Chapter 3

When All Is Fair

A couple of days had passed since the birthday party. L.Joe’s words were still replaying in Maddie’s mind. Somehow she just couldn’t get over them, they were bothering her. Surely L.Joe didn’t love her. She figured that he was probably having a dream about someone else who just happened to have the same name as her. There were plenty of other people out there named Maddie.

            “What are you thinking about?” Chunji asked as he climbed into bed next to Maddie.

            “Nothing,” Maddie said showing Chunji a smile.

            “A person can’t think about nothing.”

            “I was thinking about the wedding.”

            “Are you excited? Afraid? Scared? Nervous?”

            “Are you?” Maddie asked with a smile.

            “Nope,” Chunji said shaking his head. “I’m sure that it’s going to be the best because it’s a marriage between me and you.” Maddie hid her face in embarrassment. “What? You don’t like me saying those words?”

            “It’s so…cheesy,” Maddie said.

            “Hey, but you love the cheesiness of me.”

            “You’re right,” Maddie said nodding her head. It was something that she couldn’t deny. “I do love the cheesiness of you.”

            “And remember,” Chunji said as he reached over and turned off the light. “We’re picking out the wedding dress and the tuxedo tomorrow.”

            “I won’t forget, how could I forget?” Maddie asked as she and Chunji got themselves comfortable in the bed. “A wedding dress, every girl’s fantasy.”

            “Then I’ll be sure to get you the most expensive one. Goodnight, Maddie. I love you.”

            “Goodnight, Chunji, I love you, too.”

 

“Wake up you lazy bum!” L.Joe tossed and turned a little in bed, but he didn’t wake up. His mother stood over his bed and simply stared at him and shook her head. L.Joe was the heavier sleeper of her two sons. Chunji would wake up to the slightest creek while L.Joe would sleep through a whole hurricane. “Byunghun, wake up!”

            “Hmm?” L.Joe asked as he slowly opened his eyes a little, but the bright sunlight that was shining in the room blinded him causing him to close his eyes again.

            “Yah! We have to go get fitted for your tuxedo today.”

            “Do I really?” he asked in his raspy morning voice.

            “Yes, everyone is going to go get fitted and you’re the best man, why wouldn’t you get fitted?”

            “I don’t know,” L.Joe said as he slowly sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.

            “And put a shirt on, what if Maddie were the one to wake you up?” his mother asked as she threw a nearby t-shirt at him.

            “I don’t know,” L.Joe repeated as he thought about the possibility of having Maddie wake him up one day. The thought was enthralling and he never thought about that. L.Joe was sure that he would just sleep shirtless more often and maybe even without pants once in a while.

            “Anyway, we’re going to be late if you don’t get dressed, so hurry up.”

            “Yes,” L.Joe said as his mother disappeared out of his room.

            Slowly, L.Joe got off of his bed and looked around the room. He completely forgot about having to go get his tuxedo for the wedding. He kind of forgot about the wedding all together. He didn’t want Chunji to get married, he wanted Maddie.

            At first, L.Joe thought that the feelings for Maddie would slowly disappear over time, but instead, they just grew and grew, they grew at a rate much faster than he ever thought and now he was attempting to find a reason to stay away from her. Seeing her at the boutique where they were all going to get fitted, it wasn’t going to be a good day for him, he was sure.

            It only took an hour and a half, but L.Joe, his mother, and his father went on their way to the location for the fitting. “You know,” L.Joe said as they drove in the car, “you should be thankful that I’m missing my classes for this.”

            “You’ll go to your afternoon ones,” his mother said with a smile. “You’ll be released easily.”

            “Alright,” L.Joe said with a sigh. Frankly he was tired of missing some of his university classes just because he had to help with some of the wedding stuff. He didn’t know why he had to give up some of his time because of Chunji’s wedding, but he figured that that was the reason. Because it was Chunji he had to give up his time. If it were anyone else, especially him, L.Joe knew that Chunji wouldn’t have to give up any of his precious time considering that he worked at a company, unlike L.Joe who was still a student.

