"Ppalli, Yeobo," Jin Yi said to Jong Hyun, who was arranging his tie.

Jin Yi was holding their one-year-old baby, waiting for her husband to finish dressing up. The two were invited to Min Hyuk and CL's engagement celebration, and Jung Shin had been calling for them to hurry before the pair arrives.

"Ah, Jung Shin-ah is so impatient," Jong Hyun complained. "Will he never learn that this hyung always want to look good?"

"Yeobo, you always look good, no matter what you wear," Jin Yi replied in exasperation. "Gaja!"

"Gaja!" their baby, Shi Yoon, blabbled.

The couple laughed and kissed their baby, then they left home to go to the event.

****

"How come it is so unfair?" Jung Shin complained. "Hyung is married, Min Hyuk-hyung and my twin will soon get married, and Yong Hwa-hyung and Shin Hye-noona will... they will get engaged soon, geureohchi?"

"Why will it be unfair?" Jong Hyun asked.

Jung Shin looked at his hyung as if the hyung was entirely dumb.

"Hello???!!!!" Jung Shin said in exaggeration. "I'm, like, the only bachelor among us!"

Finally, Yong Hwa and Shin Hye arrived, holding hands together. Jung Shin got envious and pouted, but he acted as the host to the event, and let his friends sit down. And as the two pairs talked, Jung Shin was Shi Yoon's babysitter.

"Why don't you be paired up with Ara instead?" was Jong Hyun's naughty question.

Yong Hwa's ears pricked. For more than two years, his system has not undergone catharsis just yet. It had been years since he had loved the strange girl, only to find out it was Ara. Jong Hyun cleared his throat and apologized.

"I have no word of her after Hyung let her go," Jung Shin said.

"Na do," Yong Hwa said soberly.

"Am I the only one updated?" Jong Hyun asked, getting a jab from his wife. "Mwo?"

"Hajima, huh?" Jin Yi hissed.

"What's that, Hyung?" Jung Shin asked, then glimpsed at Shin Hye. "Noona?"

Everybody, Yong included, looked at Shin Hye.

"Maybe, it would not hurt to know where she is, ne?" she demurely asked everyone while squeezing Yong Hwa's hand.

Yong Hwa felt the warmth radiating from her hand, and he felt safe. Knowing that Shin Hye loved him more than he loved himself, he thought it was time to let go of the bitterness and know about Ara's whereabouts. It would not hurt to know.

"Matda (I agree)," Yong Hwa said.

Jong Hyun knitted his eyebrows because he did not want to get approval from his wife, so he spilled it anyway.

"The day you went Hong Kong, she flew back to America, and she called me while at the airport," he shared. "Happy?"

"Is that all?" Jung Shin asked.

"Ne, that's the latest update that I know, though it is considered old news," Jong Hyun shared.

"What did she say?" Yong Hwa asked.

"She just said goodbye, and that she was leaving for the States, that's all," Jong Hyun said.

"Oh, well, I guess that it is better that she only gave you scarce details," Jin Yi said. "So that that will not steal my yeobo away from me!"

"Ayiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!" Jung Shin teased Jin Yi before being hit on his mouth by Shi Yoon's fist. "AYAAAAA!!!!"

"Awww, I'm so touched," Jong Hyun crooned.

Shin Hye and Yong Hwa laughed with them as they continued holding hands.

The place was just in Mama and Papa Lee's cozy but chic restaurant, and the Lee male twin had booked the entire place for his twin and his friend. And so, only the friends occupied the resto. Yong Hwa had wanted to suggest going to his hyung's beef resto where he was first owner, and Jong Hyun had wanted his sojubang, but Jung Shin thought it was inappropriate. And the Lee's restaurant was good choice.

"Annyeong?" Min Hyuk greeted his guests.

"Annyeong?" CL greeted them in that y way of hers.

The engaged couple took their seats, while Jung Shin returned the baby to his parents. The bachelor acted as host for the night, and after that, CL had to share how Min Hyuk surprised her with a gold engagement ring the evening before.

*****

"Have you decided already?" Yong Hwa asked Shin Hye.

The two of them looked at the greenhouse that had been the heart and soul of the botanist. Shin Hye would be selling the place to go with Yong Hwa to Hong Kong. Since she had an impressive resume and an incredible amount of guts, it might be easy for her to start from scratch.

