Chapter Twenty Four: Wedding, Our Reunion

“You should have told me earlier!” Mi Ja yells hysterically as she sequentially sends the books and crumpled paper balls flying towards Junmyeon, who’s now barely sitting on the couch. She’s been holding the duster and the broom in a cross position since a while ago in attempt of covering her flushed face. He just laughs at her and dodges her hits; sometimes he even returns them back to her using the pillow he picks up. It surprises him, though, that his predictions – actually his and Luhan’s – were definitely on-point.

Junmyeon covers a part of his face, to try and veil his amusement, and chuckles, “It’s not my fault you automatically assumed that it was Taehyung who’s getting married. Anyways, the wedding’s in three months’ time.”

“Well, sorry that I assumed years ago that there won’t be anyone sane enough who’d actually marry someone as irritating as Luhan!” Mi Ja grabs the pitcher and stances back to charge the throw, but Junmyeon quickly holds her wrist and shakes his head. Mi Ja sighs and sits down, “It’s not like I’m going to really waste this beautiful glass pitcher on you, you know. Anyways…why didn’t Luhan hand me the invitation himself?”

“He wanted to scare you,” Junmyeon blurts out, and attempts to take it back by smiling cheekily. Mi Ja stays quiet and stares at Junmyeon weirdly.

“So, shouldn’t you go home now? You already got what you wanted from the start, right?” Mi Ja hisses, “Besides, I have to clean up the place, too. God, this is so frustrating!”

“That’s a good idea,” Junmyeon stands up and brushes off the paper caught by his coat and pants. He then heads towards the door and pushes it open, “Oh, Luhan wanted to make sure that you’re going to attend. He wants to see you again, and that said, just pretend that you didn’t see him last month. Luhan’s become such a drama queen since she proposed to him – and yes, pretend that I didn’t just say that too.” He then, takes a step forward, and doesn’t move any further.

Mi Ja stares at Junmyeon, who was just standing by the door, not moving and probably waiting for her response. She puts her hands on her hips and sighs, “Fine, you can stay here for dinner. Help me clean, then.”

“For the love of Luhan, yes,” Junmyeon hops back into the room and runs towards the couch. He throws himself and lets his body bounce slightly to the foam, and then he groans, “I’ve been dying to clean some place! Ever since we moved in together, Luhan always raised havoc and I somehow got tired of cleaning his mess, and I gave up. Now, I just want to clean whatever I find dirty.”

“Is that so? Living with Luhan actually helped you develop an OCD, huh? Maybe you shouldn’t continue your being an engineer. Just pursue what your heart says,” Mi Ja says with a bit of gentleness and sincerity in her voice while looking at Junmyeon straight in the eyes. He gulps and hums a ‘what?’ to her, to which she only responds meekly with, “You must follow your dreams and become a janitor, Junmyeon.”

Disappointed and slightly irritated, Junmyeon grabs the broom from Mi Ja’s grasp and mutters under his exasperated breath, “Maybe I should start in the bathroom?”

“Ah, Mi Ja! I never thought you would actually come,” Luhan pulls in Mi Ja for a tight embrace and then swaying her side to side. Mi Ja pats his back and whispers him a plead to stop, and he complies as he can feel Junmyeon’s icy glare stabbing through him. Luhan then fixes his white tie and strikes a pose in front of Mi Ja, “So, what do you think of my wedding attire? Fancy, isn’t it?”

“So, Luhan,” Mi Ja playfully punches his chest, “Now that you’re married, when do you plan on growing up?”

“Hey, I’m already grown up!” Luhan growls before pulling the woman, who was wearing a long white wedding gown, behind him by the wrist. He turns towards his bride and squints his eyes, as if as a threat, “Hey, Myunghwa, you think I’m manly, right? I was actually planning on growing a beard, or moustache. I’m matured, right? You said that yourself, right? Myunghwa? Myunghwa?” In every mention of her name, his face comes nearer and nearer the bride’s. Myunghwa slaps Luhan’s forehead and mumbles, “Saying that while doing such childish actions. Stop embarrassing me, Luhan.”

Junmyeon puts his arms around Myunghwa’s shoulders and clicks his tongue, “Wrong guy, Myunghwa. Wrong guy. I should have warned you long, long, long time ago to avoid encountering such a huge mistake. I guess it’s too late now.” Luhan laughs sarcastically and threatens Junmyeon to shut up before he spills his secrets to him. Junmyeon provokes him, clearly believing that he doesn’t give the slightest care about whatever these secrets are – because as far as he can remember, Junmyeon never entrusted deep, deep secrets to anybody – especially not to Luhan.

While the argument between Junmyeon and Luhan escalated dreadfully, Myunghwa skips toward Mi Ja and snakes her arms around Mi Ja’s. She childishly grins at Mi Ja, although she still has to look up to her because heck, even without wearing heels, Mi Ja has always been tall. The bride stares at Mi Ja, who wipes her face in fear that they might be something on her face. She grins at Myunghwa, “I know, I’m beautiful as eff.”

