Chapter Text
The weather was great that afternoon. Sun was shining and a fresh wind was blowing. Spring really was Korea’s best season, with the pleasant clear sky above and cherry blossoms in bloom all around the garden. There were quite a few people around, all dressed in fancy outfits, happily chatting with each other, waiting for the reception to start. There were a few white tents set up around the area, each serving a different purpose, most of them providing some kind of refreshments.
One of the wedding guests stood a bit aside, just watching everyone, looking a little nervous.
Suddenly, someone showed up by her side, carrying two glasses of champagne. “Look what I stole,” Bora grinned, handing one of the glasses to Siyeon.
Siyeon hesitantly accepted the glass. “I really shouldn’t,” she said, looking at it and then making the champagne inside twirl a bit.
“No one's gonna know,” Bora nudged her.
Siyeon raised an eyebrow dubiously, but took a sip anyways. “Thanks, I guess.”
“It’s nice, isn’t it? A wedding outside?” Bora went on as she, just like Siyeon before, observed all the guests. “Should have done that too.”
“Well, what if it rained?” Siyeon replied.
“It truly worked out for them.”
Siyeon looked at her smart watch. “It’s taking too long. Have you seen the brides?”
Bora shook her head. “Nope. I guess they’re still getting ready? What are you so nervous about?”
Siyeon sighed. “I don’t know. I never performed at someone’s wedding, I don’t want to mess it up, their big day, you know.”
Bora put her hand on Siyeon’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine. You’re great.”
Siyeon finished her drink. “I guess…” she mumbled.
“Dude, I have worked with you on several occasions by now and every single one you slayed, so calm down, you’re gonna slay this one too.” Bora then looked around. “Where’s Minji?”
“I left her by the buffet.”
“But there's dinner after the reception.”
“Has that ever stopped Minji?” Siyeon smiled. “Where’s Yoohyeon?” she asked then in a similar manner.
Bora shrugged. “Somewhere in self-imposed trouble I suppose.”
Siyeon laughed. “Aren’t you worried about her?”
“If I worried about her over these things, I wouldn’t do anything else.” Bora paused and then sighed. “Dang, you’re right, I should go make sure she’s fine, I haven’t seen her for a while.”
“Let me go with you, I have nothing better to do.”
“Alright,” Bora nodded.
The two made their way through the garden. “So when is your real wedding happening?” Bora asked then, teasing Siyeon a bit.
“I’m not sure you’re invited,” Siyeon squinted at Bora.
“What? The audacity,” Bora shook her head.
“You just want to meet Wheein,” Siyeon noted.
“No, I truly want to see you and Minji get married! It’s already a pity I didn’t get to see your first wedding.” Bora paused to think for a bit. “It’s Yoohyeon who wants to meet Wheein,” she said then, making Siyeon laugh.
“Well, we don’t have a date yet,” she replied then seriously. “You know that.”
Bora rolled her eyes. “You two are taking forever.”
“Says the one who’s not even officially engaged yet.”
“Yoohyeon just finished school and we moved to the new place last month, that was already a big step for us, okay? Especially for the dog, she can’t be left alone there just yet, she keeps barking.”
“Yoohyeon does?” Siyeon asked jokingly.
Bora looked at her, taking a second before replying, pondering what her answer should be. “Yes,” she said then simply. "Hey, actually, reminds me, the pipes make weird sounds, Yoohyeon said you might know something about it for some reason? I'm not sure if she was joking or what."
Siyeon looked at her, all alerted. "Is it cricket like sounds?"
Bora frowned. "No."
"Dang. Pity," Siyeon sighed. "I hope he's doing fine without me."
"Who?"
"No one."
"Alright?"
Siyeon didn't seem like she wanted to elaborate and Bora was kind of used to everyone around her being weird, so she let it go.
They turned to the buffet tent and as expected, they found Minji there. When she spotted them, she immediately smiled and waved at them to come over.
“Guys, this cheese, you gotta try.” She didn’t wait for them to answer and already basically force fed Siyeon, who couldn’t do anything but accept it.
