It's two-sixteen in the afternoon, and Byulyi already feels crabby.

“Hot,” she grumbles, trooping along behind Solar and Jaehyuk, who have their heads - light and dark brown - close together, murmuring quietly. The backs of their necks shine with a thin sheen of undisguised sweat. Wheein presses close beside her, sweating just as much as she is. Byulyi can see the strands of hair sticking to her neck. The only unaffected one seems to be Hyejin, who still looks fresh off the cover of a Teen Vogue magazine.

The five of them have been walking for upwards of seven minutes, since there's virtually no place to park near the bridal shop, and the only option left is the public car park a good distance away. Adding in the fact that it's a swooningly hot day, walking almost anywhere will result in copious amounts of sweat being produced.

“I'm only going to keep walking for the air conditioning later.” Wheein mumbles back, pushing her hair away from her face.

“You ate two bowls of ramen and basically opened a KTV lounge in Jaehyuk’s car, shouldn't you be feeling good right now?” Hyejin raises a pencilled eyebrow. Wheein shoves her.

“Not if I'm baking in my clothes.”

Solar glances back at the two bedraggled women trailing behind her like wilting cornstalks, and the corner of lifts up. A white plastic lollipop stick dangles from between her rosy lips as she speaks. “Just across the street from here, you'll be in air conditioning soon.”

The group lapses into silence as they cross the road, and Byulyi speeds up when she sees the colossal bridal shop, easily the biggest of the row of shops. Jaehyuk and Solar get there first, and like a proper gentleman, Jaehyuk holds the door open while the four women file inside. Byulyi and Wheein straighten up a little, dabbing the sweat from their faces.

The shop is large, with natural and artificial light illuminating the interior. Classy elevator music plays. An attendant rushes over with a friendly smile.

“Hello! Welcome to Shine Bridal! Are any of you interested in trying on some wedding dresses?” The attendant says brightly. Young, fresh, with pink cheeks and a demure smile. Looks about seventeen. Maybe eighteen. Byulyi isn't sure if people of that age are allowed to work in bridal shop.

“Uh, I am.” Solar steps forward, smiling, before she remembers that she has a lollipop stick between her teeth and quickly wraps it in some tissue paper she has in the pocket of her jeans.

“Great! Do you have any preference for wedding dresses? We have almost every design thinkable,” the young attendant says. Solar sticks a hand in her pocket and her brows pull together slightly, a look of extreme concentration taking over her face - brows pulling together, lips puckering slightly. Byulyi finds it to be maddeningly endearing.

“I'm thinking white, lace, and sleeveless,” Solar responds, tapping her chin. The attendant replies with equal fervour and begins leading her nearer to the back of the shop to get her measurements, leaving Jaehyuk and the three women standing awkwardly. Wheein clears and coughs loudly.

“Can I sit down, or are those expensive sofas only meant for the bride-to-be and her groom? My feet,” Wheein clenches a fist and punches her calf a couple times, “are killing me.”

Byulyi smiles with half . “So let's sit.”

The three women lead the way to the sofa, Jaehyuk lagging behind slightly. Wheein plops herself in the middle of the sofa, and Byulyi and Hyejin arrange themselves on either side of her, like three peas in a pod. Minus the fact that Hyejin still has abysmally gaudy orange hair.

“Have you picked your tux yet, Jaehyuk?” Hyejin says.

“Yeah,” Jaehyuk says. “Tuxedos are pretty easy to pick out.”

“They basically all look the same, obviously it's easy to pick one. Black tuxedos all look exactly alike to me, and I'm the one with the blazer.” Byulyi interjects, her tone mild.

“You try deciding between an Armani tuxedo and a Canali tuxedo and tell me what's easy.” Jaehyuk counters.

“Oh, Gods, no,” Byulyi shields herself mockingly, as if trying to ward off invisible enemies. “I'm in trouble. I can't decide between Armani and Canali! Oh no, that is such a big problem, it's way too difficult to solve that!”

“Sarcasm noted.”

Solar and the attendant troop past, with a huge mass of white and lace in the attendant’s arms, held gingerly as though a baby is hiding somewhere amidst that monstrous pile of fabric.

“Don't tell me you're trying that lace nightmare on, Solar,” Wheein says, her nose scrunching up in a delicate semblance of disapproval. Hyejin tries to find Wheein's arm but ends up with her thigh, which she still gives a ferocious pinch to. “Ow! Gods, Hyejin, I'm a human with human flesh, not a stuffed animal for you to abuse.”

“You're insulting the shop, you asshat. Keep your mouth shut and only compliment when needed. There's a lot more where this came from.” Hyejin mimes a pinching motion with her thumb and index, and a glowering Wheein huffs and turns away.

“To answer your question, Wheein, I am trying out this dress. I'll have your honest verdict once I squeeze this stuff in.” Solar pats her flat stomach and Byulyi snorts. “I shouldn't have had that fried chicken just no-”

“Please to be getting along, Miss,” Byulyi interrupts, holding up and hand and lifting her chin to the attendant, who waits with a hand holding heavy golden curtains away. The changing place is an unimpressive looking area, but Byulyi supposes it gets its job done efficiently.

