#*400

The reception hall was filled with tinsel, baubles, and buzzing wedding goers helping to set up for the rehearsal dinner. But you were looking for just one person. You finally spotted Jieun with her fiancé over by the empty drink tables. You gently grabbed her elbow as you walked up from behind her, “Jieun, hey.”

She spun around, a breathless smile coming to her face when she saw you. “Oh, Y/N, there you are. You remember my fiancé Minhyun.”

“Hey, good to see you,” he greeted you kindly. You had only met Minhyun at a couple work mixers—you liked him just fine, but you ostensibly hadn’t even known Jieun that long, so you were by no means close with her fiancé either. Honestly, the whirlwind of events that ended with you here at the ski resort that they had fully booked out for the occasion, all your expenses paid for, the day before New Year’s Eve, was still baffling to you.

“You too.” You nodded to him politely, then went back to your original mission, “Sooyoung told me to come get you, the makeup artist—”

“Minhyun, the chairs are all done!” Another man had approached the groom-to-be.

Minhyun clapped him on the back. “Perfect, thanks, Sungchan.”

An odd feeling pricked at the back of your mind, and you found yourself looking up at the tall man, entirely diverting your focus from your task. He was wearing most of a suit—notably missing the jacket and tie—and his shaggy, dark hair almost blended into his black dress shirt. You almost couldn’t place him, it had been quite a few years, his youthful features long gone, and you weren’t used to having to crane your neck to look up at him. Then the last piece fell into place: he moved away, to the very same city you just moved to. Of course he did.

“Jung Sungchan?” You still phrased it as a question, just in case.

“So that was you, Y/N,” he laughed and it sounded just like you remembered, and he immediately pulled you in for a quick hug. When you drew back, you were still holding each other by the arm, looking the other from head to toe in disbelief. He shook his head and chuckled, “Wow, you look the same.”

You smacked his arm lightheartedly. “Rude.”

“I didn’t mean it like—” Sungchan was cut off by another sudden giggle. “I meant even after all these years it’s still you.”

Jieun and Minhyun had been standing there watching the two of you silently, with matching bemused looks on their faces. Deciding to save your politely confused friends, you explained, “Sungchan and I went to school together for years when we were kids.”

“Then I moved up here,” Sungchan continued.

Jieun’s eyes widened, and she gasped in delight, “Oh my gosh! That’s so cute!”

“What are you doing here?” Sungchan asked you.

“Moved here a few months ago for work and now I’m a last-minute bridesmaid,” you gestured to Jieun at the end.

“Speaking of, I’m so sorry to cut your reunion short, but did you need me for something, Y/N?” Jieun asked you, the pained regret plain on her face.

“Right, yes, makeup artist.” You nodded hastily. Squeezing Sungchan’s forearm, you gave him a hurried goodbye as you started ushering Jieun away, “It was good to see you again, Sungchan. We’ll have to catch up later.”

“Totally, yeah…” Sungchan agreed, watching you go.

The wedding party were all milling around in the staging area outside of the hall where the actual rehearsal dinner was to be held when Sungchan found you again.

He sidled up next to you, suit jacket and tie on now, informing you, “We’re paired up.”

“Oh, good,” you breathed out a sigh of relief. “I feel a lot better doing this with someone I know.”

After a few too many beats of silence, you glanced up at Sungchan and realized he’d been staring down at you this whole time. You looked around awkwardly, “What? Is there something on my face?”

“No, you’re beautiful,” he reassured you. “I’m just… Wow, it’s been how long? Twelve years?”

“Sounds about right,” you confirmed. Skin prickling under his unwavering gaze, you looked around expectantly. “So what are we doing? The wedding planner explained it to me when I got here but I’ve gotten a lot of information in the past hour.”

“We’ll walk in third, just match my pace. Then when we get to the end, you go left, I’ll go right. Watch the other bridesmaids before you to see how fast to do it. Then you stand still while they say some stuff, then follow the other bridesmaids out. I’ll see you again back out here.”

“I think I can do that.”

“So how did you end up doing this?”

“I work with Jieun.”

“I meant why did you have to fill in at all?”

You looked around warily, eyes wide, and shook your head. Dropping your voice, you leaned in towards him to murmur, “Not here. Later.”

He nodded and quickly changed the subject, “So you work with Jieun?”

