You look beautiful
Thank you
The color suits you
Stop messing around
Do you think I'm lying? Perish the thought!
No, I'm saying stop sending me text messages
But this is boring
OMFG
When is the bride going to come out?
In a few minutes! Now put away your phone or Woo Bin Sunbae will throw you out from the church.
I don't care. He thinks it's funny to put you on the bride' side. On the other side of the fucking church!
Are you on the dark side if I'm on the bride side?
Haw haw. Very punny. I'll post it on 9gag.
I'll send a text to Ji Hoo Sunbae to confiscate your phone
He's sleep walking already.
I'll send a text to Jun Pyo Sunbae to wake him up
You look beautiful
Stop it!
The color suits you
GHFGHF^^&%^&!
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Ga Eul glared at Yi Jeong who sat way across the church hall. He was smirking at her as she raised her phone in front of her and pointedly turned it off before slid it into her small purse.
'What are you doing?' next to her Jan Di whispered in her ear.
'Nothing,' she gave her friend an innocent smile and resumed to waiting for the bride to arrive.
A month had passed since the incident and a lot had happened since then. Today happened to be the big day for Jae Kyung and Woo Bin and she couldn't be happier for them. But let's trace back to the day after her rescue.
She slept fitfully that night, tossing and turning, waking up in the middle of the night to find her tucked in and safe in the guest room. Something was not quite right; she could feel it nagging at the very edge of her brain. It was the remarks that man had said to her while in captivity, the obvious disdain he seemed to harbor at Yi jeong's family. She had a lot of questions waiting to be answered but it was already too late when they at last left the police station and everyone was simply drained from the long day and the stress that came with it.
Of course, she knew about Mr. Choi now, a rather shady business man dealing with domestic and international shipping. According to the police they had had him in the custody for questioning already. From what she could gather, Woo Bin had sent his troop of men to the office and warehouse area when the police squad decided to make a visit to 's house. The troop had quickly secured information that Mr. Choi had in fact not been at home and was seen in the vicinity of his office, and relayed that information to the police who then directed their squad to the warehouse and made a kind of joint operation with Woo Bin's men with them as the lead. No doubt, Woo Bin had wished to stay in the background.
According to the head detective who led the action, it was a very quick and successful operation with minimal casualty. If Ga Eul wanted to assert her opinion that it was not quick enough for her, thank you very much, then she had wisely kept it to herself.
The next day she woke up to the rustle of paper next to her bed.
'What are you doing?' she asked with eyes still bleary from sleep to Yi Jeong who seemed to be engrossed in reading the newspaper. He looked ridiculous in white t-shirt and bottom pajama, sitting on the luxury Italian chair in her bedroom, legs on the ottoman in front of him.
'Hello, how do you feel?' he raised his face from the paper in front of him and smiled at her.
'Better,' she buried her face on the pillow and tried to shake herself awake. 'What time is it?'
'Still early,' Yi Jeong replied in a cheerful voice which infuriated her for some reason.
'Why are you up already if it's still early?' she mumbled and frowned, her knuckles wiped the trace of sleep from her eyes.
'Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry.'
She rolled her eyes but stretched her arms out and slowly peeled herself off the mattress.
'What are you reading anyway?' she grabbed a plain blue scrunchie from the bed side table and gathered her hair to form a loose ponytail.
'The paper.'
'I know that. What article?'
'Oh, nothing, really.'
'Nothing?'
'I'm trying to see if your kidnapping made it to the paper but it's not there. It's all good.' She frowned at that. Not that she wanted to be famous or anything, but it's just strange that everything seemed to be in a locked down information wise.
Tea?'
Yi jeong moved his legs from the ottoman and pour a cup of tea from the beautiful porcelain teapot into a cup. He walked a few steps and sat himself down on the side of the bed, offering the steaming cup of tea to her.
'Thank you,' she drank the hot liquid with legs still covered below the thick blanket, feeling a bit better with every sip.
