Wedding Impossible Chapter 10

Chapter 10

People used to say that there is no one that is unable to survive one year of a marriage test. It ans that however difficult it may be, as long as the ti is short, it is possible to push through it. I’d like to et the person who uttered those words. I cursed the person who spoke so easily of it. I had only endured a month of it and I’ve already beco ragged. I told this to Lee JiKyung over the phone.

"Even this one month is killing , how do you expect to do this for a year? I’ll never last a whole year. It’s just a relief that it’s only for two months."

I was alone, other than the taxi driver. It had been the first ti in a long ti that I was able to speak my mind truthfully to JiKyung. A conversation that I could never utter in front of Lee JiHan.

"I feel like a prisoner with a month left of sentence before freedom. I put x’s on the calendar counting down the days until you return."

[Why did you choose to accept this useless challenge. You didn’t have to.]

"Who would have known it would be this bad? This is worse than the army! I have to wake up whenever he blows that whistle. There’s dust there, there’s a mosquito there. He nit-picks at everything and forces to work all day! I’m starting to hear the whistle everywhere I go! I clean the house three tis a day. Morning, afternoon, and night. Does this make sense? And yesterday...!"

[Yesterday?]

"He took out all your shirts and lined up the crooked buttons. He then told to get rid of the dust between the button holes! Wow, seriously! Do you know how many shirts you have?! And if there is dust, how much possible dust could be on it! I wrapped a needle in a tissue and cleaned each button hole one by one. My hands are sore and my vision is all blurry now."

[Why do you bother doing all of that. Should I tell him off?]

"What, no! You can’t, you know nothing about this situation all right? If you act like you know, I’ll never get approval from your brother."

[You don’t have to get his approval? We can get married, no problem, without his approval.]

"No, I want to get it. I want to."

I rembered this ti one month ago, where Lee JiHan’s tears had made weak.

"The fact that you’re gay, I’m a fake, and we’re hiding everything and lying to get married is bad enough. I want to at least be a sister-in-law your brother accepts. That way, I can be at least a little bit okay with the situation as I walk down the aisle."

[Well...That will make it easier on too. If you can make that happen, I will be thankful...but don’t overwork yourself.]

"What if I overwork myself a little? I only have a month left. If I do everything he asks of , he will realize my efforts and change his mind. And its a $500,000 marriage, I can handle this much. Hey, if you go out into work life you get paid $50 and get stuck doing even worse things. For $500,000, it’s actually not that bad."

[Ok. But if you ever feel that you can’t handle it, let know.]

"Okay. Oh, but there is one good thing that ca out of it"

[What?]

"Eating the food your brother makes. Hey, your brother is such a good cook. Although he does flatter himself a lot, ‘I bet you’ve never tasted anything like this before?’ air. Anyways for the last month, Lee JiHan has been making 3 als a day from scratch. And I, like a farmhand hungry for a good al after a hard day’s work, am devouring it graciously."

[His childhood dream was to be a chef. When he was young anyways. Just for a little while.]

"Looks like he definitely would have been great at it!"

[If you say that in front of my mother, she will throw you out.]

"What, why?"

[Our mother believes that her children have to continue the company’s legacy. She may be lenient on other aspects of life but on this, she won’t back down. So JiHan got rid of those thoughts a long ti ago.]

"Oh...is that why? That must be why he ran away when I complinted his cooking. I thought he just didn’t like complinting him."

[You didn’t kiss up to him too obviously did you?]

"I wasn’t kissing up, that was real. I was afraid he would think that also so I tried to tone it down but it’s not easy for . His food makes you lose your mind a little. It’s so good that my mouth blurts out complints before my brain can stop it." Giving up his dream to be a chef because of his family fortune. He must have run away because my reactions reminded him of that ti. My darn mouth. Why can’t you just stay quiet!

I chewed my bottom lip hard to teach it a lesson. The taxi arrived at its destination on college street. I checked to see if it was the place I recognized and told the driver to let off here.

I took out my card from my wallet and handed it to him. The card transaction ended quickly.

[You said you were going to et up with your theatre friends? Who are you eting?]

"HeeKyung, JinShil..."

As I collected my card and answered JiKyung’s question, I frowned as a sudden realization hit .

"You’re asking this to see if DaeChul sunbae is coming, aren’t you?" I asked intuitively while leaving the taxi. "You’re wondering if sunbae will be coming out or not."

[Well obviously.] JiKyung replied calmly as if saying there was nothing to hide.

"Hey, do you take for an idiot? You think I’m going to give the ex boyfriend of my future husband a wedding invitation?"

Lim DaeChul. My theatre’s senior alumnus and JiKyung’s ex boyfriend. Thinking of him made my blood boil.

"You have such low standards. What did you like about that pathetic con artist?"

Lim DaeChul was the reason I was able to make contact with Lee JiKyung after ten years. If JiKyung had not co to the theatre show to see that guy, we would probably have never t. I ended up seeing their public displays of affection. Rembering my friend of 10 years and my theatre senior secretly fooling around made shudder.

I want to buy eyes that did not see that, for real.

[You’re thinking about that ti again aren’t you?]

"Which ti? The theatre bathroom, backstage, midnight practice room, or college bar rooftop? Which one?"

[You sure saw a lot.]

I had later confessed to JiKyung the fact that I knew about their relationship. As a favor, I requested that they please check their surroundings before doing all that stuff. Especially to make sure I was not there. The Lee JiKyung back then had asked to keep their relationship under wraps, fearful it would make DaeChul uncomfortable. He asked to keep my knowledge of them a secret even from DaeChul sunbae.

Of course I kept his secret, so DaeChul sunbae still doesn’t know that I ever knew about their relationship. I haven’t told anyone in the world about it, but that was only for my innocent friend Lee JiKyung. It was not for Lim DaeChul. Ah, that annoying con artist.

