❧ word count: 8.7k
❧ warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking (new year’s eve party)
❧ genre: fluff, new year’s themed, attorney kun, wedding planner reader (i know next to nothing abt wedding planning, sorry!), aged up kun (he’s like mid/late 30s and reader is implied to also be around that age)
❧ extra info: this is the last of my impromptu series of three (and a half) hallmark-esque fics starring kun for the 2023 holiday season. i've made a mini masterlist here for fun
❧ author’s note: i once again wrote this in like 48 hours and had even less time to proof it bc i wanted to get it out before new year’s so im sorry abt any errors! also a happy early birthday to the loml
“Hopeless for the Holidays?” You snorted, reading the email flyer your friend had just forwarded to you. “You told me you had something fun for us to do for New Year’s.”
“This will be!” She pleaded with you. “It’s a mixer for single professionals who, you know, have no other plans on New Year’s Eve. Like us.”
“Hopeless for the Holidays?” You snorted, reading the email flyer your friend had just forwarded to you. “You told me you had something fun for us to do for New Year’s.”
“This will be!” Eunji pleaded with you. “It’s a mixer for single professionals who, you know, have no other plans on New Year’s Eve. Like us.”
“So, an excuse to get drunk and mack on a stranger at midnight. Did that enough in my twenties. Pass.”
“Nooo, it’s going to be super classy; I swear! It’s happening at the old courthouse downtown. It’s so nice there. The dress code is literally festive black tie—”
“What does that even mean? Is it festive or is it black tie? And how did you even get invited to this?” You read the domain name of the original sender, then zoomed in on the details of flyer to double, triple check. “It’s being held by the Bar Association?”
“Attorneys aren’t that bad,” she replied, clearly miffed.
“Yeah, you aren’t,” you said pointedly. “Former debate bros are.”
“There’s going to be so many mature, serious, single professionals there for you, I promise.”
“It’s literally called Hopeless for the Holidays.”
“So it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek.”
“If its tongue were any more in its cheek, it would bite it off.”
“See? You’re so witty, these guys are going to be falling over themselves trying to have intellectual conversations with you.”
“If a single one calls my job cute, I’m out of there.”
“That’s a yes! Thank you thank you thank you!”
On December 31st, you stepped into the old courthouse downtown with Eunji, out of the freezing cold and into a bright, glamorous venue. The main entry had been converted into a ballroom of sorts for the occasion, all the original marble flooring and walls, and oak and gold detailing preserved. Round, standing cocktail tables had been set up all around, a bar to the back and the side, waiters coming around with hors d’oeuvres, and even a live band set up on the landing of the grand staircase at the back. It was decorated in festive, New Year’s appropriate gold, silver, and black decorations, tinsel, baubles, stars, miscellaneous firework-adjacent shapes.
“Okay… not bad,” you muttered to Eunji as you took it all in.
“Told you it would be classy!” She whispered victoriously to you. Latching onto your arm, she pulled you into the crowd. “Come on!”
She diverted your course towards a table, and you saw a dark-haired man standing there in a neutral grey suit with a red-and-green plaid tie.
“Y/N, you remember my coworker, Kim Doyoung.” Your friend gestured between the two of you.
“Of course, it’s good to see you again, Doyoung.” You greeted the man brightly.
The few lawyer activities that Eunji had dragged you to before—more casual affairs—you had been introduced to many of her coworkers, but Doyoung must have been the only one that fit the criteria for tonight: single and hopeless on New Year’s Eve.
“You too, Y/N.” He nodded to you politely.
You liked Doyoung and all, he was a nice man, but you could already tell from the few times you’d met him before that he was a workaholic. Now, you were aware that most lawyers were, but Doyoung seemed beyond that. Eunji brought you to their firm’s Holiday Party last year, where he was recognized for putting in the most billable hours out of dozens of attorneys—and he was only a junior partner. You doubted he went anywhere but work, the courthouse, and home, where he presumably did even more work.
“Eunji, I’m so glad you’re here, actually,” Doyoung pulled out his phone, opening up his email app. “I was at the office right before I came here and—”
“No, Doyoung.” Eunji snatched his phone from hands, turned it off, and tucked it inside his jacket pocket. “No work. Don’t make any work calls, take any work calls, check your email, none of that.”
“But we’re surrounded by other lawyers.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can talk about some law stuff, informally. But I want you to actually talk to human people not for the purposes of a file tonight, okay? Sound good?”
“I suppose I can do that for a night.”
“And I want you to find someone to kiss at midnight.”
“What?!”
“That isn’t me or Y/N.”
Doyoung seemed like he was about to pass out. “Eunji, this is very unprofessional—”
“I just said I’m off-limits.”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m going to get Eunji and I drinks,” you interrupted their typical bickering.
“Negroni!” She chirped, squeezing your arm before going right back into with her coworker.
With the sounds of their squabbling fading into the din of the crowd, you slowly meandered to the bar on the opposite side of the room. Putting in Eunji’s negroni and your own cocktail order with the bartender, you watched as he got caught by a very insistent older man who clearly thought himself to be very important as he put in what seemed like seven different drink orders as he ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke.
The bartender stopped by you to grab a glass, and you offered, “You can take care of him first, if you need. Seems like he’s in a rush. I don’t mind waiting.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go for it.”
And he moved off to do that, you were happy to turn around and people watch for the moment. You’d always known that law was a boys’ club, but this was just… sad. The few women who were here were interspersed, but you were definitely outnumbered at least 10 to 1. That left a lot of the men to group off and chat among themselves. If Eunji didn’t find somebody tonight after dragging you out here, you’d kill her.
