#((can you tell i was listening to mamma mia while i wrote this long ass thing???))

[eideticspider]

She's awakened from a particularly GOOD dream by a flash of light behind her eyelids. Her lips curl up into a soft snal of irritation--ready to snap at her BROTHER and his incessant need to annoy her when her eyes flutter open and she catches note of her left arm, flung off the side of the bed towards the window.

Brown eyes take in the sight of SUNLIGHT streaming on pale porcelain skin--and she realizes it's not Al trying to aggravate her. No, the WINK of the diamond on her hand was what pulled her from her rest.

Everything had been such a BLUR the past few days--she had no idea she'd forgotten (even for a brief SECOND) that she was getting married today.

The familiar smell of TOAST and coffee permeates through the gap under her bedroom door and Cindy gives a long stretch. Her toes peek out beneath the pink downy comforter, and she glances over to see the remnants of a TEENAGE dream. An old record player with Britney Spears' Hit Me Baby One More Time leaned up against it, collecting a faint sheen of DUST. Posters clutter her walls: HOCKEY teams, Team Edward, and an embarrassing mini-poster of Eminem from his Slim-Shady days.

There's even a lingering SCENT of PINK perfume in the air. God, it was like nothing had been touched since she went into the BUNKER.

And now everything had CHANGED.

She climbed out of bed, taking the time to make it back up as if nobody had slept in it in YEARS. From behind her door, she can hear her parents muttering (well, her FATHER was muttering--Nari made no attempt to quiet herself down) in Korean.

<<You're going to have to let it go, sweetheart.>>

<<I'm going to BITE my tongue, Albert. I don't think I'll ever let it go.>>

<<They're getting married, Nari. I don't see how you're going to have a relationship with our daughter if you don't accept Miguel.>>

<<By holding my TONGUE. That's how.>>

Her father's sigh lingers behind him as she opens her door, peeking out behind it.

"Hey, there she is," he beamed, climbing up from his chair. He moved a little unsteadily, but he saw no need to grab his CANE for a brief foot and a half sojourn to HUG his eldest child. Cindy's arms wrap around her dad and she closes her eyes for a moment, memorizing the feel of his arms around her. They'd always been closer than she and her mother--even more so with Nari's obvious disapproval of her husband-to-be. Albert Moon, Sr. (and Jr.) approved and even LIKED Miguel.

But Nari's dislike stemmed from the night they met and his apparent "DISRESPECT" at Hector's wedding. She hadn't expected the fake date to go anywhere past that: FAKE. But, she had held her complaints when they started dating. And she HATED to admit that her husband was right.

If she wanted any kind of relationship with Cindy, SACRIFICES had to be made.

Even so, she had delighted in enforcing the 24 hour SEPARATION for the couple. 10pm on the DOT and she was shooing the large, imposing man out of her door and WARNED him not to darken their doorway until they were standing in front of each other and the JUDGE. She hadn't even trusted Cindy to stay at the apartment she used to share with her BROTHER.

Too much temptation to DIMENSION hop if she didn't have a chaperone.

(Yeah, eomma had way too much fun telling him to LEAVE. Look, whatever she needs to keep believing this was a WHITE wedding.)

"Come sit down and EAT. You look PALE--if you're not certain, we can just call the whole thing off," Nari mused, setting a piece of avocado toast in Cindy's place. For her part, Cindy just rolled her eyes and crinkled her nose.

"Eomma--"

Nari waved off the COMPLAINT, huffing softly as she adjusted the curlers in her hair, rolling her eyes in a perfect REPLICA of her daughter's gesture. "Yes yes, I know. He hung the MOON," she muttered, pouring a cup of coffee and setting it next to Cindy's plate. "Now sit down and eat."

Sighing, Cindy settled in at the table and stared at her plate. Her stomach felt HEAVY already, full of fluttering butterflies. She wasn't AFRAID of committing herself to Miguel for life, far from it. Her worry STEMMED from the fear that he would grow to tire of her.

And her HEART wouldn't be able to take that particularly cruel HEARTBREAK.

Just as she took her first bite, her mother's hands were in her HAIR, already beginning to manipulate and fluster. "I told you to sleep with the ROLLERS in," Nari sighed, shaking her head. She turned her head and glanced at her youngest, Al, who had just peeked his head out from his bedroom.