“Ah, I knew I should have expected something from Junmyeon’s friend!” Myunghwa guffaws and then balls her fist to rub her knuckles on Mi Ja’s head. Mi Ja laughed along and while staring at Myunghwa, she realizes how similar her facial features are to somebody she used to know. Tall nose and uniquely pale skin, pinkish lips and sharp gaze; whose features were these again? Mi Ja spaces out as she tries to recall.

Where has she seen such perfect facial features again? Was it back in middle school? Her enemy in high school – though, as far as she knows, Soojung and Seokjin were the only ones – or probably, the librarian in wherever library she went to? Or maybe some acquaintance in high school? Or maybe someone studying the same course as she is? Or maybe Seokjin’s cousin? Or perhaps, her own cousin? Whose face has similar features again? Why does it seem so familiar…

“You went to XX High, right?” Myunghwa asks, pulling back Mi Ja before she completely drifts away from reality. She hands Mi Ja a glass of wine, which she poured from a bottle Junmyeon gave the two of them as a congratulatory gift. The 18-year-old Mi Ja would have refused, but now that she’s already 21 – and legal – she no longer has any reason to refuse such a humble offer from the bride.

Mi Ja sips from the glass and nods, “Yes. Why’d you ask? Could it be that you also studied there?”

“I did, and my brother did, too,” Myunghwa giggles, “I know women don’t really like talking about their real age, but well, it doesn’t matter. I look good enough to be mistaken as a high school student. Not lying here. I’m a year older than Luhan, so probably, you’re the same age as my brother, no?”

“I haven’t seen your brother, why are you asking me?” Mi Ja chuckles, and her frankness amuses Myunghwa. Mi Ja then asks, “You’re 25?”

“Yup, and my brother’s 21,” Myunghwa giggles, “That surprised you, huh?”

“Why do you keep on mentioning your brother? Don’t tell me you’re actually trying to, like, give your brother away to me?” Mi Ja raises an eyebrow at Myunghwa, who only laughs out louder than before and pours another shot on Mi Ja’s nearly emptied glass. The bride grins at Mi Ja and tells her, “I like you. And I feel like you would be my brother’s type. Why not try it out?”

“Thank you, I like you, too. But I’m really not the type for relationships—” Mi Ja gets cut off when someone pulls away the wine bottle from Myunghwa’s hand and the glass from Mi Ja’s. Mi Ja turns around to see who it was, just to bump into a broad chest with a familiar scent. Mi Ja has smelled this minty aroma before, but it was a rare encounter. She knows this, because she can smell it through Soojung back then, too. Finally having the pieces tied together, Mi Ja looks up in surprise and sees the face she had expected few seconds ago.

“Kim Myungsoo!” Mi Ja gasps, making the man towering a bit higher than her chuckle.

He places his hand on Mi Ja’s head and walks towards Myunghwa. His older sister glares at him and tries talking him into giving her the bottle back, telling him that it was a gift and that taking the gift away from the bride is a taboo. Myungsoo sticks his tongue out and justifies his actions, “A drunken bride is taboo in a whole new level, too, you know? Besides, you’ve been blabbering nonsense since a while ago. You think I didn’t hear you.”

“Oh, aren’t you acting all so cool now, Myunggi? Just because there’s a beautiful girl standing in front of you… tactics, Myungsoo, tactics!” Myunghwa chuckles.

“God, Myunghwa, how many bottles have you finished off? Stop being such a kid,” Myungsoo yells out, grabbing the attentions of the guests. Mi Ja tries calming him down by patting his arms, but Myunghwa just pouts and tells her it’s alright. Overly conscious of her surroundings because of Myungsoo’s sudden outburst, Mi Ja looks around to see if everyone’s still watching them with meticulous eyes. Her self-consciousness gets buried with enthusiasm when her eyes fixate on two familiar figures.

“I’m sorry, just don’t go talking about absurd things. It’s really selfish, you know?” Myungsoo ruffles his own hair.

Myunghwa hums a mocking tune, “Well, there’s no harm in trying, right? I mean, if Mi Ja came here alone, that means she’s single, right? And plus, she’s intelligent and straightforward and I like her. Say, Mi Ja,” the bride turns to Mi Ja, who was preoccupied by her surroundings as she waves her hands consistently at a direction, “Do you have a boyfriend or anybody you’re seeing right now?”

“Ah, sorry, I think I just saw someone I know,” Mi Ja says, although she can’t say for sure because what would Soojung and Seokjin be doing here, if ever? It’s not like Junmyeon or Luhan would invite them, nor would it be Myunghwa – Mi Ja thinks they don’t even know Myunghwa. But the posture and the hair and the complexion, they were Seokjin’s and Soojung’s.

And everything gets cleared out when Myungsoo clarifies all complexities through a short string of words, “I called Seokjin over, and the rest of the student body. Seokjin probably called her over.”

“You mean, Soojung?” Mi Ja sits down on the empty chair beside Myungsoo, left with no choice but to sigh and wait until Seokjin and Soojung aren’t having a seemingly serious conversation with someone Mi Ja doesn’t know. Myunghwa gets called on by Luhan and Junmyeon, and by both of the men’s stances, it seems like they’re trying to compare their biceps – and they’re probably going to use Myunghwa as the judge. Seeing that the bride has already le