A movement in the corner of your eye caught your attention, and you saw three men coming towards you through the crowd on your left, at least one of them already visibly tipsy. You shifted your eyes forward, trying to gauge if you should just abandon your drinks and find Eunji and Doyoung again wherever they ended up.
Then, someone was sliding up to the bar on your right, a pretty, smooth voice, “Hi. Do you have a moment to talk?”
You turned to your right, the voice matched to a rather handsome man, face framed by chestnut brown hair, and lips pulled into a charming, dimpled smile. He wasn’t too close to you that you felt like he was invading your personal space, a polite distance, just near enough so that you knew he was talking to you. Well that, and his piercing, dark eyes focused entirely on you as if there were nothing else he could possibly be looking at in the room. Not unblinking, but not distracted. He was the only man that you’d seen so far who had figured out the festive black-tie dress code, in a traditional tuxedo except in a deep midnight blue color, with several glittering brooches of fine materials on one lapel. Not overdone, and definitely not Christmas, which was a week ago. He already had a drink in his hand, some kind of dark liquor, neat. Whiskey, scotch, or bourbon, presumably.
“Sure.” You offered a small smile in return. “I’m waiting on my drink.”
The man set his drink down on the bar then, and offered his hand that hadn’t been holding it out to you.
“Qian Kun.” He introduced himself. “I haven’t seen you at a Bar Association event before.”
You shook his hand. It was warm. “That’s probably because I’m not a member. I’m a plus-one.”
“Ah, well that makes sense.”
“Y/L/N Y/N, by the way.”
“So what do you do then, Y/N?”
“I’m a wedding planner.”
“Wow, I’ve heard that’s pretty high-stress.” He actually seemed impressed, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair for a moment.
“I’ve heard the same about being an attorney,” you pointed out coyly.
“I don’t have bridezillas or in-laws to deal with on a daily basis.”
“I’ll take talking down a bridezilla over why she can’t have those specific orchids she saw on Pinterest because they won’t survive the two-hour outdoor ceremony and four-hour reception at her summer wedding due to how sensitive to heat they are over having to argue with my whole chest some position that I don’t even believe in just because I’m being paid to.”
“You think trial lawyers are sleazy?” He asked, the corner of his lip quirking up as if he found this amusing.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend,” you apologized flatly.
He sipped his drink. “Not all attorneys are trial lawyers, you know.”
“You aren’t?”
“Corporate. General counsel for businesses, contracts, that sort of thing.”
“Paper pusher.”
“You were brought here by a litigator,” he said knowingly.
“How’d you know?”
“Us paper pushers don’t really call each other that.”
“Right. She does insurance defense.” You were interrupted by the bartender finally returning with your two drinks, and you thanked him, opening your clutch for whatever cash was in there to hand him as a tip. Turning back to Kun, feeling the need to clarify something. “I don’t think she’s sleazy, exactly. You know, in criminal proceedings, the defendant is entitled to an attorney, right? And the state provides one if they can’t afford it. I think normal people should have competent representation in civil proceedings, too, just to help navigate the legal system. I think she does something good overall. I just… couldn’t do it myself.”
“A lot of time, it’s not about the facts, or what you believe, it’s about the law. Making the better argument.”
“Yeah, which is kind of what I hate about it.”
“That’s more than fair,” Kun agreed. “So what do you like about wedding planning then?”
“The moment that everything finally comes together, and I get to be the one who delivers the couple’s perfect day to them,” you sighed happily. “Every single meltdown, canceled vendor, whatever, is worth it when I get to see it all come together.”
“You love love?”
“Well, that, and I’ve also been told that I’m a bit of a control freak.”
“Playing to your strengths with your choice of career.”
“I’ve long embraced the control freak,” you declared genuinely. “What do you like about corporate law?”
“I’m not a trial attorney, first of all,” he started, making you chuckle. “And I really like contracts. Reviewing them, drafting them, refining them. I’ve been told I have an eye for detail.”
“Isn’t that a nice way of saying of saying control freak?”
“I suppose it is, yes.”
“And you know why that is, right?” You asked pointedly. “Why you ‘have an eye for detail’ and I’m a ‘control freak?’”
Kun didn’t miss a beat. “Of course. You’re a woman, so the same traits that are desirable in men are things that you get shamed for.”
“Huh.” You hid a pleasantly surprised smile behind your glass as you went to take a sip. So far, he had passed every level on your mental flowchart that you used to quickly weed out men who weren’t worth your time. “So you’re responsible for the Terms and Conditions nobody reads?”
“Possibly.”
“And you’ve definitely heard that one before.”
“Would it make you feel better if I said I hadn’t?”
“No,” you shook your head with a smile.
“It was worth a shot.”
You gathered up both of the drinks you’d been given. “It was nice chatting, Kun, but I do have to get this back to my friend before the ice melts and waters down her drink, unfortunately.”
“By all means; I’m grateful for your time that I did get.” He nodded to you graciously. “It was lovely meeting you, Y/N. I hope we’ll talk again later.”
Taking the two drinks back over to the table that Eunji was standing at, she looked at you with wide eyes and a knowing smirk. Doyoung had disappeared at some point, presumably to get on with his assignment from Eunji.
“Your drink, ma’am.” You handed it to her with mock fanfare.
“So who was that?” She asked lightly.
“Hm?”
“The guy you were talking to at the bar for so long.”
“Oh, uhm, Qian Kun? Have you heard of him?”
“No, I haven’t. He say what firm he works for?”
