🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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Everything went still when the double doors burst open. The sound of heels clacking against the polished marble floor was the only thing echoing in the chambers of Rin's mind. He turned. And his jaw hung open.
Hye-jin, clad in white with a veil over her face, walked towards him with the brightest smile he ever saw on her. The weeks of planning didn't prepare him for this. Judging from the stillness of the audience, Rin wasn't the only one feeling like the world was slowing down.
And slow down, it did. A watery haze filled his eyes, and he did his best to blink it away. No. He must witness this, remember every single detail. This scene—where a thousand petals fluttered in the air and showered down on Hye-jin, the light fixtures giving it their all to make sure the place was glowing, the abundance of white roses lining the aisle—wouldn't be here forever. Maybe it'd live in the pictures from the cameras clicking in the background, but seeing it happening before him—it invoked a different feeling.
Words would fail to express whatever was going through his brain. All that mattered was the woman walking towards him, in a dress flaunting her beauty, and the brightness in her eyes. Rin wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, trying to keep his composure. Hye-jin would be laughing at him later if she ever saw him looking like a chef tortured with onions in the pictures.
Beside the bride was her father. Rin had begrudging respect for Hye-jin's father. The man had nothing upon moving to Whiteridge. After risking everything and starting a business of selling foods from home, not only did he become the top-selling store in the neighborhood, he was able to send his daughter into a prestigious university. All the while taking care of his wife's medical expenses and making sure Hye-jin was eating good food three times a day.
Hye-jin reached the steps leading to the altar where Rin stood beside the officiant. Her arm around the crook of her father's tightened the least bit. He turned to her with a sad, watery smile. Slowly, he peeled off her fingers and passed them to Rin's waiting hand. Hye-jin's head swiveled between her father and Rin, the veil shielding whatever expression she wore. Her shoulders shook—the weakest quiver—but it wasn't lost on Rin.
She bunched her skirts up and strode towards him. He made sure to run his thumb against her knuckles to calm her. She looked up at him with another one of her small smiles and squeezed his hand back. Even when she was already settled beside him, he didn't let go. He figured he wasn't going to. Ever.
Then, it was time for the vows. Rin held the wireless microphone, feeling all sorts of emotions curl through his gut, knocking his intestines over, causing a commotion to roil under the surface. Fear pounded against his temples. What if he messed up the sentences he painstakingly memorized? What if he became paralyzed and ruined everything?
A hand squeezed his. He raised his head and met Hye-jin's eyes from underneath the veil. She nodded at him, giving his hand—which stayed intertwined with hers—one last squeeze. Rin blew a quiet breath, bringing the microphone to his mouth.
