“Bye, guys,” Seulgi said, hugging her two friends. They were at the bus stop, waiting for Seulgi’s ride to come.

Boa and Hyojoo hugged her back, with tears in their eyes. “Are you really sure you wanna do this?” they asked, sniffing.

Seulgi chuckled. “You’re acting like you’ll never see me again! Don’t worry!”

“You better drink clean water, and be sure not to under or overcook anything there! And you better write to us, young lady!” Boa commanded.
Seulgi playfully rolled her eyes. “Neh, umma…”
Hyojoo wiped her tears. “Are you sure you don’t wanna stay for the wedding?” she and Boa were heading to the church straight after seeing Seulgi off.
Seulgi frowned. “I don’t think I can take it,” she honestly answered.

Boa and Hyojoo nodded in understanding. “I would honestly do the same thing,” Boa stated.

Hyojoo continued on hugging her.

“Ugh, my makeup’s a mess now,” Boa said, dabbing the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. “And my dress is wrinkled, too.”

They all laughed.

There was suddenly a honk of a car horn and the bus came into view.

“I guess this is it,” Seulgi said, as she let other people pass and enter the bus. Unexpected tears were flowing down her cheeks as she gave Boa and Hyojoo another goodbye hug.

“I’ll come back soon,” she promised before she disappeared from their view and into the gloomy bus.

“Ticket please?” asked the bus driver. His name tag said ‘Kang HoDong’

As Seulgi handed him her ticket, her eyes trailed to the window, where a picture of a woman was taped.

HoDong the bus driver looked at the woman with loving eyes. And sighed. “She’s a beautiful woman, isn’t she?”

Seulgi nodded and moved onto her seat, leaving the lovesick bus driver to his imaginations.

She took a seat by the window and put her bag next to her. Her suitcase was strapped to the roof of the bus, along with the other suitcases.

A while later, the bus started to move and before she knew it, they were speeding off, away from Seoul. Well, they weren’t actually speeding off, because buses are really slow, but you get what I mean.

Seulgi ped her bag and took out her sophomore yearbook.

After looking at the pages of her and Yunho, she flipped it closed. But the book slipped from her hand and feel down.

As Seulgi picked it up, she saw that the back cover was facing up. The remembered that back cover of Boa and Hyojoo’s yearbooks were plain white, but hers was really messy and there were scribbles everywhere.

She suddenly remembered the words that Hyojoo told her a few months ago.

“Yunho signed it too…but he wrote at the back cover.”

Seulgi picked the book up and saw what he had scribbled all over the back cover of her sophomore yearbook.

They were all love poems.

She suddenly remembered a time when she and Yunho were working on their chem. Project two years ago.

[Flashback]
“Yah pabo, I thought we were working on our project,” Yunho said, as they met up in the chem. Lab.

“Mmhmm…” Seulgi replied absent mindedly. She was reading a book.

She turned to a specific page, to her favorite poem; the one that she never got tired of reading.

Without warning, Yunho just snatched away the book from her and read its contents.

A disgusted look formed on his face. “Poetry?”
Seulgi nodded in a defensive way. “Uhuh! Got a problem with that, jerk?”

“Eww…” said Yunho, his face cringing in disgust. “I can’t believe you actually read this crap!” he said, throwing the poetry book back in her direction.

Seulgi caught it. “So what? Poetry’s romantic! In fact, I want my future boyfriend to confess to me with poetry! LOTS AND LOTS OF POETRY!!!” she shot back.

Yunho scoffed. “As if a pabo like you would get a boyfriend.”

Seulgi burned up and smacked his head hard.

“AAARRRGH!!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!?!” Yunho yelled.

Seulgi stuck her tongue out and they continued on bickering for the rest of the day.

[End Of Flashback]

Seulgi read each and everyone of the poems Yunho wrote.

But there was one particular poem that caught her eye. It was written in the middle of the page. It was her favorite poem.

O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.
-William Shakespeare

Seulgi felt tears sting her eyes as she finished reading. So he really did care. But what was she supposed to do? The wedding was probably starting already.

Her phone suddenly rang and JaeBeom’s name blinked on the screen.

“Seulgi???” JaeBeom said urgently through the phone.
“JaeBeom?” Seulgi said, her voice cracking. “What’s the matter?”