“Didn’t think to ask. But it makes sense you don’t know him, he’s a paper pusher.”
“Ohh… corporate?”
“Yep. General counsel for businesses, contracts. Guy really loves contracts.”
“Oh boring.” She wrinkled her nose with distaste, then took a sip of her drink. “Ack. Y/N, seriously? You let my cocktail get watered down for a contracts guy?”
“I thought I had excused myself before it got watered down, sorry,” you apologized, rolling your eyes at her dramatics. “But he wasn’t talking about contracts the whole time I was over there, really. He was asking me about my job.”
You opted to not mention the part of your conversation about trial attorneys such as your friend.
This detail piqued her interest again. “Oh, okay. You didn’t walk out, so I assume he behaved accordingly?”
“He… was nice.” You conceded.
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard you say about a guy!”
“Eunji, hon, I didn’t come out here expecting to find my soulmate, alright?” You patted her shoulder. “A couple free drinks, hanging out with you, chatting with some nice people, and I’ll consider it a success, alright?”
“Why can’t you be open to something?” She sighed.
“I am. If it happens to find me. I’m just not exactly looking for it right now, okay?”
“Fine.”
“How about we worry about you in the meantime, alright? Since you definitely are searching,” you suggested, looking around the large room with intent. “What about those guys over there? By the Christmas tree?”
“God, no.” She coughed and turned her head, very conspicuously covering her face with her hair. “You see the tall one?”
“Yeah, he’s really good-looking.”
“And we’re going to be avoiding him all night. Johnny Suh.”
“Wait, as in—”
“Yeah.”
“—your ex from law school.”
“That one.”
“Well. I definitely get it now.”
“Could you be more obvious that you’re staring, Y/N? Christ.”
You casually moved around the table so that both of your backs were to that group as you continued talking. “How have you been attending like any Bar Association functions then? If you’re like this?”
“He just moved here. I heard rumors but didn’t want to believe it until I saw him with my own two eyes. Which ended up being tonight.”
“Okay, well…” You looked around again, spotting another group at a nearby table. “How about them? The guys that Doyoung is talking to.”
Eunji peered over at where you were looking. “I mean, one of them is Yuta, which, ew. He works in international law at my firm but the other three… yes, sure, yeah. I think I did my clerkship with one of those guys, actually. Let’s go.”
After being introduced by Doyoung to the three men with him—Jungwoo, Sicheng, and Taeil—you found out that Eunji had in fact done her summer clerkship under a federal judge with Jungwoo during law school. As they got to chatting, and the others talked about some recent fascinating court ruling, you slowly sipped on your drink, zoning in and out of conversations. You loved your friend, really, but there was a reason that you had met at yoga and not in law school. Hearing lawyers talk about law was going to make your brain bleed out of your ears. Your thoughts drifted back to Qian Kun, and your eyes briefly flitted around the room, wondering where he had ended up.
“And what do you do, Y/N?” Yuta suddenly yanked you back into the conversation.
“Hm?” You blinked. “Oh, I’m a wedding planner.”
“Cool. Sounds fun.”
You immediately looked over at Eunji, and she flashed you the quickest lift of her eyes in an eye roll that would be imperceptible to anybody else.
“So how’s your mission coming along, Doyoung?” You decided to entertain yourself.
Sicheng and Taeil immediately stopped their conversation to look over, confused.
“I’m talking to people not directly about cases at work.” He looked at you with wide eyes, obviously hoping you wouldn’t divulge the other half of it. “I’ve done it.”
“Okay, and who are you kissing at midnight?”
“Huh?!” Yuta let out a comically bewildered noise.
Doyoung groaned, then pointed an accusatory finger at your friend. “Eunji… ordered me to not work tonight and find somebody to… kiss at midnight…”
You shrugged. “I’m checking in on his progress.”
“Are you offering, Y/N?” Yuta questioned teasingly.
“No,” you snorted. “I’m ineligible. Sorry.”
“You came to a singles event and you’re… not single?” Jungwoo cocked his head.
“I am. I’m just not letting some stranger put their tongue down my throat at midnight because of it.” You finished off your drink. “Sorry.”
“And there’s no way I’d let either of you do anything to my friend,” Eunji grabbed your arm protectively, pointing between Doyoung and Yuta. “I know how you live. And I’m not impressed.”
“Gee, thanks,” Doyoung scoffed.
“Yeah, understandable,” Yuta shrugged.
After a bit more mingling, you and Eunji once again ended up by yourselves at a table. She had her cheek dejectedly in hand, visible pout on her face.
“So? Have you liked anybody so far?” You asked her. “Felt a connection? Seemed like you and Jungwoo were getting along… Or that environmental attorney, uhm, Taeyong?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think so,” she sighed, straightening up. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Come with?”
“I can, or I can get us drinks again. Which do you want?”
“Mm, drinks. Thanks.”
“Of course, hon.”
On your way back to the bar, you spotted a familiar blue suit jacket in the crowd and decided to make a short detour.
“Kun.” You approached, stopping behind him at a table.
The attorney turned around, a wide smile coming to his face as he recognized you. “Y/N, hello again.”
“Yeah, hey,” you beamed. “Mind if I chat with you for a second?”
“Please do.”
“I was on the way to the bar to grab another round for my friend and I while she freshens up, then I saw you,” you explained, settling in to lean beside him at his table. “But she’ll be a while…”
“Lucky me then.” A dimple appeared in his cheek. “And honestly, you might want to hold off on the drinks. They’re going to start bringing out champagne at eleven.”