"Anyways don’t worry, that sunbae hasn’t been to the theatre for a long ti, and all the theatre people have lost contact with him. I will not have to give him our wedding invitation and he will not show up at our wedding, never!"

After assuring JiKyung, we hung up and I went into the cafe where I had promised to et my theatre friends. At the cafe entrance stood an unexpected figure.

"Wha... What are you doing here?" I asked Lee JiHan, surprised at his presence.

He was standing at the entrance with his arms crossed, as if he had been waiting for .

"There is a saying that if you look at a person’s friends, you can tell how that person really is." JiHan said to a flustered .

"So?"

"So I ca to see your friends."

"Then...you should have told when I left!"

"Why? So you can tell your friends what to say? I ca here without telling you on purpose."

No wonder he asked about the details of the eting place.

"Well...if you must..." I said, displeased. Lee JiHan walked past , opened the door, and stepped inside the cafe.

***

I handed out my wedding invitations to the three friends sitting opposite . Nervous, I kept stealing glances at Lee JiHan who sat next to . As always, Lee JiHan sat with his mouth tightly closed and watched us. He was civil, even at my introduction of him as my future brother-in-law, so I assud he would just sit there and watch us quietly for the rest of the night.

If that’s the case, I would be so grateful. I stole glances at Lee JiHan from ti to ti.

"AhJung, your fiance is the guy that ca to the theatre a long ti ago, right?" JiSun opened up the dialogue from across the table and HeeKyung joined in.

"That’s right! He was friends with DaeChul sunbae and was glad to see you when he visited. Didn’t you say it had been a long ti since your reunion?"

"So you started dating at that ti?" my other friend piped up.

Because the 3 girls sitting opposite took turns shooting questions, I started to feel frazzled.

"Not, not since then. Well...we were just continuing to keep in touch..." I began.

"Wow, then you are getting married thanks to DaeChul sunbae?"

"Oh yea. That sunbae is your matchmaker. I guess even that kind of scum can help another being out. Go figure."

" If it wasn’t for that sunbae, how could you have possibly t such a husband?"

I laughed awkwardly at the three won’s words.

At that mont, unexpectedly, Lee JiHan spoke up. "I’m curious about that DaeChul sunbae." Lee JiHan pounded the table with his fist. Then he turned his head, locked eyes with and said, "I really hope to et him soday."

I could feel his negative energy emanating from his chilling eyes.

"If it wasn’t for that guy...." To cover Lee JiHan’s voice, I hurriedly changed the subject.

"Uh, but JiKyung broke up...I an doesn’t like that sunbae so he doesn’t want him to know about us getting married."

I had almost made a mistake because I was so flustered. Luckily, the three girls and Lee JiHan alike hadn’t paid attention to the slip up. I an, who would suspect that the future groom whose na is stamped on a wedding invitation would be gay?

"Don’t worry about that. Even if you told us to tell him, we don’t want to contact him." At HeeKyung’s words, I was able to relax. I already knew this about them, but to hear it an additional ti gave a sense of relief.

I had forgotten that nothing in my life worked out that easily.

"Hey! Who do we have here?" I turned around at the voice from behind. And there he was, Lim DaeChul. "Isn’t it our blue theatre mbers?"

Lim DaeChul approached us with a smiling face and his arms spread wide.

"Sun.. Sunbae, I thought you went to England....." I muttered.

"I’m back for a little while. What a coincidence eting you all here! What an interesting turn of events." Lim DaeChul wrapped his thick arms around my shoulders. "What are the chances!"

Why of all places would we et him here. Why! In front of him! I broke into a sweat and stole glances at Lee JiHan. Lee JiHan suspiciously glared at Lim DaeChul’s hand on my shoulder. I quickly pushed Lim DaeChul off and spoke as if nothing was wrong.

"Ah, This is Lim DaeChul. Our theatre sunbae....

"Well, hello? I’m Lim DaeChul." Lim DaeChul greeted Lee JiHan with a bow. Then he questioned . "But, who is this?"

"Ah, he’s...just soone I know."

"Just soone you know?" Lee JiHan interrupted, thinking sothing was off. I desperately pleaded with my eyes and begged him to not get involved.

"I haven’t known you for that long. I’ve known you about a month? So you don’t really have to greet each other."

Lee JiHan rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"It was nice to see you, sunbae. But I’m a bit busy right now. I have to leave right away. Um, it was nice to see you, good, good bye then."

"What’s up with you?" Lee JiHan asked, glaring at .

"Oh, co on! Just co out!" Feeling rushed, I slapped at Lee JiHan’s arm. He gave a ‘fierce look and stared down.

Then, Lim DaeChul’s voice rang out. "Hey, isn’t this a wedding invitation? Who’s getting married?"

Turning my head, I saw Lim DaeChul’s hands reach for the wedding invitation in front of HeeKyung.

"Ah!" I quickly threw myself and grabbed the wedding invitation first.

While I was at it, I collected the other 2 invitations and hid them behind my back. Lim DaeChul looked at incredulously.

"What the... Na AhJung, what’s wrong with you?"

"Uh, the wedding, wedding invitation ca out wrong. I have to re, reprint it. I’ll give it to you next ti you guys." I barely got the words out through my panic.

Frazzled, I waved at my three friends, and pulled at Lee JiHan’s arm. But Lee JiHan didn’t get up.

"Really, why are you acting like this?" he glared.

"Let’s go! We need to leave! Co on let’s go?!" In a state of panic, I pinched his side.

"Ow!" Lee JiHan crinkled his face and stood up. Not missing my chance, I grabbed his arm and headed for the door.