1 Year Later

" Lee Sandeul, you've got a schedule in 3 hours time."

Those were the words that were repeated by his manager as he rushed off to his car. At the same time, he tried not to forget to greet the fans who were waiting for him to exit from the event. In his fan's eyes, he was the perfect white prince that anyone would like to have. He has read stories about how his chestnut-brown eyes would shine and how perfect his smile was. To receive such a love from them was a great honor for him. 

He believed that he wasn't entitled to receive such a love from his fans because the love they held for him... was an unachievable one. A love that he knew too well. It hurt.

" I only have you guys..." Sandeul thought to himself as he sincerely bowed farewell to them.

The fans were the only one for him.

Although he felt really bad to leave them behind, he had a much important schedule to attend to. A schedule that he had attend no matter how busy he was. 

" Yah! Lee Sandeul!" his manager frantically knocked on the side window of the car to remind him.

" 3 hours, I GET IT. BYE." 

Without wasting much time, he waved goodbye to his devoted fans and sped off to the promised venue. As he drove down the familiar streets, he sighed at the thought of having to do something that he would never imagine of doing. Was it really necessary? Was he really that important? 

He came to a stop and took the opportunity to fix his dark brown hair. He stared into the mirror for quite some time. Now, he was really Lee Sandeul. A famous singer with everything in the world. Today, he was a prince charming in black suit. But, somehow he wasn't feeling happy. He felt empty for some reason.

" Asking for my congratulations..." he bit his lips and gave a slight smirk at the remark he made.

He fixated his gaze on his new shiny watch, which was sponsored by a company for him to endorse. He was late.

The lights finally turned green and with a heavy heart, he accelerated to the event. The venue was held at a very remote place. It pretty much resembled an English village. A very romantic place to get married indeed.

As he got himself ready, he took the time to admire the decorations. The pretty pink flowers that were hung around, the calm music that lingered around... He closed his eyes for a moment to appreciate the atmosphere.

It had been a long time since he last had silence around him. It had always been the loud music coming from the stage or the screams from the fans that were excited to see him. For the past 1 year, that was all his ears could hear.

" Pretty pink flowers... 

  Calm music...

  Perfect weather...

  Beautiful wedding...

 Lee Sandeul, today... you are-"

Before Sandeul was able to absorb his thoughts, he was intercepted with a punch on the shoulder. It was Baro. His face was as white as sheet. 

" Yah! Why are you so late? The bride is waiting for you..." Baro clenched his teeth and glared at Sandeul.

" The reception starts in 1 hour time. I'm still early. Only Ah-ra would say that I'm late." he retaliated with an agitated voice.

Baro nodded his head and was grateful for Sandeul's arrival. He had been spending the past 3 hours trying to convince Ah-ra that she looked just fine and that everything was going to be alright. She was a nervous wreck without Sandeul; her white prince for the day.

Sandeul looked at Baro with a worried look on his face. Honestly, it had been a long time since he last saw her. Probably... a year after debuting as a singer. Once in a while, he would receive encouraging text messages from her and also during class reunion, he would always hear news about her.

Well, all he knew was that he avoided Ah-ra pretty well but at the same time he wanted to keep his feelings for her in check. He didn't want it to be a source of distraction for his career. The reason he was here was all because of Jung Jinyoung. The man who produced his hit songs. Without Jinyoung, Lee Sandeul was nothing. 

" Ha... I'm finally here." Sandeul stared at the glossy door, inside he could hear the footsteps of a very anxious bride.

He could hear her walk left, right, left, left again, right... all of a sudden, it stop. This time, it was going towards him. He flinched for a moment and tried to keep himself calm, in a few seconds, she was going to open this door and-

" Sandeul-ah..."

The familiar voice greeted him. The cold face that he was wearing dissipated. There was no way that he could keep a straight face with her staring at his face like that. His heart raced as he found it difficult to pronounce her name, he tried to mouth the words 'Congratulations' but nothing would come out from his lips.

Seconds passed and he could see that Ah-ra was a little upset by his seemingly down presence. She brought her hands together and bowed politely to the now popular singer. 

Baro, who sensed the awkward atmosphere immediately came up with an excuse to cover up for Sandeul.

" Sandeul must be really tired. He had a schedule before this and..."

Before he could even finish explaining, Sandeul approached the disappointed bride with a mind-blowing smile. The smile that would melt every fan girl's heart.

" Yah... I was just suprised with you opening the door like that. I went blank." he sheepishly explained himself and summoned the courage to look at her.

His eyes locked with hers. It was the same eyes that he had fallen for... the eyes that made him forgive and forget. It was probably the last day that he could ever see those eyes again. For those eyes are only for her soulmate.

" Sandeul-ah... I'm so grateful that you're here. I've heard a lot from my fiance and... I'm just so happy for you" 

Fiance? That was a first for Sandeul to hear Ah-ra speak that way, it was no longer ' Jinyoung oppa '. He was pondered upon the fact that she was using formal language. It was as if he didn't know her. Those times that they had spent together... it was finally time to say goodbye to them.

" Thank you. Congratulations on your wedding." he politely bowed and rubbed his neck.

All of a sudden, Dal-rae appeared to greet him and so was Shinwoo. 

" Sandeul-ah, see you at the aisle later. Go now, Jinyoung is waiting for you. We have to get the bride ready." she ushered him out of the room and closed the doors behind him.

Baro gently massaged Sandeul's shoulder and shook his head. 

" Were you really that taken aback by her? Do you still love her?" he shot those questions at his best friend.

" Would things have been different if I loved her properly?" Sandeul pulled out a ring from his pocket and delicately touched it with his fingers.

