Collateral Love | Tao

Chapter 38

We had a substitute teacher for the last month of school. Sehun and I made sure to pull plenty of pranks on him and other teachers. Then gradution day finally came.

I was surprised that Sehun still decided to walk with me. It had been our promise to each other for as long as I could remember, and I was happy that he kept it.

The ceremony was okay. I noticed Tao smiling proudly in the midst of all the friends and family. Once it was finally over we went to the cafe to set up for the party.

"CJ, take the punch bowl to the table," My mom handed me the punch bowl, which I of course managed to spill on my dress before getting it completely to the table. My mom sighed. "I told you not to buy a white dress."

Tao finished with the table cloth he was laying out, "I'll take her to get a new one."

"Are you sure?" I asked. We still hadn't been out in public together a whole lot.

"There's a little over an hour until the party starts," My mom looked at her watch. "Just don't be late, you two."

"Thanks mom," I put a hoodie on to cover the stain on the front of my dress. Tao and I left the cafe and crossed the street. There were a few boutique's here and there. "Should I get a darker color instead?"

"I thought the white dress was pretty. It was really angelic," He looked around, "But, there's going to be more food involved, so it'd probably be safe to go with a darker color." He picked out a few different ones for me to try on then let me model them for him. "The Navy blue was my favorite."

"Does it look good with my shoes?"

"Yes, but I'll buy you new shoes too if you want."

"I never said you had to buy it."

"I want to, then you can wear it to our next dinner date."

"Fine," I decided not to argue with him anymore. I left the dress on and let the cashier scan the tag on the sleeve. Tao paid and ripped the tag off. "Don't you know you shouldn't tear tags off like that? It might ruin the dress."

"I always tear them off and I haven't had any ruined clothes yet." I rolled my eyes. "Jisoo, do you think your mom likes me?"

"I think she's coming around."

"Good."

We walked back to the party with only a few minutes to spare. Family members and friends started to file in. Sehun and I had a lot of people to thank and if was honestly quite exhausting. Once the food was served every one kind of went into their own groups and I didn't have to talk to people anymore.

Tao clinked his glass and stood up. I silently hoped he wouldn't embarass me, "Hello, everyone. I would first like to say that I'm very proud of CJ and Sehun for graduating." Everyone clapped for Sehun and I. "CJ and I also have an announcement to make."

I gave him a look. I was pretty sure my parents had already figured out that we were engaged because Tao would always say stuff like "when we get married" or "we should have that at our wedding".

He pulled me up, "We're engaged." Nobody really seemed that surprised, including my parents. Everyone kind of cheered and went back to eating. We sat back down, "There, now you can wear your ring all the time." I ran up to my room and put it on my finger, then returned to show it to all of my mom's friends and my aunts who wanted to see.

After a few hours, everyone had finally left.

"I knew it," My mom said.

"That we were engaged."

"Yeah, I just had the feeling," She smiled a little. "Let me see the ring." I showed her. "Looks expensive."

Tao just nodded as if to tell her that it was, "Jisoo, I have a graduation gift for you."

My parents smiled like they knew something I didn't.

"Okay, where's it at?"

"Come on," He took me to the car and put a blind fold over my eyes.

"I hope it's a cat."

"You know I'm allergic to cats," I felt the car move.

"I hope it's a dog then."

"It's not that either," He turned on some music to prevent me from asking any more questions. After about 10 minutes the car stopped and my door opened.

"Am I being kidnapped?"

"No," He helped me out of the car and walked me across what felt like grass. "Okay, take it off."

"You got a house?"

"No, we got a house." I smiled. I couldn't wait to decorate just how I wanted. Tao would let me too. "Come on. I'll show you around." He showed me around the house. I imagined how I would decorate each room. "I thought I'd let you choose furniture and decorations since I chose the house."

"Good, I've already got a bunch of decorating ideas," I looked at him. "Thank you for this."

"We've come a long way, Jisoo. We deserve this."

I nodded, "I wish it would've been this easy from the start."

"It's kind of a good thing that everything happened the way it did. It just proves that we can overcome anything."

I nodded, "You're right. It proves that we're soulmates." I kissed him.

"I don't have any regrets."

"Me neither. Everything was worth it," I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the porch swing. He kissed the top of my head. I could see us spending the rest of our lives here.