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Six months ago their relationship was confirmed to the public.
It was never officially announced but it was painfully obvious how stupidly, irrevocably in love with each other they were.
Rumors of them dating had been spread for a year and a half — backstage clips and subtle glances. It was always just speculation but since the accident it was public knowledge.
The day Jinu was discharged from the hospital they had left hand-in-hand. Sunglasses, hats, and unbothered expressions on full display for the media. They said nothing, did nothing, they just got in a car and drove away, uncaring of what people thought.
They took comfort in each other and weren’t going to let anyone stop them.
They held hands in public. Their schedules started overlapping so frequently it wasn’t a coincidence anymore. She wore his hoodie more than her own clothes. Her posts almost exclusively came from his couch. He followed her and her alone on social media. They lived their lives completely unapologetically.
Then there was the ring.
The one that was spotted on Rumi’s left hand mere weeks after leaving the hospital. It was gold and delicate and worn constantly. It was in every picture taken of her, every interview she did, even her performances.
That really broke the internet. The ring was in gossip headlines and blurry zoomed-in photos fans found. Yet its true meaning was never even acknowledged. That silence drove the world mad.
Fans had so many questions. Theories, timelines, frame-by-frame breakdowns of everything involving the two. It seemed like they had forgotten Rumi and Jinu were real people not just performers.
In interviews they artfully dodged the questions.
At first it was innocent, harmless.
Is it a gift? Does it have any meaning behind it? Why do you wear it?
Rumi always smiled slightly, tilted her head and moved on or she gave a nonanswer-answer, one that didn’t clarify anything.
She did this even when asked bluntly. In her mind she didn’t owe the public her private life.
Jinu, well he was worse. Or better depending on who you asked. If he was asked about Rumi he only ever responded about her public persona, the Kpop idol. If he was asked about the ring he would blink and ask “which one?”
Fans were infuriated. Honestly they were out for blood. They wanted answers, confessions, all of it.
But Rumi and Jinu gave them nothing. In fact, other than public appearances they completely disappeared.
And they were perfectly content. After everything they’ve been through. They stopped acting like they owed people anything.
The accident, the pain, the healing, it taught them just how fragile life is. Why would they answer to anyone but themselves — each other?
Even after it all escalated, the stalking, the threats the ring never came off.
“What are you doing?” Jinu asked, setting a bag of groceries on the kitchen counter with a soft thud.
Rumi turned to face him, resting her chin on the arm of the couch. “Watching the internet spiral out of control.”
He tossed his keys into the bowl by the door and moved toward her. “What did we do now?”
“Have a secret baby,” she shrugged innocently, dropping her phone next to her. “Oh and we got a dog.”
He kissed the top of her head. “you know that wouldn’t be so bad.”
She raised an eyebrow, “the dog or the baby?”
“Both,” he said without thinking. “All of it.”
Rumi turned her head away from him trying to hide the smile creeping up her face. Jinu noticed — he always did. He saw her.
“You really want that?” She asked.
He sat beside her and she shifted her legs across his lap like second nature. He rested his hand on her ankle absentmindedly tracing circles.
“Sure,” he said, brushing hair from her face. “Why not?”
She bit back her grin. “You say that now.”
“And I’d say it again tomorrow,” he told her, sensing she needed reassurance. “And then the next day and the next until the end of time. I want you. More than anything.”
Trying to divert attention away from how happy that made her, Rumi threw out, “Well at least they haven’t found the wedding details.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Jinu warned. “We still have four more days.”
Rumi groaned and flopped on her back dramatically. “That’s too long. And I swear they’re on to us Jinu. A dog? we have a freaking dog now!”
He loved his overthinking, sometimes awkward fiancée. “We should get a dog.”
She turned to him, deadly serious. “You are not responsible enough for a dog.”
He full on laughed at her. She acted all offended, but the truth was his laugh was her favorite sound in the world. It was warm and soft and made her feel okay. “Says the girl who lost her phone in the fridge!”
“I was tired,” she argued as her cheeks turned pink.
He just grinned as she sat up and burrowed into his side. “Four more days,” he whispered. He looked at her with so much hope — love at its core was hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for each other.
Her demeanor softened. “Four more days,” she repeated.
It wasn’t just a countdown, it was a promise. One they’ve been waiting a lifetime for.
