“So here we are”, Ethan said, smiling as we arrived at the marriage booth. “I may not have had prepared a fancy surprise for you, but I want you to know how serious I am about you.”

I just bit my lip. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

Since there were lots of people around, I noticed them looking at us as when we got there.

Ethan immediately went to the booth’s organizer and checked the list. I followed him.

I noticed that there’s a long list of people who are bound to get “married.”

Ethan asked one of the girls who’s in charge if it’s possible for us to go next. But apparently, it wasn’t as there was some sort of queue. I also saw our names on the previous pages—supposed to be married to others—but it was all crossed out. I wonder how…

“How about I double the pay?”, Ethan asked the girl.

The girl stopped to think, then she replied, “Okay…and how about your other marriages?”

“I’ll pay for that as well”, Ethan said while pointing at our names. “…and hers too.”

Wait. Does it mean-

I turned my head towards him.

“I’m paying them so that we’ll only get married to each other”, he whispered.

Ethan seemed to be reaching for his wallet on his back pocket when he realized that he was wearing a jersey uniform.

“Fuck”, he whispered.

Kel immediately appeared in front of us, seemingly out of breath, with a bouquet of cascading flowers which he immediately handed to me. I hesitantly received it.

“Bro, do you have a thousand peso bill?”, Ethan asked him.

“Dude, you suddenly sent me out to buy you a specific set of flowers, and now, you’re even asking me for money? Tss.” Kel said while still catching his breath and reaching for his wallet.

He handed the bill to Ethan right away.

“I’ll just pay you later, man. My bag’s in the locker”, Ethan said.

“So, shall we proceed?”, the girl asked.

Ethan just lightly nodded, and immediately went to the front of this two tent structure that has been meticulously decorated. The placement of the white cloth, lace, and sheer fabrics, combined with the fake plants and fairy lights made this booth appear whimsical.

A girl then covered me in a white veil before instructing me to go in.

As I was walking slowly down the aisle, I can’t help but feel the butterflies in my stomach. With a veil on my head, holding a very beautiful cascading sunflower bouquet, and a dramatic background music, I can’t help but feel that everything’s perfect—just don’t mind what we’re wearing.

As I reached the altar, Ethan offered his hand, and now, we’re looking at each other, face-to-face. Then this guy with the glasses who administers the ceremony, starts to speak.

“We are gathered here today to witness the union of Ethan Jared Andrada and Avery Jacqueline dela Vega.”

As he continues to talk, I noticed that a number of people started gathering just outside the tent as if trying to check what’s happening inside.

“Do you, Ethan Jared Andrada, take this woman, Avery Jacqueline dela Vega, to be your wife, to have and to hold…”

As the guy was reading the vows, I can’t help but stare at Ethan.

“… in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer…”

I just hung on to every word as if it was real.

“…keeping yourself solely unto her for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do”, Ethan said as he looked straight into my eyes.

I can feel my heart racing as he said those two words.

“Do you, Avery Jacqueline dela Vega, take this man, Ethan Jared Andrada, to be your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and health, to love, honor and obey, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto him for as long as you both shall live?”

With a lump in my throat, I responded. “I do.”

The guy then gave us some plastic rings to use, but Ethan stopped him as he was already wearing two rings—one on his right ring finger and the other on his pinky.

From his pinky, he removed the ring and placed it on my left ring finger. Then he gave me the other one he was wearing and I put it on his left ring finger.

Once we’re done with exchanging rings, I noticed that it was a plain white gold love knot ring. I can’t believe that he was actually prepared for this!

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

He leaned towards me and kissed me on the cheek.

And in that moment, it was like there was only the two of us. Had it not been for the cheers, I wouldn’t have gotten back to my senses.

“I didn’t know that you were really prepared for this”, I told Ethan.

“I just pulled some strings”, he smiled lightly. “I can’t have that guy upstage me. Not when it comes to you, love.”

I just looked at him with my eyebrows raised. “And by strings, you mean…Kel?”