'So,' Ga Eul said after her cup was finally emptied, 'explain from the beginning, please.'
'You were there at the police station as well,' Yi Jeong answered calmly, 'You heard everything already.'
She narrowed her eyes and put her empty cup on the bed side table. 'Don't do that to me please,' her voice was calm but there's ire beneath the surface. 'I know the story you told the police didn't cover everything. So he's someone who holds the grudge to your family. But what kind of grudge? And why did he say something about someone he loves fades away in front of him?'
'It's a long story.'
'We have a lot of time.'
'I don't think….'
She cut him off before he talked any further. 'Is it because I work for the paper that you won't tell me the whole story?' her expression showed disappointment, 'surely you understand that I know what to say and what to keep from the press. Don't you trust me?'
'Maybe at first….' He shrugged. 'But it's more than that.' He turned his stare away from her, his beautiful chocolate eyes troubled.
She watched him looking outside the window. The guest room she's sleeping at was decked with a big window overlooking the back garden. Most of the time she didn't bother to close the curtain before she went to sleep. She watched Yi jeong's expression darken before the cloud finally dispersed. He smiled his little smile as he turned his head and faced her and started to tell his story.
'You see,' he looked at her carefully after completing the story, 'it's a complete nightmare.'
'You think I would go to my editor and ask her to print this? Is that what you're afraid of?'
'What?' he looked offended. 'No, it's not that. It's just that….you see how fucked up my family really is. And I…. I mean, I am not a clean sheet to begin with, you know. I sometimes wonder if lives wrecked because of what happened in the past…..' Yi Jeong rubbed his temple tiredly, missing his cheerful expression earlier. 'I wonder what you would have thought of me…..'
She felt her throat dry despite the cup of tea, her hand instantly went to find his. There were times in the past where Ga Eul thought she saw Yi Jeong in his rawest moment. But this moment, she took a deep breath, this moment was the first time she thought she finally understood him.
'Yi Jeong…'
He shook his head. 'You don't have to say anything.' His wore his small smile like a mask. And somehow it broke her heart even more.
'But I want to,' she lifted his hand up and kissed them. 'I love you,' she said simply. 'Nothing has changed.'
She wanted to say more, she really did. But the next second Yi Jeong had already had her lips seized. And she really, really didn't like to interrupt him when he's behaving like a man on a mission. Instead, she smiled against his lips and softly cracked her mouth open. He tasted a bit like cappuccino. And his eyes shone when they surfaced for breath. Just the way she liked it.
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The first thing on her list was to move back to her apartment now that the coast was safe. She's proud of her independence and she liked to keep it that way.
Yi Jeong was not a fan of her idea but she stood her ground firmly.
'The house is big enough for the two of us,' he said, his long body leaned against the door frame as she tidied up her guest room from her belongings, separating trash and treasure.
'It's big enough for five families living together,' she answered calmly but not stopping for a pause.
'So maybe you can just stay.'
She laughed but shook her head.
'Why?' Yi Jeong crossed his arms against his chest. 'We've been together for more than a month already. It's working fine.'
She paused and looked at him gently.
'I think we're moving a bit too fast, Yi Jeong Sunbae. In due time.'
'In due time.'
'Yes.'
Yi Jeong cracked a smile at that. 'So there will be a time.'
'Maybe.'
She grinned as Yi Jeong gave her a pointed stare. 'Well you might decide that a lousy copy editor is just not going to cut it for such refined society.' Her smile got wider as his frown grew deeper. 'Anyway, your cat will be happy to see me go at last. She scratched me yesterday when I tried to lift her up.' She lifted her wrist and showed a fuzzy red line on her inside arm. 'I think she's a bit jealous.'
Yi jeong snorted and shook his head.
The move happened the very next day. He learned to appreciate it in the end, especially with all those things they got to do in the kitchen which they couldn't at his house, what with his army of cooks and cleaners and butler and just about any other type of household helps you can think of.
And I'm not talking about cooking.