They had been to hell and back and survived. And now?
They were so close to everything they wanted. Everything they needed.
“I’m nervous,” she told him softly.
He cupped her chin and tilted her face up toward him. “Me too.”
She looked up at him, brushing her fingers over his wrist where the hospital bracelet used to be. “You sure this is a good idea?”
“Yes,” he told her. Leaning in he brought his lips to hers. Capturing her in a soft gentle kiss, a reminder of how much he loved her. When he pulled away he told her, “I think I’ve been sure of you my entire life.”
“You didn’t know me your entire life.”
He looked at her and told her, “That's one of my biggest regrets.”
She laughed, the kind that reached her eyes and made them crinkle. “You really love me. Don't you?”
“Desperately,” he told her voice low and enticing.
She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before kissing him again, hand resting on his chest. “You shouldn’t say things like that or I might just believe you.” Her voice trailed off as his hands went to her hips.
He teased her, hands running up and down her body. “I mean it.”
Eyes sparkling like they only did with him. “I know.” She told him.
Taking that as his cue he grabbed a laughing Rumi and carried her over to their bedroom.
They had been through so much and wanted so much out of life and they were so close.
For once everything was perfect. They had planned a small garden ceremony. Intimate. Away from the chaos that was their lives. Just the people that mattered to them and each other.
A not-so-small fortune had been spent ensuring every last detail was perfect. Everything was in place. The venue had been booked under a false name. The flowers were sourced. The dress tailored to perfection.
Celine and Zoey cried when they saw it. Even Mira got misty-eyed.
It was all happening. Quietly, beautifully, exactly how they wanted.
But nothing is quiet for long.
Less than forty-eight hours before their wedding it had been leaked.
The news spread like wildfire.
“Jinu and Rumi Planning a Secret Wedding”
“The ring wasn’t just a rumor”
“Insiders Confirm Long-time Couple May Be Tying the Knot in A Private Ceremony"
Photos had been leaked everywhere. Them picking out flowers. Rumi leaving dress fittings. All of it.
A very distraught Rumi lay face down on the bed in her old room.
“It’s not that bad,” Zoey tried to console her. “None of the actual details have been leaked.”
“Have you seen these people?” Rumi groaned. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Mira patted her best friend's shoulder. “Rumi, maybe you should consider-”
Rumi sat up abruptly. “No. Not happening. I’m not putting out a press release.”
Zoey and Mira eyed each other and said nothing.
Sensing the tension in the room she whined into her pillow.
“Rumi…” Zoey started but was cut off.
“I know I’m overacting but I’m so mad. I don’t want the media there stalking us again. Ruining everything again!” Voice cracking a little she added, “I just want one day to get married to the love of my life and not make headlines!”
Rumi flopped back down face first into the pillow.
It had been really hard for Rumi in particular since the accident. She had almost lost everything and she had been criticized so much. Sure some fans were happy and excited for the two of them but too many others were downright cruel.
Zoey sat next to her. “You’re not overreacting.”
She turned her head slightly and peeked out from the pillow. “I’m overreacting a little.”
Mira smiled softly. “Maybe but you want privacy. That’s fair.”
Rumi was going to respond but her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered hitting speaker. Face still buried in the pillow.
“Hey,” Jinu said.
Despite it all, hearing his voice made her heart beat a little faster. “Hey,” Rumi muttered.
“I take it you saw it.”
She blinked back tears. “It’s everywhere,” she whispered. Mira moved to stroke her hair at the same time Zoey rubbed her back.
“I texted Bobby, he’s getting decoys ready.”
Rumi whimpered. And flailed her arms and legs.
“I know. I know,” he continued. “I’m sorry, love. I know this isn’t how you wanted it to be.”
Rumi sat up and wiped her eyes. “I’m so tired of it all. I just can't do it. It’s so much.” She was sobbing harder now, chest heaving, hands shaking.
“Breathe in and out.” He instructed calmly from over the phone. Mira and Zoey each took deep breaths. Rumi slowly imitated them.
“I can’t leave for another half hour,” he said regretfully. “Are you going to be okay until then?” He asked cautiously.
Mira chimed in, “she’s with us. We’ll be fine.”
“Alright, text me if you need anything.” He waited for a beat to finally say “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said quietly and hung up.