He chuckled. “Don’t make it so obvious. He was the only one willing to help out.”

We slowly made our way out of the tent, and we immediately got welcomed by Kel and JB.

“What did you give my friend? Some type of love potion?”, Kel asked. “You know, he suddenly sent me out after lunch to look for a wedding bouquet with specific kind of flowers.”

I just looked at Ethan as if I was looking for answers.

“Then I tried to check why he wanted those particular flowers, and look what I found!” Kel showed me his phone with some screenshots. “Look, sunflower is for adoration and loyalty, succulent for enduring and timeless love, then freesia and baby’s breath is for innocen-”

Ethan’s eyes widened as he immediately put his arms around Kel and he slowly dragged him away from us.

“I need to go to the gym now”, Ethan told Kel before turning his back to me. “See you later, love. I’ll just text you.”

“Why are you in a rush now, man? You didn’t even get to warm up”, Kel blurted.

“I don’t need to warm up. I just needed inspiration”, Ethan said almost inaudibly, though I still heard it somehow.

“So how are you now, Mrs. Andrada?”, JB asked while grinning.

“Whatever. It was a fake wedding”, I protested.

“Whatever. It was a fake wedding”, JB said mockingly. “Tell that to the wall. Fake wedding? With that much effort? The bouquet? The rings?”

She shook her head while smirking.

“Wait! Let me see the ring!”, JB said as she grabbed my hand to look at the ring up close. “Waaah! This is so pretty and elegant. It looks very simple, but for sure, this is very expensive. Does he have the same one?”

I nodded.

“Fudge, Ave. He’s really smitten! Are you dating? Are you together?”

“Huh? No, this is just for the vlog”, I said.

“Okay, if you say so…”, JB grimaced.

“JB! Avery! We heard what happened!”, Savannah immediately ran to us when she saw us outside the marriage booth. “Too bad we missed the whole thing. Please tell me the deets!”

Savannah was with our other classmates and JB talked about everything in detail as we slowly walked towards the parking lot—I’m planning to leave my bouquet there first. Apparently, they don’t know that I’m doing the boyfriend challenge vlog, people were just confused as to why I’m being seen with Ethan, then Seth every now and then.

After going to the parking lot, we went to the auditorium since Seth’s dance competition is about to begin, and he asked me to be there. Though I feel a bit awkward with the number of people I’m with, I immediately approached Seth when he saw me outside the venue.

Before the recording started, Seth and I talked a bit about how I should act on this part, since we won’t be having any interaction this time. He then introduced me to a member of his fan club and told me to just sit with them. They know what’s up anyway.

“Can I bring my classmates, too?”, I asked him.

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

“No, I should thank you for doing this with me. I also had my friends set-up some cameras. Just so you know”, he said.

“Oh, okay. So…let’s begin the act?”, I asked.

He nodded while smiling. “I need to get back now.”

After that, we went to the auditorium with his fan club. We sat towards the front and they gave us some slogans and foam glow sticks.

I know that Seth has way more followers than me, but I didn’t realize that he was this famous. The type that fans make him some slogans and posters like a K-pop idol. Had he have his own lightstick, he can really be selling some merch already. I wonder if he already had a cupsleeve event? Hmm…

A couple of minutes after, the lights went off, and only the stage shines bright. There were about 15 groups that performed and Seth’s was the 13th one to do so.

When they began, the screams that filled the auditorium was insane—his fans, my friends, and even the audiences. It was wild!

The song started in this slow hiphop beat that they accompanied with light but snappy choreography, but as it went towards the middle, bam! It became very powerful, it just had a very strong impact that everyone doing it just seemed so so attractive. Add to that that they were very synchronized all throughout, it was a sight to watch.

“HOLY SHEEEE-”

“SETH! I LOVE YOU!!!”

“WAAAA~”

In all fairness with my friends’ reaction, it felt as though they were Seth’s ‘girlfriend’. I can’t keep up!

Then they finished the performance with very flashy moves and the whole place was roaring. Along with the fans, I also stood up when they were done.

