The Wedding
"Hoo... haah..."
"Nervous?"
"How could I not be?"
At my question, Noona turned her eyes to the window, the strain written plain across her face. We had been heading for the wedding hall since early morning, and even the glances she stole at the side mirror while changing lanes were enough to give her away.
I was hardly any calmer. We were already husband and wife, but we had invited a great many people to a grand ceremony, and there was no way not to be nervous. The road, indifferent to all of that, was perfectly clear, and it hurried us toward the hall even faster.
"It'll go all right, won't it?"
"Of course. After all that practice. Right?"
I gave her a small smile and looked over my shoulder. The back of the car was packed with the animals from our house.
"Just trust us—we'll see it done!"
"We'll earn every tube of Churu we were paid."
"......Yeah."
"Worry not! Upon the name of this Yubu, I shall meet your every expectation!"
"We'll give it our all-sha!"
They answered me in ringing voices. To Noona, of course, it would have been nothing but woofs and meows. Even so, after living piled in among them—and with me translating all the while—she had begun to catch what they meant. She could tell they were telling her to trust them.
"I'm counting on you, little ones."
She gave them a light stroke of her hand.
"Mama!"
Soeun, watching, threw both arms up as if to announce that she would do her best too. Noona and I forgot our nerves and pulled her into a hug, nuzzling her for a little while before we came to our senses and went into the wedding hall.
The staff seemed to have been waiting. They met us at the door, and we went straight into getting ready—clothes and shoes made ahead of time, hair fussed over, and, as if that were not enough, a full face of makeup heavier than anything I had ever imagined on myself. When I finally turned my head, I caught a glimpse of Noona a little ways off, eyes closed while they did her makeup.
"Oh..."
She looked even more beautiful than usual.
"Papa! Mama, Mama!"
Soeun, beside me, seemed to think so too. She kept calling to me and reaching toward Noona, as if her mother in bridal makeup were the loveliest thing she had ever seen.
"Want to go see Mommy?"
"Uh!"
Soeun was growing fast, and she had no trouble making her wishes known. She answered me and stretched her arms toward Noona. If I didn't move, she looked ready to wriggle out of my hold and toddle off on her own, so I carried her straight over.
"Noona."
"You're here... Well, look at my husband. You clean up handsome."
Seeing me with makeup on, she widened her eyes in surprise. I let out a short laugh and lifted Soeun up.
"Soeun, isn't Mommy pretty?"
"Mama, Mama!"
Noona wore a pure white dress, her hair swept up, her makeup finished, and Soeun found the sight so wondrous that she kept calling for her. I set our daughter in Noona's arms, and Soeun gazed up at her with bright, round eyes.
"Pwetty!"
"Oh my. Did you just say pretty?"
"Uh!"
Soeun's words were only just beginning to come, and she used one of them to praise her mother's beauty. Hearing "pretty" from her daughter for the first time must have meant more than hearing it from me. Noona broke into a radiant smile.
"Bride! Smile like that and you'll crease the makeup!"
The makeup artist at her side scolded her, of course. Noona snatched a look in the mirror and hurriedly patted around her eyes and mouth. Soeun watched, then patted her own face with her little hands, just the same.
"Pfft. Why is our daughter this cute?"
"Oh, honestly... Could you take Soeun for a turn around the place? If I keep looking at her, I'm going to crease everything again."
Noona had been smiling, utterly pleased, but she went back to patting her face and banished the two of us. We were just about to step out, as she'd asked, when the makeup-room door flew open and people poured in.
"Hey, Mr. Groom! You been well?"
"Hey, son! You doing all right?"
It was my parents and Noona's. The two fathers came in with their arms around each other's shoulders like the oldest of friends, and I had absolutely nothing to say. Well. Better than them being on bad terms.
What they did next, though, was nothing like the greeting they had just given me.
"Aigoo, our Soeun! Grandpa's here!"
"Soeun, Grandpa's come!"
Both of them had eyes only for Soeun in my arms. Neither so much as thought of looking at me.
"I don't know how that man never changes."
"Mom."
"Soeun, Grandma's here."
"......"
Mom seemed to be scolding Dad, and she didn't spare me a glance either. Feeling pointlessly sulky, I took Soeun and slipped out of the makeup room.
"Leave Soeun here!"
The shout followed me out. I ignored it.
"Want to play with Daddy?"
"Uh!"
Soeun beamed as if that were exactly what she had wanted, and I took her for a light stroll through the hall. If her favorite animals were the Tokkiz, her favorite thing in the world was a pair of glow-in-the-dark squeaky shoes. Yeongji had given them to her, and Soeun adored the squeak they made with every step.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
She loved them so much she shortened her stride and scurried, just to make the noise. Afraid she would tumble, I held her hand and walked with her, and the time slipped away. Guests we had sent invitations to were arriving, one after another.
"Oh? Uncle!"
"Suhwan. It's been a while."
"It really has, Uncle. Have you been well? How's Aunt?"
"Jihu. I'm out there watching that guy park. He's been driving nearly ten years and still can't do it by himself. A car with a backup camera, and he still can't park—what does he think he's going to do?"
I snorted at the way my uncle shook his head, and scooped Soeun up.
"Soeun, want to say hello? Uh... this is Daddy's uncle."
