“Hi. Sorry I just got here” Sehun said after giving a kiss on my cheek. “It’s fine. You’re actually early, Hun” I replied. “Are you okay?” he asked noticing how restless I was.

It took awhile for me to answer but I managed to find an answer. “I’m usually like this before the start of the show. But today I’m really nervous.”

Sehun pulls me into a hug and patted my back of my head gently, “I know it’s been awhile since you’ve done something like this but I know that you’ll do well. I know you will”

“And besides, even if you don’t pull this through successfully, which is very highly unlikely, you’ll still have me and my love. No matter what happens, I will always be here for you Sooyeon. I will always love you, Sooyeon.” Sehun seals his words of comfort with a kiss on my forehead.

‘I hope you’ll always be there for me Sehun. I really hope so’ I thought before I placed a chaste kiss on his lips which obviously caught him by surprise. “Thank you, Sehun. I really love you too. And I’ll always be here for you to love and support you too”

“Okay, now! Now’s not the time for you two to say your wedding vows. We have a fashion show to run” Kwanghee, the director for tonight’s show suddenly interrupts. I smiled at him. “Kwanghee ah, I want you to meet, Dr. Oh Sehun, my boyfriend. Babe, this is Hwang Kwanghee, he’s the director for tonight’s show and one of the investors of Blanc and Éclair” I introduced both of them.

Sehun extends his hand for a handshake but Kwanghee grabs him instead for a hug which obviously surprised Sehun again.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Dr. Oh.” Kwanghee says as he let go of Sehun. “I’ve long to meet you in person. Your girlfriend here has nothing but praise and adoration whenever she talks about you which got me curious of course. Now that you’re here I can see why she’s so head over heels for you” Kwanghee continues.

Sehun got a bit flustered but smiled nonetheless. “Thank you for that Kwanghee-ssi. I’ve heard stories about you too. And I’m really grateful for the helping you’re extending to Sooyeon. I heard that you are the biggest help that she has for this event” Sehun replied.

“Oh, shush” Kwanghee dismisses. “Soojung! Come  here for a bit” Kwanghee called out my sister. “Can you take your sister away first. Dr. Oh and I have something to talk about” he orders.

I gave Kwanghee a quick eye warning not to spill out my secret to which he gave me wink before he walked away with Sehun.

---------------------------------

“Unnie, are you sure about this?” Soojung asked me for the fourth time tonight.

I held her shoulders and smiled, “for the last time, Soojung, yes, I’m a hundred percent sure. I’ve never been this sure” I reassured her. And just in time, the emcee called out mine and Soojung’s names to come out on stage and give our speech as we end the fashion show.

Sehun came up stage and handed both me and Soojung a bouquet of flowers. Jongin wasn’t able to come because of prior commitments. Sehun on the other hand was thankfully free. He was about to go down the stage after handing me the bouquet but I asked him to stay.

Soojung gave her speech briefly, thanking everyone who supported and attended the event. It was then my turn. I looked at Sehun for a brief moment and squeezed his hand. Sehun gave me an encouraging smile.

“Good evening, everyone” I started. “First of all, like my sister, I’d like to thank everyone who made this show a success. Tonight, is a very memorable and remarkable night especially for me”

I breathed in and out deeply before continuing, “As everyone would know, it has been two years since I was last active in the fashion world, making appearances and events like this. It has been tough since I’ve lost someone important to me. I had to find myself”

I looked around and saw my parents, my cousins, my friends excluding Taeyeon and Chanyeol, and Luhan’s parents. All of them were smiling proudly which gave me the courage to continue

“Thankfully, in the last few months I’ve learned to let go and move on with my life with the help of the people who surround and love me. Thus, my come back. And now, I’d like to make an announcement. This might sound abrupt but I’ve thought this through well and hard.”

