Before the chapter starts, #HAPPYBYULSDAY !!
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“Are you serious?” Wendy asked, clearly hearing her friend’s stricken voice, yet surprised that of all people she had to ask her for this kind of help. Byulyi had explained in a rush that she needed to bring an emergency partner to a triple date, although she didn’t mention exactly who would be there. But Wendy wasn’t one to disappoint a friend, and to be fair, she didn’t have any deadlines that were coming up soon.

“Yes, yes, please, Wendy-ah,” the older woman pleaded over the phone. “I called Seulgi, but Irene-unnie answered the call instead and I was too terrified to ask. Krystal and Amber-sunbae were on their own date and turned off their phones.” Wendy rolled her eyes; of course she was the last one on the list, she thought to herself, but as Byulyi continued to plead with her she had already thrown off her ratty T-shirt to change into a more presentable pink blouse. 

“Fine, okay. Don’t worry, I’m available tonight, I’ll be there,” she assured Byulyi and hummed along to the other girl’s flood of ‘thank-you’s and ‘how could I ever repay you’s. However, when the two girls met in front of a bistro near the crêperie stall (Yongsun’s recommendation, no doubt), Wendy instantly regretted it. The first, more obvious reason was because the other two couples who greeted them were very comfortable with each other. That is not to say that she was not comfortable with Byulyi, but not to the point that they would be holding hands like lovers, or in Wheein and Hyejin’s case, climbing on top of each other like a koala and its favourite tree.

The second reason which Wendy decided to keep a secret was that her ex was standing right in front of her, flirting with another woman. Sure, they only dated for a month before breaking it off mutually, citing busy schedules and a decrease in attraction, and stayed friends, but seeing him chatting with Yongsun and being in such close proximity with her was… unnerving, and left a rather unsettling feeling in Wendy’s stomach.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You don’t look too good,” Byulyi whispered across the table where they were seated now. This was another problem, the seating arrangement: Byulyi next to Wheein and Hyejin, Wendy next to Eric and Yongsun.

“I… I don’t feel too well.” She fidgeted in her seat, casting occasional glances at the man sitting next to her, avoiding his flailing gestures as he told jokes and imitated random people.

“What’s wrong, Wendy-sshi?” Her eye visibly twitched when Eric added the honorific behind her name, as if he was pretending they weren’t friends, or ever close before.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Standing up abruptly, she made her way to the washroom at the back of the restaurant, a worried Byulyi trailing after her. Before she was asked anything, she sat down on the clean floor with her knees drawn towards her chest. “Byul-unnie, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can stay here with you.”

Although the older woman didn’t really understand what was going on exactly, she nodded and crouched down on the floor next to Wendy and patted her head in consolation. Personally, as time passed by, she wasn’t so hot about the triple date as well, and had started regretting it when the first plate of the night’s dinner course arrived, so she offered to walk Wendy home.

“Unnie, you brought this upon yourself,” the younger woman said as the duo stood at the bus stop near the restaurant. “You can’t just bail on this triple date thing that you suggested, it’s not polite.” Byulyi groaned soundlessly, throwing her head back in frustration.

When Byulyi sat down again next to the two couples, dessert had already been served, including Wendy’s share. “Byulyi, where did Wendy-sshi go?” Yongsun asked, causing everyone to whirl around and look at the dateless woman.

“She, um, there was an emergency that cropped up and she had to go.” It was such a typical excuse she knew no one would believe, but Wheein squeezed her arm under the table and nodded for Byulyi’s sake. Eric frowned and tilted his head at the sudden departure, but decided not to say anything about it as Yongsun was there, and didn’t want to act too worried about Wendy. 

Now there was an extra chocolate brownie on the table, and no one seemed to touch it, as if the girl was still sitting there. And Byulyi was left alone, sitting on the edge of the long seat in the booth, third-wheeling next to two happy couples. She stabbed a fork into the gooey fudge brownie in front of her and glumly thought that Wendy’s homemade one would be way better.

“Try some of my cake,” she faintly heard Eric say, and looked up to see him feeding Yongsun a forkful of his red velvet cake. Byulyi rolled her eyes and placed her head in one hand, tilting her face away so she didn’t have to witness the ridiculous public display of affection that was happening in front of her.

Yongsun allowed Eric to feed her the piece of cake, though to her he seemed much more interested and excited than she was. Maybe he’s just a good actor, she thought to herself, though when he smiled and his eyes curved into little crescents she felt that he was actually quite cute. In her mind, Yongsun frowned. Wait, what?

Shaking off her confusion, she diverted her attention towards Byulyi, and the corners of her lips curved down in displeasure when she realised younger woman was isolating herself from the other four. Although she knew that this setup was created to make Byulyi jealous, Yongsun started to feel guilty for making the woman feel that way.

After the exhausting dinner, Byulyi wanted to just go home and sleep, and leaned on Wheein to hint at her desire to leave. Eric — the gentleman he always was — offered to send Yongsun back to her apartment, and as he asked Yongsun he reached out to hold her hand again.

That was it. Byulyi shifted to an stiff, upright position, her fists balled next to her as if she was about to pick a fight. All four pairs of eyes darted to her, nervous, and she just deflated, her fingers uncurling. She kept her gaze trained on Eric’s and Yongsun’s hands, held together but fingers not yet interlocked, and bit her lip to keep herself from saying any expletives. She nodded her head at the two couples.

“Have a good night,” she said brusquely, her heel, and walked off, leaving a very bewildered Yongsun behind, hand still held firmly within her fake boyfriend’s.

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hi everyone! i will be away on holiday starting today (22/12/16) all the way until the 26th and i might not have enough time to write anything in time for next thursday :( so just pre-warning y'all

but i will definitely be back on the 5th of jan next year

in the meanwhile i have also written a small one-shot for byul's birthday, link here: I Like You When

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOON BYUL YI IF YOU'RE READING THIS i hope you're not that would be very embarrassing.