In the Present:
As Soo-jin opened the wedding hall doors, walking towards Joon-ho, unknown to her, a smile formed on her face. Seeing Joon-ho once again, she couldn't hold back her happiness.
She was happy—happy that she could see him again. Halfway through walking towards the stage, she began to run—run towards Joon-ho.
Joon-ho, seeing Soo-jin run towards him, felt adrenaline rush through his veins as he jumped down from the stage, embracing Soo-jin tighter than ever before.
Soo-jin, feeling his warmth again, felt free. Relaxing, the emotions she had suppressed all this time welled up and burst out like a dam, and she began crying hard against his chest.
Amidst crying, with a cracked voice, she finally spoke the words she had been unable to say before dying.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm sorry, Joon-ho..."
Joon-ho, hearing Soo-jin apologize, gently patted her back and said in a soothing voice, "It's fine. No need to say sorry. I'm here. It's fine."
Right now, Joon-ho didn't know why Soo-jin was crying so hard against his chest, why she was apologizing to him so desperately, why after opening the door and seeing him she smiled at him so beautifully, why she suddenly started to run towards him so determinedly, or why she instantly embraced him without hesitation so peacefully.
Joon-ho had many questions like that, but at this moment, in this time, the world froze for him. Time halted.
The only thing in his mind was Soo-jin. Letting go of every single thought in his head, he was just enjoying Soo-jin's fragrant smell, her soft hands, her sweet voice, her warm embrace, and closed his eyes.
Soo-jin, buried in Joon-ho's embrace, was clutching his collar tighter than ever before, not wanting to leave even for a moment.
She thought if she didn't grab him, hold him tight enough, he would disappear, not coming back to her ever again.
Burying her head deeper in his chest, feeling his warm breath again, feeling his strong arms tightly hugging her delicate body, feeling him alive and breathing again, seeing him fine and good again—tears of happiness never stopped flowing from her brown and beautiful eyes.
Soo-jin, remembering every single hurtful thing she had done to Joon-ho in the past, apologized repeatedly as if she would never get another chance to say this things to him ever again.
"I don't know if this is my memory or not, and even if this turns out to be my dream, I am thankful to God for giving me this chance, for this time I was clearly able to apologize to him," she thought.
Soo-jin, feeling Joon-ho's hand gently caressing her head softly, soothing her silently, calmed down as time flowed by.
Among everyone in the hall, Ji-eun was the only one most shocked seeing Soo-jin voluntarily hugging Joon-ho.
Ah, stricken by this absurdity, she repeatedly rubbed her eyes thinking this might be her hallucination.
Even after repeatedly closing and opening her eyes, this situation never changed, and as the fact registered in her head, this was the second biggest shock of her life.
"What has gotten into Soo-jin? She is acting all weird from earlier." she thought.
Seeing Joon-ho's face on the stage, Ji-eun remembered the first shock of her life—the scene where she wanted to comfort Soo-jin by cursing Joon-ho, appeared in her head. That was the first time Ji-eun had seen Soo-jin angry.
In her friendship with Soo-jin until now, never once had she seen Soo-jin angry before, let alone angry to the point where she could disregard their long-time friendship.
Remembering Soo-jin's cold and emotionless eyes as she was grabbing her throat, subconsciously Ji-eun touched her throat, trembling in fear, shaking her head vigorously, not wanting to remember the dreadful memory. She focused on the situation in front of her.
And now, seeing Soo-jin embrace the same man she was cursing yesterday night, saying she never wanted to marry him.
The first thought that came to Ji-eun's mind was, Is she acting right now? If her acting level is this high, then the day she wins an Oscar is not far away.
But I highly doubt that, with the words still echoing in her head: "Ji-eun, if you dare to say another word about my husband, I will gouge out your throat." Goosebumps raised on her hand, sweat trickling down her forehead. Thinking this definitely is not an acting, definitely.
Amongst the audience, Joon-ho's grandpa, Butler Han, was the only one genuinely happy seeing both of them embrace each other, crying, seeing both of them in love with each other, Butler Han, recalling his first love, his wife, as he thought:
"Love is the most beautiful thing to have, the hardest thing to earn, and the most painful thing to lose," as a teardrop fell from his eye, not knowing if it was out of sadness or happiness.
On stage, the priest old man, was also happy at first, seeing the lovely couple hug each other. But as time passed, and even after ten minutes, they didn't release each other, the old man started to get annoyed, thinking:
"You should do all the hugging and kissing after the wedding. Standing here is making my bones ache!"
Unable to take it any longer, the old man clapped loudly and cleared his throat even louder:
"Ah... ah... ah..."
But the couple didn't pay any attention to him, nor did anyone else. Seeing no one paying attention to him, the old man gave up.
But with the corner of his eye, seeing Ji-eun giving him a sympathetic look, the old man got embarrassed.
Ji-eun's eyes said it all—it's fine, it's fine. The old man, embarrassed, tried once more to clear his throat, but in the process, he started to cough violently:
"Ahhh... ahhh... ahhh... ahhh..."
Ji-eun, seeing the old man cough violently, could have burst into hearty laughter right then and there, but controlled herself as the time was inappropriate.
It was really difficult for Ji-eun to control her laughter as her face turned red. Giggles still leaked out, "Hhh... hhh... hhh..."
Suppressing the laughter for a long time, Ji-eun started to hiccup:
"Hehe... hehe... hehe..."
The priest, still coughing, saw Ji-eun embarrass herself by hiccuping, felt good in his heart.
They both looked at each other, feeling pity for each other, laughing at each other's misery. They both looked away simultaneously, not wanting to look at each other anymore.