She stared at the screen for a second after the line had gone quiet. Mira and Zoey shared a look. It was no secret Rumi struggled after the accident. It was true she started relying on the people closer to her more, she was less guarded — Jinu softened her in that regard. But she was prone to anxiety attacks and frequent nightmares all triggered by stress.
It had taken a toll on her and all this media attention worried her friends. They just wanted her to be happy and safe.
Mira’s phone chimed and she looked at it then set it back down. Voice gentle, “Rumi, you still want to get married, right?”
Turning to her pink-haired friend. “Yes! I- how could you ask that? Of course I want to get married to Jinu!”
Zoey snorted.
“What?” Rumi demanded turning to Zoey.
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just Mira was only asking you so you would know that.”
“Of course I know that.” She said defensively.
“Yeah,” Mira agreed. “You do, but I want you to keep that in mind if photographers hide in bushes. There’s a very real chance it will turn into a circus.”
Rumi pulled at her sleeves.
“But Rumi,” Zoey said, meeting her eyes. “It’s still your day. Yours and Jinu’s. All they’ll get is grainy photos and blurry rumors.”
“You get the part that matters.” Mira added.
Rumi exhaled slowly. “I hate that they get that.”
Mira nudged her shoulder. “It’s just noise. You get the real thing.”
“The vows. The first kiss and the last one. The dancing.” A half smile appeared on Rumi’s face. It then turned into a full I’m-so-in-love smile when Zoey added “him.” That’s it just one word and all seemed right.
“I do get him,” she said happily.
Mira smiled. “And he gets you. Lucky bastard.”
That earned a laugh from Rumi and Zoey. “You guys are really disgusting by the way.”
“Seriously,” Mira chimed in. “You should come with a warning label.”
“You’re just jealous.” Rumi said, though cheeks were still turning red.
The room descended into a fit of laughter.
Mira grabbed a tissue and gently dabbed the remnants of Rumi’s mascara. “You know what I think,” she said lightly. “I think you’re going to look insanely hot. Like unreasonably, criminally hot.”
“I better!” Rumi said, adjusting her sweater. “That dress cost more than my first car.”
“Wasn’t your first car a Mercedes?” Zoey asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yes.” Rumi nodded, slightly embarrassed.
“Exactly how much did you guys spend on this wedding?” Mira asked suspiciously.
“I have no idea,” Rumi admitted. “Honestly we spent months planning it but we never really set a budget.”
Shaking her head Zoey just said, “you’re going to be a vision.”
“Oh yeah,” Mira added. “Jinu’s totally going to cry.”
“A full-on ugly cry.” Zoey added.
“He will not,” Rumi mumbled, though the thought clearly made her happy.
Mira raised a brow, “want to bet?”
Rumi smirked slightly. “No. I really don't, I’ve seen him cry over rain.”
“Alright, we’re doing this,” Zoey said with finality.
Simultaneously Rumi and Mira repeated “We’re doing this.”
The laughter faded, but the comfort lingered. The comfort of best friends and life events. It wrapped around them a soft blanket on a cold day. Familiar, safe, and warm.
It was a reminder that they had people who loved them. Loved them beyond the stage and the lights and the performances. It was just them without the camera or the glam. It was real.
And sure enough two days later, Rumi stood still in front of a full-length, ornate mirror, barely recognizing herself.
Her hair was done, curled and in an elaborate updo. Her makeup was finished — her brown eyes large, cheeks rosy, and lips tinted . The dress was on. It fit like a glove, tailored perfectly to her. And the air in the room had turned quiet.
That morning had been chaotic. Celine arriving. People fussing over Rumi. Mira and Zoey helping her get ready. It had been hectic getting ready. Curling irons, laughter, and nervous energy.
But now Rumi stood staring at herself. She hardly recognized the girl looking back. She seemed older, calmer. A wave of calm passed over her. Everything was going to be okay. She was going to marry the love of her life soon.
She didn’t feel like the same girl she was six months ago. So afraid of losing everything. Or even the girl two days ago who felt like the world was waiting to collapse.
Celine stepped into the frame behind her. She gently placed her hands on Rumi’s shoulders and eyes full of tears. “Rumi. You’re so so beautiful. Just like your mother.”
Rumi didn’t respond. She kept looking at herself. At the delicate straps of the dress. The fabric cinching her waist. The faint shimmer stitched into the lace. She reached up to touch the necklace she wore — the one that had belonged to her mother.