“Yeah, different departments but she set up my IT stuff on my first day and just never stopped coming by my desk. She’s been great. How do you know them?”

“Minhyun and I have been friends since college. Intramural soccer.”

“Oh, you still play?”

“I’m in an amateur league now. I coach at a youth league at the same complex too.”

“Really? What age?”

“Girls 6 and under this year. I’ve been with the same group since they were four, though.” He had a fond smile on his face as he held his hand at knee height palm-down. “My niece is one of my players.”

“Niece?!” You gawped. Sungchan’s little brother was two years your junior, which meant that if he had a daughter who was six…

Sungchan nodded his head with a resigned shrug, though he clearly seemed amused at your reaction. “Yeah, Bibi wasn’t planned. But Yoosung has really stepped up and done pretty good at the whole coparenting thing.”

“I can’t believe String Bean has a baby. I mean, in my head he’s still a baby!” You could only conjure up the image of the cute little boy who would attach himself to you whenever you went over to their house, which Sungchan always loudly complained about until their mother would finally intervene and get Yoosung to leave the two of you alone for an hour or two.

He fished out his phone to show you pictures of his family, particularly his brother and niece. “It’s been a while, Y/N. He’s grown up.”

“Oh my god…” You gasped, covering your mouth in shock upon seeing pictures of a young man who was definitely not your little String Bean anymore. “Aw, she looks just like him. Well, except her nose. She get that from her mom?”

“Yep.” Next was a group photo of the whole girls’ soccer team, Sungchan standing behind them with a huge, proud smile. “This was last year.”

“Look at that!” You zoomed in on Sungchan at the back, laughing as you took in the visor and whistle he was wearing, clipboard in his hand. “Got the clipboard and everything.”

“Hey, I didn’t get a ‘Best Coach Uncle’ mug for nothing.”

“Phones away, please!” The loud, annoyed voice of the wedding planner rang out through the staging area. Despite the general phrasing of her statement, her tone and eyes being laser-focused on Sungchan made it clear that it was for one specific person.

Sheepishly ducking his head, he turned his phone back off and tucked it away into his suit pocket again. You snickered and patted his chest. “Oops.”

“Ah, worth it.”

The doors to the reception area opened, and a hush fell over the wedding party. You squeezed Sungchan’s arm tighter nervously. He immediately flashed you a reassuring smile, patting your hand.

“It’s just practice,” he reminded you quietly. “I’ve got you.” The couples ahead of you began moving, and he nodded slightly, indicatively. “Let’s go,” he said, stepping forward as well.

You were pretty sure you blacked out until you saw the first pair ahead of you stop and split apart, taking their places on either end of the ‘aisle.’ Then, your attention was laser-focused on watching the second pair do the same thing, memorizing it because you were next. Stopping when Sungchan stopped, your nervous smile became genuine when he mouthed ‘see you soon’ before turning you around by the hand towards where the other two bridesmaids had lined up. You consciously controlled your pace to not run over to them while also not take too long, filing in third. While everyone’s gaze turned back to where the next couples were coming in, your eyes flitted over to the groomsmen, of course meeting Sungchan’s. He nodded just the tiniest bit, eyes blinking slowly, warmly.

By the time you were back in the staging area, your breathing had pretty much returned to normal. You were clustered up with the other bridesmaids, listening to them go over the details of the rehearsal again, when Sungchan found you as promised.

“Hey, good job.” He offered you a high-five.

You half-heartedly tapped your palm to his, still feeling a bit frazzled. “Thanks, Sungchan. Almost ate shit on my way out.”

“That wasn’t your fault!” Heejin, the bridesmaid who had been directly behind you when exiting, protested immediately. “The carpeting wasn’t stuck down properly there!”

“And it’s already fixed, so don’t sweat it,” Sooyoung, the maid-of-honor, reminded you from where she was straightening up stray pieces of hair for Heejin.

“Let’s eat!” Minhyun announced, ushering everyone into the main banquet hall.

The wedding party were all at one table, and after the obligatory speeches, the rest of the dinner was a casual affair of eating, drinking, dancing, and chatting. Once your plates and glasses were empty, you and Sungchan ended up on the edges of the dance floor.

“I don’t care for this at all, by the way.” You wagged your finger at him disapprovingly.

“What?” He chuckled and cocked his head in confusion.

