Ch.169Epilogue. Forever (5)

In my past life, I wasn’t particularly popular and lacked the courage to approach women first, so I never imagined I’d be sitting across from a girlfriend wearing a wedding dress.

Actually, not long ago, three women sat side by side and had me try on a wedding dress.

I naturally thought I would wear a tuxedo, but Hayun, Jihye, and Ju-a all insisted they absolutely had to see me in a wedding dress, so it was decided that all four of us would wear dresses.

Since these girls had chosen a somewhat suggestive swimsuit for me before, I worried they might pick a revealing wedding dress too, but surprisingly, it was quite ordinary.

Though my shoulders were exposed, it didn’t have a plunging neckline. And while my back was visible, it didn’t go all the way down to just above my tailbone.

It was truly, literally, a pure and elegant wedding dress.

Well, it did look slightly sexy because of my chest size, but that was all.

It felt strangely peculiar when the three of them sat side by side on the long bench, resting their chins on their hands while intently observing me.

I felt embarrassed too. After all, the three of them were scanning me from head to toe.

So I thought I’d feel less embarrassed when choosing their dresses, but—

“…H-how do I look?”

Looking at Hayun in her white dress with exposed shoulders makes me feel embarrassed too.

Or perhaps “shy” is the better word.

Jihye and Ju-a seem to understand how precious this moment is. That’s probably why the three of them agreed to give each other privacy when trying on dresses.

So right now, only Hayun and I are in this space.

I feel more shy now than when we were undressing or when our skin touched while wearing swimsuits.

I wonder why.

Well, come to think of it, I was extremely embarrassed when giving her the ring too.

…Ah, that’s right.

In these clothes, we’re promising to be together forever.

And that promise is much weightier than exchanging rings. Because of how significant this choice is, I could tell how much she loves me.

Thinking about it that way, it’s no wonder we both feel incredibly shy.

“…Shall I be honest?”

To hide my embarrassment as much as possible, I asked Hayun with feigned seriousness.

“Huh? What?”

My expression made Hayun a bit flustered. She blinked, her face turning pale, probably thinking I was going to say the dress didn’t suit her.

But my words were the opposite.

“To be honest, you look so beautiful in everything that I don’t know which one to choose.”

“…”

At my words, Hayun’s pale face turned bright red again.

I looked very seriously at Hayun as she lowered her head.

Her dress is basically similar to mine in design.

But it has more decorations and is more flowy. The neckline is also cut slightly lower.

The white dress symbolizing purity made the atmosphere feel even more strange.

“B-but we have to choose just one design.”

Hayun somehow managed to say that. I nodded seriously.

“Yes, so I’ll do my best.”

“Oh, geez.”

At my words, Hayun turned around with a bright red face to hide her expression.

She seemed to have forgotten that doing so revealed her entire back.

*

“I-it probably doesn’t suit me anyway, right?”

“Why would you think that?”

I felt a bit shy in front of Hayun, but I was rather taken aback when Ju-a said that while quickly turning her head away.

“W-well, my figure isn’t as good as Jieun’s—”

“No, no, I think it’s excellent. I know because I’ve seen it myself.”

“W-what are you saying?!”

Ju-a’s face turned bright red as she reacted angrily to my assessment.

The design of Ju-a’s wedding dress was a bit more modest than what Hayun and I had worn.

The back was similarly exposed, but at least the neck and upper chest were connected, so from the front, it looked like the kind of dress actresses often wear at year-end award ceremonies—just in white.

I don’t think a woman’s figure is determined solely by breast size. Of course, if they’re overwhelmingly large, they’ll inevitably attract men’s attention, but I believe there’s an ideal size for clothes to fit well.

It’s the kind of outfit that makes me understand why designers prefer certain body types.

While the lower parts of the dresses Hayun and I wore had traditional, somewhat flared designs, Ju-a’s was more form-fitting around the legs, beautifully accentuating her hip line.

With heels on, the tension in that area made it look especially pretty.

When I stood up abruptly, Ju-a trembled slightly but didn’t run away this time. A ring sparkled on the ring finger of her left hand. Though we hadn’t held a wedding ceremony yet, we were already as good as married.

When I placed my hands on both sides of Ju-a’s waist, her face turned impossibly red.

“You look fantastic. You have a beautiful, gorgeous body. I know you work hard to maintain it. So you should be proud of yourself. Like Iris used to be.”

“I-I-I’m not saying I’m not…”

Ju-a mumbled with a bright red face in response to my words.

“Y-you should be grateful that you can have someone like me? No one else in the world can touch me so casually, because I’m me!”

Then she suddenly raised her head and exclaimed that, perhaps to hide her embarrassment.

“Yes, I am grateful.”

How could I not be grateful?

That these three people love me.

I must be the happiest person in the world.

I’d have to be heartless not to feel happy.

I gently stroked Ju-a’s soft hair, then stepped back slightly.

Hmm, Ju-a definitely looks prettiest in this dress. The other dresses were all beautiful and suited her well too, but this one highlighted her best features.

After deliberating for nearly hours, we decided on that dress design.

*

“How do I look? How do I look?”

Jihye twirled around once in front of me.

The wedding dress Jihye wore had a definitely more traditional design than what we had all tried on.

It wasn’t padded at the shoulders or anything, but it was the only dress that covered the shoulders and armpits.

However, that part wasn’t just plain white fabric but lace material that allowed glimpses of what was underneath, so her figure wasn’t completely concealed.

The flowing skirt had some volume to it, so when Jihye turned, it spread out magnificently.

It was… truly the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word “dress.”

A splendid dress that perfectly matched Jihye’s lively personality.

“Beautiful.”

I said with admiration.

“I don’t look like the same Jihye who used to share a room with you, do I?”

I could only nod at that.

After all, living with Jihye for over ten years, I had never thought about wanting to marry her.

Until we were separated, I never imagined I would develop such feelings for Jihye.

But when we were apart, Jihye was the one I missed so dearly, so how could I ever let her go now? That’s why we promised to spend our lives together. Because I didn’t want to be apart anymore, because I wanted to see her every day.

Some people think marriage is calculated, just another life venture.

Considering marriage as an institution, one might feel that way.

But they say most people don’t think about such things in the moment they decide to get married.

It’s just because they love the person beside them.

Because they want to stay together.

We’ll probably fight sometimes in the future, but we’ll need to try to understand and comfort each other every time.

“You’re really beautiful. It’s strange that I never had any thoughts about you when I had someone so pretty right beside me.”

At my words, the confidence that had been overflowing from Jihye’s face suddenly drained away.

Instead, it was replaced by shyness.

Was she embarrassed about saying such things in front of me?

I said with a grin:

“Thinking about living together for the rest of our lives makes me really excited. I should have felt this way all along while living with you before. It was foolish not to.”

“J-Jieun, stop…”

“What should we do in our life together? Being at home every day… seems like we could do so many things. Oh, right, we’re ‘buying’ the wedding dress, aren’t we? If it’s ours, I think it would be okay if it got a little damaged, don’t you think? From the first night—”

Finally, Jihye couldn’t withstand my teasing anymore and crouched down, covering her face with both hands.

She looks even cuter doing that in a wedding dress. Clothes really do make the person.

No, in this case, since the person is who they are, the clothes might not matter. If someone else wore exactly the same thing and stood in front of me, I probably wouldn’t feel much.

“I-I’m embarrassed, Jieun.”

I wonder if our physical intimacy had an effect—

…

Well, that’s making me feel embarrassed too.

In the end, my face also turned red, and for a while, we both remained silent, staring off into the distance.