My Villain

Chapter Fifty-Nine

"Ren Chang, make sure my eyebrows are on fleek. I want them to be able to slap someone", Xin turned to her make-up artist.

"My beautiful beautiful future Mrs. Gao", the woman answered, "Just with how high and sculpted your cheekbones are, Sir Zhi Ting won't be able to look anywhere else."

***

Yue has often thought that maybe the whiteness of a bride's dress does not really connote virginity but a clean and empty canvass.

She believes that it must be a symbol of how both the groom and bride will come together and paint a picture that is uniquely their own, a picture that shares their dreams and hopes for the world they are building together, a picture bound to take your breath away at the realization that after years of searching, you are now painting with another person and whatever it is that you create comes from your strokes together.

Being a creative person herself, Yue knows the high of being able to collaborate with someone who has the same passion and energy as you do.

It is rare.

That is why even if her heart has known from years that today will eventually come for her friends... she still cannot help but shed tears.

Seeing Dong Xin walk down the aisle to a crying Gao Zhi Ting will forever be etched in her memory.

She cannot believe that just a few weeks back, she would have begrudged the two of them this union because she was still in love with the groom.

She thanked the heavens that everything worked out in the end because the happiness she feels in her heart now is immeasurable.

"This is how it is to love", the voice inside her head declared and she agreed whole-heartedly.

Yue wondered whether there anyone else can understand exactly just how grateful she is to witness this.

It is no small miracle.

"Before we officially end this ceremony", the priest announced, "Zhi Ting and Xin, please read your vows to each other."

The whole church erupted into laughter as Zhi Ting joked that he thought they were already at the "Kiss the Bride" part.

Xin shook her head at him as he produced a letter from his pocket.

The man smiled the widest smile Yue had ever seen on him and cleared his throat.

A hush went through all of the guests and Zhi Ting began.

"Xin... I never told you this and I am not sure you will even remember this, but I think I fell in love with you, the very first time I saw you. We haven't been introduced yet at that time and you were looking for Yue at our Org Room and then you saw me and asked me. You looked very stern, I don't know, or somehow unapproachable, but when I told you where your best friend was, you smiled. And maybe it was for a few seconds or maybe it was a few millenniums but that smile stayed with me. And since then, all I have ever wanted is to always see you smiling at me.

That's why I kept throwing jokes your way even if a lot of them annoyed you. It didn't matter to me if I looked stupid because if I could just see one smile come out from you, it ALWAYS made my day.

And for the past years we have been together, that smile always propelled me forward. I keep thinking whenever I'm in meetings, or I'm in the restaurant's kitchen, or if I have to spend a few more hours before I can get home that as long as I can come home and see your smile... then none of it matters. I will see you and your smile again. And THAT makes everything worth it.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I may love your smile the most, but I love everything about you so strongly too. I think I can watch you all day and never get tired.

That's why thank you for giving me that opportunity to watch you.

I promise to you that I will always be here watching you from sun up to sun down until the end of our lives.

I will witness your life. I will never let go.

I love you, Babe. And if there is a word stronger than "love" then I feel that for you too. I can't wait to begin our life together."

People let out hollers and whoohoos after Zhi Ting's vow.

The "new" Mrs. Gao Xin looked like she is about to melt into a puddle but not out of embarrassment... rather out of sheer bliss.

Yue had never seen her best friend more beautiful than she was at that moment.

"Zhi Ting...

I won't be able to say you are my first love. Actually, I can't even say you are my last love because I think that when a mini-you or a mini-me comes along, I might fall in love with them just as much as I love you. BUT... I can say that you are my greatest love – the love that I will wake up for, the love that I will cross oceans for, the love that I will always fight for.

I love you now. I love you tomorrow. And I love you until the very end of our lives and even beyond that.

I cannot imagine myself waking up to anyone else. I cannot imagine myself going to sleep looking at another person's face.

All my imaginings, all my hopes, all my dreams... they have your face.

So... I will promise the same to you. I will witness your life. I will never let go. I am beyond excited for our life together.

I love you. I love you. I love you."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Brother and Sisters, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Gao!!!", the priest announced happily, "At last! Zhi Ting, you may kiss your bride."

Yue wiped at her eyes as she watched her two best friends lock lips and embrace.

At last.

AT LAST.