Matchmaker Mayhem
Chapter 148: Seoul Proposal Reboot

Chapter 148: Seoul Proposal Reboot

"Because love doesn’t wait for a perfect moment. It makes one."

It started with a text from Mei.

Tonight is perfect.

Festival of Lights.

Dress in something soft.

Do not bring snacks unless symbolic.

P.S. There might be goats. Unconfirmed.

Ava blinked. "...What kind of event has goats and symbolism in the same sentence?"

Ryan leaned over her shoulder, towel draped around his neck. "The kind of event where Mei’s planning something."

"You think it’s matchmaking chaos or parental meddling?"

He kissed her cheek. "With her, it’s always both."

Scene 1 – Arrival at the Lantern Festival

The Seoul Lantern Festival bathed the riverside in gold and honeyed light. Hundreds of glowing lanterns floated gently across the Han River, bobbing like tiny wishes against the water’s pulse.

Vendors lined the cobblestone paths selling everything from calligraphy kits to candy-filled lotus blooms. Children ran in hanbok with sparkler wands. Musicians played soft acoustic ballads near the bridge, weaving sound into the breeze.

Ava walked hand-in-hand with Ryan, her hair braided loosely to one side, a light wool shawl around her shoulders. He looked unfairly handsome in a navy blazer, sleeves pushed to his forearms, his shirt slightly wrinkled in a way that somehow made him hotter.

He kept checking his jacket pocket.

Ava noticed. "Are you hiding snacks?"

"Maybe."

She narrowed her eyes. "Is it ring-shaped?"

"No comment."

She stopped. "Are you going to propose at a lantern festival?"

Ryan shrugged with dramatic innocence. "Who’s to say? It’s romantic. Symbolic. You love symbolic."

"I also love warning labels and emotional prep."

"You cried when I gave you a souvenir keychain shaped like a durian."

"That was an emotional durian," she hissed. "You gave it to me after our second real fight."

He leaned in, eyes sparkling. "So you admit this is the kind of night you’d remember?"

Ava’s heart thumped. She didn’t answer.

Scene 2 – Chaos Descends (As It Always Does)

They found Mei near the lantern release station.

She wore a deep violet hanbok embroidered with plum blossoms, her hair pinned with gold. She looked serene, regal, and completely trustworthy—until a small white goat darted past her legs, wrapped in a flower garland.

Ava blinked. "Was that—"

"General Bun," Mei said without turning. "He’s a rescue. Do not engage."

The goat circled. Ryan side-eyed it. "Is it part of the ceremony?"

"No. He’s just nosy."

Then, in the span of five seconds:

A sparkler ignited too close to the prayer scrolls.

General Bun knocked over a basket of ceremonial rice cakes.

Mei stepped back, tripped, and fell gracefully into a seated meditation pose with the dignity of a collapsing empress.

Ava rushed forward. "Are you okay?!"

Mei waved her off. "My hips are made of diplomatic resilience. Focus on your moment."

"What moment?"

Mei nodded toward Ryan—who now stood awkwardly, one hand halfway into his jacket, mouth open like a Windows 95 error box.

He tried to recover. "So. Um. I was going to wait until the sky was just right, but I feel like we’ve already reached peak symbolism."

Ava stared at him, eyes wide.

Lanterns floated behind him, their golden light turning his expression molten. The crowd faded. The music softened. Somewhere, someone whispered a blessing.

Ryan pulled out the box.

Ava’s breath hitched.

"I—" he began.

"I do," Ava said.

He blinked. "I haven’t finished—"

She laughed through tears. "I still do!"

He grinned. "Can I ask the question anyway?"

She nodded, crying now.

Ryan dropped to one knee. "Ava Lee—will you be my chaos, my clarity, and the love I wake up for, every damn day?"

"Yes!" she said again, launching herself into his arms, knocking them both over in a tangle of shawl and sincerity.

The crowd clapped.

General Bun chewed on a lotus blossom nearby.

Scene 3 – Aftermath Among the Lanterns

They walked along the riverbank, slower now, fingers laced together. Ava was barefoot—her shoes lost somewhere near the proposal crater. Ryan held her heels in one hand and his blazer in the other.

"I ruined your moment," she whispered.

He looked at her. "You made it ours."

"You were going to say something poetic."

"I was. I was going to quote Rumi and everything."

"God, I love you," she said, laughing into her sleeve.

"I know. You say it best when you panic."

They paused at a lantern stand.

A monk offered them each a paper lantern to release.

Ryan handed her a marker. "Want to write a wish?"

Ava thought for a long moment.

Then, slowly, she wrote:

Let us keep choosing each other. Even on the hard days. Especially on the hard days.

Ryan smiled.

His said:

Let her always know she’s enough.

They lit them together. Watched the paper rise. Watched it join the others—thousands of floating fires.

And for once, Ava didn’t worry about what came next.

Because this?

This was hers.

---

The festival had thinned to lantern ash and echo.