The second thing on her list was talking to her boss. The information lockdown was not merely her imagination, as it turned out. She wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad about this. And so she went to see Jae Kyung to talk about it, trying to understand the world in which she still felt like a blind person walking around a new house.
'I mean, I obviously know there must be some sort of power they hold over press, but….' She trailed, unsure about how to proceed.
'You think we're manipulating the system?' Jae Kyung calmly stated, she was eating a heaping plate of petite profiteroles with cream inside and dipped into warm chocolate sauce. Such indulgence she could never on daily basis, just because they will go straight to her hips.
'That's one way to see it….' absent mindedly she reached for her coffee and sipped it slowly.
Jae Kyung took a moment to think and piece her words carefully.
'I think of it as a privilege,' she said. 'The media needs us as much as we need them, I'm afraid. It's all about take and give. But you will still find the most shocking or scandalous pieces out there. Not everything is allowed to be buried. But some cases, you know, they work out better when they can be settled out outside of prying eyes.'
'Even if the consequences were damaging to the public?'
'Oh they won't let that kind of cases just go away, believe me. But personal matters, here and there… ' she trailed a little. 'You have to make your own judgment Ga Eul, but believe me, we are not above the law.'
'Yeah…' she left it at that.
The next day she sent a big flower arrangement to the poor young girl whose life had been wrecked by Yi Jeong's father thoughtless act. Anonymously, of course. The public might never know her existence, but Ga Eul did and that mattered to her.
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The next thing she addressed was her boss' warning about Yi Jeong being from a traditional family.
'I like my work,' she said to Yi Jeong when he dropped by her house one night after work.
'I know that.' He shrugged his beautifully cut suit carelessly, his tie the second piece of garments landed on her couch.
'Do you have a problem with it?'
'What?' a frown appeared on his handsome face. 'Why should I have problem with it?'
'Maybe you won't like it in the long run?'
She sipped her tea, looking at him from the top of her cup.
'Is this one of those questions that if I answer them wrong then I won't get to stay the night for the next two weeks?'
Her lips curved up a little.
'More like a month.'
'That's not good.' He shifted position until they sat next to each other on the couch; his hand took the cup in her hand and placed it on the saucer.
'Why do you think I will have problems with your job at the magazine?' Yi Jeong pulled Ga Eul onto his laps and started tracing her palm until goose bumps appeared on her bare arms.
'Because… because… stop distracting me.' She swatted his roaming hands even though it was for no use at all seeing it only encouraged Yi Jeong to pull her body flush onto his. He kissed her until her mind went blank and toes curled before she was released from his tight embrace.
'You were saying?' he smirked when she was left speechless for long seconds.
Ga Eul rolled her eyes but stayed at his laps.
'Will you ask me to give up my job if we were to continue this relationship?' she asked in all seriousness.
'What makes you think that?' he frowned, 'who makes you think that?'
'Yes or no?'
'No.'
Slowly her lips curved way up. 'Good.'
'But why do you think I'd ask such a thing?' Yi Jeong frowned, his hand momentary stopped his teasing on her arms.
Briefly Ga Eul debated herself as to the best way to bring up the conversation with her boss.
'Well, this has something to do with your very traditional and conservative family…,' she started, but Yi Jeong raised his hand to interrupt before she even finished her sentence.
'I think we have established a long time ago that I am not my father, or grandfather. I am my own self, Ga Eul.'
'I know,' she sighed, 'it's just….' She stopped herself before going any further and captured his lips with hers, smiling against the soft flesh. 'Let me show you how sorry I am….'
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The next big event was, of course, Jae Kyung and Woo Bin's wedding. They managed to fill the hen party weekend in Bali with not much incident. Only, the planned weekend stretched out to almost a week and it will always be remembered fondly as the week with an embarrassing number of hangover mornings. Feeling left out, the boys decided to follow them and rent the next-door hotel penthouse suite and made it not so much a hen party but a group holidays like the one they did at the New Caledonia so many years ago. However, the girls refused to switch rooms and stayed in the all female group instead, meeting the boys only for lunches, dinners, and some outings.