“There’s a dinner after the reception,” Bora noted again and once again failed to get any reasonable recognition for the statement.
“Exactly,” Minji nodded in all seriousness. “That’s why you gotta prepare your stomach by pre-eating.”
“What the hell is pre-eating? You know what, don’t answer that, have you seen Yoohyeon?”
Minji pointed to the tent right next to the buffet one, but didn’t reply in words as her mouth was full.
“Thank you,” Bora nodded.
As Siyeon decided to stay with Minji and Minji decided to stay with food, Bora slipped into the other tent alone. She found Yoohyeon sitting on one of the chairs with Pie on her lap, talking to Gahyeon, showing her something on her phone. There was a curtain behind them, creating two separate rooms in the tent.
“-and you can see the increasing value here doesn’t actually mean anything, because the outcome is still the same, here,” Yoohyeon swiped on her phone and Gahyeon nodded, seemingly impressed with whatever Yoohyeon was showing her.
“What are you two geeking out about this time?” Bora interrupted them. She walked over to Yoohyeon and patted Pie’s head.
“You wouldn’t get it,” Yoohyeon replied.
“Undoubtedly,” Bora agreed.
“You got bored without me?” Yoohyeon asked with a playful smile as she reached for Bora’s jacket to pull her closer and kissed her.
“No one is having fun at this wedding,” Bora rolled her eyes. “Siyeon is stressed about her performance, all Minji cares about is food and you two are talking about… values. And not the fun type.”
Gahyeon smiled brightly. “Just wait, it’s about to start soon.”
“Gahyeon-ah, can you help me?” echoed suddenly from behind the curtain.
Gahyeon immediately peeked behind the fabric. “What do you need, unnie?”
Yoohyeon, who was very curious, put Pie on the ground, before she snuck up to Gahyeon and tried to steal a little peek as well.
“Can you fix the lace here on my waist?” Handong asked, clearly struggling with some part of her dress.
Yoohyeon had to tell herself not to stare because Handong sure looked gorgeous in her sleeveless white dress. It was rather simple, but elegant and fit her perfectly.
Gahyeon tilted her head to the side, eyeing the dress. “It looks different than before?” she said. “Where did the sleeves go?”
Handong grinned. “I wanted to show off my arms.”
Gahyeon sighed. “Of course you did,” she commented and then proceeded to help Handong with whatever it was she needed help with.
“Wow, fuck.”
Yoohyeon looked to her right, only to find out Bora came to look at Handong as well. She seemed just as mesmerized as Yoohyeon felt, but clearly had less self restraint. Yoohyeon frowned and then covered Bora’s view with her hand. Bora pushed it away and Yoohyeon whined. Bora didn’t care, she knew it didn’t actually hurt Yoohyeon and she was just overreacting.
“You look gorgeous.”
“Thanks, I know,” Handong smiled at Bora.
“So confident,” Gahyeon uttered.
The fabric door to the tent moved to the side and Siyeon and Minji slipped in. “Still getting ready?” Siyeon asked. Minji just silently took a bite from a cookie she was holding.
“Almost done, can someone get my parents?” Handong asked.
“How are you not nervous at all?” Siyeon asked, surprised by Handong’s calmness. “I was sooo nervous.”
Handong just shrugged. “Unlike you, I know whom I’m marrying.”
“Also she still thinks they’re just friends,” Gahyeon teased.
“We are friends,” Handong said casually, making Gahyeon roll her eyes.
“I’ll go find your parents, because I don’t want to have this conversation,” she said and left the tent.
The girls in the tent fell silent for a moment, only for the silence to be broken by Minji. “Anyone wants a cookie?”
A little later, the four joined the wedding guest crowd slowly. People were sitting down, waiting for the ceremony to start – there were only a few minutes left.
Yubin stood in front of all of them, in her white suit she was looking just as gorgeous as Handong, but seemed slightly more nervous. Minji noticed and hurried to give her a little supportive hug.
“You got this,” she told her and patted her back.
“Yeah, I know I do, thanks,” Yubin smiled at her. “I think your woman might be more nervous than I am though, she certainly looks like she is,” she added then, nodding in Siyeon’s direction. Siyeon was in her seat, right next to Yoohyeon, looking as white as Yubin’s suit.
