A/N: omfg i just read a fanfic about my favorite F1 driver and he just died in the story and i'm literally crying even if its not real like wtf??🥲Anyways sorry lets get to the story :-)
- - -
Silently, I sit next to Sunghoon in the passenger seat of his black Bentley and look out the window at the large lake we are driving past, where people have spread out on the lawn to enjoy the beautiful weather. The sun is shining and it's almost 30 degrees. Perfect July weather for a trip to the lake.
I think back to the old days of spending almost every hot summer day at the lake with Leela. Last summer we even went to the ocean for a few days of camping with her cousin Aron.
Everything seemed so perfect back then. And today I think back on it and have to accept that there will never be days like that again.
"You're so silent today," notes Sunghoon, who has exchanged his dress shirt for a plain white T-shirt today and is wearing sunglasses, over whose lenses he gives me a quick glance before returning his eyes to the road.
"You should enjoy it," I reply, shrugging my shoulders. Nervously, I smooth out the fabric of my light summer dress and look at Sunghoon.
"I want to hear your beautiful voice, though," Sunghoon replies to me. "You have countless years ahead of you where you'll have to endure my voice more often than you'd like," I whisper, lowering my gaze. Was that inappropriate? "I guess so," Sunghoon suddenly agrees with me coolly.
After another fifteen minutes of driving, we arrive at the bridal fashion store where Sunghoon has made the appointment for a fitting and consultation. Next door is also a jeweler that focuses specifically on wedding rings.
Since all the parking spaces are taken, Sunghoon parks his car in a small parking garage, which actually belongs to a furniture store and is located a bit down the street.
"Do you think I can leave it here like this?" he wants to know from me as we get out. Concerned, he looks at his car. "I think so," I reply, careful to choose the right words and just not say anything that might have a negative effect on my father's mind if he finds out from Sunghoon that I didn't behave appropriately.
"It doesn't look like a good neighborhood here," Sunghoon sighs, locking the car. "We're in a parking garage," I reply, raising an eyebrow. I don't know what Sunghoon's expectations are for a parking garage, but this one looks among the best of all the parking garages I've been in.
Sunghoon looks at me over the lenses of his expensive sunglasses. "You got it," he replies coolly, to which I lower my gaze.
All of a sudden, he reaches out and gently lifts my face, forcing me to continue looking at him. "Never avert your gaze when I'm talking to you. Okay?" he says quietly. I swallow hard. Even though it's really hard, I hold his gaze. "Okay," I reply in a shaky voice.
Together with Sunghoon, I leave the parking garage and we walk down the street to get to the bridal fashion store.
Although I wouldn't get far anyway, I keep catching myself looking around for the perfect escape route. "Don't even consider it," Sunghoon warns me in a serious voice, roughly grabbing my hand to pull me closer to him. Sunghoon doesn't let go of my hand until we reach the bridal fashion store.
The ringing of a small bell sounds as he opens the door and pushes me in front of him into the store. Immediately, a young woman wearing a white blouse and high heels approaches us.
"Good afternoon and welcome, you must be Mr. Park, right?" asks the young woman with long blonde hair that falls wavily over her narrow shoulders. She smiles kindly at Sunghoon and me, revealing a row of straight white teeth.
"That's right, we spoke on the phone," Sunghoon agrees with her and removes his sunglasses, also smiling at the admittedly real pretty young woman, whose name tag reads Elle in curved script.
I don't miss the way Elle looks at Sunghoon. It's obvious that she's really taken with his physical appearance. But what bothers me the most is the way Sunghoon returns her gaze. The way he looks at her, he hasn't looked at me before. Probably I'm just not his type. But after all, that's not my fault.
I lower my eyes to the ground to stop watching the two of them devour each other with their gazes. "And this is my fiancée," Sunghoon finally introduces me, and suddenly I feel him put his hand on my waist and pull me closer.
As he does so, he presses directly on my aching ribs, which is why I draw in my breath sharply and tears immediately spring to my eyes. Immediately, Sunghoon lets go of me and looks at me with a questioning look. "I'm sorry," I say, trying not to let the pain show, smiling. "I just got scared," I lie.
"Well, let's get right to it, shall we?" says Elle, clapping her hands together and seeming to take measure of me with her eyes, analyzing my physique before motioning for us to follow her.
"Since your fiancée has such a nice narrow waist, pretty much any cut will fit her, really. Personally, though, I would go for either a classic A-line or I-line in your case."
Elle first shows us some I-line dresses that are gorgeous, but don't really appeal to me. I've always dreamed of an A-line and I'm probably still stuck on that dream. Even though the thought of marrying Sunghoon still scares me, I still don't want to be deprived of at least the dream of my perfect dress.
"And what about the A-lines?", Sunghoon wants to know when he notices my dissatisfied look. "The A-lines..." says Elle, walking down an aisle with us. "Are here."
As she takes one of the dresses off the hook, my eyes wander down the rows and linger on a beautiful lace-trimmed white dress. It doesn't have a long train, but it still looks a lot like the dress I always imagined myself wearing at my wedding when I was a little girl.
"What about this dress?", Sunghoon wants to know, pointing to the dress that caught my attention. "This dress is almost 1000 euros over your mentioned budget," Elle answers immediately. "And then there would probably be the cost of fitting on top of that and."
"It doesn't matter," Sunghoon interrupts the saleswoman. "It's actually a very nice dress, also an A-line and designed by an English designer. This dress is a one-of-a-kind," Elle tells us.
She takes the dress off the hook and shows it to us again in more detail. The corsage trimmed with lace goes into a long flowing fabric. This dress looks simply gorgeous.
"Would you like to try it on?" the young woman with blond hair asks me, addressing me personally for the first time. "I would help you with it, of course, and we could see directly how you like it dressed and what needs to be changed."
"Okay," I agree, trying not to let on that I'm excited on the one hand and the exact opposite on the other. "Can I offer you something else to drink while we're busy in there?" the saleswoman inquires of Sunghoon, who gratefully waves it off.
"I'd like to see it too, by the way," he informs us. With raised eyebrows, I turn to Sunghoon. "I can't do that," Elle and I say out of one mouth. "Why?", Sunghoon wants to know and frowns.
"It's bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding," I reply indignantly. "We don't even know if it's your dress yet," Sunghoon replies, shrugging his shoulders. "I can't even tell yet if I still like it on you as much as I did at first sight."
Offended, I cross my arms in front of my chest and open my mouth to say something, but then close it again, not wanting to say anything wrong, which would definitely have happened. "Okay," I agree with him then.
It doesn't matter anyway, because after all, this isn't a real wedding. We're getting married, but not for love. We don't need happiness or unhappiness. It doesn't mean anything.
Together, Sunghoon and I follow the blonde young woman into the segregated area of the store. Here there is a white sofa and a large dressing room with a curtain that is also white.
While Sunghoon sits down on the sofa, the blonde saleswoman asks me into the changing room. "Take off the dress already, I'll take care of the dress," the young saleswoman asks me and pulls the curtain closed.
Motionless, I just stand there as it occurs to me that my chest is covered with two large bruises from my father's kicks.
So if I took my clothes off right now, Elle would see it and I don't want to imagine what would happen.
"Are you okay?" the young woman asks as she pokes her head into the locker room and notices that I still haven't undressed. Silently, I look at Elle before nodding.
"Okay, then take off your dress so you can try on the wedding dress," she says. With my lips pressed together, I unzip my dress and slip out of the sleeves before taking it off.
Elle's eyes widen as she spots the bruises on my body that are hard to miss.
A/N I wonder how our dear Hoonie would react if he would see those bruises...