Jae Kyung, being her annoying self for the holiday, never let Ga Eul forget that she supposed to deliver a speech at the wedding party, even as they lay on the wooden sunbed beside the infinity pool of their hotel.
'Shut up, Jae Kyung,' she fixed the large long scarf used as a blanket and pulled her wide hat further covering her face, intent on sleeping off the hangover from the night before. She managed to have a five minutes silence before an incessant tug on her big toe rudely drew her from peaceful almost-slumber.
'Stop it,' she mumbled half heartedly, knowing that nothing could stop Jae Kyung from her evil way when she had set her heart on something.
'I said stop, jeez, it's 98 percent finished, OK?' she kicked her feet out of Jae Kyung's grasp. But the tugging did not stop, of course.
'I said stoo….oww!'
A short second later she was lifted from the comfortable lounger; her arms flailing frantically in attempts to find solid ground. She blinked as the hat fell from her face and revealed a grinning Yi Jeong getting ready to jump.
She managed to shriek albeit a little too late. Yi Jeong already flung himself into the water, taking her with him in his arm. She spluttered as water went into her nose. Stupid boyfriend, her glare was pointed at him, if only look could kill, but Yi Jeong only laughed at her hard set mouth. She almost wept for her now ruined silk scarf.
'You look good!' Jae Kyung giggled from her lounger. The traitor, she narrowed her eyes at her friend. 'Have fun you two, I'm going to go for a walk,' she waved at them before Ga Eul had a chance to splash some water on her face.
'What are you doing,' Ga Eul turned to see Yi Jeong beside her, hands and feet happily paddling in the water.
'Enjoying the holiday,' he grinned at her. His mouth curved upward, his dimples showing.
'On my expense,' she pouted at him. 'My friend gave me this scarf and now it is ruined.'
Yi Jeong gave her his best sad puppy eyes until she rolled her eyes desperately and sighed in defeat. Her effort in making him feel guilty apparently didn't work.
Confident that Ga Eul was not going to deliver a kick or punch to his precious abs, Yi Jeong came closer and pulled her into a hug.
'We need to go on another trip, just the two of us,' he said.
Ga Eul rolled her eyes, 'Seriously, darling Sunbae. We're still on holidays and here you are talking about another one already.'
'Yeah but this is not a real holiday.'
'Is it not?'
'No. Last night I woke up on the couch with Jun Pyo's foot on my face, an empty bottle between us, and Woo Bin snoring loudly in his room. I'm sorry but I call it death by agony instead of enjoyable holiday.' He scrunched his nose in mock distaste.
'Serve you right for following us here,' she brighten up at his misfortune.
'At least you could have left the others here and we can get a room together.'
She snorted at him.
'Anyway, I have used up all my leaves for this wedding,' she grabbed the pool side and anchored her feet on the foot rest on the wall. 'Some people have to work for a living, you know.'
Yi Jeong rolled his eyes at her too often jibe at his wealth.
'Obviously it doesn't have to be tomorrow.'
'Okay, but this time we'll do it my way,' she smiled slyly at him.
'What way?'
'Well, we had holidays before, your kind of holidays,' she answered breezily. 'And it's great! But this time it's my turn to plan the trip and you will have to go along with it.'
Yi Jeong narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her smirk. 'It's not going to be a package tour from one of those dramas you like to watch, is it? I hate those kind of tour.'
She gave him her sweetest smile, 'You'll just have to wait and see,' she said. 'But for now, let's survive this wedding first, shall we?'
#
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Jae Kyung and Woo Bin's wedding day could not be more perfect in her opinion. Despite it being held in October and the weather had decidedly started to become chilly lately, the sun shone warmly and bright autumn leaves gave the quiet road leading to the church much needed color.
