The New Bride

Fourteen

"You know, despite me hating this marriage," I started to tell Jae-won as we unlocked the hotel room door. "It really has helped my family. We would have been stuck in that hospital room everyday, crying."

"Then, isn't it a good thing that's not the case?"

I nodded. "Yes, but-" I paused in between my sentence. "Did we visit papa?! Oh, man! Did we even take pictures?" I started to panic again as I thought about it. "We even promised!"

Jae led me into the room. "I don't know what you ate for breakfast, but you must have been drugged." He placed down his luggage on the king-sized bed. "We visited him straight after the pyebaek. You showed him the ring, we took a picture, then we went to the airport."

I frowned as I tried to recall doing that. "Did we really?"

"Yes. Here: the picture you took of him, your grandfather." He whipped out his wallet to show me the photo of us together at the hospital. I took it tenderly between my fingers, eyeing the photo and it's contents.

"Did we?" I whispered to myself, racking my brain for the memory I seemed to have forgotten. With no results, I placed myself on the large bed beside Jae's bag. He started to pull out a phone charger while continuously glancing at me.

The picture was of us, changed back into the white dress and his tux. Grandpa had titled his head to look at the Polaroid camera and was holding my hand tightly. Jae and I were squatting down next to Papa's bed, squeezing together to seem like a real couple.

I put a hand to my head. "I really don't remember this," I sighed. Placing it down, I looked to Jae. "What else did we do?"

His face was full of concern and worry. "What do you remember of the wedding?" He pushed his bag out of the way to sit next to me. Jae lifted his hand to touch my forehead, his other hand on his head.

I thought about it. "Well, we kissed and changed into the red dress for the pyebaek ceremony. Sadly enough, we caught all those berry-things." I scrunched my nose at the memory. "And that's about it."

"You don't seem to have a fever," he mentions while removing his hand. "Did you take something?"

I made a face. "Did I?"

Jae chuckled, walking to one side of the bed to plug in his charger. "While I take a shower, you can call Bo-mi and ask her. Weren't you with her the other night?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we had a sleepover. Okay, I'll call." I waited for him to walk into the bathroom before pulling out my phone and calling my friend. I couldn't keep my head straight as I impatiently waited.

"Helloooo?" She sung, a small giggle following behind. "This is Bo-mi, how may I help you?"

I sighed out of relief, adjusting myself so my legs were criss-crossed. "Hey, my head has been hurting for awhile and I can't remember if I took something or not."

My fingers started to fiddle with the blanket cover as we talked. "Yeah, actually, you did."

I frowned. "Oh?"

"You took some sleeping pills last night because of your nerves and some tums for your upset stomach."

My eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? At the same time?" I leaned backwards on to the bed to stare at the ceiling. "Why?"

Bo-mi seemed confused. "No, you didn't. You had tums before the wedding, remember?"

I shook my head as if she could see me. "Nope," I reply simply. "Must be a side affect of the pills. I can't remember too much. I don't even remember seeing grandpa."

Bo-mi paused for a second, listening carefully to my words. "Well, I wouldn't be too worried. You only took one pill."

"Yeah, I guess."

"If it gets worse," She said suddenly. "Then Jae is there with you so be sure to inform him. Drink water and get some rest."

"Okay, mom!" I spoke sarcastically, closing my eyes for a brief moment. "Alright, I'm going to bed."

I hung up the phone, a hand to my head and a frown on my face. I laid down for a few minutes, listening to the sound of the shower as I attempted to relax. When I couldn't get comfortable, I stood up and marched towards my bag.

Unzipping it quickly, I pulled out the large box I had secretly stuffed and began to take out its contents. "Ah, here we go," I mumbled happily. I didn't question how I could remember hiding it, but was rather pleased that I did.

I unfolded the blow up mattress, taking out the air pump from my bag as well and getting straight to the point. I knew that it would be rather uncomfortable sleeping with Jae-won, and I opted on not laying on the floor, so I brought an easy blow-up bed to use.

Just as I was starting to take out blankets from the closet in the room, Jae-won stepped out of the bathroom without a shirt. I glanced at him, noticing the skin he showed, but I looked away with no interest. Purposefully, I ignored him and grabbed spare sheets.

"Have you seen my Star Wars shirt?"

I turned my head his way. "No, why?" Making an effort, I scouted around the room with my eyes before shaking my head. "I don't see it."

Jae sighed, reaching up with a towel in hand to dry his dark brown hair. "It's my favorite," he whined slightly. He begun to dig through his duffle bag when he paused. Turning around, he made eye contact with the mattress beside him. 

"What's wrong?" I threw the sheets onto the bed before going through my own suit case. I knew he was wondering why I brought another bed when we had one, but I didn't want to answer him.

"What is this for? We have a bea right here." He looked like a confused child as he pointed to the king sized bed. "I was going to put pillow barriers up, too."

I shrugged, not meeting his eyes out of embarrassment. "Saves you the trouble, I guess." I proceeded to set my bed up before tiredly laying on it. "I'm going to take a nap."

Jae reached down to grab the grey tee on the floor before sliding it over his bare chest. "Oh, really? Okay, then I will wake you up for dinner."

I nodded to the decision before closing my eyes. With a sigh of content, I cuddled up to the blankets and fell asleep, many things on my mind.

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가슴은 뛰고 있어
여전히 널 보고 있어
자꾸만 숨이 막혀서

아직은 멀리에서
너를 지켜보고 싶어
내가 또 왜 이러는 지

My heart is racing
I’m still looking at you
Because I keep running out of breath

I’m still watching over you
From far away
Why am I being like this?