For her second wedding, Joohyun wore a white sundress.

Seungwan wore a black suit, and after he picked her up, he stopped at a flower shop. “Wait here.” 

When he came out, he was carrying a small bouquet of flower.

Seungwan climbed back into the jeep, looking a little nervous and a lot cute. “Okay, so...” He shoved the flowers at her, making her laugh. 

“What are these?” 

“Random wedding flowers they had inside. I was going to buy you a sunflower or something, and the clerk was working on these. I asked if she could make an extra one, and she sold me this.” He lifted it up. “A bridesmaid bouquet, apparently.”

Maybe that would be more luck. Her hands shook as she took it. And nestled beneath it was a boutonniere for his jacket, in matching flowers. 

“I’m probably never going to do this again,” Seungwan said. “Thought we might as well do it right.” 

Joohyun set her flowers down in her lap and reached across to pick it up. “Can I put it on you?”

He grinned at her, his gaze a warm invitation. “Please do.” 

“You still feel okay about not telling anyone we’re doing this? You don’t want your family here?”

He shook his head. “Eloping feels like the right fit for what we’re doing. I don’t want to make this anything it isn’t.”

Covering her hand with his, Seungwan pressed her fingers into his chest. “I never want to lie to you. You know my real vow here is to be your steadfast friend, right?”

Joohyun nodded slowly. “Same.” 

“All right, then let’s do this.”

When they arrived, they didn’t have to wait long. Another couple didn’t have witnesses, either, so they observed each other’s ceremonies.

The other couple went first, then it was their turn. 

Before they went to the front of the small room, Seungwan pulled out his phone and propped it on a ledge on the wall.

“Recording this for posterity.” Seungwan grinned again. “It’s my first time getting hitched, it’s kind of exciting.”

Joohyun slid her hand against his and squeezed his fingers, then told him the same thing he’d said outside the flower shop. “Let’s do this.”

The ceremony was simple and short.

Do you? Seungwan did. 

And you? Joohyun did, too.

They exchanged their rings. The simple gold band around Joohyun’s finger felt strange but not wrong, and she clung to that feeling.

It described what they were doing perfectly. 

“You may seal your vows with a kiss.” The justice of the peace beamed at them, and Seungwan pulled her close, his scent enveloping her.

Joohyun breathed in the solid dependability of him, the warm trustworthiness, and closed her eyes as his lips met hers.

His kiss was perfect, too. Chaste but lingering, and when he pulled away, he leaned in again to press his forehead against hers.

Seungwan's dark eyes sparkled and he held her gaze until she smiled at him.  It didn’t take long. Joohyun knew that this time would be different.

This time, she had a husband who wanted the same things she wanted out of their relationship.

So what if it wasn’t some super romantic ideal? A true partnership with a friend was better than that any day of the week.

Plus when he kissed her, or slid his hand around her waist like he was doing right now, she knew it wasn’t transactional.

Ironic, that the most tit-for-tat relationship of her life would be the one where she didn’t stress about what a touch meant or if someone was keeping score.

“Good luck to the both of you,” the Justice of the Peace said. 

They wouldn’t need it. They had something better than luck. They had a plan.

Joohyun had spent the last week packing up her apartment, so when they finished at thecourthouse, they went straight to her place.

She got changed first, her sundress being swapped out for yoga pants and a t-shirt.

Then Seungwan ditched his suit and emerged from her bathroom in jeans.

“What do you think we should do with these?” Joohyun gestured to the flowers. “It’s probably bad luck to toss them, right?” 

“We’ll take them with us.” Seungwan lifted the lid off a box from her kitchen.

It was full of mixing bowls and utensils, and the bouquet fit perfectly inside the top bowl. “There.”

It didn’t take long to pack her entire life into the back of Seungwan’s jeep, and then they convoyed south.

It was dark by the time they arrived in Purpletown.  

Her second wedding night was going to be spent unpacking.

You need to stop comparing the two marriages. Jackass is in the past now. Joohyun made a silent promise to herself that for the rest of the night, she would only think about what was to come.

The bakery. Her plans.

That was her future, and all she needed to think about.

As Seungwan had promised, it wasn’t awkward for Joohyun to wake up on her first full day as his wife and have no idea where her husband was.

She had the house to herself, it seemed, so she put on a pot of tea and happily had a long shower.

When she returned to the kitchen, Seungwan was back. “Morning,” he said with an easy smile. “You were sound asleep when I got up, so I went to Lee's to grab some breakfast sandwiches, and then swung past the hair salon to check Sooyoung's business hours today. She’ll be open in an hour.”

Butterflies swarmed inside her as she peeked inside the takeout bag. “Wow. You’ve been busy.” 

“I don’t want to impose at all, but I figured...food is always good. I'm happy to be your scout as needed. Do you want me to come with you to talk to her about putting in an offer?”

 Joohyun grinned as Seungwan finished the sentence.

“It might be easier to do it on my own.” She thought about what she would say.

So I married a Shon just so I could show up and ask about buying a building. Not that, that was for sure.

“Or it might be easier to have you there as the bonafide local? I dunno. I’m nervous either way.”

“I’m a phone call away. And Sooyoung is nice.” Seungwan came to stand next to her and dug out a sandwich. “Want to eat and think on it?”

In the end, fortified with greasy goodness from the diner, Joohyun decided to go on her own.

She walked, wanting to absorb as much of the town as possible on her way to stake a claim on a part of it.

Would the people who lived in these houses want cookies and tarts? She’d run a number of projections.

Joohyun knew the population for the area, the entire Daegu, and how many tourists came up on the weekends from the cities further south.

She didn’t need the town of Purpletown to support her business for it to be a success.

She could focus her production toward weekend events, and she had a line on two local markets as well—and stalls there were a fraction of what they cost in the city.

She had options. She just needed a kitchen.

When Joohyun walked along Main Street, the cafe soon caught her eye. Nestled on the corner up ahead, its inviting glow beckoned from its ocean view

Cozy, very pretty, and she wanted it with an intensity that surprised her. 

Seungwan had been keeping tabs on it covertly, and they knew there weren’t any other interested buyers. 

Now she just needed to brass it out while she introduced herself to the realtor. 

She stopped in front of Sooyoung's Cuts, which was conveniently located across the street from the cafe. She could keep her eye on the prize and say whatever needed to be said here.

A sign in the window declared the salon open, and it didn’t look like there were any customers inside yet.

She pulled the door open and stepped inside.

It smelled nice, like a fancy salon in the city, and the faintest strains of spa music played. Just enough to set a mood, but quietly. Unobtrusive.

From the back, a woman’s voice called out. “Be right there!”

That gave Joohyun another minute to look around. There was a single stylist chair on one side of the room, and two hair dryer chairs at the back.

On the other side of the room was a desk clearly dedicated to the real estate business, although it looked like that was where hair clients probably settled up, too.

It left a lot of open space, and the proprietor hadn’t tried to fill it. Despite the folksy feel of two businesses in one, the whole aesthetic was quite modern, like a city loft. 

It gave Joohyun some hope that her plans for the cafe might work. A spare, bright, modern take on a bakery.

That dream grew a little more when the stylist slash realtor appeared,with a wide, welcoming smile. “How can I help you?”

“I have questions about the cafe for sale?”

“You’ve come to the right place. I’m Park Sooyoung. Have a