You're The One I Want | Winrina

One Hell of a Speech

"You're going to be late, Siwon, late!"

"The service isn't until two."

"You have to be there early. If you're not waiting at the altar you'll ruin the whole thing," Minho cried. "Now, where are your cufflinks?!"

"You took them away from me to put them somewhere safe," Siwon said, gruffly.

When he saw Jimin enter, he looked up at his daughter pleadingly. "Help me," he said. "Minho's gone mad."

Jimin clapped her hands on Minho's shoulder to stop him from frantically running back and forth. "It's all going to be fine, Uncle," she said. "There's no need to rush. It's only eight in the morning. You've got plenty of time."

"That's what you think," Minho said, "but in the blink of an eye eight in the morning will become one o'clock in the afternoon and then you will all be the ones panicking."

Siwon's eyes met Jimin's, and he gestured at Kwon and then at the door. Jimin got the message.

"So, hey, Minho, I've just seen my mother," Jimin said, "it's all a bit hectic down there. She sent me to make sure it was all good on this end. You couldn't just go there and calm everything down there, could you? I'll hold down the fort here."

Minho stopped moving and jabbed a thumb in Jimin's direction. "You better make sure that he doesn't leave the house. He's already tried to give me the slip twice. Don't take your eyes off him."

Then he walked backwards out the room, keeping his eyes narrowed on the two of them as he disappeared outside.

"Is it too late to elope?" Siwon deadpanned.

Jimin tipped her head back and laughed. "He's just excited, Dad. Everyone is. It's going to be the event of the season."

She watched as her father fussed with his bow tie in the mirror, messing with it this way and that, and then finally letting it drop to the floor in disgust. "This is ridiculous," her father said. "I should just go in jeans and a t-shirt."

"Minho wouldn't let you," Jimin said, bending down and sweeping the bow-tie up into her hands. "C'mere."

She looped the tie back around his neck and began tying it in front.

"Never understood how these blasted things work," Siwon grumbled.

"It's not that difficult," Jimin said. "So, you nervous?"

"Hardly," her father said, drumming his fingers against his trouser leg. "It's been a long time coming. We should've done it long ago."

"Why didn't you?" Jimin asked, and when she didn't get an answer, she looked up to where her father was looking down at her, thoughtfully. "It's just that I don't think I've ever asked. You've had all this time. Why now?"

"It was never the right time when we were young. We were busy people," Siwon said, "a wedding is a lot of planning, a lot of time, a lot of money. We decided to wait until we had all that time, and all that money. And then we had you, and of course, we didn't want to do it when you were a baby, that would have been too much stress. I think we both agreed that we wanted to do it when you were older. And then I guess it just passed us by. There was always a reason not to. We didn't want to throw a wedding while you were in high school. And we didn't want to do it while you were away at university. There was always something."

"So why now?" Jimin asked, as she set Siwon's bow-tie into place.

He thought to himself for a moment, pressing his lips together. "One day, I woke up and realised that there wasn't much else I wanted in my life. Everything was close to perfect, and the one thing that would have been the cherry on top of everything would be getting to finally, officially call your mother my wife."