Ch.167Epilogue: Forever (3)

I wanted to make it special, but not wanting to ruin the wedding, I ultimately chose a different approach.

I’d lower the budget for the rings. No relying on promotions. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was just what I wanted to do.

The same went for the wedding venue.

I thought about the people who would sincerely celebrate our marriage.

In this world, I have no family. The only people I have are the orphanage where I grew up, the teachers there, and the children.

The magical girls were friends who would risk their lives to protect each other, but that was really it.

I wanted to be congratulated by the people I spent my childhood with.

“A wedding at the orphanage?”

“…Would that not work?”

Of course, I’d need to hear what the other children thought too.

The proposal was something I could handle by choosing an appropriate place and gift, but the wedding venue was something I needed to properly discuss with my brides-to-be after the proposal.

They might be dreaming of walking down the aisle in a white wedding dress at a fancy venue. A dream of receiving congratulations from many people and walking with expensive flower bouquets.

If that’s what my three brides-to-be wanted, I was willing to do that.

But if they allowed it, I wanted to hold the wedding here, in this place that let me spend my entire childhood properly.

And to do that, I needed to get permission in advance.

“I see. This place is like your family home after all.”

The teacher, who looked a bit older than when I was in high school, said this.

She agreed so readily that I was momentarily at a loss for words.

“I can’t say you never caused any trouble.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, all children are like that. Besides, this place is able to operate like this thanks to you. Did you know? We still have a lot of that donation money left, so we can immediately fix or replace anything that’s too old or broken. Though we’re keeping some as emergency funds just in case.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I caused so much trouble here too.

“…”

The teacher looked at me quietly for a while, then,

“Thank you.”

She said that out of nowhere.

“Pardon?”

“Thank you for thinking of this place as your home. That fact makes me really happy.”

“…”

“At one point, I thought you might consider this just a place you wanted to escape from because of various issues.”

“No, I never thought that way.”

Not all orphanages are like this.

There are definitely places where teachers steal operational funds and abuse children. There must also be orphanages with teachers who don’t care about properly educating and protecting the children.

But I never felt that way about this place.

The room I shared with Jihye was truly a comfortable place for me. Even when I was wandering around outside, I often thought about wanting to return to that room I shared with Jihye.

“Until I became an adult, this was definitely my home. Jihye probably thinks the same way. …If anything, I’m the one who’s grateful. I’ve always received help. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

“Well, if you want to repay it, I’d like you to help other children who are having a harder time than me.”

The teacher said that as if joking.

At those words, I had to press my lips together and hold back tears.

*

About two weeks later, when the university summer vacation was almost over, I finally visited a jewelry store with Cherry.

It was a bit different from the store at the hotel we had visited before. It wasn’t a shabby place and actually had many customers, but it didn’t have such a luxurious atmosphere.

It felt more like a wholesale store.

“That’s probably accurate,” Cherry said.

There was no private service like at the hotel, but since I had already found a place to get married without worrying about others’ gazes, I wasn’t too concerned about the attention I received while buying rings.

Rather than advertising the marriage itself, I preferred this approach.

Above all, most people who came here were like me, looking to buy rings, so they didn’t actively try to talk to me.

Seeing that, I felt a bit relieved. Phew, I was unnecessarily tense.

“Jieun, Jieun.”

As I was choosing rings in front of an employee, Cherry tugged at my sleeve.

“Yes?”

When I looked at Cherry, she was standing on the glass display case, pointing down at something below her.

“How about this?”

What Cherry pointed to was a bracelet with a slightly reddish tint.

It wasn’t bright red though. It had the texture and atmosphere of gold, with a pinkish color to it.

“That’s pretty.”

“You have excellent taste! It will definitely suit you well.”

The attentive employee quickly opened the display case and took out the bracelet. It was a bit big for Cherry to wear as is, but the owner said they could adjust it and placed the bracelet against Cherry’s body.

“It suits you well.”

I said that sincerely. The design without any special decorations actually suited her better.

“Squeak.”

Since they had to remove the ribbon translation device to try on the bracelet, I heard the untranslated Squeakean language, but I could tell from her expression that Cherry really liked it.

Cherry chose rose gold for herself and platinum for James.

Actually, I had considered similar rings after seeing that rose gold color, but I thought it would only suit Hayun, so I gave up.

These rings were for all three people, and if only Hayun had a pink one, or if all three had pink rings, it might seem like I was only thinking of one person.

Besides, Hayun only had pink hair; her skin was quite fair. Such a color might stand out too much against her skin.

“…Could you show me this one?”

Instead, inspired by the other color Cherry had chosen, I pointed to a platinum ring.

“You also have excellent taste.”

Once again, the employee smiled politely and said.

“People with fair, beautiful skin like yours suit these colors well. Do you have any gemstones in mind?”

“Well, for diamonds…”

“Then how about—”

The employee showed me each ring one by one without any sign of dislike or annoyance at my other requests.

I couldn’t buy anything too expensive, but I was about to be satisfied that I could choose something quite pretty when—

“Customer, could you tell me the finger size of the recipient?”

“…Ah.”

That’s right.

Fingers have different thicknesses for each person.

I had many memories of holding hands with Hayun, Jihye, and Ju-a, but I had never held them while thinking about their sizes.

“We can adjust the size, so how about making a reservation first?”

“Y-yes, I’ll do that.”

I answered, feeling my face heat up a little.

*

“Jieun.”

While watching a movie at the theater, Hayun called me very quietly.

“Y-yes?”

“Why do you keep touching my fingers?”

Hayun, who was leaning heavily toward me without even looking at the movie, asked in a small whisper.

I was a bit flustered by her attitude, which seemed to pay no attention to the other customers.

Well, Ju-a and Jihye were sitting on either side of us. Everyone had aimed to sit next to me, so we decided randomly.

…I couldn’t bring myself to say that I went to buy rings but couldn’t get them because I didn’t know their finger sizes.

No, more than that, the fact that I was trying to buy rings was supposed to be a secret. I wanted to surprise them.

“Right. You’ve been touching my hand too. Aren’t you being too much, going for both sides?”

Jihye, who had raised the armrest and was sticking close to me, whispered.

Aren’t you all watching the movie?

Well, I wasn’t watching it either.

“…You don’t seem curious about my hand.”

“No, I am curious, of course.”

Ju-a, who was sitting behind me, leaned forward and placed her hand on my head as she spoke, and I responded as if in disbelief.

By the way, even if you’re in the back row, is that okay? Ah, it’s a weekday afternoon and an unpopular movie, so there aren’t many people.

“…Everyone, let’s watch the movie.”

Unable to concentrate properly before I could remember, I finally gave up on measuring their sizes as all three started talking to me.

Ah, this is harder than I thought.

How am I supposed to figure this out?

…Isn’t there some kind of test that determines finger size? If there was something like that, I could ask them directly.

It’s surprising that companies with such great marketing tactics haven’t come up with something so convenient. They should establish something like this instead of Pepero Day.