Me before you

chapter 34

It was a quiet Wednesday morning when Sana got the call – not the call, but a call. She had the day off work, and she'd just got back from dropping Louis at school, ready to get to some badly- needed gardening. She was just wondering where she'd put the weed spray when she heard her ringtone buzzing from the next room.

Vaguely annoyed at the interruption, Sana pushed through the door into the den. Vibrating on the coffee table, her phone screen showed Chaeyoung's contact picture and name. That's strange, Sana thought. She was sure her friend was meant to be meeting photographers today with Nayeon.

"Chaeyoung," Sana greeted, swiping answer and holding the phone up to her ear. "Hi."

"Sana?" She was met with Chaeyoung's usually precise voice breathless and bubbling with nerves. With excitement. "I'm so glad you picked up, I need to tell you something."

"Okay," Sana allowed, confused. She sat down on the couch behind her. "Is everything alright? What's going on?"

"Everything's fine," Chaeyoung assured her brightly. Down the line, Sana heard her swallow. "More than fine actually. Well... We got a phone call from the wedding venue a couple of days ago and they told us there's been an emergency and we can't have the ceremony there anymore. Not for our date, at least. And it's booked solid until August."

"What?" Sana released a sigh, leaning back against the couch cushions and crossing her legs. "Chaeyoung, that's not fine."

"No, not that," Chaeyoung said dismissively. She sounded like a little kid, breathlessly relaying a big story without fully remembering all the details in the right order. "Nayeon and I have been talking about all of this and we realised we don't want to wait that long. We don't want to wait at all, in fact."

Sana couldn't help but feel a tingle of excitement for her friend. "So...?"

"So change of plan." Chaeyoung said. "We're bringing the wedding forward."

"To when?" Now there was an incredulous smile on Sana's face.

She heard Chaeyoung take a breath before she simply stated, "Friday."

Sana's eyebrows shot up. "This Friday?"

"Yeah." Chaeyoung confirmed. She sounded nervous again, but a happy kind of nervous. An excited, bewildered, head-over-heels-in-love nervous. That was something Sana understood. Down the line, Chaeyoung took another deep breath. "And its going to be in my dads garden."

"Your what?"

"My dad." Chaeyoung repeated. "He owns this big house about a mile or two out of town, and it has like, two acres of land with it." She explained. "We're going to throw up a gazebo and have the ceremony and the reception there."

"I..." Sana was lost for words for a second. They'd been planning this wedding together for months – it had brought them together really, having not talked since college before September. It was going to be picture-perfect. The wedding was supposed to take place at a beautiful colonial mansion in New Hampshire. And yet... Chaeyoung sounded happier with this than anything they'd planned for that.

Sana couldn't help but smile. The bride to be's excitement was infectious, clearly. "That sounds wonderful, Chaeyoung." She paused, mind ticking, suddenly launching into analytical bridesmaid mode. "What about the catering?"

"We've called them up and told them the new plan." Chaeyoung told her. "They're totally fine with it. We're going to have to do without a photographer though, and the flowers are all coming from Game of Thorns down the road."

Sana nodded, processing all this new information quickly. "Decorations?"

"All the Christmas lights we can find." Chaeyoung affirmed. She paused. "Look, Sana, I know this all sounds crazy but it just feels right. I love her. I don't want to wait any longer."