Side Story.7

“Yujin?”  

Eunwoo gently touched Yujin’s finger, as if asking if he could put the ring on her.  

Yujin nodded with a face that looked like she was both smiling and crying, and the ring Eunwoo had prepared slid perfectly onto her left ring finger.  

“Marry me, Park Yujin.”  

Yujin reached out and hugged Eunwoo tightly around the neck.  

Eunwoo’s large hand warmly stroked her back.  

“You wouldn’t know, but I bought this ring in Germany two months ago.”  

“How could I know?”  

“I brought up marriage then, but you turned me down, so I just kept it hidden. But now I figured it was finally the right time to ask properly.”  

“This ring finally gets to shine.”  

“Yeah.”  

The conversation exchanged in their deep embrace was filled with affection.  

Yujin turned her head with a smile.  

In front of the urn, Hajin’s photo was smiling at her.  

‘Thank you, Hajin. For sending someone like this to me. You sent him, right? Even if not, I’ll think so. Are you watching? You said you hoped I’d live happily, that I’d live the life I wanted, right? I’m so happy now.’  

Drunk on the fullness spreading through her chest, Yujin suddenly let go of Eunwoo’s neck as a thought crossed her mind.  

“But… is this really the proposal?”  

“…Didn’t you say you liked things simple?”  

Eunwoo blinked, looking puzzled.  

Yujin remembered what she had told Eunwoo a few days ago.  

“Simple… No, I do like simple things… but… I mean…”  

Of course, she didn’t want something like balloons hanging from the trunk or renting a luxury venue with extravagant decorations and inviting all sorts of acquaintances for a ‘Will You Marry Me?’ event.  

But still, this felt…  

Yujin fumbled for words, not sure what to say, when suddenly Eunwoo burst out laughing.  

Yujin’s eyes widened in surprise.  

“I’ll do it again. How about a cruise proposal? My coworkers say that’s popular.”  

“Coworkers? Cruise?”  

Yujin asked blankly, and Eunwoo brushed her nose with his finger and added,  

“If not a cruise, then anything else. However many times you want, I’ll propose as many times as you want.”  

“…Even if I ask for ten proposals?”  

“Gladly.”  

Eunwoo smiled without a hint of annoyance, and Yujin shook her head as if to say it was ridiculous.  

“I’m not that much of a troublemaker.”  

“Yeah. And this isn’t all.”  

“Huh?”  

Eunwoo took Yujin’s hand and led her out of the building to the car.  

He opened the dashboard and took out a small spring-bound booklet, handing it to her.  

Yujin accepted it with a puzzled look, opened it, and her mouth fell open.  

The booklet was filled with photos of her and Eunwoo during their relationship, at places they’d gone on dates.  

Each photo had a short handwritten comment by Eunwoo.  

“If it weren’t for you, I’d never have thought to do something like this in my life.”  

“It’s like… a date book?”  

“If you want to call it that.”  

On the very first page, under a photo of the ‘Alley 25 O’Clock’ convenience store she ran, Eunwoo had written ‘The Beginning of Us’ with the date.  

It was the day Eunwoo came to her store for a part-time job interview.  

Tracing the date with her finger, Yujin’s eyes grew hot, and she could only tremble her lips, not knowing what to say.  

Eunwoo gazed at her and spoke again,  

“Let’s make one every year. Our own story.”  

“…This proposal is more than enough, Go Eunwoo.”  

Yujin took a deep breath and looked at Eunwoo with teary eyes.  

“Really?”  

“Yeah. So… when should we have the formal family meeting?”  

Yujin paused, then playfully asked, and Eunwoo lightly kissed her lips.  

***

Half a year later.  

When the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and falling, Yujin and Eunwoo held their wedding.  

The formal meeting between families, which Yujin had worried might get noisy over dowries, wedding gifts, or the engagement ceremony, ended with both sides simply praising each other’s children.  

Bangsook, who had expected to be told what to do, actually let go completely once the wedding was set.  

—They say weddings are for the parents, but I don’t think so. A wedding is the first thing you two do together, the first button in a life you’ll build together, so you need to handle it yourselves. Prepare it as you see fit.  

When she actually let go, it was Yujin who felt flustered.  

After Hajin’s accident, Yujin had left the straight highway of medical school graduation and walked a bumpy road, so she didn’t have many friends or people to ask about marriage.  

She hired a wedding planner, scrambled for information, and realized again that nothing in life was easy.  

Without dowries or wedding gifts, some procedures were skipped, but there was still so much to handle.  

The biggest issues were the newlywed home, the wedding venue, choosing a photographer, dress and makeup vendors, fitting the wedding dress, making invitations—during the months of preparation, Yujin felt she was getting gray hairs.  

The good thing was that Eunwoo also knew little about weddings and worked with her, learning together, so they managed to reach today without a single fight.  

Finally, today was D-day.  

“Yujin.”  

Wearing a bell-line dress that emphasized her slim waist and looking down at the bouquet in her hands, Yujin lifted her head.  