“This whole ‘you being taller than me’ thing. It’s unnatural.”

He laughed and patted your head. “Oh, come on. We always knew it’d end up this way, you just hit your growth spurts first.”

“Don’t tell me String Bean is taller than me. I might just die.”

“I won’t tell you then.”

At the end of the night, Sungchan walked you back to your room (admittedly, his was just down the hall). Outside your door, he made a big show of glancing down one end of the hall, then the other conspiratorially. He stooped down to get closer to your height and dropped his voice to ask, “So, what happened?”

You lifted your chin up slightly, looking up at him in confusion, “Hm?”

“With the other bridesmaid that you’re replacing?”

“Oh, god, right,” you sighed, leaning back against your door. Sungchan followed you to not leave too much empty space, wedging his shoulder in between yours and the corner of the doorframe, rapt attention on you as you explained in a whisper, “She tried to make a pass at Minhyun right in front of Jieun.”

“Woah,” he breathed out, eyes comically wide. “Evil and stupid.”

“Stupid either way,” you scoffed. “Minhyun would’ve told Jieun even if she had tried it when Jieun wasn’t around. Just saved everyone time doing it in front of her.”

“Good point.”

“They’d already paid for her room and everything and it was too late to get a refund and there would’ve been odd numbers in the wedding party, so Jieun asked me to fill in.”

“I wasn’t paired up with her,” Sungchan hummed, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. “The other bridesmaid. I asked your real partner to switch.”

“Well, thanks.” You patted his arm and let your hand linger there. “Like I said, I feel a lot better having you with me.”

“Do you want to eat breakfast together tomorrow?”

“I wish, but the bridal party are all doing brunch.”

“Of course, my bad.”

You arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t the groomsmen doing something with Minhyun?”

“Shit, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Completely forgot.”

“Mm, before tomorrow gets crazy and I forget, can I get your number?” You requested, fishing your phone out of your clutch. “Don’t want to lose you again after this.”

“Of course.”

As he recited it, you typed in the digits into a new contact, then snorted halfway through as an old contact name popped up. “Wow. I apparently have never cleaned out my contacts when transferring my stuff to new phones. I still have you in here.” You turned your screen around to show him.

“That’s a lot of hearts,” he teased, his eyes crinkling.

Looking back down at the name, you laughed lightly, “Yeah…”

“I won’t hold you up anymore, we’ll both need all the sleep we can get before tomorrow.” Sungchan pushed off your door.

“It was really good seeing you again, Channie.” You wrapped your arms around his neck, feeling the huge grin on your face as you did so. “Night.”

The years you had spent apart were even more apparent as Sungchan squeezed you tight with a strength he didn’t used to have, the firm planes of muscles that you could feel under his clothes and large, warm hands that rested on your back also new. He made a small, happy sound in the back of his throat, hugging you just a bit closer. “Night, Y/N.”

As you closed the door to your hotel room behind you, your cheeks hurt.

All of the bridesmaids were gathered in Jieun’s bridal suite for brunch, sprawled around the large canopy bed, plush couches, and armchairs in your fluffy hotel bathrobes. Jieun had specifically requested that the conversation stay away from the upcoming ceremony, or else she’d be too nervous to even eat.

“So, Y/N, I thought you said you didn’t know anybody here except Jieun,” Heejin nudged your knee with hers. She had been right next to you and Sungchan at the rehearsal dinner, it made sense that she might have noticed how well you got along for supposed strangers.

“That’s what I thought until I got here,” you chuckled, still a bit in disbelief. “Sungchan and I were friends when we were kids. We lost touch when he moved away.”

She grinned knowingly. “You were inseparable yesterday.”

“Oh, making up for lost time?” Sooyoung, the maid of honor, asked teasingly.

“I was paired up with him originally, you know? Then he asked if I would be okay switching so he could help you,” Ahrin gushed. She immediately went to reassure you and the rest of the circle, “I didn’t care, of course. He’s all yours, Y/N.”

Under all of their imploring gazes, you divulged, “Okay, so technically, he was my first boyfriend—”

“Knew it!” Heejin clapped victoriously.

“So cute!” Yeeun squealed.

“When we were like… twelve,” you clarified. “Literally all we did was hold hands for like, three months. Then he moved.”

“Aww!” “Oh my god!” “Cute!”