            Within no time, the three of them arrived at the boutique where Maddie and Chunji were already waiting outside. “Sorry if we kept you waiting,” their mother immediately apologized.

            “No need, no need,” Maddie said with a smile. “We just got here ourselves.”

            “It surely didn’t look like it,” L.Joe muttered and thankfully no one heard it.

            “Well then, shall we go in?” Chunji asked. The five of them walked into the store and as they walked in, Maddie’s eyes were on L.Joe the entire time. She wanted to ask him about what he said while he was sleeping at the birthday party but she wondered if it would seem weird that she would still remember. Maddie also figured that if it were about her, what L.Joe had said, that he would probably just lie and say that it wasn’t. After all, Maddie didn’t know, that’s why she was asking. L.Joe could easily lie to her, or at least she thought.

            “So,” the woman in the store said, “the men, go that way and the women will go this way. We’ll meet up in the middle, unless the groom doesn’t want to see the wedding dress.”

          “Seeing the wedding dress will be alright,” Chunji said nodding his head. “We both have no problem with it.”

            “Alright then,” the worker said. “We’ll first do it separately and then bring it together to see how everything looks.”

            The men went a separate way then the women. L.Joe was the first to get his suit fitted since he was the one that needed to return to university. “Looking good there,” Chunji said going up behind his little brother and patting him on the back.

            “Thanks,” L.Joe said slightly stiffening at the touch of his brother. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

            “I’m the groom, I need to look good.”

            “Not as good as Maddie,” L.Joe added in loud enough for Chunji and their father to hear.

            “You have that right,” their father said joining the conversation. “The woman needs to look the best.”

            “I know, I know, don’t worry,” Chunji said looking at his brother and his father with a smile. “I told Maddie that she could pick out anything that she wanted, it didn’t matter. I told her I’d make her the most beautiful bride in the world.”

            “I’m sure of it,” L.Joe said as he watched his father start to get sized. “You know, hyung, being married probably won’t be any different than your life right now.”

            “Why would you say that?” Chunji asked.

            “I mean, you’re already living with Maddie, it’s just the fact that you’re both going to have rings on your hands.”

            “I guess you could say that, but still, marriage is a big thing.”

            “You got that right,” their father chimed in again. “Marriage is on a whole different level, it’s for life.”

            “But people get divorced,” L.Joe added.

            “But I’m not going to be one of those people,” Chunji said with a smile as he admired himself in the mirror. “Maddie and I love each other, why would we ever separate?”

 

“And now, introducing the bride,” the worker said as she pulled away the curtain to reveal Maddie standing there in a white dress. Chunji couldn’t stop staring at her. He thought that she was the most beautiful person in the world and he wanted to get married to her right then and there. Seeing Maddie in the dress, he was certain that nothing was ever going to break them apart.

            Meanwhile, L.Joe was also staring at Maddie, but he was trying not to let people notice that he was staring, despite everyone staring. He saw how the dress made certain parts of Maddie more noticeable than others and how it stuck to her body like glue. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Seeing Maddie in the wedding dress only made L.Joe hurt even more knowing that it was Chunji who got to marry someone like that.

            “Maddie, you look beautiful,” their mother said to her.

            “Really?” Maddie asked looking at everyone hopefully. “I wasn’t entirely sure about the dress.”

            “What weren’t you entirely sure about?” Chunji asked as he got up and walked closer to her.

            “I don’t know, I just…this dress…I don’t know,” Maddie said unable to get the words out. “There was just something about it that appealed me, but something about it that made me question whether or not it was the right one.”

            “Well, it’s the right one, don’t worry about that, unless you want to try on other ones,” Chunji said.

            “I…I don’t know,” Maddie said as she turned herself a little so she could see herself in the mirror. “I like it, I really do, but I don’t know how to picture us standing there.”

            “Well then here,” Chunji said offering his hand for Maddie to take.

