Without even having lunch, Kwon Taejung went to the department store and slowly observed the rings that the personal shopper had prepared in advance. The personal shopper had collected rings from various luxury stores, anticipating Kwon Taejung’s taste for clean yet sophisticated designs that could be worn daily.
“Since you mentioned models with diamonds, I prepared those with subtle diamond accents.”
Imagining Yigyeom’s white and delicate hands, Kwon Taejung pointed to the ring placed in the center. It was a ring with a design that seemed to suit Yigyeom’s slender fingers perfectly.
“It’s a wedding band with diamonds as a central decoration on a platinum body. The diamonds are tastefully arranged in a straight line, making it a great design for everyday wear without being too extravagant.”
“It’s beautiful. I think it will suit him well. His fingers are fair and pretty, you know? We’ve been shopping together a few times before. Bought clothes and shoes.”
“Ah… I remember. I thought you were a very nice person. Congratulations on your marriage, Chief.”
“Well, now that I think about it, you’re one of the few people who knows both me and my partner. If you’re free this weekend, would you like to come to the wedding? We’re only inviting people we both know.”
“It would be an honor if you invite me.”
Smiling happily, Kwon Taejung pulled out a few wedding invitations he carried just in case and handed them to the personal shopper Yoo Jiyeon. Yoo Jiyeon, who had caught sight of the beautiful and warm invitations, smiled, expressed her gratitude, and bowed.
“It’s truly an honor, Chief. I’ll definitely attend.”
“Since we’re only inviting a small number of guests whom we both know, I’d be really happy if you could make it.”
Maintaining a kind smile, Kwon Taejung finished the conversation, then pushed the ring he had chosen earlier toward Yoo Jiyeon.
“I’ll go with this ring. Can we match the size based on the information that our ring fingers are similar when we compare them?”
“Oh, then I’ll measure the circumference of Chief’s ring finger.”
“Yes.”
While Yoo Jiyeon measured the circumference of the ring finger, Kwon Taejung pondered on how to present the ring. He could spend a considerable amount of money to light up the entire sky with advertisements or do various promotional activities, but he wanted to convey his sincerity more than anything.
In love, showing sincerity was the most important thing. Even if he showed it every day, it always felt insufficient. Kwon Taejung wanted to fully reveal his feelings to Yigyeom.
“I found that I can prepare rings for both of you right away. I’ll get them ready, so please enjoy some refreshments and wait a bit.”
“Yes.”
Watching the personal shopper leave, Kwon Taejung walked to a table with warm tea and various finger foods. Normally, he wouldn’t touch anything other than a few sips of tea, but today was different.
On a dessert plate with three tiers were various desserts. Kwon Taejung saw macarons, madeleines, financiers, and small sandwiches. Picking up a small madeleine, he took a bite. The distinctly spreading vanilla flavor felt surprisingly pleasant today.
Ah, Yigyeom would like this. The fact that I can eat it means Yigyeom can enjoy it too. As Kwon Taejung recalled the famous bakery in the department store basement, he put the remaining piece of madeleine into his mouth, and the sweet taste reminded him of Yigyeom.
“Chief… Hoo, honey… faster…”
“If I do it quickly, won’t it be hard? Don’t you like it slow?”
“Quickly… please do it quickly…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
As he moved slowly, burning with desire, the pleading voice echoed in his ears, accompanied by tears flowing down. The sweet taste that lingered on his tongue when he licked tears and cheeks shook his mind. Even though Yigyeom was naturally sweet, saturated with peach-scented pheromones during sex, he seemed exceptionally sweet today.
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“…”
He should have given the ring earlier, but he felt sorry as if he had delayed it out of fear that Yigyeom might disappear. Even on the last day spent in the demolition village, he was afraid that Yigyeom might not be with him, so he blurted out a request for marriage, and when they went to see the wedding hall, he felt like he would die if he didn’t say it immediately. Those proposals came to mind.
Of course, all those moments were sincere, but if he was going to do it, he could have prepared the ring in advance and made it more memorable. Yigyeom seemed to like both moments, fortunately.
Ah, anyway, our Yigyeom is so kind. How did I meet such a beautiful person…? Kwon Taejung, who had been thinking about Yigyeom since their first meeting, eventually burst into laughter, recalling the moments when Yigyeom, who loved him and always smiled at him, filled his mind and heart. He felt so happy that his mind and heart were filled with Yigyeom.
