Didn't Have the Courage

After all guests had left, Chen Mu waited for Susu outside of her fitting room. Hearing familiar light heel sounds coming down the hall, his eyes focused on the girl in a simple white wedding dress with embroidered flower designs. Although simple, the elegance that she emitted was undeniably beautiful. Her hair was tied up and a veil could be seen on her hair; untouched.

"Chen Mu, I thought you left already." She smiled sweetly. She had minimal makeup on her almost poreless, glowy skin. He noticed a strand of her hairstyle loosen on the side and reached out to help her fix it.

Before his fingers touched the veil on her head, he had paused and asked, "May I? You have a strand of hair sticking out on the side. It kind of bothers me."

"Sure. It's not like anyone else will be uncovering the veil off my head anyways." She giggled lightly and stood still, waiting for him to fix the loose strand for her. Gently and slowly, his fingers lifted the veil and he leaned closer to her.

"You look beautiful today." He whispered to her ears as his face remained a few inches from her face. In his heart, he felt suffocated watching her suffer and marry a man whom she did not want to marry. He also understood that this was something she wanted to do for her mother.

"Thank you." The dazzling smile that she revealed while showing her teeth made her look like the blissful brides at the wedding hall. She was an angel with the most beautiful heart that he had never seen in anyone he met.

Chen Mu saw the wedding ring on her finger and held onto that hand while rubbing the hard surface of the ancient looking ring, "This ring... suit you well. You know, there is a story behind the making of this ring. A famous designer wanted to create a ring for his fiance, but on the day that he had completed it, his fiance died in an accident. Shortly after her death, the designer lost his aspirations to continue making unique pieces. This pair of matching rings was his last work."

"Chen Mu..." She sounded astonished when she heard the story.

"Hmm?" His eyes gazed gently at the woman whom he loved dearly, but became somebody else's bride today.

"Did Tian Yuo tell you this story? Because I heard the exact same thing one time. It was during the first time I met him. I recognized the ring around his neck and after talking for a bit, he told me the story behind this ring." She sighed softly as she reminisced about the past when she first fell in love with him.

Chen Mu smiled and poked her forehead, "You don't need to know how I know about this story. Just focus on being the bride and main girl for the day. Hurry and go changed. Everyone is waiting for you downstairs."

"Mm..." When she saw Chen Mu, her sullen heart felt slightly better. Now that he reminded her that everyone was waiting for her, it brought her back to reality that she is living with the Tian family now.

She swallowed nervously as she set her hand on the door knob, preparing herself to change out of the wedding dress and follow her in-laws home. Sensing her anxiety, Chen Mu couldn't help but wrap his arms around her to give her a hug of encouragement. He had been holding himself back from hugging her because he knew that he would have to fight his inner desires even stronger to not bring her away from this place.

Her voice trembled slightly, "Thanks, I needed that." It was obvious that she didn't want to go. If he had the choice and was in the right position to snatch her away, he would do it right now. He waited until she came out of the fitting room to say goodbye.

Waving and smiling at her lonely back figure made him feel like an idiot. He watched her enter the elevator, press the floor button, and the elevator doors close. His legs lost its strength, and he slumped against the wall of the hallway.

With his hands covering either side of his lowered head, tears began to trail down from his eyes to his jawline. He mumbled, "Chen Mu, you idiot. You had the chance to explain to her and tell her that the person she met to begin with was you! The person whom she thought was Tian Yuo was actually you! And the one whom she has fallen in love with since young... had been you. Why was it this hard to gather up courage to tell her the truth?"

With his eyes closed, he tried calming his emotions by taking deep breaths. In his mind, flashbacks to their first meeting replayed over and over again...

Tian Yuo (Age 6): "Come on! Let's switch for the day. Sometimes even our mothers can't figure us out because we swapped out clothes and accessories! Please...I'm going to tell my mom that I don't want to marry her anyways."

Chen Mu (Age 6): "I still don't think it's a good idea."

Tian Yuo: "Didn't you hate hanging out with Chu Yao? I'll help you avoid her for this whole school semester if you switch with me."

Chen Mu sighed, "Fine. Only this time."

After swapping clothes, Tian Yuo snuck out of the house to play with his school friends while Chen Mu waited patiently by the garden for Susu to arrive. A girl's laughter could be heard approaching from a distance. The moment Chen Mu turned around, he saw an adorable girl who is slightly shorter than him, wearing a light pink top and blue shorts.

She had the most beautiful and cheerful smile that he had ever seen. Quickly, he shook his head and acted coldly, "What do you want?"

"Hi! I'm Yin Susu. You must be Tian Yuo." She reached out and grabbed his hands with the same cheerful smile on her tiny face. Subconsciously, Chen Mu was slowly influenced by her bright attitude that he also started smiling.

He never admitted or denied being Tian Yuo, but accompanied Susu for the whole afternoon. While resting on the grass, Susu took out the ring that she wore as a necklace and pointed at the matching ring on Chen Mu's chest. "Look! We have matching rings!" Before he had left, Tian Yuo gave him the ring to make it harder to distinguish between the both of them.

"Yup. Did you know that there was a tragic story behind this pair of rings?"

"Story? Nopeee, tell me! I love stories!"

"I heard that a famous designer originally created this for his fiance, but the day he completed the design, she died. Since then, he never found the inspirations to make more designs and retired. This is his last piece of work and also showed his love for her. Later, he engraved on the inside of the ring the letters 'CS' on it. It represents the words Cherished Start. Since the beginning till the very end, he has cherished every moment they've been together and to him, it has been always only the start. Never the end."

"Woahhhhhh, then that means whoever marries using this ring would be carrying deep meanings! Since we are holding these rings, then it means we will be friends together forever!" She held his hand and swung it back and forth.

"Friends don't last forever. Some comes and some goes. You're too naive." He shook her hands off after reminding himself that he was playing Tian Yuo's role.

She blinked a few times before standing up and spreading her arms, "Then Susu will become your wife! Husbands and wives are always together even when one of them dies! I'll be your company for the rest of our lives~ See? We have the rings too~ Hehehe"

"Dummy." He mumbled and turned away, hiding the smile on his face. He cleared his throat and gave up trying to distant himself from her, "Which girl would propose to a guy like that? It's supposed to be the guy who says it! So, it should be me who tells you that we will be together in the future. Okay?"

She walked close to him and adjusted his fingers. After that, she hooked her pinky and stamped her thumb against his, "Pink swore, whoever backs out will be the turtle! You must propose to me with this ring when we get older! I'll be waiting!"

-Present-

Chen Mu wiped the tears away and stood up, "Who is the turtle now?" From his pocket, he took out a ring that matched Susu's. He looked at it and shook his head before stuffing it back into his pocket.

"Actually, Tian Yuo and I had forgotten about the ring, and I brought it home. The Tian family thought that he lost the ring, so the one that they used today was an imitation. When I told him about the ring, he told me to toss it out because he wanted to avoid marrying her. Silly girl, the one I have is the real matching ring."