't sound right. She swallwoed hard, mentally shaking her head, maybe she was just being delusional or just hearing things.

“I just finished dinner with our families... how are you? How is the concert?”

“Youngmi, I think I'm going to be late”

Her face just dropped all of a sudden.

“Oh... why?”

“Our flight is delayed for an hour so yeah but I'll be there”

she bit her lower lip. Youngmi nodded her head and forced a smile, thinking positively. At least he wasn't going to be absent. Late is better than never, so they say.

“Arasso! Get here soon, I'll inform them”

“Alright. Get your beauty rest if you want to look much prettier than me tomorrow”

She laughed

“I bet your eyes have heavier bags than mine!”

“Puh-lease! These bags are beautiful because they're Louis Vuiton!”

“Pabo...”

“Mehrong!”

she sat down on the edge of the bed, kicked off her shoes and climbed on.

“I'll see you tomorrow, oppa”

“Yeah... ofcourse you will”

Silence. She smiled.

“And you will be honored”

She face palmed herself.

 

 

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Author's Note: Very sorry dears! The past weeks, school has up all of me like a vacuum cleaner :(