“Thank you for waiting. I also brought samples. Would you like to try them on right away, Chief?”
“Yes.”
Thinking about Yigyeom, Kwon Taejung enjoyed it for quite a while. He felt sorry for Yigyeom being away for so long. Kwon Taejung laughed, thinking about the small regret that if he was going to do it, he could have prepared the ring earlier and made it more memorable.
“Sorry for the wait. I’ve also brought samples. Would you like to try them on, Chief?”
“Yes.”
Kwon Taejung, who had been thinking about Yigyeom, seemed to have passed a considerable amount of time. He put away the smile he showed to Yigyeom and only maintained a public smile. Yoo Jiyeon brought the ring prepared in Yigyeom’s size and put it on Kwon Taejung’s ring finger. It fit perfectly, making him satisfied.
“It fits perfectly. And this is a ring tailored to the Chief’s pinky size. Would you like to try this one on too?”
As Yoo Jiyeon placed the ring between his fingers to match Yigyeom’s ring size, it also fit precisely as if it had been tailored to the size of Kwon Taejung’s pinky. Kwon Taejung nodded approvingly.
“This size should be fine.”
“I’ll pack the new products right away.”
“No need to wrap them. I’m going to take them out anyway.”
“Oh, then can I put them in a small shopping bag so that you can take them with you?”
“Yes.”
Looking at the dark blue ring case, Kwon Taejung nodded slowly and lightly tapped the table with his fingertips. Despite having decided to have the wedding ceremony in five days, he felt quite nervous about proposing with the ring.
“……”
What should I say to sound cool? I should look for something like that. Oh, when I looked in the morning, there were only clichéd phrases, and there was no meaningful expression.
“I will prepare the ring for you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“I hope you two have a happy time. And thank you again for inviting me to the wedding. I will definitely attend.”
“Thank you for accepting the invitation so graciously. See you on the day of the wedding then.”
After exchanging polite greetings in front of the elevator and descending alone to the parking lot, Kwon Taejung pressed his hand firmly on the pounding heart. It felt like his heart was beating so strongly that he wondered if it was okay to shake like this all of a sudden.
“……”
Without trying to suppress that pleasant excitement, Kwon Taejung looked up at the blue envelope, similar in color to the ring case.
Creating stylish and touching moments is important, but more than anything, he first wished that Yigyeom would genuinely like this ring.
Ah, I miss Yigyeom. Our little one.
Leaning against the railing and looking down at the city spread out behind, Kwon Taejung took a deep breath. As time passed and the exquisite darkness settled over the city, he hoped that when Yigyeom saw the ring lifted in his hand, he would smile brightly.
* * *
Thirty minutes before leaving work, Baek, who came to report something to Kwon Taejung, looked at him with a curious expression. Kwon Taejung, who was diligently writing something with a fountain pen, seemed to be the most serious he had ever seen.
“Chief, what are you doing?”
“Writing a letter to read to Yigyeom on the wedding day. I removed unnecessary steps from the ceremony, and if I’m not careful, the whole thing will be over in twenty minutes. Entrance, wedding vows, marriage declaration. Greetings to parents. Done.”
“Oh, right. You removed everything. No master of ceremonies, no singing.”
“I asked the wedding planner, and they suggested writing a letter to read as a surprise. So, I’m in the process of writing. Oh, but this is difficult. It flows a bit naturally with the flow of consciousness.”
With each stroke of the fountain pen on paper, the satisfying sound echoed quietly in the office. Baek left the documents he was going to report just quietly on the desk. It wasn’t something urgent, and right now, he wanted to watch over this sincere moment filled with his friend’s love.
“How does it feel with just five days left until the wedding?”
“Um… It’s good. It’s so good that time is going by slowly. When I’m with Yigyeom, the days fly by like a minute, but it feels different when I come to work.”
“That’s likely. Where are you going for your honeymoon?”
“We’re planning to travel domestically for a week. We thought about going abroad, but… they advised against long flights, so we’re staying in the country this time. We’ll relax and come back.”