Jieun finally spoke up, leaning forward and pointing her fork at you. “And now you’re not twelve. So you can do a lot more than hold hands.”

You smiled down at your food. “Yeah…”

“Ooh, she’s thinking about it!” Sooyoung cheered.

“Do it!” “Get it!” “Hell yeah, girl!”

“Wait!” Heejin gasped and rounded on the bride. “He’s single, right, Jieun?”

“Like Ahrin said,” your friend grinned. “He’s all yours, Y/N.”

A knock on the bridal suite came ahead of the ceremony, and you rushed to go get it. That had been your assigned task for the afternoon—minding the door. Your hair and makeup was done first, and you were dressed first, so you were taking care of anybody who tried to come in while Jieun and the others got ready, sending away anybody unimportant, taking care of minor problems, or getting Sooyoung or the wedding planner to handle it. Keeping Jieun’s peace.

So far you had the photographer come in to take pictures of the bridal party getting ready, and someone from the wait staff come around with drinks. This time on the other side of the door was Sungchan, in his own groomsman suit looking quite put together.

“Oh, hey,” you greeted him quietly. “Everything okay with Minhyun?”

“Yeah, I uhm, I just wanted to see you,” he admitted brightly.

Looking over your shoulder into the suite, you saw the other bridesmaids occupied with getting their makeup done, putting the finishing touches on their hair, and chatting. Everything looked fine for now. You stepped into the hall with him, quietly closing the door behind you.

“You’re so beautiful.”

“Oh, thanks.” You looked down at the dress you were wearing. “The designer that made the other bridesmaids dresses from was nice enough to let me exchange when she found out I was filling in. Thankfully, they had this in the same color as the others…”

“It looks really good on you.”

You traced the edge of his lapel. “Suit looks weird on you, Channie.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, it actually fits,” you teased.

“Oh, your aunt’s wedding?” He laughed. “My mom wanted me to be able to grow into that suit, and then I never wore it again.”

With a smile, you adjusted a piece of his hair. “You look great. I can’t wait to walk with you.”

“We’ll be the second-best looking couple out there,” he affirmed with a wink.

“Sungchan!” A man called his name from the end of the hall, and you spotted another one of the groomsmen speedwalking over to you two. “There you are, man. Come on, photographer’s starting with us.”

“Did you sneak away?” You snickered.

Sungchan started, “Well—”

“Yeah, got dressed in record time and disappeared,” the groomsman shook his head. “You look great, by the way, Y/N. He’ll see you later.”

He grabbed Sungchan’s arm and started taking him away. Sungchan waved to you, “See you soon!”

The music inside was bleeding out to the balcony where you had momentarily stepped out from the reception, Sungchan of course in tow. His suit jacket was draped across your shoulders to block out some of the crisp air, and you let out a content sigh as you looked out at the stars over the mountains.

“You’re beautiful,” Sungchan said dreamily into the quiet.

“I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve told me that, you know,” you informed him, words laced with fond amusement. “Which is kind of crazy, considering it’s barely been twenty-four hours.”

“You’re right, I should get a thesaurus. Hold on.” He took out his phone.

“Put that away,” you laughed, pushing his hand back down. He just turned around and held it up higher, making you try to reach around him to swat at the device again as he was fervently typing away. “Sungchan!”

“Fine, fine,” he relented, pocketing the device once more and leaning against the railing with you. “…Breathtaking.”

“Funny, I don’t remember you being this…” You trailed off, narrowing your eyes as you tried to come up with the right word.

“‘This…?’” Sungchan echoed, tilting his head and squinting his eyes to mimic you.

“Forward,” you finally decided. “When we were kids. I had to be the one to finally to tell you that I had a crush on you first, after like two years of us ignoring everyone telling us that we liked each other. And I mean, in hindsight, we were painfully obvious.”

“Y/N, come on, I’m not twelve anymore,” he chuckled breathily, picking up your hand and kissing your knuckles, then the inside of your wrist. “Have some faith in me that my flirting skills have grown up too.”

“Sorry,” you said sheepishly, squeezing his hand. “It’s just that some things are the same and some are totally different…”

“I know.” Sungchan brought your hand up to his chest, pressing your palm flat. His heartbeat was hammering away under your touch, and he giggled nervously. “This hasn’t changed. Still feel like I’m twelve sometimes, challenging the prettiest girl ever to a staring contest even though I always lost because I wanted any excuse to have your attention.”