“What time is it?”
He checked his silver, analog watch. “Ten fifty-four.”
“I think I will hold off, then. Eunji loves champagne. Thanks for the tip.”
“Of course.”
“You here all alone?” You indicated the empty table he was standing at. “I mean, I know it’s a singles event or whatever, but people have at least been talking to friends or colleagues too.”
“I was with some others a few minutes ago, we were celebrating a recent promotion, but they all seemed to have left me.”
“Promotion? Whose?”
“Ah, mine,” he admitted, hand habitually smoothing over the lapels of his suit.
“Congrats. And what have you been promoted to?”
“Senior partner. Non-equity.”
“Celebrating your promotion at an event for lonely singles? Bit sad.”
“If I’m being honest, I’m only here because my friend pressured me.” He nodded towards a dark-haired man in an emerald green velvet jacket, who you had seen darting about the event the whole night. “Ten helped organize it.”
“I was forced here by my friend too, Eunji,” you laughed. “She just about dragged me in kicking and screaming.”
“I didn’t put up that much resistance myself, admittedly,” Kun chuckled.
“Oh? You secretly wanted to come?” You half-joked and half-asked.
“Something like that.”
“Really? Do tell.”
“When Ten was first telling me his plans for the event, I thought, knowing him, it was just a convoluted way to get wasted and make out with a stranger,” he shook his head. “But the promotion sort of put some… things into perspective. And I feel like the New Year always makes me reflect more than others.”
“Why is that? You feel like you reflect on New Year more than other people?”
“My birthday is January 1st.”
“Oh…” You nodded in understanding. “Time marches on.”
“Yes, it does. I get the hit of a New Year and getting older on the same day.”
“I know we just met, but I feel like you’re already sharing something pretty personal, so I’ll ask: How old will you be? At midnight?”
“Thirty-six,” he said it like he was in a confessional, quietly, dipping his head down to looking down at his feet, then straight up at the ceiling, tilting his head back.
“Kun… You know that’s not even half your life, right? Statistically?” You arched an eyebrow.
“I’m aware. I’m not ashamed of my age, really. I’m quite happy to be out of my twenties. But now, about to be closer to forty than thirty… there’s things about my life that twenty-year-old me thought would’ve been quite different than they actually are.”
“Is this connected to your new perspective from your promotion?”
“Yes. A lot of people take their promotion as an incentive to work harder but… I think I’m going to cut back.”
“Does your firm know about this?”
“My new position comes with a certain amount of security.”
“You’re a damn good lawyer, Kun,” you chuckled.
Kun seemed caught off-guard for the first time in your conversation. “Well, I mean, yes, I suppose—”
“You’ve been talking around your point for the past five minutes. Now that you’re at a certain place in your career, you want a family. When you were twenty, you promised yourself you would do it all, career and family, then along the way you slowly started conceding more and more in order to get ahead, and now you’re looking back and realizing you wanted to have more in your life than just work by now. So you let Ten talk you into coming out to this singles mixer hoping that maybe you’d luck into your future spouse in one go.” You poked him on the chest. “Sound about right?”
He raised his gaze from your finger on his dress shirt to your face, a wonder-filled smile on his lips that turned into a knowing smirk as he challenged, “Seems as though you’re… familiar with similar circumstances.”
You took your hand back before giving a casual shrug. “Maybe. How close was I?”
“Scarily accurate. Did my mother put you up to this?”
“No. But, let me guess, she’s been not-so-subtly asking for grandchildren?”
“Only for the past decade.”
“Ouch.”
A waiter then came by carrying a plate of champagne, offering some out. Kun grabbed two flutes off the tray and offered one to you. You accepted it graciously.
“Thank you.” Tilting the golden liquid back and forth contemplatively, you asked, “Do you happen to know if Ten got real champagne or sparkling wine?”
“Whatever real champagne is, he probably did not splurge on it, no,” Kun chuckled.
“Nobody actually knows the difference, I was just curious.” You took a sip. “Good quality wine.”
“What is the difference?”
“Technically, real champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France,” you explained. “Whenever a couple comes in insisting on real champagne, but without the budget for it, I have tell them that they’ve probably never had real champagne in their lives anyway, and their guests will not know the difference between real champagne and a good sparkling wine.”
“Your job must require you to be knowledgeable about a lot of different things, doesn’t it? Wine, flowers, food, logistics.”
“Money, budgeting, color theory, weather, you name it, I probably have to know at least the basics, maybe more.”
Kun’s admiration and interest once again seemed genuine. “And what sort of degree do you get to be a wedding planner? Is there a degree for it? Certification program? I mean, it’s not as linear of a path as being an attorney…”
“There’s some event planning associate and bachelor programs. I have a degree in hospitality, and then mentored under a wedding planner to learn the ropes before going off on my own.”
“So you own your own business?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Wow…” He trailed off, eyes focused on you, beholding you.
You laughed self-consciously. “I don’t think I’ve ever made anybody speechless with that information. You alright, Kun? How much have you had to drink?”
“I’m quite sober, this will only be drink number two.” He lifted the champagne.
“Really?”
“I do need to drive myself home tonight.”
“I’m DD as well. And I’m also past my ‘getting shitfaced in public’ days,” you chuckled, lifting your drink to your lips again, looking out over how many of the other partygoers were more than tipsy.
“You’re beautiful, by the way.” Kun’s voice brought your eyes back to him, his eyes twinkling under the lights as he looked at you.
Your skin felt warm, and your heart jumped a bit. “Thank you.”