“Look, I know that you don’t love me…” JaeBeom began. “I know that you love Yunho… in fact… I’ve always known that you loved Yunho…”
Seulgi’s eyes widened.
“I was too selfish and I wanted to keep you for myself,” JaeBeom explained guiltily. “But now, I realize how much I love you… I love you so much, Seulgi…” he trailed off.

Seulgi could feel more tears, because she knew she could never love him like that. “Jaebeom, I-”
“I love you enough … to let you go…” JaeBeom finished.
“Wh-what?” Seulgi stammered.
“You heard me, Bae Seulgi. I’m breaking up with you! Now go to that church! You have a wedding to crash!”
“But Yunho’s going to marry HyeBin anyway!” Seulgi protested.
“No! Yunho still loves you, Seulgi!”
Seulgi’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I found out yesterday that it was all HyeBin’s plan!” JaeBeom revealed. “She was the one that started everything! She was the one who secretly helped me into getting together with you! She was the one that started the fire!!!”
Seulgi gasped.

“Seulgi, I’m at the airport…” JaeBeom said. “I’m going back to America today… I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner… HyeBin blackmailed me by threatening to fire my parents from their company. But now I know that I can’t leave in peace if I never got the chance to tell you!”

“You and Yunho are meant for each other…don’t let him go! People like him don’t come around often…” he said,

Seulgi swallowed the lump in . “JaeBeom… I don’t know how to thank you…” she said.

“You can thanks me by getting off that bus and stopping that wedding! Now, go!”

As soon as they hung up, Seulgi stood up and shouted with all her might.

“STOP THIS BUS!!!”

…

JaeBeom put his phone in his pocket and sighed, closing his eyes. He had already told Seulgi. Now, he can leave in peace.

But still, something troubled him.

And without thinking, he dropped his suitcase and duffel bag, and ran out of the airport.

…

Seulgi went to the driver’s side to tell him to stop the bus herself.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that!” said Kang HoDong.
“WHY NOT?!?!?!” Seulgi yelled.
“Because there are other passengers!” he explained in his loud, booming voice.
Seulgi frantically looked around the bus, and her eyes landed on the picture of the woman.

“Who’s this?” Seulgi asked.
That dreamy look re the bus driver’s face as he said, “She’s my wife…”

“What would you do if you never had the chance to be with her?!?!?!” Seulgi asked desperately.
His eyes widened and he clutched his chest with one hand. “I would surely die!” he said dramatically.

Seulgi sighed in relief. Then he would surely understand her current situation.

“Look, the guy I love is getting married today, and I HAVE GOT to stop that wedding!” she explained quickly. “Do you want another person in this world to have the misfortune of not being with the one they don’t love?!?!?”

This seemed to have moved the bus driver because the bus suddenly screeched to a stop.

The automatic door opened, and Seulgi faced HoDong to thank him.

“Go, child!”, he said. “Run like the wind! Save the love of your life!”

And Seulgi jumped off the bus and ran on the empty road like there was no tomorrow.

…

Music began playing and everyone turned to look at the entourage.

Jaejoong entered, with Dana’s arm wrapped around his.

Boa hissed at the sight of them, walking down the aisle together.

Then came in Donghae with Jessica.

Hyojoo’s eyes narrowed at her boyfriend and the evil girl beside him.

After that, the bridal march was played by the pianist and everyone stood up to welcome the bride.

Boa gasped. “That b*tch is wearing my design!”
Hyojoo just shushed her and said, “You’re not supposed to say bad words in church!”

On the altar stood Yunho, looking at the girl he was supposed to marry. A veil covered her face. He looked her up and down and realized that her wedding dress looked really familiar.

“Seulgi?” he thought to himself, filled with hope that it really was his beloved under the veil.

The bride came up the altar and Yunho shakily lifted the veil up. His hopes flickered when he caught sight of HyeBin’s glowing face.

“Dearly beloved…” began the priest. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two people in holy matrinmony.”

…

Seulgi had no time to hitch a ride or hail a cab. She just ran and ran all the way to the church.

She stopped to take a breather, due to running for so long. There was a tower clock nearby and Seulgi raised her head up to look at the time.