She sometimes wondered about the woman who had given birth to her. Sure Celine told her stories but she never really knew her mother. She hadn’t expected to feel her absence so presently today.
“She would be so proud of you,” Celine continued.
Turning away from her reflection Rumi faced Celine. “For what?”
Celine looked at her for a long moment. The girl she had raised. The girl who was a living, breathing reminder of her dead best friend.
“For everything,” she said finally, voice barely above a whisper. “For surviving. For finding joy and happiness even after everything. She loved you. She loved you so much, Rumi.”
Rumi’s eyes welled up with tears but she didn’t look away. Celine’s words settled into the cracks that had been quietly forming since childhood — the doubt, the fear, the never being enough. All of it stilled.
“She never got the chance to watch you grow up,” Celine said. “But I did. And that was the greatest joy of my life. And here you are now — all grown up and you did it with so much grace.”
A tear slide down Rumi’s cheek.
“I don’t feel graceful.” She admitted.
“I know,” Celine said gently holding her gaze.
And they stood like that for a beat. So many unhealed wounds, so many things said or never said, yet in the soft light filtering in the windows Celine stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the girl she called a daughter.
Rumi closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to Celine’s shoulder. “I love you,” she whispered, another tear falling down her face.
Zoey handed her a tissue. “No tears. Not after that makeup.”
Rumi laughed quietly, taking the tissue and dabbing her eyes. “Thank you.”
Glancing up at her friends and Celine she said, “I mean it. Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”
Mira sniffled a little from her perch on the windowsill. “Always,” it was a little promise to their friendship. A little promise that meant so much to the both of them.
“Of course,” Zoey replied. “But I mean it. No more emotions, you still have to get married.”
Rumi smiled and nodded. “Alright. Alright. But uh can I have a moment?” She asked, voice quiet but certain.
Celine tenderly brushed a stray curl from her cheek. “I’ll be outside, if you need me,” she said before kissing her temple and leaving.
Zoey squeezed her hand on the way out. “Do. Not. Cry. Again.” She warned.
Mira lingered a second longer, studying Rumi’s face. “When he answers don’t start with the ‘I’m-freaking-out-right-now, start with the I-love-you-so-much,” she said knowingly.
“I’ll try,” Rumi promised, with the faintest smile on her lips.
And they were gone. The door clicked with a soft thud.
The silence they left wasn’t lonely. It was soft and comforting. She looked at her reflection a second longer before crossing the room, lifting her phone from the windowsill.
She didn’t hesitate. She unlocked her phone and called Jinu.
Her phone rang once before he answered.
“Love,” he said, instantaneously flooding her system with warmth.
“Hey,” she echoed. Sitting carefully in a chair her dress rustled like water around her.
“Everything okay?” He asked softly.
“Yes, I just, I wanted to hear your voice,” she admitted. “I just needed a second before…” she trailed off.
His voice softened, “before the circus?”
“Yeah,” she said quietly.
“You can have a second Rumi, you can have all of them.” There was noise down the line, it sounded like Bobby.
“Is it bad that we planned this wedding and now it seems just a little too much?”
“Well I mean we didn’t account for stalkers,” he joked. “But I do plan on being with you.
She laughed a little. “You’re too good at this.”
“I’m just good at you,” he said. She could almost feel his smirk from the phone.
A knock sounded on the side door. “One second,” she said, crossing the room to open the door.
Standing there was Jinu, phone to his ear and a rose he plucked from a bush in his spare hand.
Grinning, he asked, “you didn’t think I’d leave you alone did you?”
She dropped her phone and threw her arms around him without a word.
Jinu stepped inside pulling the door shut behind him. He held her tightly, not caring if he crinkled their wedding clothes.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he mummered into her hair.
“Too late,” she whispered.
Neither of them moved for a long moment.
When they finally let go of each other he leaned back. Finally looking at her fully. His breath caught and he just stared.
Rumi blinked at him and then looked down. She realized it was the first time he had seen the dress.
She smiled at him “do you like it?” She asked, twirling.
“You-” he blinked again. “You look… Rumi, I- I don’t even have words.”
She laughed. “You forgot how to speak?”
“When you look like that, yes,” he answered, not taking his eyes off of her.