“That’s what I was thinking about, when I trailed off a moment ago.”
“You didn’t open with that. Earlier, by the bar,” you commented. “Why not?”
“I needed to know if you even wanted to talk to some random man first.”
“But after that.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was walking up to every woman here tonight and telling her that.”
“You’re not?” You teased, the corner of your lip quirking up.
He shook his head. “I’m not.”
“Well, you’re a paper pusher… so I suppose I can take your word for it.”
“I appreciate that.”
Checking the time on your phone, you then got up on your tiptoes, peering around for Eunji.
“Looking for your friend?” Kun asked.
“Yes, she should’ve been out by now.” You frowned.
“Do you need to go look for her?”
“Let me shoot her a text first. She might just be taking a while fixing her makeup…”
[you: jiji, you fall in? everything okay?]
Thankfully, but much to your surprise, she texted back almost immediately.
[jiji: i’m okkkk! chatting with taeyong from earlier! sorry for leaving you!]
[jiji: GREAT champagne btw 🍾🍾🥂🥂]
[you: that’s fine. you two have fun! call me if you need anything]
“She’s alright,” you chuckled, turning off your phone. “Found a friend. And the champagne.”
“Does that mean you’re free right now then?”
“Why yes, yes it does.”
“Lucky me.” He grinned. “So have you ever been in the old courthouse before this?”
“No, I haven’t. Never been to an event here, and it closed before I was born.”
“Well, we have…” He looked at his watch again. “Fifty-three minutes until midnight. How would you like a personal tour?”
“Can you do that?” You raised an eyebrow. “There’s ropes blocking off the hallways.”
“Ten’s part of the event committee for the Bar Association, and I’m part of the historical committee. We’re in charge of the preservation and restoration of the courthouse. I know which parts we can go in and which ones we can’t. Besides, if we were caught, the person they would report us to would be me.”
You couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, sure. Sounds fun.”
“I will have to ask that you leave the champagne. No liquids.”
“Of course.” You nodded, stepping away from your drink.
Kun cordially offered you his elbow, and you took it, well aware that the giddy, warm buzz in your body wasn’t from the few sips of champagne you’d just had. He led you through the crowd, and as you approached the black velvet ropes cordoning off the hallways, he looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then stepped over it. He offered his hand out to you, and you placed yours atop for him to steady you as you also stepped over the rope. You took one more look over your shoulder before you two quickly ducked around the marble column and out of sight.
The darkened hallway you entered was much smaller than the grand foyer you had been in for most of the night. In the dim light being let in through the windows, you could make out the multitude of frames along the walls, sconces clearly meant for oil lamps, and a few pieces of furniture—mainly chairs and tables pushed against the wall.
“This is where the clerk’s office was,” Kun explained. “The door at the end of the hall. But first—”
He stopped at a frame, and with your eyes adjusted to the low light, you could see the art that was in it. It was of the courthouse itself, but a whimsical interpretation, with flying chariots in the sky above it, and mermaids swimming in a river in front of it that certainly had never been there.
“It’s a beautiful etching,” you commented. “Do you know who did it?”
“We think a local artist, but they didn’t sign it,” he sighed, gesturing to the four corners, all blank. “And there’s nothing on the back. It’s something we’ve been working with local art curators and historians to try to track down.”
“That’s… sad.” You couldn’t find a better word. “I mean, it’s incredible that their work survived all these years and is still being seen and people are working to find out who created it… but it’s still sad that their identity was lost in the first place.”
“One of the experts we had look at it believes it’s a first or second state that the artist never intended to actually be the final piece, so that’s why they didn’t sign it.”
“It makes you wonder if they never made the finished piece or if the finished piece didn’t survive.”
“Also makes you imagine that artist all those years ago looking at this and thinking that it wasn’t good enough to put their name on, and now we’re looking at it wishing we knew who made it because we think it’s so beautiful.”
Your eyes scanned over the chariots and puffy clouds and mermaids swimming among the waves, then drifted over to Kun. “What was your undergrad degree in, Kun?”
“History, why?” He looked over at you inquisitively.
“Just curious.” You shrugged. “I know you can do anything before going to law school, so I thought I’d ask.”
“A lot of my peers did Political Science or Criminal Justice, but you don’t actually learn much about the law in those programs like people think you will. Everybody starts on a pretty even playing field when it comes to stuff that’ll be on the tests. But as for practical skills... majors that give you good research, writing, and critical thinking skills were really the best ones to go with. So the humanities majors were honestly running laps around everyone else the first semester or so.”
“You’re on the historical committee, so you just like history, too. Right?”
“Yes, I do.” He nodded, slowly guiding you further down the hallway. “I like knowing how we ended up here. The people that came before us, how they’re still influencing us even today. I think we have a duty to remember them, learn as much as we can, and preserve that knowledge and pass it down. Because I would want somebody to do that for us as well. I know we have cameras, and phones, and can document things so much better now, but that’s probably also what they thought a hundred years ago. But things still get destroyed, and lost, and people pass, and stuff gets forgotten. So I hope we never stop being curious about where we came from.”
“I like that, Kun.” You squeezed his arm. “I really do.”
He smiled almost bashfully, looking down at his feet, then back up as he stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway, gesturing in. “This is the clerk’s office. We can’t go in since it is very much still pre-restoration and I’m afraid you may get injured.”
“That’s fine, I’ll peer in from here,” you chuckled, looking around from the threshold. There were floorboards haphazardly strewn about, but you could see one main desk, in the same dark oak color as everything else, multitudes of filing cabinets, and several different large, old manual machines that you weren’t quite sure what they did but you were sure there were probably an electric version of most, if not all, at any office building in the city.