Minji chuckled. “She’s nervous about the performance. It’s kind of cute, because we all know she’s gonna do great. She’ll get over it once she has a mic in her hand.”
Yubin grimaced. “Now I feel a bit bad about asking her to do this.”
“She’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of that, no worries,” Minji just reassured her with a smile.
“Alright. Go join her now, it’s time.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Minji got to her seat between Siyeon and Gahyeon.
“You know,” Gahyeon looked at her. “I’ve been to so many weddings, but this is the first real one I’m attending. It feels really weird. Also it’s Handong and Yubin. So weird.”
“We’ll invite you to ours too,” Siyeon spoke up, leaning a bit forward to see Gahyeon over Minji.
“And you won’t invite me???” Bora’s voice echoed loudly. Everybody ignored her (only Pie in Yoohyeon’s arms winced), so she just scoffed and crossed her arms.
There was no time to argue about this, as the ceremony just started.
“Welcome to all of you, who have come to share in this important moment in the lives of Handong and Yubin. I ask you to join together in celebrating, acknowledging, and honoring this day and the vows that they will be making. By your presence, you witness and affirm the truth of their love and commitment to each other,” the marriage officiant welcomed them.
“Yo, are you crying?” Bora whispered in Siyeon’s direction as the girl was already wiping the corners of her eyes.
“No,” Siyeon snapped back, but then she turned to Minji, who just smiled at her softly and handed her a tissue, understanding without being told. Then Minji looked to her side and offered Gahyeon one as well – she looked like she needed it too.
“Oh my, she’s here,” Yoohyeon whispered, turning in her seat as Handong entered the garden with her father.
She then glanced at Bora and once again, covered her view with her hand.
“Stop that,” Bora frowned at her.
“Stop drooling then,” Yoohyeon replied.
“Be quiet you two,” Gahyeon scolded them, wiping her cheeks with the tissue.
“Look at Yubin,” Minji said then.
Siyeon and Gahyeon did so immediately, Yoohyeon physically turned Bora’s head before looking too. Gahyeon let out a soft ‘aw’ when she saw how proudly Yubin was smiling, her eyes at Handong only, as if she was the only person in the world. Surely, to Yubin, she was.
“You were looking at me like that too,” Minji told Siyeon, who chuckled.
“I’m not sure about that, but I can assure you I will be the next time we get married.”
“Was I looking at you like that? I don’t think I was,” Bora teased Yoohyeon.
Before Yoohyeon could reply, an unexpected ally came to help her. “You’re looking at her like that now, that’s for sure,” Siyeon smirked.
“You’re supposed to be on my side!” Bora complained.
“Oh am I?”
The wedding officiant started speaking again, successfully interrupting whatever their conversation could have possibly evolved into.
Siyeon was once again tearing up and this time Minji took it upon herself to wipe her tears away, smiling.
Bora quietly put her arm around Yoohyeon’s waist and pulled her closer into this little side hug as they watched the ceremony.
And Gahyeon was slowly turning into a sobbing mess, so after Minji was done with Siyeon’s tears, she was quick to hug Gahyeon too. And ready to provide much needed tissues.
“They grow up so fast,” Gahyeon cried.
“We all do, don’t we?” Minji told her in a soft voice.
Gahyeon just nodded. These four women next to her were the best example of growth to her. Against all odds, they made it all the way here. But this day wasn’t about them, so after she wiped the last tear on her cheek, she held the crying in and focused on her two friends at the front.
Minji reached for Siyeon’s hand and held it in her lap as they watched the ceremony. Bora and Yoohyeon exchanged a quick smile when the officiant finally asked the question.
Gahyeon wasn’t even breathing, waiting for the answer. She closed her eyes - it’s not like she could see much through the tears anyways. The silence felt like it lasted too long, so she opened one of her eyes and squinted, almost scared what she might see. She knew it was ridiculous, there was nothing to be worried about. Both Handong and Yubin looked nothing but completely happy. Yet she held her breath until she heard the definite answer.
“I do.”