The Cutting Edge

002

Hyunwon had never been more excited about anything in his entire life.

Standing at the doorway of the quaint little church in their old neighbourhood of Gwacheon, he busied himself with checking that everything was in place for the tenth time. It didn't matter how many times he checked, each time he always found some little detail that needed improving. Everything had to be absolutely perfect.

Although both their families had since moved out of this little neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Seoul, this place would always hold a special place in his heart because this was the exact location where they first met. Back then when they were both ten, he passed by the church one day and heard the sounds of a little girl sobbing within. Out of curiosity, he had ventured in and walked up beside the girl with pigtails who was kneeling down in the pews, blubbering to God for her mother's safety.

"Why are you crying?" he had asked. The rest was history.

His phone was busy vibrating in his pocket, but Hyunwon didn't have time to care. One of the champagne roses that had been tied to the side of the wooden pews had fallen off and was now lying helplessly on the floor. He needed to rescue it.

Rushing over to the rose, he gently picked it off the floor and tied it back where it belonged, securing it with the royal purple silk ribbon in an exquisite bow. There were tiny bunches of champagne roses and baby's breath tied along both sides of the aisle, and the aisle itself was littered with a mixture of champagne and pink rose petals. Champagne roses were Seorin's favourite, as was the shade of royal purple that Hyunwon had chosen. Up front, the pianist was already in position and doing a final rehearsal of the piece that Hyunwon had hired him to play.

Today, he was going to ask Seorin to be his wife. Soon, they would be walking down this very same aisle once more to say "I do".

"She should be here in five minutes," he turned to the pianist and said.

He could feel his heart racing in his chest as the nervousness began to set in. His tightly-clenched palms were getting clammy and he couldn't help but pace up and down while counting the seconds. "Nothing to be nervous about, Kang Hyunwon, you've rehearsed this so many times before..." He had been rehearsing for this moment ever since they graduated high school.

Looking around the church, he took a deep breath. He had done all that he could to re-create the dream proposal scene that Seorin had once described to him in passing over a glass of soju, yet at this very last moment he began to doubt whether he had got every single detail correct.

His phone began buzzing in his pocket once again.

Irritated by the constant vibration, Hyunwon dug it out of his pocket and quickly glanced at the name flashing across the scream. Remy du Pont. He hit the "reject call" button and stuffed the phone back where it belonged. Whatever Remy wanted could wait until his big moment was over.

Adjusting his white jacket and checking his reflection one final time in the window, he straightened his back and looked towards the huge wooden doors of the church. At any moment now, Seorin would walk in through those doors and his life would be complete. It didn't matter that the whole world thought he was a cold, heartless bastard as long as he had her by his side. She knew who he really was deep down inside.

As the hands of the clock continued ticking by, Hyunwon became increasingly nervous and edgy with every passing minute. He had asked Seorin's manager to bring her here at exactly 7pm, and it was now 7.01pm.

"It's raining, traffic's probably bad," the pianist offered helpfully when there was still no sign of her at 7.10pm.

They could hear the pitter patter of raindrops against the tiles of the church's roof; it started out as a trickle but slowly evolved into a torrential thunderstorm. Not uncommon for spring weather in Seoul.