“So this is where all the court documents were filed?” You clarified your knowledge that you had picked up from knowing a few attorneys in your life.
“Yes. Court documents were filed, real estate documents, and notary applications. They also did a few other things in this building that weren’t just trials, but weren’t handled by the clerk. I’ll show you in a second.”
Around the corner, Kun showed you where business licenses used to be processed, and where motor vehicle and driver’s licenses were taken care of before they got their own office long before this courthouse closed. In between all of these rooms, there were various pieces of art, painting, photographs, drawings, maps, or historical documents to look at on the walls as well.
The next room was a bit larger, and you were able to actually walk into this one, the first out of all of them. It had higher ceilings and a skylight, but not quite the infrastructure and grandeur to make you think that you were in the courtroom yet.
“The historical committee has been focused on getting this one ready sooner, with some pressure from the event committee. They think it’ll bring some outside business in,” he explained, guiding you towards the front, where there was what looked like a wood countertop of some sort. The windows on the far wall had a funny sort of tint to them, and you realized they were stained glass in various colors. They didn’t depict any specific religious imagery, but they were the only ones you had seen in the entire courthouse, almost giving the impression of a chapel.
“Why is that?” You asked Kun curiously. “Also, why is this the only room with stained glass windows?”
“This was where all the marriages in this jurisdiction were performed for hundreds of years. At least the legal part, the signing of the certificate. The actual wedding ceremonies were obviously up to the couples.” He said, then gestured to the wood countertop. “That’s where the certificate was signed. The stained glass was to emulate a religious setting without directly referencing any one religion. The event committee thinks people will want to hold their actual weddings here.”
You looked around at the room, already thinking about how many people would fit in here, how you would set up a possible wedding ceremony in here.
“So what do you think, wedding planner?” Kun prompted you.
“You want my advice for free?” You teased.
He held his hands up. “I’m humbly making conversation.”
“As a favor for taking me on this lovely tour, I’ll tell you what I think,” you giggled. “It’s pretty small. This area attracts a lot of big money weddings. It might work for a couple who wants an intimate ceremony but a bigger reception, if they can also use the foyer for the reception. Especially couples who aren’t necessarily religious, but don’t want to completely go off-book by not having a church wedding, since it feels similar to a chapel, and a courthouse is still formal like a church. You’ll also attract the kind of couples who are looking for unique venues: old bank vaults, railroad stations, cemeteries, that kind of thing. But again, the size of the room for the ceremony is really going to be a limiting factor for booking.”
Kun looked at you with wide eyes. “You can get married at a cemetery?”
“Uh-huh.” You nodded, unfazed by that factoid at this point in your life. “Halloween weddings are pretty popular in a certain crowd.”
“I don’t think I’d want to get married on a holiday.” He shook his head. “Christmas, Valentine’s Day, anything. Or one of our birthdays. It’s…”
“Tacky?”
“There we go.”
“I agree. I think the only special date that I can make an exception for would be an anniversary. Anniversary of getting engaged, anniversary of our first date, anniversary of when we met, that kind of thing.”
Kun had the same look in his eyes as when you told him that you owned your own business, like you were the most incredible thing he had ever witnessed, and he couldn’t imagine ever looking at anything else for the rest of his life. “What if one of those is on a holiday?”
“Then we’d just have to pick a different date. Can’t be tacky.”
“Oh God, of course not,” Kun chuckled jokingly. “My worst nightmare.”
Still gazing around the non-denominational not-chapel, you were overcome with a feeling of unease, suddenly being overwhelmed with memories that you hadn’t thought of in a very long time. You glanced down at your empty left hand, then wrapped it back around Kun’s arm, looking up at the stained glass windows again.
“I was almost engaged once. In my twenties,” you stated into the stillness.
Kun took this pivot in conversational tone in stride. “And how do you almost get engaged?”
“He had me pick my ring and then… never proposed with it.”
“Oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry,” he said softly.
“Mm, could’ve been worse. I could’ve married him,” you laughed. “You know what’s funny?”
“Tell me.”
You turned to him still with a grin on your face. “He was a lawyer.”
“What kind?” Kun asked, then immediately followed up with, “Don’t say a trial attorney.”
“Nope.”
“Family law.”
“A wedding planner and a divorce lawyer getting married? That sounds like a pretty savvy business model. Or a really great rom-com.”
“You like rom-coms?”
“I’d call it a guilty pleasure, but I’m at the point in my life where I can’t be ashamed of the things I like.” You confirmed your love of the movie genre. “I just can’t watch any that are about wedding planners.”
“Too inaccurate?”
“Yes! It’s always about falling in love with the best man or brother of the groom or something. I’m way too busy to find my soulmate on the job.”
“So was I right? Family law?”
“Nope.”
“IP. Intellectual property.”
“No.”
“I can keep going, there’s practically infinite areas of civil practice that are non-trial.”
“I’m not the one who turned this into a guessing game!” You guffawed incredulously.
“Wait, was he… a corporate attorney?” He let out a fake gasp. “Do you have a type?”
“And who says I’m attracted to you?” You fired back immediately.
“That’s fair, I shouldn’t have assumed.” Kun laughed, smoothing down his lapels. “So what kind of attorney was he?”
“He wasn’t.”
“Wait—”
“He went to law school, so he’s a lawyer, but he never took the bar in order to practice law, so he’s not an attorney,” you declared victoriously through chuckles, much to Kun’s disbelief.