As Kwon Taejung, still focusing on writing the letter, waved his hand absentmindedly to Baek, who seemed to understand, he breathed a sigh of relief as if he had narrowly avoided a big problem after checking the time.
“Thanks for letting me know. You too, leave work soon.”
“Thanks. I’ll look forward to the contents of the letter. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Go.”
After a brief farewell, Kwon Taejung once again diligently moved the fountain pen in the now quiet room. Perhaps because it had been a long time since he had written sentences by hand, it felt a bit awkward, and he couldn’t tell if he had written well, but he was satisfied that he had conveyed his feelings.
Kwon Taejung focused again and continued writing a few more sentences. Slowly raising his gaze, he looked at the first line with Yigyeom’s name. Since he had written about half, he planned to gradually fill in the rest until the day before the wedding and then polish the overall content.
“……”
He had written many stiff sentences to express his intentions, but writing a letter like this, pouring his heart out by hand, was a first, and his heart raced again. Ah, why am I so nervous? What is this paper?
It seemed that he had put a lot of my heart on this paper. Kwon Taejung took a deep breath, folded the paper twice, put it in the envelope, and stood up from his seat.
“Whew….”
Breathing deeply once again due to the continuously trembling heart, Kwon Taejung opened his bag, carefully placed the envelope inside to prevent it from getting wrinkled, and earnestly wished. Finally, may this evening, filled with my sincerity, deliver my feelings to Yigyeom.
* * *
Yigyeom put a bite of soft mashed potatoes with meat into his mouth. These days, he kept wanting to eat meat almost every day, but it never got boring; it was so delicious. Looking at Yigyeom, who was drinking water slowly to avoid choking, Kwon Taejung raised his head in response to Yigyeom’s gaze.
“……”
Since a while ago, Kwon Taejung had been looking at him as if he had something to say, but when their eyes met, he couldn’t say anything and just kept smiling.
“Chief, do you have something to say?”
“Huh? Oh… I do, but I’ll take my time after dinner.”
“Is it something… bad? Did the loan shark guy contact you again…?”
“It’s not that. It’s definitely not something bad, so don’t worry. And because of that thing with Goo Daebom, the whole company is in chaos right now. My dad completely turned things around in the company not long ago?”
Since Kwon Taejung’s father and sister met with Goo Daebom, the chairman of Daeguk Foods, and expressed their desire to sever all connections with Daeguk and anything related to it, Goo Daebom had become a complete enemy of Daeguk. Given the choice between the cooperation with Taesung Group and the family relationship with Goo Daebom, Chairman Gu naturally chose the former, and he was pressuring Goo Daebom significantly.
So whenever Kwon Taejung heard stories from Goo Daejin about Goo Daebom being exposed, he felt quite satisfied. Of course, that didn’t mean he had any intention of forgiving the insults and violence that guy had directed at Yigyeom.
“That guy won’t be able to set foot in this country anymore. So don’t worry about anything bad happening.”
“Yes… I was just checking just in case. If it’s not something bad, anything is fine. Please tell me when you’re comfortable, Chief.”
“…When I’m comfortable? Is there such a time… when I’m comfortable, with my heart pounding like this.”
Muttering to himself, Kwon Taejung looked at his bag, which contained the envelope placed on the chair next to where Yigyeom was sitting. For some reason, he kept feeling anxious, as if the ring would melt away if he didn’t give it to Yigyeom right away.
“……”
“I should have given it to you as soon as I saw you. I should have given it to you and enjoyed a leisurely meal…. No, I should have asked to place the ring on the dessert. What if he mistakenly thinks it’s a decoration and clears it away? And it’s too cliché. Who does that these days? Hey, Kwon Taejung, use your head a bit more.”
As Kwon Taejung scolded himself loudly, he looked at Yigyeom’s hand, which was enjoying the steak deliciously. Despite expressing love multiple times and seriously suggesting marriage several times, the fact that there wasn’t a single ring on that beautiful finger bothered him. He wanted to quickly put the ring he had chosen on that lovely finger.
“Chief, aren’t you eating?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m eating.”
Smiling as he looked at Yigyeom, who kept glancing at him strangely, Kwon Taejung took a bite of the steak. Perhaps due to nervousness, he honestly couldn’t feel the taste well.
As if he’s going to get a no