Wedding Bells

A hush falls over the room as you walk through the opened double doors of the wedding hall.

As you begin walking down the aisle, with your hand wrapped around your father's arm, a soft melody begins to fill the hall.

You keep your eyes forward, forcing yourself to bite down your smile as you take a quick glance around, taking it all in before you continue forward.

Just as expected, the hall has been decorated more lavishly compared to the engagement ball. The entire space is bathed in a soft, warm glow from hundreds of candles arranged strategically around the room. Crystal chandeliers hang gracefully from the ceiling, their light refracted into gentle prisms that sparkle like stars around you.

The walls are draped with sheer, ivory fabric cascading down in luxurious waves, with garlands of green ivy intertwining with clusters of delicate white roses and baby's breath tracing the edges. The long, carpeted aisle stretching from the entrance to the altar is covered with petals of white roses and lilies. Flower arrangements filled with white roses and peonies lined up on either side of the carpet, wrapped in gold ribbons which you also see adorning the back of the guest seats in intricate bows.

While you wish that you could marvel at your surroundings just a bit longer, your gaze is quick to find the altar, drawn towards the figure standing at the center, with his eyes locked on you and a warm smile plastered on his face.

You nearly scoff as your gazes meet each other. He may have claimed to be a terrible actor, yet seeing the way he is looking at you and smiling so warmly at your arrival, everyone would believe that he is truly a man in love with his bride.

Despite knowing that this might all be just an act, your heart still picks up as your father gently hands you over to your groom and smoothly Yoongi takes your hand in his.

With a smile on his face, Yoongi leans closer the moment your father takes his seat. His lips hover close to your cheek, almost like he is giving you a kiss, and softly whispers, "You look beautiful."

His compliment shouldn't make your heart flutter. And yet it does. It also brings some warmth surging through your skin, and across your face, lifting your lips to a shy smile.

"Enough to make you speechless?" you tease, and he draws back with a soft chuckle, looking amused.

He still has a warm smile on his face as he takes your hand and kisses the back of it. "You have no idea," he murmurs softly as he nods to the priest to carry on with the ceremony.

As the priest begins to speak, everything else fades. You are glad that he keeps his speech and blessing short and sweet, drawing some sighs from the guests each time he speaks about a future filled with love and prosperity for both you and Yoongi.

Before you know it, Yoongi is turning you to face him, with your hands entwined together as you begin to exchange your marriage vows. Every fear and doubt that came over you earlier quickly fades away when you look at Yoongi's eyes. His gaze is firm and his smile reassuring, providing you with strength through his silent support that you manage to smoothly finish your vow as you promise to be loyal to him through sickness and health, through better and worse. Neither of you ever made any plans of adding your own vows for the ceremony, yet Yoongi surprises you when he adds his own at the end of his vow—

"And I promise to protect you, from the world, and from the dark and bleakness of life, with everything that I have in me."

You are still left stunned at his words—his promise, proclaimed with his firm and steady voice for everyone in the room to hear—that you are left completely speechless. You continue to look at him with questions running through your mind, until the priest breaks the spell as he pronounces you as husband and wife, and says—

"You may kiss the bride."

You only get to see Yoongi's lips curling to a wicked grin before he makes his move, once again catching you off guard as he sweeps you in his arms and bends you backwards by your waist before taking you in a sweet, devastating kiss.

The sound of cheers and giggles from the guests nearly drowns his words as he murmurs against your lips, "I told you I'd never do things halfway."

As two major companies that hold the top spots in the world of business, both MYG Holdings—along with its mother company, MYG & Sons Corporations—and Lacuna Technologies have been majorly known for their rivalry.

With no history of having any direct business affiliation with one another, and each business leader often declaring their ambition to one-up the other, nobody could have predicted the union between the two families behind these businesses manifesting through a marriage bond.

You have known this to be the reason why everyone has been so fixated on you, Yoongi, and your families since the moment your relationship with Yoongi became public, and after it was made known that the two of you were engaged. You felt the pressure of their attention specifically during your engagement ball, when everyone kept watching closely as if they were waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.

Only now, once the wedding vows have been exchanged, without a single drama following the ceremony, you can almost feel the collective sigh of relief from everyone who is present. It seems that today's ceremony has successfully put everyone's mind at ease, proving that there is nothing precarious in your union.

Being the center of attention hasn't truly been your thing, but you simply cannot blame these people for being curious.

After all, everything that they have learned about your family and Yoongi's has been nothing more than surface-level facts. Not many truly know about what happens behind the scenes, like your friendship with Yoongi that goes way back to your childhood, or the connection between your fathers which was made through their shared activities in the social events held by the local Country Club.

But if there is one mystery about the Min family that you might be just as oblivious about as many others do, it would be Yoongi's grandfather's true character.

