When Night And Day Become One

|| Twenty One ||

Then I saw Lu Han patiently waiting for me at the altar. I saw the affection in his eyes and the happiness in his smile and right then, I knew Mom and Dad would never regret giving me to the boy waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

When we reached him, he took my hand from my dad and told him, "I'll take very good care of her."

Then he slowly led me to the altar and we took our respective places.

The priest began the ceremony and the crowd looked on excitedly.

But the moment I looked into his eyes, the world disappeared and he was the only one left that I could see. And the way my heart fluttered when he smiled at me, I knew I had no chance of ever freeing it from his clutch.

"Today, we are celebrating the union of two people, their proclamation that they belong with each other, and their conviction that they are ready to face their future together," the priest said. "Join your hands and declare your consent before God and His church."

"Jiyeon Park," Lu Han said, taking my hand. "I, Lu Han, take you to be my equal partner in life, today, tomorrow and forever. I promise to try and behave, to not get in your nerves all the time, and to always make you laugh. I promise to cherish each of your smiles, to shower you with adoration and to kiss away your tears. I promise to love you, to respect you and to honor you for all the days of my life."

No matter how hard I tried to hold back the tears, they spilled out to my cheeks. True to his words, Lu Han leaned in to kiss each of my eyes and my knees just officially turned to jelly.

I took his hand then and did my best to hold it together. "Lu Han," I said. "I, Jiyeon Park, take you to be my equal partner in life, today, tomorrow and forever. I promise to understand you with all my heart, to never take you for granted, and to always be there for you when you need me. I promise to love you, to respect you and to treasure you for all the days of my life."

The priest said some more things but I was only half-listening, my attention mostly just on Lu Han.

"You may now kiss the bride," the priest said.

And instead of lifting my veil and kissing me, Lu Han winked at the crowd and suddenly lifted me, bridal style.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I asked, my heart fluttering at our closeness. Even now, my reaction to Lu Han's touch didn't change.

"You're not seriously asking me of kissing you in front of all these people, are you?" he asked with a childish grin.

"Hello. That's what grooms are supposed to do," I reminded him, but he was already walking us down the aisle as the people around us hooted with cheers and laughter.

"Well too bad for you then, this groom has another plan," he said proudly.

Wait? So he's not going to kiss me? I thought bitterly.

The chauffeur opened the door to the back of the car and Lu Han let me down inside. I moved away, increasing the space between us. How could he not kiss me on our wedding day?

"Yeon, where are you going?" Lu Han asked. I could tell he was close to laughing. He was making fun of my feelings now when just moments ago he had vowed to try and behave. The nerve of this jerk.

Lu Han sat beside me but I turned my back on him.

"Aww," he teased. "Don't tell me you're actually mad because I didn't kiss you."

Pfft. Did he have to ask?

He suddenly leaned his chin on my bare shoulder and started poking me on the side. "Come on, Yeonie. Forgive me already," he whispered, his breath tickling my ears.

"No," I firmly answered.

He retracted himself from my shoulder. "Fine, suit yourself," he said casually.

My curiosity got the best of me and I turned around, only to find Lu Han's grinning face in front of me.

"Gotcha," he whispered before cupping my face and finally sealing my lips with his.

My body froze automatically, as it usually did whenever he kissed me. My nerves were always in chaos and there was nothing I could do.

He pulled back and smiled. "Now wasn't that better?"

I raised my eyebrow, still pretending to be mad. "What's better in that?"

"Oh, you couldn't tell?" He smirked. "Let me try that again then." And before I could react, he kissed me again. And this time, he didn't leave me with any choice but to kiss him back.

Our lungs screamed for air and we finally pulled back.

"Jerk," I mumbled, blushing furiously. When will this darn cheek ever stop embarrassing me? 

"You know you love this jerk," he said proudly, leaning back.

I scrunched my nose. "Quite conceited, are we now?"

He tugged me closer and wrapped an arm around me. "Of course. So stop being mad, okay? You know my kisses are only for you."

I smiled then.

Lu Han tucked a strand of my hair at the back of my ear and looked at me with tender eyes. "I love you, Yeon. I love you so so much."

I stole a quick kiss from his lips. "And I love you, too."

And that was the beginning of our real love story.