Rumi was Smiling like he hung the world. “That’s too bad, we’re exchanging vows in an hour.”
“I might cry.”
“You will cry,” she corrected him."It's already been discussed and bets have been placed.”
Jinu narrowed his eyes at her. “What’d you bet on.”
“Four minutes into the ceremony. Don’t worry Mira has tissues for you.”
He laughed, low and warm, and kissed her forehead. “Tell her thank you.”
She let her hands rest on his chest, fingers pressed against the fabric of his suit. “You clean up nice.”
He titled his head eyes still tracing her. “You look like every wish I’ve ever made come true.”
Her smile flattered slightly as something that almost felt like forever stirred behind her rib cage.
He didn’t let the moment hang too long for he added, “and I look like I work security for you.”
Throwing her head back into a laugh, holding onto her arms to steady her she agreed. “You do work security for me.”
“Yeah, I do. I even got hit by a car for you.”
She rolled her eyes affectionately but his smile had already faded. Eyes glancing at the window behind her.
Rumi stilled. She slowly turned around.
On the other side of the window was Bobby. An angry Bobby on the phone. And security personnel were walking around.
“It’s happening isn’t it?” Rumi asked already knowi by the answer. “They found the wedding.”
“We can still salvage this,” he was quick to say. “Send out more decoys, lead the press away.”
She exhaled, voice tired. “I knew it.”
“I’m sorry,” Jinu said quietly now. “You deserve better than this.”
“We.” She corrected. She looked at him for a long moment then sat back in one of the velvet couches, skirts gathering beneath her. “I’m just… I’m so tired of it.”
He didn’t speak just sat next to her.
“We planned this wedding and I thought that’s what I wanted at the time,” she started.
“But not anymore?” He asked.
“No,” she said truthfully. “If I could go back and change everything I’d just want you. One day. Just for us. No one else.”
He was silent for a moment, thoughtful. “We could still have that.”
She turned her head. “Yeah?”
He nodded. “Let’s just walk out.”
Her eyes bulged out of her head. “Walk out? Of this wedding we payed for? Jinu people are already here!”
“It’s our wedding not theirs,” he pointed out. “And you don’t even know how much we spent on this wedding.”
“That’s not true,” she countered defensively.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. I don’t know,” she admitted. “But still Jinu, just not get married?”
Voice very careful he said, “I never said we’d not be married.”
She studied him really hard, eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”
“I mean being married is really just signing some papers. So let’s just do that,” he said. “Just walk into a government building sign the papers. Let’s just be married.”
She looked at him intrigued. “You’d really do that?”
“Rumi, I’d marry you in a parking lot. I’d marry you barefoot in a thunderstorm. I just want to marry you.”
For the first time her shoulders loosened. “You’re really serious.” She whispered.
He brought her hand to his lips. “Dead serious. Let’s just ditch this. Say our vows in a court building.”
She bit her lip slightly, a wild gleam in her eye. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he echoed.
Rumi didn’t change out of the dress.
She tugged on a pair of purple sneakers and stuffed her lipstick into Jinu’s jacket pocket.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she whispered, voice light and excited, as she laced her fingers laced through his.
Jinu grinned. “You suggested it.”
“You said ‘let’s walk into a government building,’” she whispered. “You didn’t say anything about sneaking out.”
He squeezed her hand. “Would’ve ruined the mood.”
They tiptoed past the back hallway of the venue, the distant sound of classical music drifting from the garden in the background. Surely, Mira and Zoey were likely arguing over nothing important. Bobby was pretending not to be out of breath from chasing down men with a telephoto lenses.
No one had noticed they were gone yet.
Not yet.
They snuck through the staff exit, Rumi holding the skirt of her dress like it would make them less obvious. Once they got outside they were greeted but the faint smell of lavender and cigarette smoke. There was a car speeding down the otherwise deserted road. It was freeing.
“I feel like we’re breaking the law,” she said, breathless with laughter making her way to the car.
Jinu opened the door and looked at her. “Ready?”
Rumi looked down at herself—at the wrinkled satin, the veil that kept slipping sideways, the faint shimmer of glitter on her sleeves. She looked up at the man she loved. And she nodded.
“Let’s go get married.”
He helped her into the car, then slid in beside her.
They didn’t look back.