"Go get the CURLING iron and the box of bobby pins. The FLOWERS are next to the make-up bag." Cindy was amazed by the GENERAL like precision her mother managed. Especially for a WEDDING she knew her mother wasn't thrilled about.

"Ma, she just started EATIN--"

Al's complaint was silenced by one icy stare from his mother and he was bounding down the stairs to his parents' bedroom. Cindy chewed thoughtfully, swallowing methodically, picking her phone up from under her THIGH and typing out a quick message to Miguel.

[sms: my favorite dilf] our dining room is being converted into a salon. i have no idea what torture methods my mother is planning on, but just know if i don't show up--she hid the body.

Taking a small sip of her coffee, Cindy's eyes fill up with tears as the soothing taste of CARAMEL hits her tongue. Her mother remembered the way she took her coffee. It was such a small INSIGNIFICANT thing to get emotional over--but when your relationship was as COMPLICATED as Cindy and Nari Moon...

It meant everything.

Her hand reaches over and holds her mother's wrist, directing her to stop her PREP and look at her. Albert had subtly left the room, mumbling something about a MONKEY suit. Nari paused and glanced down at her daughter, her expression soft and unreadable.

She lets the handful of Cindy's hair drop down her back and she moves around, facing her. Her hand reaches over and rests against her daughter's cheek, brushing her knuckles against the apple of her cheek. "We should have had more TIME, my little crescent moon," Nari murmured softly, eyes welling up. "I look at you and I still see the little girl with pigtails. I'm SORRY I couldn't PROTECT you, Cindy."

For a long moment, Cindy didn't know what to say. "Oh EOMMA," she whispered softly. Her arms reach out, draping around her mother's waist, pulling her into a LONG hug. She burrows her face in her mother's side, biting her lip to hide her own tears from squeaking out. Nari's hand reached down, rubbing her back softly.

"Sh..."

Letting out a shuddery breath, Cindy released her mother and sighed softly, rubbing her eyes with her palms. Nari cleared her throat, wiped her own eyes and blinked, shaking away the MOMENT. "Now let's get you ready to marry that jackass."

"Mom!"

"I'm SORRY. It just slipped out."

A soft snort of laughter bubbled out of Cindy's lips and her mother's laugh follows soon after. "He's not a jackass--and I think you know that."

"Cindy Elaine Moon--I promised I would keep my THOUGHTS to myself. Don't make me break that promise," Nari warned, glancing over as Al returned with the supplies.

She barely recognized the WOMAN in the mirror. Her dress was SIMPLE enough with just the right amount of formality for a wedding. Stockings had been ROLLED up and clipped into place by a garter belt--never would she be able to forget the HISSY Miguel had by her failure to wear NYLONS at the last wedding they attended together--and delicate white heels slipped onto her feet.

Something OLD. Something BORROWED. Something BLUE. Something NEW.

Her mother had taken care of the OLD. In Cindy's ears hung two delicate pearl earrings--earrings that had graced Dr. Nari Moon's own wedding day.

Gwen (who had made her own feelings and absence PERFECTLY clear) had provided the something BORROWED. On Cindy's left ankle was a small discreet silver BRACELET with a small spider charm. It had arrived on her window sill the night before, wrapped as NICELY as Gwen felt deserved.

Which is to say the small BOX at least had a bow on it.

The NEW came from MJ--a simple white GARTER which curled around her right thigh. It had come early that MORNING, though the Parkers were going to meet them at the courthouse. Delicately wrapped with a loving NOTE.

The back of the DRESS had the only POP of color amongst the soft white silk. The LACE ties were a navy blue--constructed from pieces of the NAVY blue dress she wore on their first (not really) DATE.

Flowers from her own personal garden adorned her subtle updo, weaved into dark locks by her mother's masterful fingers. Her make-up was SIMPLE, just enough to tell she was wearing some. She didn't want to go before her new HUSBAND as someone completely different, after all.

Her father's car HONKED from the street pulling Cindy away from her reflection. She bit her lower lip, a dusky rose painted color, and she slips out of her bedroom. Brown eyes rake over the room ONE last time, reflecting on the SHORT time she'd had there.

And yet it was no less filled with MEMORIES.

Another HONK and she gives a little sigh/CHUCKLE. "Coming!" She calls, flipping off the light to her bedroom--shutting the door on her CHILDHOOD.