At the time of their seventh anniversary since they met, Yoona and Kris have had one really bad argument. They get into little spats every now and then, but there has only been one time where they really wanted to tear at each other’s throats. Yoona thinks it’s a pretty good record, considering that they both come from a family consisting of divorced parents.

Yoona has known almost from the beginning that Kris wanted children. He was very good with them, especially little ones. Yoona would watch him play with the kids who came to the barn, he was always so gentle and patient, and she knew that he would be an amazing father. Yoona could never do that—she was positive that she would be a horrible mother. Babies were so unpredictable, so fussy and delicate. How was she to handle a small human whose only reaction was to cry or be silent? She’d heard stories of mothers who could tell that this cry meant ‘feed me’, another one meant ‘hold me’ or ‘I’m bored’, to her all babies cries sounded the same; grating, accusing, angry.

Five years into their relationship Yoona confides that she doesn’t think she’ll ever be ready for kids. Kris argues that she’s wrong, she’ll be a wonderful parent. It goes back and forth for weeks, on and off until one day it culminates in a blowout.

“What if I dropped our baby, what would you do?” Yoona asks one night.

Kris doesn’t even look up from the test papers he’s grading. “You wouldn’t.”

Yoona puts down the dish towel. “But what if I did?”

“You wouldn’t.”

Yoona walks over to him and slams her hand down on the table. “Answer me.”

Kris glares at her. “I did. You wouldn’t drop the baby, so it doesn’t matter.”

“It does, damnit!”

It ends with her screaming that he doesn’t know her as well as he thinks he does while he fires back that he can’t understand why she constantly sells herself short and wondering if she wants him to think she’s damaged goods. Yoona storms out of the house yelling that she’s going to sleep in the barn. Three hours later Kris comes out to her.

“I promised to love you forever no matter what,” he reminds her. Yoona has prided herself on not crying since she came outside, but at those words she can’t stop the tears.

They aren’t officially married. Last summer they went to China together with Mrs. Wu to visit Kris’ grandparents and they accidentally got stranded in the middle of nowhere during a rainstorm while driving back from a movie theater. Yoona’s panic attacks weren’t as bad by that point, but she still freaked out a bit. Kris’ grandmother sat in the back of the van with her and Mrs. Wu and the pair of them braided her hair in an effort to distract her, and when she was done Grandmother turned Yoona to Kris and asked if she wasn’t the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

Kris looked over at her from the passenger seat. “She’s gorgeous.”

His grandfather said something Yoona couldn’t understand, but Kris translated. “Apparently that’s how my grandmother wore her hair when they renewed their vows five years ago.”

Grandmother had smiled and reached over Yoona’s lap to hold her husband’s hand. “We hope you will be happy like we are,” She told Yoona in halting, heavily accented English.

Kris had smiled and said that was the best blessing she could have ever given them. Grandfather had said that they should get married soon, they were obviously meant to be, why were they waiting?

“I would marry her right now if I could,” Kris had said, never taking his eyes off Yoona. She’d blushed and covered her face.

“Now?” She laughed, embarrassed. “When we don’t even have a priest?”

“Who needs a priest?” Mrs. Wu asked. “All you need to be married in the eyes of God is love and a witness.”

“Is that so?” Yoona asked teasingly. Mrs. Wu was such a romantic.

Grandfather had smacked Kris on the shoulder and yelled at him. “You gave her a ring,” Mrs. Wu translated in Yoona’s ear. “When will you take your vows with her?”

“Even if you aren’t married,” Grandmother threw in, “You can exchange vows.”

Kris had taken her hand and threaded their fingers together. “What do you say?” He asked, smiling hesitantly. “Shall we exchange vows?”

Yoona was stunned, but somehow not surprised. Of course she would get married in the back of an old car in the middle of a rainstorm in China of all places. Their relationship was built on surprises and accidents, why should their marriage be any different?

“Yes,” she said, laughing. “Yes, let’s do it.”

And Kris clambered into the backseat, switching with his mother. They sat facing each other, Grandmother reached over Yoona’s shoulder to arrange their clasped hands on the seat between them.

Yoona promised that she would never forget how Kris made her feel, the way he’d seemed to take over her heart. He was her true love, her number one. He was all she needed, and she would love him with everything she had.

Kris promised to love her wholeheartedly, through everything. Even on their darkest days, he would never forget that she was the brightest light in his life. She was his true love, forever, no matter what.

Now, one year later, sitting in a pile of hay and surrounded by horses Yoona can still remember the feeling of the leather car seat sticking to her legs, the tickle on her shoulder from where a strand of hair had come out of the braid. She can remember how Kris had smiled while he kissed her, how Grandmother had thrown a towel over their heads and they both yelped in surprise, later laughing at themselves. How that night Yoona had called Jessica to tell her that she was married and Kris wound up having to relay the message instead because she couldn’t stop crying, she was just that happy.

Yoona stands up and wraps her arms around Kris’ neck. “I remember,” she whispers into his shoulder.

Kris’s puts his arms around her waist and he hugs her tightly. “You are an amazing woman,” he told her. “When you are ready, you will be a wonderful mother. I know you will love your children with all your heart and they will love you too.”

Yoona pulled back and wiped her eyes. “And you’ll be with me every step of the way, right?”

Kris kissed her softly. “Of course.”