Not until they were approaching an empty traffic light and she suddenly screamed stop.
Jinu slammed in the brakes, the tires skidding against the pavement, and the car lurching forward.
“What happened?” He asked with panicked eyes briefly scanning the road before turning to her. “Are you okay?”
“No! We just can’t do this,” she said hand flying to her chest to calm her breathing. “We need to call everyone first!”
Jinu exhaled, shoulders dropping when he realized she was alright.
“Let me pull over,” he said. “We can tell them to meet us there.”
Rumi sighed. “Okay, I just didn’t think this through. We need everyone there, well not everyone,” she continued on speaking faster and faster. “Obviously we invited a lot of people but we really just need the people we wanted to actual participate in the ceremony and-“
“Rumi,” he cut her off. “Let me park the car. I’m sorry love, but you scared the hell out of me.”
Her eyes widened and she gasped. “I didn’t even think! Oh my god? Are you okay?” She asked eyes tracing him as if he’d been hurt.
Jinu reaches across the console and squeezed her hand. “I’m okay, I promise. Maybe just a little warning before you scream like that while I’m driving.”
She let out a shaky laugh, the tension breaking. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t think.”
He pulled into an empty parking lot. “Who do you want to call?”
Rumi took a breath and thought for a moment. “Definitely Mira and Zoey, Bobby… Celine. Abby, definitely just everyone who was there for us.”
He smiled softly. “I like that list, split calls?”
She nodded pulling out her phone. “I’ll call Mira and Zoey and tell them to tell everyone. You can handle Bobby.”
“What tell him this event that turned into a PR nightmare that we insisted on happening is no longer happening?”
She didn’t hesitate before saying “yes.”
“Only for you, love,” he said smiling.
By the time they finished calling everyone and arrived at the district office it wasn’t romantic.
Rumi and Jinu didn’t care about the fluorescent lights of the floor that had seen better years. They were still waiting for everyone else to show up and to file the paperwork but Rumi squeezed Jinu’s hand tighter. Her heart was beating rapidly, this was real, it was happening.
She couldn’t have been more excited. “This is anticlimactic,” she told him, eyeing the near empty lobby.
Jinu grinned. “Sounds like us.”
She laughed and he looked at her like she was the beginning and end of his world. Like the warmth in her laugh could heal every ailment.
“I love when you laugh like that.” He mused.
Curious she eyed him and asked “laugh how?”
He smiled, “like the rest of the world disappears.”
She rolled her eyes and nudged him with her shoulder. “You’re so weird.”
“And you love me for it,” he whispered before his lips found hers.
He was partially wrong about the world disappearing when she laughed. When he kissed her that’s when everything truly went away. The only thing that mattered was him.
“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat causing the couple to turn. “So this is what happens when we leave you two alone,” Mira said monotone. “You ditch your own wedding.”
“Yeah,” Mystery added. “I had to wake up early for that.”
The group erupted in laughter.
For a moment Rumi thought about how strange it was. The Saja Boys ,Huntrix, Celine, and Bobby. Some of the most influential people in the entertainment industry in a district office lobby in wedding clothing. She didn’t dwell, she stayed in the present moment.
“No but seriously,” Abby interjected. “That was so stupid. Do you know how hard it was to discreetly sneak away?”
Rumi shrugged innocently. Pointing out, “None of you noticed when we did.”
Zoey scoffed.
Rumi turned and looked at her and raised her eyebrows.
“I’m offended by the notion we didn’t realize you were missing,” Zoey elaborated, gesturing to her and Mira.
“We just thought you were having a moment.” Mira added, really emphasizing moment.
“We were,” Jinu said casually, going straight back to looking disgustingly lovingly at Rumi.
Earning a round of groans from their friends and a smile from Celine.
Bobby stepped forward exasperated. “You two really ran off to get married in the district office?”
Rumi gave him a sheepish smile, “well I mean we’d have to come here at some point.”
Celine moved toward her niece and brushed a curl from Rumi’s face and softly whispered, “you really are your mother’s daughter.”
Bobby, gesturing towards the front desk, “let’s get this show on the road before people notice you’re all” pointing to the Kpop idols in the room, “missing and your cars are here.”
“Avoiding another scandal would be great,” mystery added. “It was insanely hard to sneak out of that wedding by the way.”
“We had no problems,” Rumi said.
