[002]

“No.”

A chorus of confusion aroused in the air, and the whispers from earlier got a tad louder. Words like ‘propose’, ‘cool’, ‘unique’ and even my name could be heard thrown about in their conversations.

I felt Joo Hee touching my knee tentatively, and a second later, another person grabbed me by the hand hastily.

“Chorong-ah.”

It was Woohyun’s voice.

You greaseball, I thought to myself as I tried to hide my smile even though I knew no one could see it yet.

“Not until you switch on the lights back.”

I heard him heaving a sigh of relief, and almost immediately, the lights came back on again.

Wow, is everyone going to listen to what I have to say today?

I blinked my eyes a couple of times to adjust myself to the sudden brightness. I saw Joo Hee and Minhyuk giving me knowing smiles. I saw the other bowlers in the arena peering at us from their seats; some were even standing on tip toes. I saw a few others taking pictures, or recording a video – I had no idea.

I’ve never felt so embarrassed in my whole life before, yet I forced myself to put on a calm exposure. I took in a deep breath and looked over at the man who had just proposed to me in a bowling arena, staring up at me with irresistible puppy dog eyes.

I opened my mouth, ready to say something but Woohyun quickly pushed his finger against my lips to stop me from doing so.

“I don’t want to hear anything else, other than ‘yes’.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re crazy.”

“For you.”

“A fool.”

“For you.”

I paused for a moment, studying his face carefully. His smile didn’t falter, his pupils weren’t quivering and his expression was deadly serious. I’ve never seen this side of Woohyun before, this rare determined side.

He was speaking to me through his eyes. He’s telling me how much he loves me, he’s letting me know there’s no other woman that he’d want to spend the rest of his life with, he’s showing me that he has made the right choice.

And I was sure of mine too.

“Yes.”

I said it in such a low, soft whisper that I didn’t think anyone else heard it. Not even my friends, but Woohyun did.

And he was smiling.

That was enough.

: :

Both of our families were elated by the good news. Woohyun’s parents wanted to make it an extravagant affair, while mine chose to keep it simple – because they know that was what I wanted.

My cousin was ecstatic and she quickly reserved the maid-of-honour spot for herself. She called me every single day ever since then, telling me about how different colours would matched, the types flowers needed for the bouquet and decorations, the variations of food available and how many guests we would have to invite.

I came over to help with the preparations when I could. The wedding had been decided to be held in a few months’ time, and we couldn’t afford to waste any second.

Woohyun had already began to pick our honeymoon destination, and knowing the hopeless romantic person he is – places like Paris and Rome were in the discussion, but I honestly wouldn’t even mind it if we were to just go to Jeju Island.

As a freelance photographer, I’d love to travel to places with beautiful sceneries. The most important thing is that, we would be together and nothing else mattered.

: :

The first thing I did when I arrived at my workplace that morning, was finding Joonmyun, whom I knew was probably busy finishing up his work report.

I knocked on his office door lightly and a faint voice replied, “Come in.”

I pushed the door open slowly and popped my head in. “Are you busy, now?”

Joonmyun lifted up his head at the sound of my eager voice. “Oh, hey Chorong. No, it’s okay. Come on in.”

I closed the door quietly behind me and walked over towards his black leathered couch. Giving him a smile, I patted on the empty space next to me and gestured for him to join me.

Joonmyun gladly did as he was told.

“What’s up?” he asked, looking at my face peculiarly. “You seem...extra happy today. Is there anything that I should know?”

I took the invitation card out from my bag and handed it over to him.

“I hope you can come,” I said gently, closing my hand over his as he took the card from me cautiously. “You probably don’t want to, but it’ll actually mean a lot to me if you were there.”

He traced his finger over the precision of the words written on the lavender-coloured card carefully, and smiled. I could tell that it was a sad, distant smile and that it was probably a selfish request of mine, but Joonmyun will always be someone important in my life and I needed him there on my special day.

“I’ll be there,” he finally said, in a small, quiet voice. “You can count on me, Chorong. I’ll be there.”

I didn’t think twice about throwing my arms around his neck, and he too didn’t hesitate about hugging me back, just as tightly.

“Thank you,” I whispered through my tears. “Thank you so much, Joonmyun. For everything.”

“Congratulations, Chorong.” I could hear his voice cracking. “To the both of you. I wish you a blissful marriage of eternal happiness.”

I didn’t know how many minutes had passed between us, but we stayed in that position for awhile more, just appreciating the silence and gradual beating of our hearts.