Back at their boutique hotel in Bukchon, Ava sat on the rooftop terrace wrapped in a borrowed blanket, her bare feet tucked under her. The hanok rooftops around them rolled like waves in the dark, curved tiles glittering with dew. Distant city lights blinked below, the old and the new Seoul tangled in golden harmony.

Ryan appeared behind her, two mugs in hand. Ginger tea for her. Chamomile for him. Because of course he remembered.

He sat beside her, legs outstretched, one arm immediately settling behind her shoulders. Ava leaned into it without thinking.

The air was cool. Honest. The kind of night where thoughts showed up uninvited.

"I never imagined saying yes like that," she said, sipping slowly. "Crying. Interrupting. The goat."

He smiled against the rim of his cup. "You’ve always had a talent for unplanned spectacle."

"I wanted it to be... I don’t know. Elegant. Media-worthy. Something I’d pitch to a client as ’aspirational proposal design.’"

Ryan glanced at her. "But was it you?"

She turned to him, eyes soft. "Yeah. Terrifyingly, chaotically me."

He set down his mug and pulled her in, wrapping both arms around her like a blanket she didn’t know she needed.

They sat there in silence for a long while.

Below them, the city pulsed.

Above them, the last of the lanterns floated past the gabled rooftops—silent wishes gliding home.

---

Ava rested her head on Ryan’s chest.

His heartbeat was slow. Solid.

She traced patterns on his sleeve, voice low. "I used to think love had to be earned. Polished. Performed."

"It doesn’t," he whispered.

"I know that now," she said. "You taught me that. You and your spreadsheets and your judgmental tea preferences and your utterly terrifying loyalty."

He kissed her temple. "You make it easy."

"I don’t."

"I know."

A small smile pulled at her lips.

The city was quiet now. Only the wind moved—brushing rooftops, curling through alleys, carrying secrets and steam from late-night noodle shops below.

It smelled like jasmine, chimney smoke, and something new.

Not a beginning.

Not exactly.

But a choosing.

Ava turned to look at him, eyes glinting. "I love you."

Ryan leaned in, forehead against hers. "Good. Because you’re stuck with me now."

She grinned. "So long as you accept that I will probably cry at every major milestone."

"I expect nothing less."

"And that I’ll keep interrupting your heartfelt speeches."

"I’ve rewritten four of them already."

"And that I’ll keep doubting. Sometimes. Even after I say yes."

He nodded, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Then I’ll just keep saying yes back."

Their mouths met again—slow this time. No crowd. No goat. Just them.

Kissing like people who had nothing to prove.

Only each other to hold.

Only this moment to claim.

---

Ava woke hours later to the sound of faint chewing.

She padded barefoot through the suite, shawl wrapped tight, following the crunching noises past the garden gate—

And found General Bun nibbling peacefully on a potted ficus.

Ava stared.

The goat blinked at her, then calmly resumed chewing like it owned the real estate.

She sighed. "You were at my proposal."

General Bun tilted its head.

"Which means," she continued, rubbing her forehead, "you’re now technically part of our origin story."

Behind her, Ryan emerged, bleary-eyed.

"What’s happening?"

"Your best man is eating the landscaping."

Ryan blinked. "Well, he did see it all. Maybe he deserves a speaking part in the vows."

They stood side by side, watching the goat.

Neither of them moved to stop him.

Ava leaned into Ryan’s shoulder, eyes still half-asleep. "You know what?"

"What?"

"This was a perfect proposal."

He smiled. "Even with the goat?"

Especially with the goat," Ava said, eyes still fixed on General Bun, who was now pawing at the garden lantern like it had personally offended him.

Ryan nodded solemnly. "He has a presence."

"He tripped Mei, ate ceremonial flowers, photobombed your proposal, and is now committing slow botany-based arson," she muttered.

General Bun sneezed.

A tiny spark flew from a nearby lantern wick and landed on his garland.

Ava and Ryan both lunged—Ava with a watering can, Ryan with the hotel’s emergency pillow from the outdoor lounge.

The goat trotted out of reach like a smug escape artist, knocking over a wind chime in the process.

"You brought a fire hazard to a sacred vow," Ava gasped between wheezes.

"I brought commitment," Ryan corrected. "And drama. You like both."

A hotel staffer appeared in a silk vest, looked at the destroyed ficus, the overturned cushions, the smoking flower garland, and simply said, "Again?"

Ava blinked. "This has happened before?"

The staffer bowed. "This goat belongs to Madam Mei. He is not... bound by schedules."

General Bun had by now headbutted a solar lamp into the koi pond.

Ava turned to Ryan, deadpan. "If we ever break up, I want custody of the goat."

Ryan didn’t miss a beat. "You can have him. But I’m taking the espresso machine."

"And the throw pillows."

He gasped. "You monster."

She grinned. "You proposed to one."

They burst out laughing as General Bun strutted away, triumphant, trailing wet flowers like he was the grand finale of a very poorly organized wedding parade.