“Yeah well you two weren’t actively dodging your guests!” Abby said. “I literally had to hide in the bushes!”
Jinu rolled his eyes. “I don’t see how your incompetence is our fault.”
Abby narrowed his eyes but Baby just patted his shoulder. “Dude get over it,” he muttered.
“Oh we noticed you were gone too, by the way,” Mira said, looking toward Zoey.
“Oh definitely,” Zoey nodded. “Just assumed you were being dramatic or something.”
Jinu gawked at them, “me, dramatic?”
This time when everyone laughed Rumi joined in.
“What?” He asked, offended, turning to her.
“You are dramatic," she told him.
He opened his mouth to protest but quickly shut it as a clerk called their names.
Heart pounding, she gripped his hand. “Let’s get married.”
The group followed the clerk through a narrow hallway and into a small room with peeling paint, clearly not meant for a party as large as theirs.
There was a desk and three chairs. A pen chained to the table.
It wasn’t what Rumi had imagined but she was so happy to just be with Jinu. A living, breathing Jinu. Her Jinu.
Eyeing their friends the clerk looked back down to the paperwork she had set on the desk. “Okay, sign here and here,” she said pointing.
Jinu grabbed the pen and signed his name before handing it to Rumi.
She gripped the pen and her fingers trembled slightly. She wasn’t nervous or even sacred. She was just ready, ready for her life with Jinu. Ready for everything.
For a moment as she signed her name she felt like the girl in the mirror.
They did it. They got married.
When she set the pen down a wave of calm washed through her. And she looked to Jinu with the brightest smile on her face. And he thought, knew, that this girl — his wife — was the beginning and end of his life. Her smile made his life worth living. She was everything to him.
Bobby broke them out of their trance-like state. “Welp. That’s it your married.”
There was a pause and then Zoey burst into laughter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said wiping tears from laughing out of her eyes. “I just, I can’t believe two of the biggest idols got married in this room!”
“Legendary.” Mystery said. And everyone started talking and laughing. Echoing off the ugly walls of the state building.
It was chaotic and wholesome and happy. It was everything Rumi and Jinu could’ve dreamed of.
It wasn’t the catered garden ceremony they planned, with a string quartet and gold place cards. Rumi didn’t walk down the aisle. They didn’t even exchange vows.
But it was real and it was them.
Besides, street food is really tasty sometimes. Especially in a wedding dress surrounded by your friends.
The hotel room was quiet.
The city still hummed outside their window. Faint horns, the low murmur of nightlife, but in here, everything had finally slowed.
Rumi had changed out of her dress hours ago, though her hair still held the soft curl from the day. She sat on the edge of the bed, her bare feet tucked under her, watching as Jinu brushed his teeth, his shirt wrinkled, sleeves rolled up.
She smiled to herself, half in disbelief, half in awe.
They were married.
They’d actually done it.
Jinu walked out, towel-drying his hands, and looked over at her with that crooked grin he always gave her right before saying something ridiculous.
But this time he didn’t.
He just walked over and sat beside her, their shoulders brushing. For a moment, they both stared forward in comfortable silence.
Then Rumi whispered, “We didn’t say our vows.”
Jinu blinked. “Huh.”
“Like, we didn’t even say ‘I love you’ or anything,” she said, the realization hitting her in full. “I mean, we just skipped that part. Entirely.”
He tilted his head. “You want to now?”
She looked at him, surprised. “Here?”
He nodded. “We don’t need a microphone to mean it.”
Her throat caught a little.
So she nodded too.
Jinu took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. “I hadn’t decide on which speech I was going to give” he said, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her knuckles. “So this might be dumb. But I think… I’ve loved you for a long time. Even before I realized it. And I want to keep loving you. Even when things are hard. Even when it’s scary. I want to wake up every day and choose you.”
Rumi felt her eyes sting.
“I want that too,” she said softly. “You’re… everything I never thought I’d have. Everything I never thought I could want. And I don’t think there’s a version of me anymore that doesn’t love you.”
She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. “I would’ve promised you forever at the altar,” she whispered, “but I’m promising it now.”
Jinu smiled, his voice barely above a breath. “Guess forever starts here.”
She kissed him.
Slow and quiet and full of every word they hadn’t gotten to say. And every word they’d have for the rest of their lives.