it took him an absolute minute to realize what she did.
albedo’s face, from y/n’s perspective, didn’t give her many answers to what he did think about that kiss – instead, his expression was a blank look of surprise. she took a big gulp, trembling knees backing away as albedo once again reminisced the warmth of her lips against his skin; warmer than the sun, sweeter than honey.
his mouth began to move and everything stopped revolving around them. she felt like puking, running as her stomach fell to her feet; the loud beating of her heart wasn’t helping so did her eyes when they accidentally looked at his bright teal eyes.
albedo’s hand touched the specific place where she kissed it, “i see…” whispered him, still in dazed and didn’t know what to say because honestly – a kiss from her was the least he expected.
y/n’s lips trembled, trying to build up her posture once again with the fear of finding out that she was slowly and deeply crumbling inside. “forget that happened…”
“what?”
his tone sounded like she said something unbelievable.
“forget about that.” she managed to reply coldly, “i did that for the picture.”
“you’re willing to kiss someone for the sake of a picture?” albedo retorted, his voice was strong and hurt and weak.
“that’s not the point!”
“then tell me.” he insisted, taking a step towards her in which she responded by stepping backward — he stopped — thankfully, she was getting breathless as seconds passed, the temperature seemed to be warmer than usual. “you’re not that kind of person, y/n.”
“you don’t know me!” y/n exclaimed.
her dramatic response caused his lips to slightly part. albedo opened his mouth as if he wanted to tell her something but it didn’t manage to escape his lips — his eyes would never lie — there was confusion, sadness, and a spark of anger within them.
she couldn’t blame him. for so long, she didn’t know what she was doing. kissing him on the cheek wasn’t her plan — and after she did that, her mind blanked. y/n, ironically, was overwhelmed by her own action.
and instead of taking this little opportunity to confess, she messed it up all.
she is after all the problem, what could she do?
the girl entered the room, putting more awkwardness into the atmosphere with her sweet giggles of admiration. “here! i printed two!”
albedo cleared his throat before accepting the other one, while the last copy was purposely placed into y/n’s hands by the girl. “it’s free, don’t worry! i hope i helped — by that, may the both of you have a prosperous relationship!”
albedo walked outside first but y/n was too ashamed and annoyed of everything, before going out, she looked at the girl. “we’re not a couple.”
“heya! found ya both!”
two tired-longing sighs escaped albedo and y/n’s lips after hearing hu tao’s voice.
“come, come! something fun is about to happen!” hu tao gripped y/n’s hand tightly, dragging the girl along with her at such speed. “albedo, follow! we need you there!”
they walked past the crowd – the music was still energetic as before and the sun was slowly setting, it was after all, five in the afternoon. so much had happened in a short period of time – she realized how she fucked up mostly everything.
they arrived in a booth, almost crumpled with the huge amount of students gathering around it. her eyebrow instantly raised upon seeing venti standing on the side while laughing – her eyes traced where he was looking – an inevitable gasp left her mouth when she saw lumine and tartaglia in a marriage booth.
“what the hell…” she mumbled in disbelief, shuffling her fingers inside her bag but her phone wasn’t there. “oh god, this is a sight to capture!”
“don’t worry, i’ll send the pictures to you!” hu tao giggled beside her. she was holding a dslr camera and really took the role too seriously with the amount of effort she puts in every click of the photo.
venti laughed, “aren’t i the greatest?”
“what?”
“i set them up.” venti pointed at lumine and tartaglia who are now saying their ‘i do’, he looked like a proud father. “someday, they’ll thank me for this.”
“bet lumi’s so embarrassed right now..” y/n chuckled, tilting her head to get a better view from the booth. “and tartaglia will talk about this for weeks.”
“they’re too shy to admit everything so i just did what i should do.” her friend shrugged plainly.
“what if lumine likes someone else?”
venti gave her the ‘are-you-serious-look’ “oh, i think we both know the answer to that, y/n.”
right. who doesn’t?
“ah, albedo you’re here.” venti greeted as albedo stood beside y/n, she fought the urge to step closer to venti. “what happened to both of you? we literally strolled the whole campus to find y’all.”
“about that…” the blonde trailed off. “we got lost too..”
“hmm, right? there were lots of stalls today.”
when the ceremony ended, lumine marched towards them with a pout but a glint of warm red on her cheeks. tartaglia, on the other hand, was trying too hard to hide his smile but absolutely failed as he checked the pictures hu tao captured – then they started laughing and giggling.
“aw, you’re married, lumi!” y/n teased.
lumine rolled her eyes, the pout still visible on her face. “i swear to god, i’m going to set hu tao up with someone she hates in that very same booth!”
“that’s cruel!”
“hu tao and venti are the cruel ones.” lumine corrected, turning her back against venti who only laughed at her. “where have you been by the way? you and uh albedo went missing at the same time.”
“we got lost.”
“really? that’s a shame. xiao and his friends were here earlier.”
y/n could only nod. “the event will come to an end soo, do we have any plans?”
