The only reason why he actually bothered to redo his marriage proposal to her is because she was crying and it was his fault causing it in the first place, courtesy of her weathering hormones. Not because he thought she deserved something better than that.

Buried under the piles of women’s magazines, DVD box sets of romantic comedies and music scores was Jin Yoo Jin whose very soul has been dry by hours and hours of fruitless research for the “most romantic proposal ever”. His voice echoed from underneath the pile, “Ui Bong, I give up. She’s not going to get that romantic proposal after all. It is so hard,” he moaned.

Ui Bong chuckled. “Well, you chose to marry Rian. The Rian who we went to high school with. Of course, she has high standards and your “proposal over breakfast” wouldn’t work,” stressed the dance teacher, taking a seat on the opposite armchair.

Yoo Jin jerked up to a sitting position, shot him daggers before returning his sight on the women’s weekly magazine and interjected, “I’ve been reading all these magazines for five hours and watched those romantic comedies she loved so much. What did I come up with after all that hard work? Nothing. Nothing!” he wailed.

The things he does for her and love. Seriously, now when he gave it a thought, he realised what did she ever do for his sake?  Couldn’t she just answer yes to his proposal, instead of a no? This was just the beginning. He had seen how certain women can ended up being terrifying the process of handling preparations before marriage ceremony. Jin Yoo Jin does not want to deal with a bridezilla. Especially if that bridezilla is Rian.

Ui Bong sifted through the heaps of magazines and picked one up, the magazine with Ailee on its front cover. He flipped through the pages and settled on page five, which had articles such as ‘the secret to romance’, ‘best ways to win a woman’s heart’ among others. He sat down on the armchair, chimed, “There’s plenty from what I can see. Did you even read the magazines properly? This one has good tips.” He produced his phone from his pocket and began to type out the tips.

“I did. But none really catch my eyes. For Rian, I need something that is not too grand, just enough to make her cry tears of joy and maybe a little emotional from it is tolerable.” Yoo Jin glimpsed at Ui Bong, who was engrossed with the magazine, when he did not get any answers from his long-time friend. The rock star got to his feet, inserting another DVD into the DVD player when he noticed something among the piles of magazines. Upon closer inspection, it was a list of timeless romantic proposals. Now a large smile developed on his handsome face.

That’s it! He’s brilliant. How could he not think of it before? He just needs to go through the list and create the perfect proposal from combining and changing certain minor details of the proposals. Now, for his “little helpers”, he eyed the unaware Ui Bong with a tiger had eyes on its prey. Ui Bong was an easy prey. Hong Joo might need a little coaxing. But there’s nothing like an all-paid expense vacation for two that Hong Joo could not refuse. Workloads were piling up recently. Hong Joo doesn’t really need to know that he is paying for the singer to have a vacation in his own home.

After three days of research, he finally managed to come up with, what he hoped for, the most romantic proposal that one has ever seen. Out of the list, he had taken a proposal from each categories (there were five categories in all) and mashed together. A smug stole his face. He smiled at no one in particular. The plan was to send her texts to go to certain points in the hotel’s compound and Ui Bong as her invisible guardian angel and Hong Joo acted as his informant. Each check point had an object hidden somewhere in the grounds, pieces of a bigger clue and for the final checkpoint, she will have to piece up the bits of clue and will be lead to the hotel’s empty ballroom hall where the real surprise awaited her. There was a table in the middle of the massive and empty ballroom and on it, laid romantic candles, finest silver cutlery and a vase of red roses.

Slightly ambitious but he already gave his word to her and he will make sure she will get the proposal he promised her. Or die trying. Either way, doesn’t really matter. He only thought of her and her reactions. The source of his undying drive to continue his plans. The debt he accumulated to make his proposal a reality. He will also make sure she pays half for it since she was the more successful star.

He waited nervously behind one of the large pillars while his two inept sidekicks (namely Hong Joo and Ui Bong) went to fetch Rian after the poor girl headed for the hotel’s karaoke room, thanks to Ui Bong’s mistake of misplacing a certain item and Hong Joo replaced the missing item with the wrong one. It was the most crucial item/clue to point out the actual venue for tonight.

His heart beat hampered relentlessly against his ribcage as he sat, squatting behind the pillars which hid him from the entrance. Wondering whether his heart will give out before she arrived and the image of him dead on the spot doesn’t look pleasing as well. Curse the sweat he felt dripping down his forehead, quickly dabbing it dry with a handkerchief.

He straightened up at the sound of clicking heels, forcing his handkerchief into his trousers pocket, and quickly putting the guitar strap on. He spotted a hand waving a blue handkerchief at the windows, only visible to him. Closing his eyes, he tried to calm himself down before removing himself behind the pillars. Once he came into her full view, he began to strum the strings, playing a sweet melody, and he sang a few lines.

            Will you marry me?

            Will you live forever with me?

            We can sweetly love each other

            I want to have a child who looks like me

            Another one that looks like you

His eyes widened at the sudden realisation he had forgotten what was the next line. Sheepishly, he scratched his head and replied, “Err, I don’t remember the whole song.” Then, hurriedly producing a rose from his behind, bending on one knee, he asked nervously, “So, how about it? Will you marry me?”

There was no reply but silence. Yoo Jin decided to sneak a fleeting look at the actress in front of him. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she instinctively turned away from him and used the ends of her sleeve to wipe her tears. She quickly carved a hangdog smile and he heard her muttered unintelligently.

Of course, his proposal was a success despite its failure in several minor (major) aspects. But the tears in her eyes, the smile on her face and the unspoken whisper (“It’s beautiful.”) was her way of saying yes and that was enough for him. He did not need anything else. Just those three small things made his heart fluttered.