“Right. Right.” Solar smiles.

“Go.”

“Okay.”

She disappears behind the golden curtain. Byulyi stares at the hypnotic swaying of the fabric caused by Solar's entrance. She pulls out her phone and checks Twitter while they wait, smoothing the pad of her thumb across her lower lip absentmindedly.

“I'm hungry,” Wheein sighs, apparently having gotten over the rabid pinch Hyejin gave her. Her thigh is still a putrid red colour, the area around the pinch zone a shade of pink.

“Wheein, you just ate two bowls of ramen. Seriously. See - ree - uhs - lee. How much do you have to eat before you feel full?” Hyejin looks aghast.

“Maybe three bowls?” Wheein says hopefully.

Byulyi tunes out their conversation, deciding that looking around the bridal shop is probably more interesting than their constant bickering.

The shop is fairly large, fully air conditioned and smelling faintly of some sort of flowery air freshener. Solar's isn't the only changing room occupied - it seems like several other rooms are taken as well. Attendants mill around among the racks of dresses, straightening clothes on mannequins, and helping to pick out dresses. Basically, just any bridal shop, Byulyi supposes. Not like she's going to ever enter one again, unless it's for her sisters. No, there's no place for gay people in bridal shops.

She shoves a hand into her satchel-purse and s around for her box of mints, which she pops open with her thumb. tastes kind of nasty, so she dumps two circular, half-blue half-white tablets onto her palm, which she transfers to .

“Want one?”

She offers the box to Wheein. The mints are beginning to dissolve on her tongue with a disgruntling burning sensation, so she shifts them around in .

“Yeah,” Wheein cups her palm and lets Byulyi pour some mints onto it. Then she swipes one and looks behind, where Jaehyuk is standing, his gaze fixed on his handheld.

“Jaehyuk.”

Byulyi taps his hand, and he looks up questioningly. She rolls her eyes and raises the mint high enough for him to see, and with his mouth forming a small o he opens his hand and lets her drop the mint onto it. “Thanks,” He says sheepishly, and Byulyi nods before turning back to watch the Tales Of The Swaying Golden Curtain, a fairly boring documentary presented by Human Disturbances.

“Are you done yet, Solar? My ’s getting tired!” Wheein calls out, popping three mints into . Byulyi isn't sure how that girl has such a voracious appetite and yet still remains slim.

“Nearly done!” Solar replies, her voice muffled somewhat by the thick curtain.

And she doesn't lie. It's not long before the curtain shifts, and Solar carefully steps out, clad in the lacy monstrosity, which looks as much a lacy monstrosity as it sounds. It's a huge, poofy dress with lacy hoop skirts and a tight lacy bodice cinched at the waist. Byulyi blanches, and Wheein slowly in a hissing  breath, unable to hide her distaste.

Byulyi amends her thoughts. Solar does look gorgeous. Like, her face does. Not the dress. The dress is nothing but woefully unflattering.

“Opinions?” Solar must've seen their faces, because turns up in an amused smile.

“You look like a princess and all, darling, but, uh, that's a little too much lace there. Like. Maybe go simpler?” Wheein says. Hyejin nods along for once, her chin resting on her palm.

Solar looks at Byulyi and Jaehyuk.

“Uh, yeah, maybe go easier on the lace. I think something nice and simple would look nice. Keep the lace minimal,” Byulyi says, “I like the white sleeveless concept, maybe you can try off-shoulders?”

“You look beautiful,” Jaehyuk says.

Solar, Byulyi, Wheein and Hyejin roll their eyes simultaneously.

“I know that, Jae, but the dress?”

“Whatever Byulyi said.”

Solar gives Jaehyuk a playful glare, but the affection is obvious in the way tilts up slightly. Byulyi feels her stomach boil. Then Solar is pulled back into the changing room to try on another dress the attendant snagged while Wheein was giving her opinion.

The mints have dissolved so much now that they're basically just little nubbins. Byulyi crushes them between her teeth and swallows the last bit of cool minty flavour before she turns her gaze to her phone. She scrolls through her Instagram feed, liking pictures periodically and watching videos of shibes and pretty typography.

The curtains shift again. Solar's changed her dress - now to a simple satin one resembling an ancient Greek chiton.

“Better.” Hyejin comments.

Solar lifts her chin. Byulyi still doesn't feel like it's the right one - it’s better than the lace monstrosity, but she definitely feels that Solar can pull off a better looking dress.

“You look like a Korean Aphrodite,” Wheein says. “Better.”

“I don't think Aphrodite would agree.” Byulyi taps her chin teasingly, “Solar's really pretty, but she isn't on the level of the immortal goddess of love and beauty. Like, Aphrodite - Venus, whatever, is the embodiment of an ethereal being. Which is something Solar totally isn't.”