"......The formally correct title is collateral maternal grand-uncle."
"Oh, come on, still hung up on titles? That's you, Uncle, still a total fogey—gah!"
I had grumbled at a form of address I had never heard in my life, and a chop from the side of his hand caught me for it. I hadn't taken one of those since I was small, and for a second I couldn't get my head together. Soeun's voice, calling Papa, Papa, was what pulled me back.
"Ngh. Soeun, say hello. This is Old Man Fogey."
"Pya!"
"Ha. Unbelievable."
Uncle's eyebrow twitched at Old Man Fogey, but when he saw Soeun lift her hand from the cradle of my arms, a pleased smile spread over his face. He was still smiling at her when people came crowding in again—more guests, and with them my parents, who had at some point changed into finely dressed formal hanbok.
"Son. Hand Soeun over and come say your hellos. A lot of the elders are here."
"Got it. Soeun, stay with Grandma and Grandpa for just a little bit?"
"Gamma?"
"That's right. Stay with Grandma."
She seemed to understand. She slipped out of my arms and toddled off, shoes squeaking, and Mom made a tremendous fuss over her. I went straight around the hall, greeting the elders of both my father's family and my mother's.
They had come in numbers, starting with my parents' cousins—relatives I barely saw even at the holidays. The guests, of course, were not only family. My friends were there, and so were colleagues from my old workplace with whom I had stayed on good terms. Greeting every one of them, I watched the time vanish.
"We'll take some photos before the ceremony starts."
And once Noona and I had those photos taken, it was flying faster still. The two of us alone, then the two of us with Soeun, then family and acquaintances—and suddenly five minutes remained before the ceremony.
"Groom, please stand by for your entrance. Bride, if you'll come with me."
Those five minutes went just as quickly. Before I knew it, I was waiting at the head of the aisle.
Bright lights lit the path ahead of me, and standing there, I was terribly nervous. Now I finally understood why those friends of mine who had married first had walked their aisles with such stiff, peculiar steps. I was drawing a slow breath—hoo... haah—when a voice rang loud in my ear.
"Groom—entrance!"
Music swelled. Maybe because we had rehearsed it once, I stepped forward without thinking and walked.
"Ooh! You actually look handsome for once, Shin Suhwan!"
"Congratulations!"
Cheers and congratulations from friends and acquaintances carried me down the aisle in long strides. For a moment the nerves made my whole body feel as if it were creaking, but I reached the front of the platform without trouble. As I did, the emcee's voice announced the bride, and a familiar melody began to play.
"Bride—entrance!"
The doors at the head of the aisle swung wide. Outside light poured in as if it were bursting through, and framed in it was Noona in a pure white dress.
"Woooow!"
The guests looked as though they were seeing something extraordinary. They were. Yubu and a great flock of magpies were wheeling through the air, scattering tiny petals, and the petals filled the space all around the aisle.
The animals, of course, were not finished.
"G-geese!"
A long, trailing dress needs help if it is to be walked in properly. That is usually the bridesmaids' work. I had not left it to people. I had given it to geese, their feathers as pure a white as the dress itself. Eight of them followed at Noona's heels, holding the long train in their beaks so it would not drag along the floor.
She set her foot on the aisle and had taken only a few steps when a soft flutter of wings announced the sparrows.
"Wow!"
They came flying in from somewhere, carrying a sheer, translucent veil. They swept toward Noona and let the white veil fall over her head. It drifted for a moment through the air, settled onto the tiara, and made her into the very picture the word bride calls up.
Veil in place, she walked slowly toward me, and I could not look away.
"Ah, it seems our groom has fallen completely for the bride. Groom! Aren't you going to bow?"
"......Ah!"
I had been staring at her in a daze. The emcee's scolding snapped me back, and I bent into a bow. Even so, I couldn't quite collect myself. The dress, the tiara, the veil—Noona would not leave my eyes.
"Well! The groom still hasn't come to his senses, but we ought to do what must be done, shouldn't we? Groom, please place the ring on the bride. Bride, please place the ring on the groom."
"Suhwan."
Her voice brought me around. I gave a small signal with my hand. I was not exchanging the rings as I had been told; I was gesturing, and the guests began to murmur. The murmur turned to cheers almost at once.
Soeun, dressed up prettily, was perched on the back of Hanmu as he walked his slow, certain walk, and around him the Tokkiz came hopping along.
"Papa!"
Slow but sure, Hanmu drew up beside us and stopped. Soeun, seated on his shell, held out her hand. A tiny box rested on her palm—the box that held our wedding rings. I brushed her cheek, took the box, and slipped a ring onto Noona's finger. The proposal ring, which had served us as a couple's ring, came off, and our wedding ring took its place.
We exchanged rings, and then, following the order of the ceremony, we spoke our vows and heard the pronouncement of marriage. After that came words of blessing, a congratulatory song, and the rest, but honestly none of it stayed with me. All that floated through my dazed head was Noona walking toward me beneath her veil.
I only came back to myself when her arm was linked through mine and the bride-and-groom recessional was about to begin.
"Shall we go?"
At her question I gave a small nod. Dogs and cats went ahead of us, nosing aside the petals that covered the aisle as if to clear the road before our feet, and I stepped off after them.