It was 6.30. the wedding started at 6.00.

This definitely motivated her into running more and with all the strength she had left, she pushed herself further, thinking of only Yunho.

…

“If anyone has an objection to this lovely couple’s union, speak now or forever hold your peace…” the priest said, looking around.

Boa, Hyojoo, Jaejoong and Donghae had trouble shutting up and had to cover their own mouths. They had caused too much trouble, and it wouldn’t help if a couple of rich and famous daughters and sons of the most well-known business tycoons in Korea make a scene in front of the reporters in the most talked about wedding of the year.

“Do you, Jeon HyeBin, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or for worse…” and the priest drone on and on. All Yunho heard was ‘blah, blah, blah’.

“I DO!” HyeBin chirped a little too happily.

The priest turned to Yunho. “And do you, Jung Yunho, take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife *blah, blah, blah*?”

Yunho gulped. He looked around the room to see his smiling parents, his future in-laws, his friends, who were frowning in the crowd and by the altar, the reporters, who were eagerly waiting for his answer, and the guests, who knew nothing behind the scenes.

“Well? Do you?” the priest said again.

Yunho gulped again. This little answer would change not only his life, but also the ones of his friends . these two little words were going to determine his future.

“You’re supposed to say yes,” the priest hissed.

Yunho took a deep breath, ready to voice out what he had to say.
…

Seulgi ran and ran, until the church came into view. She heaved a sigh of relief, as her sprint turned into a fast walk. She took a deep breath as she busted the door open.

“STOP!” she screamed.

There was nothing… no gasps, no shouts, no one saying her name. That was when she realized that the church was empty. No one was there.

She ran outside to look at the church’s name, to see if it was the right church she went to. And it was.

“Oh no…” she said, as tears escaped her eyes and fell down her face. “I’m too late.”

The dejected sand heartbroken damsel slowly walked back to the school, not able to control her sobs.

She went to the school’s rooftop; the place where she and Yunho looked at the stars, where Yunho had first asked her to be with him. [Chap 16!]

“If only I said yes at that moment…”Seulgi told herself, looking at the city lights below. “If only I wasn’t so stupid to get mad over that bet… this wouldn’t have happened.

She walked over to the shed, where Yunho had kept some stuff, in case he wanted to stay alone on the rooftop a little bit longer.

She gasped when she saw what was inside.

There were millions of pictures, stuck on the walls of the shed, and hanging on pieces of string, which were tied to the ceiling. All of Seulgi’s modeling pictures were there, along with several others. There was even a picture of her sleeping in class. Yunho must’ve taken it when she was napping during history.

It hurt too much for Seulgi to see, so she slowly walked out the shed, and wept.

“Jung Yunho!!!” she yelled to the city lights, not caring that he wouldn’t hear her.

“I’M SORRY!” she screamed, sobbing heavily. “I know I shouldn’t have been so mindless! I really did love you! AND I STILL DO!!!”

“I LIKED IT WHEN YOU CALLED ME PABO! I LOVED ALL THOSE TIMES WHEN WE WERE FIGHTING! AND I WAS EXTREMELY JEALOUS WHEN LINA CAME TO THE SCHOOL!!!”

Her sobs grew more ragged as she cried even harder.

“JUNG YUHO!!!” she yelled again, with all her might. “I LOVE YOU, OKAY?!?! THERE! I SAID IT! I’VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU, YOU IDIOT! AND NOW, I’M ALL ALONE! AND IT’S ALL MY FAULT!!!”

Her knees gave away as she cried her eyes out.

“Pabo…” said a voice behind her.

Seulgi lifted her head up. “Am I going crazy now?” she asked herself.

She turned around, and there he was, wearing his tux and a smile on his face.

“Wh-what?” Seulgi stammered fighting her tears.

“Pabo…” Yunho repeated, as he walk towards her. “You’re not alone… I’m right here.”

“Y-Yunho?” Seulgi asked, wiping her tears. “How did you… I thought you were…” she couldn’t even complete a whole sentence.

Yunho grinned as he told her what happened.

[Flashback]

Yunho took a deep breath, ready to voice out what he had to say.

“I d-”

“STOP!!!” somebody yelled, cutting him off.

