Hour Before Dawn

Chapter 16

Bin quickly glanced at Ye-jin in the passenger seat and saw her smiling while looking out the window.

He couldn't help but smile himself when he noticed she was gently stroking the engagement ring on her finger.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked with curiosity.

She turned her head towards him and gave him a genuine and excited smile. "I'm getting married to my bestfriend."

Bin smiled even bigger as he reached for her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. "I can't wait to marry you, Yejie."

"I think we both agree to having a short engagement," Ye-jin said with a chuckle.

"I think so too," he replied with a smile.

They drove home to have breakfast and get ready for the day. They were both so happy that Ye-jin almost forgot about the reason for visiting her dad that morning. When they told him about the proposal, she could tell how genuinely happy he was for them, which made it even harder for her to tell him about her upcoming surgery.

"I was wondering when Bin was going to pop the question," her father said while smiling at them. "I thought he was going to do it in Florida."

The two men laughed and shook their heads, intruiging Ye-jin.

"Wait, what's going on here? Dad, were you already expecting him to propose?"

Mr. Son smiled at Bin before looking at his daughter. "A few days before you were discharged from the hospital, Bin asked if he could talk to me so I took him to the courtyard. He asked for my permission to marry you."

Ye-jin looked at her fiancé in surprise, a smile slowly forming on her face.

"So, when you said you've been wanting to ask me for so long, what exactly did you mean?"

Bin blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, like I said, I've always known it was you, so I've wanted to do it for years," he replied with a chuckle. "But, I've been holding on to the ring since we were in Florida."

"You bought the ring in Florida?" She asked in shock.

He smiled at her and nodded.

Ye-jin looked at him in astonishment and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You're so sneaky."

"I was actually worried you'd find the ring randomly," Bin said with a chuckle.

"So you really hid it from me all those months?"

"Yup," he replied with a grin.

Her father was seated on the other couch and was watching them interact with each other with a smile on his face. He knew that her daughter was in great hands.

Ye-jin caught her dad looking at them with a big smile, making her smile as well. They were never the emotional type and she always felt distant from him, but somehow, after the accident, she became more comfortable around him.

"You have such a nice smile right now, Dad," she pointed out.

"I'm really really happy for you two, Ye-jinah. As a parent, I feel at ease that you have Bin in your life."

She looked up at Bin and gave him a smile. "Don't let that get in your head now," she teased, making him shake his head and giggle.

"Your eomma would have loved him," her dad said with a smile. "Adored him, even."

Upon hearing that from her dad, she felt an immediate lump form in her throat, the smile on her face slowly disappearing. If not for her health issue, hearing that would have made her smile even more, but at that moment, she took it as an opportunity to finally say it.