Ji Hoo arrived not a day too late, having matched his flight with their return from Bali. They went for group dinners almost every chance they got, thirsty for news and conversation even though Ji Hoo was still the same, quiet and reserved. He quirked his eyebrows watching Yi Jeong resting his hand possessively on the curve of Ga Eul's waist. Yi Jeong's silent answer to that was to hold Ga Eul even closer and kissed her temple in front of his friend.
'About bloody time,' was Ji Hoo's only comment before he moaned about the conspiracy against him. How come there were only three girls in the group, they must secretly want him out. He, however, flatly refused Woo Bin and Yi Jeong's offer to meet some people they know, saying he's perfectly content to become Korea's most eligible bachelor now that all his friends were tied up in relationships.
Boys, mouthed Jae Kyung, rolling her eyes.
The seating area at the church was separated into the groom and bride's guests, much to Yi Jeong's dismay. He sent a glare at Woo Bin who just shrugged his shoulders and told him to behave, he had to sit at the best man place anyway. Hence his petty revenge in the form of sullen texting.
Ga Eul smirked at his last text when the music started and the church door opened for the bride.
Jae Kyung was a vision in white. Her dress top fit gorgeously like a second skin, while the bottom part made of material so soft it made impression like the wind was weaving in and out as she walked down the aisle with her hand secured in her father's soft grip. She looked radiant with her brilliant smile placed firmly on her face. For his part, Woo Bin looked like someone who was just honestly happy to be there, waiting for his bride to come to him. No one could have accused them that this was a business deal or an arranged marriage like so many couples seemed to have in their society.
Afterwards they were ushered to the reception place, a large garden decked in white with splashes of autumn colors.
Ga Eul smiled when she had to read her piece.
Someone once told me, she said, that there is no such thing as soul mate.
I told him that he was mistaken, although through the years I came to a realization that probably he was right after all. That soul mate was, really, only a school girl fantasy. I was heartbroken because it felt like an important piece was missing from my life puzzle.
But looking at the beautiful bride here and her groom, she smiled at Jae Kyung, I just want to say that without a doubt, I know, soul mates really do exist.
#
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'I don't remember being such an ass all those years ago,'
Ga Eul smirked as Yi Jeong approached her with two champagne flutes filled almost to the brim. She was standing at the back of the wedding tent, beautifully decorated with drapes, ribbons and flowers.
'Human brains are amazing,' she deadpanned as her hand happily accepted the drink, 'they can filter and delete our unwanted memories. Keep the shiny ones intact.'
Yi jeong narrowed his eyes in mock displeasure before taking a sip of his champagne.
At the front, a rather large assembly of young women had gathered, ready for the fight of their life. That is to say, the bridal bouquet was ready to be thrown out.
'Go,' Yi Jeong urged her.
'I'm not going to get trampled by them.'
'Jae Kyung will be disappointed.'
'She knows I don't want to get married….. err… soonish,' she added when Yi Jeong sharply turned his head at her.
'Well I'd be disappointed if you don't go there.'
'What?'
'Go… come on….'
Ga Eul eyed him suspiciously.
'Are you planning to do something?'
'What? No?'
'Really? You're not going to do the thing that I think you're thinking of doing...'
'I don't know what you're talking about.'
'Because I would say no if you do…'
'No? Really?'
'Really. Not now at the least. Not here.'
'How about later?'
She smiled at him.
'Maybe later. After the holiday.'
'After the holiday.'
'Yes.'
Yi Jeong rolled his eyes and let out a long suffering sigh.
'OK. But please go there. I want to take a picture of you tumbling down to save the flower.'
Ga Eul laughed and put her champagne flute on the nearby table.
'You are horrible,' she kissed him on the cheek before walking away.
'I know. You love me, though.'
She shook her head but her laugh stayed.
He loved that girl.
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A/N : so sorry to leave this story hanging for so long.
next up will be the epilogue. hopefully in two weeks time, since I'll be going away for a couple of weeks.
until then...