“I can’t believe you got me with that.”
“Don’t contracts require precise language or something?” You feigned cluelessness, making him snort as he knew that you weren’t that dumb.
“Yeah, they do.” He was shaking his head at himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You really got me with that one, goddamn.”
That was the first time you’d heard him curse all night, you realized, despite the fact that you’d already done so multiple times.
“I do… think you’re attractive, by the way, Kun,” you admitted. “And you’ve been great company tonight. I’ve had a wonderful time on this little impromptu tour.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about hurting my feelings, attorneys need their egos checked every once in a while. I’m honored to have such a stunning woman checking mine this time.”
“Well, any time you need me to lie to your face and say you’re not one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen, I’m there.”
Kun patted down the front of his tuxedo jacket almost self-consciously, a pleased smile coming to his face and both of his dimples making reappearances. “Really? Well…”
“And I haven’t been walking up to every man tonight saying that, by the way.”
He laughed with his whole chest, eyes and nose scrunching up as he leaned forward, hair getting knocked out of place with his sudden movement. You smiled fondly as you watched him laugh so genuinely, so unrestrained, not in the practiced, manicured way as before. You didn’t think that they were necessarily forced laughs earlier in the night, you were sure that he did genuinely think what you said was funny, but he presumably had a laugh for these formal types of scenarios. And you’d been right, as the sort of laughing he was doing now was far different, warm, joyous, mirthful. It made your heart full to know that it was because of you.
As he caught his breath, the thought occurred to you of how much time you’d spent on your tour already.
“What time is it?” You questioned.
He checked his watch once more. “Eleven thirty-five. I should hurry this tour up to get you back in time for the countdown.”
“Lead the way.”
You and Kun slipped back into the main party with five minutes to spare, and grabbed a couple more glasses of champagne off a waiter as he walked by. You looked around to see if you could spot Eunji now that you were on the opposite side of the room as before. Funny enough, you saw Taeyong and his colleagues that you had met earlier, but not your friend.
“Is something wrong, Y/N?” Kun asked.
“I’m sorry, do you mind if we go talk to someone?” You couldn’t shake the feeling of something being off, despite the large screen set up behind the band displaying the timer now at less than four minutes.
“Of course not.”
Pulling Kun through the crowd by the arm, you landed in front of Lee Taeyong out of breath, offering him a wide smile. “Hi, Taeyong. I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Y/N, we met earlier.”
“Of course, yes, you’re… an event planner, right?” He offered you a bright smile.
“Yeah, yeah.” You didn’t have the time to correct him. “My friend Eunji that was with me, have you seen her? Is she with you?”
The man’s features immediately turned confused. “No, she’s not with me. But I have seen her.”
“Oh, good. Where?”
“Over there,” he nodded behind you. “With Johnny.”
You turned around, eyes zeroing in on a corner of the foyer where Eunji was in fact pressed up into Johnny Suh’s side, giggling and laughing, his arm around her shoulders. He looked about as tipsy as she was, pink-cheeked and giggling too.
Looking back to Taeyong, you smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Taeyong, one more thing: To the best of your knowledge, she’s been with him for the past hour or so?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.” He nodded. “They look like they’ve been having a, uhm, pretty good time together. Not to be indecent...”
“Cool, thanks.” You walked off, taking Kun with you.
“So what was that about?” Kun questioned.
“Johnny Suh is Eunji’s ex from law school,” you explained the gravity of the situation. “Not a pretty breakup. Or second breakup. Or third breakup. From what I heard, I didn’t know her then.”
“Are we going to do anything?” Kun questioned as you were very clearly not walking over to Eunji and Johnny.
“I only got Eunji two drinks spread across two hours, so unless she has been chugging champagne at superhuman rates for the past hour, she’s probably only had one or two glasses, which with her alcohol tolerance would put her at mildly tipsy,” you responded with a shrug. “I’m not going to let her leave with him. But otherwise… she can deal with her choices in the morning. It would be way more trouble than it’s worth if I went over there and tried to remove her right now.”
“Gotcha.” He nodded.
“Besides…” You looked over at the countdown, which was now at 1:30. “It’s almost midnight.”
Kun tapped the side of his glass, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Y/N, I don’t want to be presumptive. Just being able to enjoy your company tonight has been more than enough—”
“Kun, I would be offended if you didn’t want to kiss me at midnight.”
“I do, I do,” he chuckled, clearly relieved. “I’m just aware that you had your reservations about coming here tonight, and about the entire premise of the event.”
“Well I said I didn’t want to get drunk and mack on a stranger. I’m not drunk, and I wouldn’t exactly call you a stranger. I feel like I know you a little bit.”
“Yes, I feel like I know you as well.”
A bauble nearby refracted the light into Kun’s eye just right and turned it a rich honey brown color, and the crowd around you began chanting the final countdown from ten. You and Kun both set your champagne flutes down on a nearby table, and you happily stepped into his personal space.
On one, you leaned forward to slot your lips with his, the cheers of the crowd fading out to silence. Kun’s mouth was gentle against yours, even as you curled your fingers in the hair at the back of his neck, resting your other hand on his lapel, fingers mindlessly messing with his brooches. His arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to him.
You squeaked into his mouth as that arm around your waist was suddenly used as leverage to dip you, the other supporting your back. You laughed against his lips as you wrapped your entire arm around his neck instead of just one hand, before kissing him again.
“Happy New Year, Y/N,” he murmured.
“Happy New Year, Kun,” you stole another kiss. “And, Happy Birthday.”
“You remembered.”