“Want to see if you’ve gotten better at staring contests?” You suggested, stepping even closer to him. “Loser has to kiss the winner.”

“I’m not going easy on you this time,” he declared teasingly, squaring his shoulders.

“Close your eyes,” you announced, doing so yourself. “We start on three, okay?”

“Okay.”

“One, two, three!”

As soon as you opened your eyes, you saw Sungchan blink rapidly, and burst into laughter, covering your mouth with your hand to not sputter all over him. You laughed with your whole chest, the cold air devolving it into a coughing fit, and you gripped onto the railing for stability. Sungchan rubbed your back, even as he snickered a little.

When you’d finally caught your breath again, you looked back at him to see that he was grinning shamelessly. Still a little lightheaded from laughing so hard, you wrapped your arms around his waist, leaning your full weight against him.

“Seems like you haven’t gotten any better,” you chuckled. “I think you’ve gotten worse.”

“I tried my best,” he sighed dramatically.

“Well?” You looked up at him expectantly. “I’m waiting, loser.”

“Oh, sore winner,” he tutted, even as he tenderly cupped your cheek and traced your bottom lip with his thumb. “Impatient?”

“Yeah,” you snorted.

“Me too.” He tilted your chin up and kissed you. Sungchan tasted heartachingly familiar, a comfortable warmth spreading out from your chest to your fingertips that enticed you to just melt into him forever. You were unhurried, kissing him slowly and deeply, the cold air around you suddenly negligible. His mouth was equal parts gentle and ardent as it moved with yours, and his hand skimmed down your neck to rest on the nape, imparting more of his warmth in its wake.

Kissing him one, two more times, you broke apart with a fond smile on your face, murmuring, “We should get back inside before midnight. Jieun said they’re doing something special.”

“So are we,” Sungchan rebuffed jokingly, connecting your lips once more. After another moment of indulging each other, he relented, “Okay, let’s go.”

Lacing your fingers with his, you started back towards the entrance. The door opened then, and Sooyoung’s face lit up upon seeing the two of you.

“Oh, hey! Good, you two are already out here,” she said brightly, and more guests poured out after her. “The fireworks are about to start.”

“Perfect timing,” you grinned, nudging Sungchan.

Reclaiming your previous spot on the railing, Sungchan wrapped an arm around you, and you leaned your head on his shoulder. The fireworks were apparently supposed to start right at midnight, in just a few minutes, and the rest of the balcony quickly filled with wedding-goers.

“I still can’t believe I found you again,” he breathed out, pressing a kiss to your hair.

“I can,” you replied back simply. “I can believe it.”

“Yeah?”

“Because we’re soulmates. I’ve always thought that, haven’t you?”

“Oh my god, of course,” he giggled into your ear, kissing the side of your head again. “God, you don’t know how much I’ve been trying to not tell you I love you after only a day and you just… say what you’re thinking, as always.”

“It hasn’t only been a day, though.”

“You’re right.”

“I usually am.”

“I lo—” The rest of Sungchan’s words got drowned out by the crack of the first firework going off, and you were laughing as you pulled him in for a kiss. The booms and sizzles rang out around you as he happily kissed you back.

You watched the rest of the fireworks show, the bright bursts of color dancing across the inky night sky. After it was over, everyone cheered and toasted to the new happy couple once more.

“That was wonderful,” you commented to Sungchan, the two of you hanging back while the crowd slowly began filtering back inside.

“It was,” he agreed.

“I’m fucking freezing,” you announced, looking up at him with a smirk. “Want to go warm up?”

“My room’s pretty toasty.”

“Oh, you read my mind.”

A tiny sliver of sunlight streaming in through a gap was shining right across your eyelids. With a disgruntled noise, you rolled over away from it, burying your face in Sungchan’s chest. He automatically pressed a kiss to your hairline before resuming his faint snores. You smiled to yourself as you drifted back off to sleep.

You awoke again to gentle fingers brushing hair from your face, and blearily peeked one eye open to watch Sungchan fondly gazing down at you. “Morning, beautiful,” he whispered.

“Mm,” you hummed, closing your eyes again as you enjoyed the feeling of his fingers brushing through your hair. “Morning, Channie.”

“Breakfast?”

⇢ 2025 hallmark movie marathon

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