Just like Yoongi's absent brother, his grandfather is yet another member of his family that you have only gotten to know about merely by his name and through the stories that have been whispered about the man. But mostly, the only image of the elder man that you have ever learned had been painted by your dear father, who—for a reason you have yet to understand—has mostly been fearful and intimidated by the elder man.

You can tell that there is a history between them, something that may have transpired long before your father's climb to success, and perhaps long before you were born. But you have thought of it as the root of reason which had given your father his strong ambition to keep moving forward, to continue innovating and to be at least a step ahead of everything that Min's family's group has gained over the years.

Both families have been entangled in a race for fortune and glory for many years, yet not many people know that Yoongi's grandfather—the man who had built the Min family's business empire so many years ago—has always been the one that your father looks up to as his eternal rival. His final goal in life, and the mountain that he wants to overcome. It was never the son, Yoongi's father, nor his grandsons that your father has set his eyes on to win against.

Perhaps your father's reverence towards Yoongi's grandfather is the reason why you have always had such high regard towards the elder man. It became the reason why you have always been wary about meeting him in person. Even when he had only shown you nothing but kindness since the day you met him the first time right before your wedding day, and during the short encounter you had during your engagement ball, you still find it hard to overlook the apprehension you have ever had for him to keep you from getting closer.

Until today.

Yoongi's grandfather hadn't stayed long during the engagement ball, choosing to retire from the event not long after sharing his speech in front of the guests. Tonight, however, he has chosen to stay longer to join his family and all the special guests to celebrate his grandson's nuptial.

Sitting with Yoongi allows you to pay close attention to everything that is happening around you. To get a closer look at everyone and how they interact with one another.

The table setup is pretty much the same as how it was arranged during your engagement ball dinner, with your parents sharing the same table as Yoongi's parents. Only this time, Grandfather Min joins them at the head of the table, acting like the center of the night's event.

You watch silently as everyone around you is sharing delightful conversations with each other, your family and Yoongi's and your friends blending nicely through dinner, while the same cannot be said as you subtly observe the table where your parents are sitting together.

Even from a distance, you can feel the tension that has risen while everyone sitting there seems to be chatting cordially with one another. It is quite surprising to see that both your father and Yoongi's father seem to be sharing the same expressions while Yoongi's grandfather is speaking; both are tense, while keeping their expressions cool and calm, yet looking as if they are both walking on eggshells each time they join in the conversation.

But what is more surprising is the way your mother is acting. She seems to be the most tense of all, yet the only one at the table who isn't doing quite well in your eyes in hiding her emotions.

Her eyes are cold as she watches Yoongi's grandfather speak to the other guests. Her smile is stiff whenever she joins the light chat. Her hand is constantly on her glass of wine, which is almost never empty as she keeps asking for a refill from any passing server whenever she finishes her drink.

Right at that moment, and seeing the entire interaction happening at the next table, you suddenly find a new resolution to look forward to. Your mind is suddenly set on a new goal, as you become determined to find your way to win the elder man's favours, in one way or another. If not for the sake of this arrangement you have with Yoongi, to be able to somewhat help open Yoongi's way to reach his goal, then at least you can do it for the sake of finding answers, to solve the mystery behind your mother's vendetta and finish what you have started.

Your eyes find your mother just then, seeing her excusing herself from the table and making her way to the restroom outside of the venue. There is a slight wobble in her steps after the continuous flow of wine that she consumed over dinner, yet you are not too worried about following her out of the reception hall when you see your father following her close behind. You only wonder about her when your father returns by himself soon after, looking a bit more at ease once he has sent your mother away to rest.

Yoongi's grandfather rises from his seat not too long after, his firm stride is just as intimidating as his entire presence in the room and everyone grows alert, watching his movement. While the warm smile he gives you doesn't feel as unsettling, the words that he whispers to Yoongi during their brief interaction nearly make your determination waver as you overhear him say,

"Congratulations once again for your nuptial, Son. I must say that you've chosen the perfect match for you." His deep chuckle ruffles your nerves for a moment, which is soon intensified when he continues, "But you still have a lot to prove and you still have far to go. Marrying such a fine woman from a respectable family may have earned you some good points, especially the fact that she is known to be just as capable as her father has always been, but don't think I'm going to make it easy for you when it comes to handing you over the family business and my seat in the company."

The room doesn't seem to feel it. But even as Yoongi and his grandfather have moved a few steps away from the table to have their private chat, you can still feel the tension rising from Yoongi's whole body when his grandfather pats his shoulder, grinning with pure distrust in his eyes when he adds, "I can see right through you, Yoongi. Just like I did with your brother. I know why you chose her to marry."

Again, he lets out a deep chuckle. Then, "But you make me proud with your choice, at least. She's much better than the last one you kept carrying around with you. Because I know that not only is your new wife way more capable than the rest of them—"

He pauses, and you can almost feel his gaze lingering on your back as you try to pretend not to be prying on their conversation by raising your glass of wine to your lips. " I know that she also has something that others don't have." His lips curl to a small grin. "She understands the true meaning of loyalty."