“Of course.”
When he pulled you back up to stand on your own two feet, you were still grinning like a madwoman, and stayed pressed against his side. “I have to say… I’ve never been dipped before.”
“Seriously?” Kun seemed dumbfounded.
“Seriously.”
“Every man in your life has been dropping the ball, Y/N. Absolutely unacceptable that you hadn’t been dipped before that.”
“I’ll keep that it mind,” you giggled. “Find a guy who’ll dip me when he kisses me more often.”
“Y/N…” He sighed taking both of your hands in his.
“Yes, Kun, I would love to see you again. Specifically, to go on a date.”
“Wedding planner and a mind reader.”
You laughed, cupping his cheek to kiss him again, letting him slowly, tenderly move his mouth against yours. Just as he went to deepen the kiss, you heard a throat get cleared much too close for it to be coincidental, and you damn near jumped out of your skin.
Breaking the kiss, you dropped your hand down to his shoulder and turned towards the source. Eunji was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised. Except she wasn’t alone, as Johnny Suh towered behind her.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying about getting wasted and letting a stranger stick their tongue down your throat?” Eunji cocked her head to the side, eyes flicking back and forth between you and Kun.
“I’m sorry, and what were you saying about Johnny Suh?” You snorted, pointing to the man with her.
Johnny looked down at her, surprised. “Yeah, what were you saying about Johnny Suh?”
“Nothing you didn’t deserve. Good or bad,” Eunji replied dismissively.
“Okay, that’s probably fair.”
“Anyway, I think it’s JiJi and I’s bedtime, so, goodnight, guys.” You took Eunji’s arm and backed away from both Johnny and Kun. Eunji went willingly on both hers and Johnny’s parts, which you were relieved for.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Kun immediately offered.
“We’ll walk you to your car,” Johnny tacked on, flashing you a million-dollar smile that you were sure had done a lot for him in life.
And so you and Eunji headed out, Kun and Johnny on either side of you. As you were heading for the front doors, you saw a familiar face though, and just had to stop.
“Hey, Doyoung!” You called out to him. “How’d your mission go?”
He stopped, and despite the fact that it was you who asked the question, it was your friend that he focused his stern gaze on. “It’s done, Eunji. Happy?”
Her jaw dropped. “Who was it?!”
“It would be improper of me to say.”
“Oh come on. I’m just supposed to believe you?”
“The deal had no clause for supplying proof. Only that I find someone.” He straightened his tie. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“I’m going to kill you, Kim Doyoung!” Eunji lunged forward, but Johnny easily caught her and kept her from her intentions of presumably ripping Doyoung limb from limb.
“Maybe you should’ve had a paper pusher like Kun there, Eunji,” you snickered, squeezing Kun’s arm.
The four of you continued your journey outside, Kun holding the door open for the other three of you, as Johnny was still restraining Eunji, just in case. Once the doors had closed behind you all and Doyoung was contained on the other side of them, he let her go.
“God, you get corporate dick one time and you’re brainwashed,” she complained. “Y/N, come back from the boring side! Please!”
“You’re drunk and dramatic,” you deadpanned, leading the way in the direction of your car. “Stop embarrassing yourself more than you already have at your big age.”
She immediately became more serious, but with a slight pout to her bottom lip. “Fine.”
Approaching your car, you slowed to a stop.
“This is us. Thanks for all your…” you paused, looking at Johnny, “…help, guys.”
Johnny flashed you that same million-dollar smile. “Anytime. It was nice meeting you, Y/N. Eunji talked a lot about you.”
“Yeah, sounds like you two were doing a lot of talking from what I heard,” you replied lightly, opening your passenger door for her.
“You’re not subtle, Y/N,” Eunji grumbled, willingly getting in.
You handed her the seatbelt buckle. “I wasn’t trying to be.”
After she had gotten herself situated and you gave her the keys to start the car and the heating, you walked around to the driver’s side, where Kun was waiting for you. Eunji had rolled down her window, and Johnny was bent over, leaning his elbows on the open window to talk to her.
“I have to say, I did not expect to meet someone like you tonight, Y/N,” Kun chuckled, his laughter coming out as fog in the winter air. “You’re… amazing. More than amazing.”
“I think I made it more than obvious that I wasn’t expecting to meet you either,” you laughed. “But thank you, for making this night not only tolerable but incredible. Unforgettable.”
“We uhm, got interrupted earlier, but if we want to see each other, we’ll need to contact each other…?”
“Right, right.” You brought out your phone, handing it to him with a new contact open. “Here.”
He quickly typed in his number, then handed it back to you. “I’ll let you go, since it’s cold and late and you have to get Eunji home.”
“Thanks. I have your number now, so I will definitely be using that.”
“I’ll patiently be awaiting that time then.”
“Goodnight, Kun.” You went to hug him. “And Happy New Year and Happy Birthday one more time.”
“Thank you.” He squeezed you back. “Happy New Year, goodnight, and drive safe.”
“Will do.” You pulled back, giving him a final peck on the cheek. “See you.”
“Bye.” He was beaming, and you took in the beautiful sight of his dimples one last time before turning around to get in your car.
As Eunji took over the Bluetooth in your car to change it to her own phone so she could play her music, you did one more thing on your phone, going into Kun’s contact that he had just created. Qian Kun, and his number. You had one slight correction to make.
Qian Kun 💍
Putting your phone away, you drove away from the curb, looking at Kun waving to you out the rear window. Yeah, you had a good feeling about this one.
⤷ 2023 hallmark movie marathon | blog masterlist
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