Everyone in the church turned to look at the door, only to see a breathless, panting JaeBeom.

“JaeBeom?” Yunho said, tremendously surprised.

“Don’t marry her, Yunho…” JaeBeom said, still panting heavily.

HyeBin, on the other hand, was furious. “I thought you were going to America now,” she angrily said through gritted teeth.

“Well, I didn’t!” he answered indignantly. Then he turned to Yunho. “Look, I know that we don’t like each other that much, but you have to listen to me!”

“Ignore him, oppa!” HyeBin said. “He took Seulgi away from you, remember? You have ME now!”

“Yunho, don’t listen to her! That woman is pure evil!!!”

Yunho was confused. He didn’t know who to direct his attention to.

“SECURITY!!!” HyeBin screamed, when Yunho didn’t answer.

Some big, burly men entered and dragged JaeBeom by the arms.

“She planned it all along!!!” he yelled, as he was being pulled out of the church.

“Stop!” Yunho told the security guards. They were confused, as they didn’t know who to listen to.

“Go on,” he said to JaeBeom.

JaeBeom wriggled himself out of the big security guards’ arms.

“When both of us were competing for Seulgi, a mystery person offered to help me with my problems…” he began. “that same person was the one who started the fire and put Seulgi in the hospital,” he stated. “It was that person who told me to go to the chem. Lab that time, which is why I managed to get to her first.”

“And when I came to visit Seulgi at the hospital, I saw you going into her room, so I waited until you came out, so I could visit her, because my mystery helper told me to wait until me and Seulgi were alone,” he continued.

Yunho’s stomach churned as he recalled that incident in the hospital, where Seulgi had chosen JaeBeom over him.

“Yunho… I don’t know how you heard our conversation, but you heavily misunderstood… Seulgi chose YOU.”

Yunho’s heartbeat rose. “Wh-what?” he asked.

“Seulgi told me that she wanted to choose me, but she said that she couldn’t because she loved you more,” JaeBeom revealed. “I knew that she still had feelings for you all along… but I was too selfish to give her up…”

“But now, I know… that if you love someone so much… you have to do whatever it takes to make that person happy…”

“HyeBin was that mystery helper, Yunho… she knew how much you felt for Seulgi, that she made up a really evil plan to break you two up, and to have you for herself!”

“THAT’S PREPOSTEROUS!” HyeBin screamed. “YUNHO, DON’T BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD HE SAYS!!!”

“Au contraire,” Jaejoong interrupted. “We…”he gestured himself and Donghae, “… bumped into HyeBin a few days ago, and we saw one of the notes she sent JaeBeom,” he stated.

“How do you prove that? What if it wasn’t really for JaeBeom, huh?” HyeBin asked defensively.

“It had JaeBeom’s name on it,” Donghae said.

“HAH!” someone suddenly shouted from the crowd. “I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH YOU! YOU WANTED TO MAKE SEULGI MISERABLE!”

Everyone turned their heads to see Boa standing up and pointing her finger at the guilty bride.

Yunho’s body shook. “Is this true?” he asked, fists clenched.

“Ummm…” HyeBin stuttered. No excuse came to mind.

“That says it all!” Yunho said, as he raced out of the church to chase after Seulgi.

“AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!” HyeBin screamed in fury, as the church door closed. She ran for the door, in order to chase Yunho, but was stopped by eight figures with angry faces.

“Jeon HyeBin, you have a lot of explaining to do,” Mr. Jeon said, tapping his foot on the floor. Next to him were his wife and the Jung parents. All were looking at her disappointedly.

And next to them, were Donghae, Jaejoong, Hyojoo and Boa, smiling triumphantly.

“Oh, and by the way…” Hyojoo said, taking a step closer to her, so they were face to face. “That dress looks SO much better on Seulgi.”

She flipped her hair, which hit HyeBin’s face and walked away. Boa laughed at her and followed.

“I am so right now…” Donghae whispered to Jaejoong.

[End Of Flashback]

Seulgi looked at Yunho, disbelief written on her face.

Yunho laughed. “Look at that priceless reaction! You really are a pabo!”

Seulgi punched him on the arm. “YAH! I’m no pabo!”