“venti suggested that we should eat at the new sushi restaurant later,” lumine glanced at venti who was talking to hu tao and tartaglia. “i think that’s the best way to end the day.”
their conversation continued that they didn’t even notice their three friends talking to the coordinator of the marriage booth.
“the next marriage ceremony will start now!” the loud speaker announced, earning cheers from the crowd and an ocean of guesses of who would be the next fortunate couple. “may we ask, mr. albedo kreideprinz and ms. y/n l/n to come here?”
y/n’s stomach twisted in shock. lumine who was casually talking with her soon gave her a menacing smirk as hu tao marched towards them, wrapping her hand on y/n’s wrist, pulling her towards the booth. tartaglia did the same with albedo, he didn’t even forget to greet him with a bunch of ‘finally’ and ‘congratulations!’
“hu tao, i’m going to kill you!” y/n fumbled uncomfortably when she finally saw the huge crowd watching them.
“no, you won’t!” her friend cackled and whispered, “since you do not want to continue our original plan, i created another one!”
“without my consent!”
“it would be embarrassing if you leave him here alone, right?”
“i hate you!”
“oh, you’ll thank me!” hu tao gave a flying kiss before walking down the booth leaving the two awkward enemies staring at each other.
she could see the flashes of the camera from the side of her eye as she swallowed thickly – not forgetting their argument inside the photobooth and now, for the love of the lord, they were set up in a marriage booth by their clueless friends!
“please hold one another’s hand.” the acting-priest with red hair ordered.
holding hands while they’re not on good terms wasn’t the best idea ever but for the sake of the watching eyes of the crowd, they had no choice but to obey for a show. as their hands slowly connected, volts of electricity did once again engulf her body but for some reason, in spite of the loud beating of her heart, her shoulders relaxed.
his hands…
oh, to hold them forever.
lumine now put the rope over y/n’s head and rested it on her shoulders, tartaglia did the same. now, running away is not the best plan. she had no escape.
there were plenty of assistants that stood beside them with papers on their hands, making sure that they could read whatever’s written on them. her stomach churned, feeling the way how his thumb unconsciously caressed her palm.
“albedo, do you take y/n for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
goddamn.
this situation is ridiculous — everything is ridiculous but no matter how much she hates to admit it, this situation will be a core memory for her someday. that no matter what happens to them, reminiscing about this day would mean laughing at all the idiocy she did and smiling at whatever happened today.
“i do.”
her breath halted, her hand unknowingly tightened against his hold. the way he breathed those two words made it seem like it came from the depths of his heart, the overwhelming rush of sincerity and the never-breaking eye contact between them sent a warm rush to her cheeks.
the crowd cheered and applauded, a series of exclamations went through her ear and disappeared quickly when the priest spoke once again.
“y/n, do you take albedo for your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
y/n stilled, her voice shakes. “i-i do…”
another cheer from the crowd erupted, then two children from the elementary department stood beside them, holding two pillows each with a ring on it.
y/n stared wide-eyed to the little girl with blonde hair, similar to albedo, who was standing right beside her – she wore the sweetest smile. “congratulations, y/n and brother!”
her cheeks burned, she wanted to say something but despicably failed. she looked at albedo with the determination to know his reaction but his attention was solely focused on the ring lying gracefully on the pillow, he was pensive.
what the fuck.
she knew what’s going to happen next and she was very much aware how her hands were uncontrollably shaking. y/n finally understood why lumine’s cheeks were burning red, why she looked nervous — it was not because of the watchful crowd — it’s the feeling of being in this situation, the feeling of standing here while everything felt so real and intimidating.
the priest finally asked them to put the ring on while reciting the words written on the paper.
albedo was asked to do it first.
his hand gently reached for her hand, then slowly, leisurely, and steadily he inserted the silver ring in her ring finger. “y/n, receive this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity.”
fuck.
his voice complemented his action; soft and gentle. the tip of his ears were red but he managed to deliver the action so sincere and casual that it energized the butterflies partying in her stomach. it made her weak and helpless and red.
she did the same, inserting the ring in his ring finger, but she was quick, fast, and shaking – her nervousness was visible and she knew everyone could see that but she was too occupied to think, she was on the verge of losing her sanity – on the verge of finally confessing her feelings to him and she was trying too hard to stop it.
the words, the actions, the events, and her emotions – his face, his voice, his smile, and his touch — all of them were leading her to the same inescapable conclusion: confession.
“a-albedo, receive this ring as a sign of my l-love and fidelity….”
she could feel her heartbeat on her throat, completely overwhelming her. no, she would not confess. not right now.
not yet.
not right now.
“you may now kiss the bride.”
&&&
im sorry for suddenly vanishing OMG i joined the researchers of the school to make a proposal abt the issues there (which is currently on-going), i joined a quizbee (i won btw 🤩), and now i have two debates ILL BE BACK MAYBE THIS SATURDAY OR SUNDAY ??
have a great day ahead ☃️💌