I paused and breathed in deeply, “This might be my last event here in Korea, I will be retiring from the limelight now. My sister, Krystal will now be the head of the Blanc and Éclair Korea. However, this doesn’t mean I’ll stop designing, I’ll still be part of Blanc and Éclair and would still be releasing designs every now and then. I’ll just be retiring from the Korean limelight”

Everyone was surprised. The people were whispering to each other and Sehun was squeezing my hand that he was holding.

I squeezed back Sehun’s hand and continued, “I’ll be moving abroad to take care of myself better and to follow my heart”

I gave Soojung the signal and gave Sehun a smile.

‘This is it’ – I thought to myself.

“Oh Sehun” I called out his name gently albeit nervously.

Sehun looked at me and though he was surprised he gave me a smile, a smile that was asking me what was going on.

“Will you marry me?”

“I’m sorry that I can’t drive you home, I’ll have to stay behind and monitor Mr. Kim. You can use my car. I’ll just ask our family driver to pick me up tomorrow morning” Sehun bids while holding my hand with his left hand while he fishes out his car keys with his right.

“There’s no need for your family driver to pick up your car. I’ll come early morning, bring you change of clothes and breakfast.” I suggested to which Sehun smiles. “There’s something important we need to talk about” I added as I receive his car keys.

 “Okay. There’s something I need to discuss with you too” Sehun replied. I nodded my head as reply. I was about to walk away when Sehun pulled me for an embrace. “Tonight will be a long night, I just need to recharge with your embrace for awhile” he whispers. Feeling his tiredness and hoping I could ease his burden a bit, I hugged him back to give him comfort. We hugged for awhile until Sehun pulled away and landed a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow, hon. Drive safe. I love you”

“I love you too, Sehun” I bid as I kissed his cheek before finally leaving.

I drove home carefully and not forgetting to inform Sehun that I have arrived home as soon as I did.

The following morning, I prepared breakfast under my mom’s supervision.

“You’re acting like a good wife now my dear” my mom remarked. “Do you think I’ll be as good as a wife and mother as you, mom?” I asked while flipping the chicken that I was frying. My mom took awhile to answer, “of course, dear. You’ll probably even be better. Why are you asking? Are you thinking of starting a family of your own now?”

I silently nodded to my mom’s question while holding unto my still flat belly. She didn’t say anything but she gave me a warm hug and gently patted my hand that was resting on my belly. And with that I know my mom understands what I meant and that I have her support.

I fixed my bags in Sehun’s car when a white envelop caught my eye.

“St. John’s Hopkin Hospital, Cardiology Department” I read.

“Oh, so Sehun has already told you?”

I was surprised to see Jongin standing next to me. He was smiling from ear to ear. “To train in that hospital has been Sehun’s dream all his life. It really broke his heart when he got rejected the first time. So that’s why he just had his subspecialty training here. But now, wow. He finally got in. This opportunity comes only once” Jongin continues.

“His dad had his specialty training there and though Sehun doesn’t say much but he really looks up to his dad which is why he really wanted to train there. He’d probably need to stay there for 2-3 years in Maryland but I don’t think a long distance will be a problem to both of you though. I mean, you have a promising career here too so I guess you can’t just throw that away just to follow Sehun.”

I just blinked a couple of times. Not really knowing how to process the information that I just found out.

“Jongin?” I hear Krystal call out. “Oh, hi babe. Jessica noona and I were just talking about Sehun’s acceptance to his dream hospital to be for next subspecialty” Jongin replied.

The next thing I knew, Soojung was already holding my shoulders.

“Unnie, are you okay?” was Soojung’s concerned question. I didn’t know what to say. “Why? What’s the matter?” Jongin asked sounding quite nervous.

“Soojung, are we going to ruin his dream?”

Soojung wiped my tears. “Unnie, no. You’re not. Okay? Don’t cry. It’s not good for you, unnie.” Soojung shushed. “But Soojung, once Sehun finds out, he might throw away his dream and I don’t want that. I want him to pursue his dream. We can’t just pop into his life and ruin everything that he’s ever hoped and dreamed off. And I-”

“Hey, stop. Okay?” Soojung interrupted. “Don’t worry of