“YOU, Jung Yunho, are an arrogant, self-centered, egotistic, and very hateful jerk, who put a dent on my car, which is completely broken now!”

Yunho scoffed. “Well, YOU, Bae Seulgi, are a temperamental know-it-all, who bites and physically hurts people, and was too stupid to move her car when the light turned green!”

“Oh yeah?” Seulgi took a step closer to him. “Then why did you fall in love with me?”
Yunho also took a step closer to her. “I think the question is why did YOU fall in love with me?”
Seulgi smirked and Yunho took it as a confirmation.

“So you really did fall for me?” Yunho asked cheekily.
“I don’t know… did I?” Seulgi replied

Yunho chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug.

It seemed to have lasted forever, but they had to break the hug eventually. And when they did, they looked deep into each other’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Yunho said. “For everything…
“It’s okay…” Seulgi replied, placing her hand on his cheek.
Yunho held onto her hand.
“I’m sorry, too…” she said.
“Forgiven,” he replied joyously “And now, we must promise each other that we will never-”
“Oh, just shut up and kiss me, you moron!”

Yunho grinned. “I thought you’d never asked.”

And with that, he softly pressed his lips against hers, to mark the start of their future together.

…

“WHOO!!!” the six friends cheered, as they reached the beach. It’s been two months since the destroyed wedding, and the gang had just graduated from high school. They decided that celebrating with a mini beach party was the best way to go.

After a fun day of playing games, building sand castles, and swimming in the clear water, all of them took a breather before their barbeque dinner.

“Taste this,” Jaejoong said, placing a fork of barbequed pork near Boa’s mouth.

Boa closed her eyes and opened wide, waiting for her boyfriend’s delicious cooking to enter . When she didn’t feel anything, she opened her eyes to see him munching away on what he was supposed to feed her.

“Yah!” Boa said, pouting. “Where’s my piece?”
Jaejoong puckered up his lips. “You gotta gimme a little smooch first,” he said.
Boa smirked and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. “There. Now feed me!”

Jaejoong thought for a while. “Nah!”

And he and Boa chased each other, laughing as they did.

“Aww, they look so sweet,” Hyojoo said, as she and Donghae watched Boa and Jaejoong.
“And we’re not Donghae said, pouting. They were roasting marshmallows by the bonfire.
“Haha, we’re cute than them,” Hyojoo joked, as she popped a roasted marshmallow in Donghae’s mouth.
Donghae gave her a kiss on the lips as they continued with their alone-time.

Yunho and Seulgi were walking hand in hand, along the beach..

“Hey, the sun’s setting!” Seulgi exclaimed, as she stopped in her tracks.

Yunho was behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She rested her arms on his as they watched the beautiful sunset together in silence.

“Yunho?” Seulgi asked him.
“Hm?”
“What’ll happen to us when we… y’know… go to college?”
There was silence.
“What if… we won’t be in the same college together? What if we won’t pull through with the whole long distance thing?”
He was still silent.
“Yunho?”

“I wanted to give you something…” he said, as he unwrapped his arms form her waist dug into his pockets. He took out a silver bracelet.

“My grandmother gave me this when I was a kid…” he said, as he took her wrist and put the bracelet on. “She told me to give it to the girl I fall in love with…”

“And now that it belongs to you…” he continued, holding her wrist up. “… so does my heart…”

“So, whatever happens…” he went on. “… wherever we may be and no matter what we do… my heart will always belong to you… and no one else.”

Seulgi’s heart skipped a beat.

“That has got to be the corniest line ever created in the history of corny lines!” Seulgi said in giggling outbursts.
Yunho pouted in disappointment.
Seulgi placed her hands on both his cheeks. “But… I liked it…”

Yunho smiled and leaned in for a kiss, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

“Saranghae…” he whispered in her ear when the kiss finished.
She beamed. “Saranghae…” she replied.
“Forever?”
“Neh… forever.”

Seulgi felt so happy, with everything that has happened to her. Even through all the tears, the anger and the sorrow she went through, happiness and laughter came along the way. She will never forget the people that have entered her life; friends, family, even enemies. Everything was finally going her way.

The princess was finally having her happy ending in this fairytale.

But was it all because of fate? Destiny? Or was it because of that one little bet that started everything?

<3--------------------------------