Yue woke up to the most perfect day imaginable.
The sun is out, the sky is clear, and the smell of coffee is wafting through her bedroom door, encouraging her to get up and make her stomach happy.
She washed her face and found herself almost gliding towards the dining area.
"Good morning", DiDi's voice, sounding the huskiest it has ever been since they both met, made her pause from her sauntering.
She looked at him to respond to his greeting but became tongue-tied for a few seconds.
She knows he likes sleeping in joggers and a white wife-beater shirt (she had seen him in this outfit before) but the sleepiness he still had in his eyes, as well as the tousled mess that sleeping had caused his hair made him look adorably sexy and dangerous to one's sanity so early in the morning.
"You can wake up to that view every morning, Shen Yue", the devil inside her head whispered as she found herself trying to string together words to greet him back.
"Morning", she answered simply and resolutely turned away from him.
DiDi made no comment so she is probably safe. She's probably more awake than him because he didn't notice her momentary loss of speech.
"I wasn't sure what you wanted to eat so I asked them to bring up a portion of everything they serve for breakfast", the man told her as he rubbed at his eyes and continued to look unaware of his effect on her.
This is probably the reason why he has such a sharp tongue. He must know that with just his looks, he can floor anyone, anytime, anywhere.
And he'd probably look good even if he forgot to shower for five days or even if he didn't brush his teeth for two.
It isn't fair.
AT ALL.
"Are we eating breakfast... or will you keep looking at me?", he asked languidly as he reached for the percolator to pour himself coffee.
"CHRIST!", Yue thought as she reddened from the roots of her hair to the ends of her toes. HE NOTICED.
"I want to look at you as intensely as you've been looking at me but let me get coffee first so I can focus."
Electricity shot through her. "Yes. Drink coffee. You must still be dreaming."
She berated herself at the weak response, biting her lip as he focused back on food.
Eventually, breakfast went off without a hitch... until she noticed that he had been staring at her for a good ten minutes already.
She met his eyes (that she's been avoiding since he called her out) and quirked an eyebrow. "Is there anything on my face?"
He shook his head and then smiled. "This is just revenge."
Her brow almost hit the ceiling.
"I can't allow you to be the only one to stare", DiDi added with a smirk.
She looked away from him and re-focused on eating. She should put a distance between them or she might just be tempted to jump him.
And that wouldn't do.
"Stay strong Yue. We want him to court you, right?", the angel inside her head reminded her as she endured DiDi's unmoving stare.
She waited for a few minutes to pass just before lifting her eyes back up again and nothing's changed.
He is still looking at her.
***
"Did you eat something different for breakfast?," Dong Xin asked her as people started to gather in the bride's suite – make-up artists, photographers, some of the other bridesmaids, and the rest of her family that are now going around prepping and checking on the most important details.
"Huh?", she asked.
"Why do you have such a huge smile on your face while I want to throw up what I ate?", her best friend responded.
Yue shook her head. "Are you nervous?"
Xin closed her eyes. "A little?"
She motioned for the make-up artist working on her to stop laying on the foundation. Yue turned to the other woman.
"Are you serious?", she asked again.
Xin now motioned for her own make-up artist to stop. "Yes. It's stupid, isn't it?"
Yue reached for her hand and squeezed it. "No. I've been waiting for you to say something like that since we arrived here."
"But I shouldn't be nervous, right? I mean... Zhi Ting and I have been together for the longest time. Everybody is saying that we are practically married. This is just officializing it."
"Still! You are changing your surname into Gao. It's normal for you to be nervous because no matter who you guys were before, the ceremony today ensures that a lot of things will change for the both of you from today onwards."
Xin's eyes widened. "WOW. That TOTALLY helped me."
Yue laughed and then stood up from her chair to kneel in front of the woman she loves like a sister. "Seriously, though. I really have been waiting for you to say something like that."
"Why?"
"Because it means that no matter how long you guys have been together, you aren't taking for granted the fact that being married to Zhi Ting changes a lot of things. I mean, there are certain types of complacencies in a relationship but to be so complacent that you do not recognize the depth of how certain actions can change your lives, that is dangerous. And I won't support you getting married and thinking lightly of your relationship with him."
Dong Xin smiled... genuinely. "I could never think lightly of this."
"And you SHOULD never! You are marrying our dream guy, remember?"
"Is he still your dream guy?", a sudden note of worry popped in there.
"Yes...", Yue answered confidently, a hint of teasing in her voice, "That's why it's a good thing you two are getting married."
"Because I'm your best friend?"
Yue shook her head. "Because you're my dream girl. I've always told you that if I was a guy, I would have married you right off the bat."
"We can still get married you know! I have a Canadian Visa."
"Girls, I was about to cry already. Seriously. And then you both just had to become lesbians", Li Jia Qi butted in, her hair in pins on top of her head, and her foundation starting to set.
"Jia Qi, you really know how to destroy a moment, don't you?" Xin answered.
"Well... since I already destroyed "your" moment, let me just add that if you're getting cold feet Xin, Zi Qui is more than willing to step in and marry Zhi Ting", their friend added.
"Over my dead body!"
Laughter went around the whole room.
"You know I have to remind you of it if ever you really are undecided about pushing through this whole thing", Jia Qi declared.
"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.