CH 166

Epilogue

The sky was a clear blue the next day, not a single cloud visible, as if it was blessing their wedding ceremony as well.

Yiyoung donned her dress and held a bouquet made by the flower shop in the village. Her hair and make-up were done by Jaehee.

“How do I look?” Yiyoung asked Jaehee, who was staring at Yiyoung speechlessly. “Do I look weird?”

“You look like a different person,” Jaehee finally replied.

“Like I had another makeover?”

“No, this isn’t even a makeover. You look like a totally different person.”

Yiyoung laughed out loud as she turned around and looked at the mirror. But then the smile on her face slowly disappeared.  She wondered exactly whose reflection she was seeing in the mirror. Who was this woman holding a bouquet in hands, and dressed in a dazzling white dress?

“Why am I crying?” Jaehee muttered as she wiped her tears.

“Don’t cry. If you cry, I think I’ll cry, too,” Yiyoung warned. It was why she had denied Honghee’s help during the ceremony. She knew they would both end up crying together in the middle of it.

Jaehee tried to widen her eyes in an attempt to stop. “Okay. I won’t.”

“But, hey…” Yiyoung began.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m really pretty.”

Jaehee couldn’t help but burst into laughter as Yiyoung’s expression revealed just how much she loved herself. If it weren’t for the knock on the door, she would have probably started crying from laughing so hard.

“Yes. Come in.”

The door opened, and in came Muyeol. “Are you all prep—

His eyes widened. Yiyoung had always had a cute face. There were times she looked sexy like a femme fatale, and she always looked lovely. But the woman in front of him now was…

“See? You feel in love again,” Yiyoung bragged at that moment.

Muyeol tried to snap back to his senses. “Shall we get going now?”

“Okay.”

Before she left, Yiyoung gave Jaehee a hug. “Thank you. It’s happening all because of your help.”

Jaehee returned the affectionate hug. “I want to thank you for inviting me to such a beautiful wedding.”

Yiyoung took a deep breath and held Muyeol’s hand.

The wedding itself was small, but its meaning was substantial; it was the day two people would become one. They were happy, and they couldn’t stop crying. Madam Choi couldn’t stop wiping her tears. And Sangsu was bawling his eyes out as well. The only people smiling brightly were Muyeol and Yiyoung.

It was the day that the precious people in their life would remember as a beautiful memory. And for the two of them, it would remind them of the words, ‘And, finally forever’.

* * *

The destinations for the honeymoon were chosen by Yiyoung, and they were the places that she had liked the most while traveling.

“Um… Budapest, Prague, and Istanbul,” she said.

“Istanbul?” Muyeol questioned.

“Perhaps it was because it was my first trip, but I remember it as a good place. I want to experience everything that I’ve seen with you again.”

“Okay.”

Muyeol had taken time off from work, so it was possible for them to enjoy their trip for a long time.

“It’s my first time going on a trip,” he stated. When Yiyoung looked at him sympathetically, Muyeol shrugged. “You don’t have to look at me like that. This will be the beginning.”

“It’s the second chapter of your life.” Yiyoung mischievously nudged Muyeol’s chest with her shoulder. “It’s all because of me.”

“Alright,” Muyeol conceded, “It’s all because of you.”

“You should adore me forever.”

Muyeol chuckled. “Okay, okay.”

Yiyoung pulled him closer to her, hugging him as she rested her head against his chest. “You told me before that it’s not too late…”

Muyeol embraced her as well.

“You were right when you said that. It’s never too late, I realized,” Yiyoung continued. She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes. “If I hadn’t made that promise with you a long time ago, would we still be together now?”

“Maybe. I think I would’ve tried my best to be with you.” Muyeol gently stroked her hair with one hand. “I wished a long time ago, to live with you even if only for a short period of time. I thought the rest of my life would end up being beautiful.”

“That was your wish?”

“Yeah. Just…” Muyeol closed his mouth for a moment. In the past, he’d struggled to survive for every moment of his life. “My life needed you to begin and end each day.”

“I wish I’d caught that earlier. I didn’t know you liked me.”

“Because I never expressed my feelings.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You were arrogant, rude, and spoke thoughtlessly. I remember.”

Muyeol laughed. “Despite my personality, you were still nosy.”

“Because you wrote a diary. When I saw that, I thought you must have had a reason for being like that.”

Muyeol realized at that moment that their relationship began with that diary. They had  only observed each other until he started writing about her, and then poked his nose in her life. Then she’d made that promise to him, and now they were together, journeying together in life.