As the photographer’s camera flashed, she blinked and saw Eunwoo standing at the bride’s waiting room door.  

With his hair slicked back and his forehead exposed, Eunwoo looked like a model in his tuxedo, making Yujin smile without realizing it.  

“Eunwoo.”  

“You’re so beautiful.”  

Eunwoo approached and whispered as he gazed at her, making Yujin’s cheeks flush.  

For a moment, she was intoxicated with the possessive thought: From today, Go Eunwoo is mine from head to toe.  

Then a cheerful voice called out from behind.  

“Hello, Sister-in-law. You’re truly beautiful.”  

“Congratulations.”  

Peeking out, she saw Eunwoo’s fraternal twin cousins, Jaehyung and Jaejin.  

“Oh, you’re here? Thank you.”  

“We’re family now, no need to be awkward. Eunwoo’s face is getting smoother and happier, so we should be thanking you.”  

Jaehyung, a psychiatrist, joked to lighten the mood, and Jaejin nodded calmly behind him.  

“I hear good news is coming for you soon, Jaejin. Congratulations in advance. I’ll definitely come to your wedding.”  

“Thank you.”  

Jaejin blushed slightly at her words, and Jaehyung grinned next to him.  

“Even you can see Jaejin’s face is brighter, right? The power of love is amazing.”  

“Stop with the nonsense. If you’re going to talk rubbish, just leave.”  

Jaehyung kept joking loudly, so Jaejin scolded him, and Jaehyung made a playful face before coming behind Yujin.  

“Who’s leaving? We need to take pictures! Pictures!”  

“Right, come here, let’s take pictures together!”  

Yujin smiled brightly, lined up with the brothers Jaejin and Jaehyung behind her, and Eunwoo on her left, facing the camera.  

“Bride, groom, and family, all smile big! One, two, three! Click!”  

Yujin smiled mechanically.  

Just get through this moment and it’s over.  

After all the fun and hard work of wedding preparations, she would finally become a wife.  

Yujin smiled happily at the flashing camera.  

***

After that, she didn’t really know how the day passed.  

When greeting the parents, both families had tears in their eyes, and the person Eunwoo had asked to sing the congratulatory song turned out to be a famous singer-songwriter.  

Her friend who was supposed to catch the bouquet got sick and couldn’t, so Eunwoo’s cousin Jaejin ended up catching it, which made everyone laugh.  

“So you’re heading to the new house tonight?”  

“Yes. Our flight is the day after tomorrow. We’ll pack and finish settling in for two days.”  

“If you need anything, call me.”  

After the meal and cleanup, Yujin met her parents outside by the car.  

Bangsook’s eyes were red like a rabbit, and seeing them, Yujin instinctively grabbed Bangsook’s hand tightly.  

“You said we should handle the wedding ourselves, right?”  

“That’s that, but do you even know how to do housework? Call if you don’t know anything!”  

“Okay. I’ll call every day. You’ll miss me.”  

“What are you saying? I’m fine! Just live well together.”  

At Yujin’s playful words, Bangsook grumbled but didn’t let go of her hand.  

Yujin looked down at her mother’s rough hand, then up at Bangsook.  

“Mom, thank you.”  

“For what, you brat?”  

“Just… for everything.”  

“Enough. Go on.”  

Despite Bangsook’s scolding, Yujin hugged her mother tightly.  

Her mother seemed to have lost weight, and feeling her bones made Yujin bite her lip to keep from crying.  

“We’ll go now.”  

Not wanting Bangsook to worry, Yujin quickly got in the car, and she could hear Eunwoo reassuring Bangsook.  

Soon Eunwoo got in the driver’s seat, and Yujin calmed her bittersweet, tender heart.  

“Eunwoo, the washer and dryer are coming tomorrow, right? The date better not change.”

“It won’t. Don’t worry.”  

“Okay. The house already had everything, so I didn’t have much to bring as marriage gifts.”

“What do you mean? You’re starting by saving half.”

As Eunwoo sorted the luggage in the back seat, Yujin wrinkled her nose and added,  

“I feel sorry to Father. He moved out because of us.”  

“He didn’t move out. He always said we should live in that house after marriage, and he’d live near the hospital. He loves being close to his patients. You saw how happy he was.”  

“…Really?”  

Yujin remembered Professor Go laughing and telling them to live in the house while he moved near the hospital.  

“I think we packed everything. Shall we go?”  

At Eunwoo’s words, Yujin nodded energetically.  

“Yes, let’s go. To our home.”  

Eunwoo naturally reached out and held her hand, and Yujin laced her fingers with his.  

After 14 months of dating, they made a lifelong promise in marriage.  

Some might worry it’s a rash decision, others might encourage them, but no one truly knows.  

Life is full of variables.  

It can be good things, or bad things.  

No, maybe there will be more bad things.  

But with this man by her side, whatever hardship, adversity, and—

The certainty that she could overcome even happiness well.  

With that certainty, Yujin decided to keep moving forward.  

With this man whom she loved so very much, and wanted to continue loving, Go Eunwoo.