Baro gawked at the hello kitty ring, it was dented, the color had faded. Just like Sandeul's worn out heart.

" Ha... Jung Jinyoung must have appointed you as his best man to spite you..." 

Sandeul shook his head at Baro's remark, instead... he was just doing it because he wanted to be the one to see Ah-ra walk down the aisle. At least, he could see her in a wedding dress. Just thinking about it...made him contented.

Sandeul made his way to the wedding platform and he could see the groom from far away. Jinyoung was in his black-jet suit, his hair was neatly swept sideways, his lips were cherry red from all the lip-biting. His hands were intertwined together, in it was a piece of paper. He walked up and down the aisle mumbling non-stop.

" I, Jung Jinyoung, take you, Shi-, Shin... Shin..." 

As if he noticed that someone was actually watching him, he instinctively turned around and hid the paper in his pocket.

" Oh! Sandeul-ah...good thing that you're here. Let's practice. Come on..." the nervous groom grabbed his best man by the wrist and brought him to the front of the aisle. 

Jinyoung cleared his throat and focused his eyes onto Baro who was standing in the middle of the red carpet.

" Baro, act as Ah-ra's father. Go to the back and when I say cue...you walk down..."

" Didn't we practice that yesterday?" Baro retaliated.

Jinyoung shook his head and changed his attention to Sandeul.

" It's different. Sandeul is here today... I feel burdened with him next to me. I might just forget all of my lines..." 

Sandeul burst out laughing in disbelief, even a great composer like Jinyoung has the wedding jitters. 

" Hyung, calm down and take a deep breath. Everything will be perfect. Don't worry." 

Jinyoung nodded his head and agreed that he should probably calm down and rest for a bit...lest he messes up later. He sat down on the steps and pulled Sandeul's left hand and grabbed it tightly. Sandeul flinched for a moment but as soon as he saw Jinyoung's "at peace" face, he let him borrow his hand for that moment.

The groom clutched the hands of the man that loved the love of his life once. He sought comfort in this person but at the same time, he knew that he was hurting Sandeul as well. For the first time in his life, Jinyoung felt guilty for his ending was going to be a happy one. 

" I'm sorry." he uttered those words as he sincerely stared into Sandeul's eyes.

Sandeul acknowleged that by giving a slight smile. There was no point in pushing away those words. Deep inside his heart, there were still feelings for Ah-ra. After all, she gave him a lot of memories to remember.

" The bride is ready. The guests are arriving. 30 minutes!"

The both of them immediately stood up and practiced for the last time. Sandeul had his eyes on the door as the guests started to fill the hall. He could see the familiar faces he once knew. Some were from University and somehow or rather, he was able to spot L.joe sitting at the back of the hall. 

It was finally time for the big event. The soothing music began to play. Sandeul turned to look at the excited groom. Jinyoung's face was beaming with happiness, his eyes were shining. How could a person be that beautiful? Sandeul watched the guest turn around one by one as they changed their attention to the end of the aisle.

The door finally opened and revealed the bride with her father next to her. The music chorus began to play... and just like in the movies... the bride would move slowly and gracefully towards the groom. 

" She had her make-up done,

  her hair bunned up,

  her nails manicured,

  her eyes on him..." 

Sandeul kept his eyes on the wedding rings and never looked back again. Neither did he hear the wedding vows or the sweet words that were being presented. His eyes followed Jinyoung's hands who was taking away the gold from case. It was soon fitted into the bride's delicate fingers.

Never in that moment did he once look at the couple's face. All he was thinking about was to get to the next part of the wedding, which was the wedding's congratulatory song. As soon as he heard the standing ovation, he knew that the groom had kissed his bride. 

" Sandeul-ah..."

Sandeul turned towards the direction of the voice and was flustered to see Dal-rae calling him to get to the side of the stage. It was finally time for him to sing the congratulatory song. His older sister passed him the microphone and he blankly stared into the crowd.

He then glimpsed at the couple and the both of them were waiting for him to start. As if, anticipating for what was coming next.

" Hello everyone, my name is Lee Sandeul. The best man of Jung Jinyoung and Shin Ah-ra's best friend. Today, I'll be singing a song composed by Shin Ah-ra and produced by Jung Jinyoung. The title of my hit song is called 'Crush'."

I feel like it’s been a long time
Since I liked you in secret
With worries that I might get caught
I contemplate by myself
whether or not I should tell you

Do you know how I feel?
Or are you pretending not to know?
Can’t you just play hard to get for a little while
And then accept my heart – can’t you?

My love, my love
Please open your heart to
me now, I ask of you
So that I won’t get tired
from waiting and fall down
Hold my hand

Even if I chat with people,
all day I think of you
What can I do to express
my heart to you?
It’s just one person – you

My love, my love
Please open your heart to
me now, I ask of you
So that I won’t get tired
from waiting and fall down
Hold my hand

Because I love you so much
Because I like you so much
Please don’t turn your head from me
Please accept my heart now
I’ll make you happy forever
I want to be with you
Can’t you come to me?

My love, my love
Please open your heart to
me now, I ask of you
The person more
precious than my own life
I love you – till the end of this world
Will you be with me?

and with that he left the hall with the excuse that he was late. He left the wedding with no regrets for... all of his feelings were said. 

(A/n: I'm really sorry for not updating in a long time. For this chapter, I focused a lot on Sandeul's feelings because he's the one with the not so happy ending. For the next chapter, it'll be the last chapter and will be written in Sandeul's perspective. Like a personal essay. ^^ Thank you so much for reading and subscribing. Really appreciate all the comments and thoughts from all of u. Saranghae!)