The flowers in the greenhouse that she had painstakingly grew will soon belong to someone else.

"Ne..." she said as she turned to him. "I have also decided to sell my store in Hongdae. Eun Gi and Eun Hee, I will miss them..."

Yong Hwa hugged her as she silently dropped her tears.

"But I will not regret it because I will always have you," she whispered. "Saranghae, Yong Hwa..."

Yong Hwa released his hug in order to see her face. He hushed her as he wiped her tears.

"I have a surprise for you," he said.

Shin Hye smiled, curious about the surprise. Yong Hwa had been giving her surprises ever since he asked her to be his girlfriend. He was just so sweet. And would you believe it? He died his hair blonde after knowing that a certain blonde Japanese guy was hitting on her while he was in Hong Kong.

"You always surprise me," she said. "Mwoya?"

Yong Hwa held her waist and carried her up the air in order to place her on the counter. As Shin Hye sat comfortably, Yong Hwa grabbed something from his pocket. It was a small velvet box as dark as ebony, and he opened it. To Shin Hye's surprise indeed, it was a white gold ring furnished with a pale yellow diamond. Shin Hye gasped, not knowing what to do. She looked at Yong Hwa, who was looking at her eagerly.

"Will you marry me?" he proposed.

Tears started to fall again from Shin Hye's eyes as she cupped with her hands. She was just so happy that he will be hers forever, after all the heartache that she suffered from her first love.

"Ne.... ne...." she said.

Yong Hwa got the ring and slipped it to her finger. Shin Hye wiped her tears as she touched his lips.

"It's not only Min Hyuk and CL who will get married," he told her.

"Saranghae..." she said again.

"Na do," he whispered. "Dangshineul saranghae..."

He said he also had another surprise. To Shin Hye's series of surprise, Yong Hwa got in the counter, and grabbed the guitar and a bouquet of flowers. Shin Hye shook her head as she rolled her eyes. Her lover always knew how to do things secretly and flawlessly without her knowing. Yong Hwa presented her the flowers, and Shin Hye smiled when she received the present. It looked exactly like the flowers which he had given her the first time he went to the greenhouse.

"You are so sweet," she crooned.

Yong Hwa wore the guitar strap around him, and he began to pluck the strings. As he sang, he looked into the eyes of his beloved.

 

Beginning today I promise you
I give my heart to you
Beginning today I promise to
Never part from you
From now on I will be right by your side
And I swear other things I'll put aside
Beginning today
Beginning today
(I promise you I give my heart to you)
Beginning today there's no one else
On my mind
Beginning today there's nobody else
Right here inside my heart
From now on I will be right by your side
And I swear other things I'll put aside
From now on there'll be no one else on my mind
Beginning today (Beginning today)
Beginning today
(I promise you)
Beginning today
(I give my heart to you)
From now on I will be right by your side
And I'd swear other things I'll put aside
From now on there'll be no one else on my mind
Beginning today (Beginning today)
Beginning today
And I'd swear other things I'll put aside
From now on there'll be no one else on my mind
Beginning today
Beginning today
(I promise you I give my heart to you)
Beginning today...

 

After the song, Shin Hye placed the flowers on countertop as she got down.

"How long will you stay this sweet to me?" she asked softly.

"Forever," he whispered.

He took off the guitar off him and placed it on the counter together with her flowers. He wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her closer, and Shin Hye allowed him to.

"Kiss me," she begged.

He leaned forward as she closed her eyes, and his tender lips kissed her sweet lips.

 

****

Two strangers met at the right time, never knowing one has what the other had been looking for.

Yong Hwa had one thing that Shin Hye had been looking for: her first love.

And Shin Hye had one thing that Yong Hwa had been looking for: true love.

 

And hearts bind, with an old souvenir as the link...

The old souvenir, that old photo. It was a link that led them to realize that the first love does not always mean forever, and that

"Forever... might be standing right behind you," Shin Hye said to Yong Hwa.

 

~~~~END~~~~

("Beginning Today," lyrics from http://www.elyrics.net/read/i/isidro-agot-lyrics/beginning-today-lyrics.html)

 

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