Seeing them perform like this, it made me understand why he’s really popular. Since he’s mostly in the center throughout, he also keeps getting the spotlight.

I really enjoyed the performance that I didn’t notice the time! Good thing I just checked my phone.

I poked JB right away and showed her the time.

Though the program wasn’t done, I told the fans and my friends that I really need to head out.

“You know, while doing this, I just realized that cheating is hard”, I told JB as we were walking.

“And why?”, she asked, laughing at my ridiculous thought.

“Because…well, imagine this, what I’m doing right now! It’s hard having to tend to two things at once. Then you also need to consider a lot of things about a certain person, then you’ll get confused if it’s the other one who said that or something. You know?”

“Kinda”, she just chuckled. “Don’t think too much about it, you know who you actually like anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re right”, I blurted out.

She then gave me the stare.

Oops-

“Ha! You finally admitted it!” She can’t stop laughing.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. You already know it anyway.”

She just nodded while sporting this huge grin.

We hurriedly went to the gym as I felt like I won’t be able to catch Ethan’s game. Good thing there are still a few minutes left in the 4th quarter by the time we got there.

Since the gym’s full, we had a hard time finding a seat. We tried scanning the area, and luckily, Kel noticed and approached us.

“I was waiting for you. Jared’s been screwing his game”, Kel said.

I checked the time and it was already 4:20 PM, I was really late for our supposed ‘time together’.

He led us to some seats in the front row, just behind the bench of Ethan’s team. Ethan was seating on the bench when we arrived.

He looked back at me and slowly began to smile. He then went to their coach right away. It seems like he was pleading or something.

The coach seemed very hesitant, but then I noticed Ethan pointing at me and the coach just shook his head, then nodded after. What was that for?

It was actually a very close game 74-75 in favor of the other team.

When Ethan got in, there’s only 23 seconds remaining on the clock. It was our team’s ball.

One guy was dribbling the ball until the clock went down to 13 seconds, he then passed the ball to Ethan.

I was holding my breath as with the others cheering for our team.

Now, he’s playing defense and he’s looking for a way out…and it’s down to 7 seconds. He then threw a pump fake that the opponent went for, then he immediately went in the paint, and made a layup!

Then the crowd roared!

With only 0.1 second left, we just all witnessed a game winning shot. It was such an amazing scene. The final score was 76-75. Our team won!

After the team’s celebration in the court, Ethan approached us right away.

Still elated, I immediately greeted him with a hug. “That was great, love!”

“Love…I’m still sweaty. Later.” He tried to push me lightly and smiled. “But it’s all thanks to you.” He then kissed me on my forehead.

JB just looked at me with a raised eyebrow while clutching her chest, as if suppressing a laugh.

I chuckled. “Sorry…but if it’s any consolation, you actually don’t smell bad.” I immediately got his towel and wiped his sweaty face.

He just laughed a bit, then stared at me while I was doing that. Then told me he needed to get changed.

“Someone’s really taking advantage of this boyfriend challenge”, JB sighed.

“That’s a part of it. Don’t girlfriends usually do that on movies? Like when a jock guy wins? And theirs are even more intense, with kisses and everything.”

“So you also want an intense kiss? And how about your other boyfriend, why’s there no skinship involved? No kiss? Don’t you have two boyfriends here?”, she looked at me suspiciously.

Fine. I give up. I don’t know how to answer her question. “Ah, whatever!”

She just laughed at me while lightly hitting my shoulders.

When Ethan got back, there were only a few people left at the gym, probably no more game after this. He greeted me with a hug and I can’t help but notice that he seemed to have bathed in perfume. It has this light musty scent, that smells so good, I don’t want to let go of his embrace.

“Thank you for coming, love. I really appreciate it.” Ethan whispered.

I would’ve wanted to answer something sweet, but then I noticed JB’s face. She had her eyebrows raised and a smirk. Kel and her just made eye contact then laughed.

Way to ruin a great moment.