Changes and Chances

Epilogue

Ryujin has been staring at herself in the mirror for the past 20 minutes - redoing her tie, smoothing out her coat, rechecking her light makeup, making sure that everything's in place.

Lia has long given up on telling her that she looked fine and decided to settle on the couch behind the bride as she exchanged updates with a certain redhead from the other room.

"Are you sure I look fine?" Lia grunted while standing up to face her best friend again.

"I told you, Ryujin-ah. You look amazing. Yeji might as well have someone beside her when she sees you waiting on that altar because she would surely fall on her knees because of how amazing you look."

That earned a relieved chuckle from the brunette.

"Thank you. I know I've been a pain in the ass since this morning. It's just that..."

"I know." Lia interjected. "This is the best day of your life, yeah? Bask in it. You'll be fine. It's Yeji. And it's you. You're both meant to be here."

Ryujin just nodded and took another deep breath.

A few minutes later, they heard a knock on the door that made Ryujin almost jump from her seat.

A peeking Chaeryeong and Aeri entered the room.

"Oh my god, Ryujin-ah! You look really good in this suit."

The woman of the subject smiled and nodded – spun around to face the mirror and to check herself again.

"Keep telling her that, she's been panicking for the last hour." Lia explained.

The two chuckled and stood in front of the bride. "Well, we're here to drop this off."

Chaeryeong pulled out a box and handed it to Ryujin. "Pre-wedding tradition."

Simultaneously, Lia stood up and walked out the room as she muttered an "oh shoot" – almost forgetting to bring Ryujin's gift to the cat eye.

Aeri opened her camera to record the moment. Because it was an intimate wedding, the couple decided not to hire any professional videographers and instead asked their friends to cover the photos for them – they don't need much, anyway. They both knew that this moment would be etched permanently in their memories.

Hands shaking, the brunette slowly pulled the ribbon that was tied around the small box. She wondered if Yeji also had a hard time choosing what to get her.

She remembered how she went to almost all the department stores in Seoul to find a gift for the cat-eye and ended up getting her a customized scarf embroidered with the date when they first met.

When she opened the box, her eyes widened in amusing shock as she saw the familiar ring she lost almost a year ago – a letter was folded underneath it.

Jagiya.

I'm sorry to have hidden this from you. I found this ring on the floor of the hotel where we stayed during my trip to New York – the day when we agreed to try again.

I decided to keep it with me and have planned on giving it back on my return. But I've grown to love the comfort that it brings. I keep it with me everywhere I go, and even took photos of you with it without you knowing.

Ryujin found several polaroids of Yeji's hand holding the ring with her in the background – one where she's grinning while trying to cast the fishing pole on their countryside trips, one during a premiere a horror movie that the cat eye forced her to watch, one while she was sleeping in her childhood bed during a quick visit to her parents' house.