            “What?” Maddie asked.

            “Take it,” Chunji said. Hesitantly, Maddie stuck her hand in Chunji’s. “Now, come down off of the step, we’re going to stand over here and I’ll stand right next to you.”

            Maddie did as she was told and stood off of the step in front of L.Joe and her future in-laws. “This is…embarrassing,” Maddie said as she attempted to hide her face.

            “You get embarrassed over everything,” L.Joe said with a light laugh.

            “Byunghun, that’s not nice,” his mother scolded him.

            “Sorry,” L.Joe muttered, but when he looked at Maddie, it didn’t seem like she was mad about the statement at all.

            “There, how about that?” Chunji asked Maddie as they were both standing in front of a mirror. “Can you see us together now?”

            “I’ve always seen us together, oppa,” Maddie said looking at Chunji with a big smile.

            “Then this is the dress,” he happily said as he kissed her on the cheek.

            “Please hyung, no display of affection,” L.Joe said rolling his eyes. “Anyway, I should get changed, I have to go back to class.”

            “Alright, it was nice having you come with us, do you want us to give you a ride back?” their father asked.

            “No thanks, I can walk. Maybe I’ll grab a bite to eat,” L.Joe said shrugging his shoulders as he went back into the changing room.

            “Don’t be concerned about him,” his mother said once he disappeared and was out of earshot.

            “Hmm?” Maddie asked looking at her.

            “He just says things a lot, things that he doesn’t mean,” she explained.

            “Of course,” Maddie said nodding her head as she thought about what L.Joe said in his sleep. If he just said things that he didn’t mean, did that mean that he didn’t intentionally say that he loved her? It didn’t take long for L.Joe to reappear in the clothes that he came in.

            “Well, I’m off, goodbye,” L.Joe said as he headed towards the door.

            “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your hyung?” Chunji asked.

            “Bye hyung,” L.Joe said going over and patting Chunji lightly on the back.

            “And say goodbye to Maddie, too,” Chunji urged.

            “Goodbye Maddie,” L.Joe said giving a smile. He was restraining himself from looking at her in the wedding dress for too long.

            “Goodbye, L.Joe,” Maddie said taking L.Joe’s hand and shaking it with a smile.

            “I’m off now, finally,” L.Joe commented as he finally left the shop.

            As soon as he got out of the shop and walked a little while so he wouldn’t be seen by any of his family members, he took out the note that was stuck to his palm by Maddie.

 

Can you meet me tonight at the coffee shop at eight? We have some things to discuss.

-Maddie

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What does Maddie want to talk about? Will L.Joe ever confess his feelings? Will Maddie and Chunji go through with the wedding? What is L.Joe's university life like?

 

Here's Chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed :D

 

And one of my other fanfics is going to end. So, who should my next fanfic feature?

 

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Comments

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alejandra12 #1
Chapter 15: GO mad die and l.Joe ship both
xchessthebest
#2
Chapter 15: I honestly dislike Chunji now. ._.
Maddie why would you try to take your own life?! :(
xchessthebest
#3
Chapter 13: Oh my God they kissed!!!!!
LA<KRJTKJMFN.
I ship them, hehe.
On another note, I hope Myungsoo can forgive L.Joe. :/
MissCrayon #4
Chapter 13: omg i ship maddie and ljoe ♡ please let jaerin just stick to myungsoo dont fall for ljoe again
nari-anna
#5
Chapter 13: i'm definitely on team ljoe. and jocelyn is so cute! i really hope that jaerin doesn't fall for ljoe again
kworld
#6
Chapter 12: OMG... secret is out! what happens now??
update soon!
MissCrayon #7
Chapter 10: What's going on with Chunji, and Maddie, and L.Joe what. Is Maddie developing feelings for L.Joe omg this doesnt seem right :o
xchessthebest
#8
Chapter 10: Urgh, I'm so confused now. aslkdfm
xchessthebest
#9
Chapter 9: Chunji you jerk. ;_;