“Does it bother you?” Seungcheol whispered, leaning in closer to her. That snapped her out of her trance. She denied it, shaking her head fervently. Of course it didn’t bother her. Why would it bother her?

Wonwoo was dancing with Jinye, and Yewon noticed that Wonwoo was much more intimate dancing with Jinye than he was when dancing with her. Their bodies were closer, and they maintained eye contact and talked for a very, very long time. Jinye eventually laid her head on his shoulder as he swayed with her.

She could tell that the two of them had a history together. They couldn’t be this intimate if there was not history. And although Wonwoo called off the engagement with her, she could tell from the way he held her that he still cared for her.

And Yewon could not tear her eyes away from them no matter how hard she tried to look somewhere else.

“It is definitely bothering you,” Seungcheol said knowingly.

“It’s not,” she claimed.

“Don’t lie.”

“Fine,” she admitted shamefacedly. “Maybe it bothers me a little bit.” And she hated that it bothered her. She thought she had lost touch with any romantic feelings she harbored towards Wonwoo, but why was she jealous of that girl who was so intimate with him.

She had no right at all to be jealous. Jinye had been engaged to Wonwoo since before Yewon even knew him. Jinye was the one who was dumped because of her, because Wonwoo was unfaithful to Jinye because of her. And now, Yewon had basically rejected Wonwoo. She had no right to look on the two of them and feel any bitterness in her heart. But she did, and she hated herself for it.

“Don’t look at them if it bothers you so much,” Seungcheol suggested.

Yewon averted her eyes and tried to focus on something else, but somehow her eyes came right back to them.

“You’re making yourself very obvious, you know,” Seungcheol told her. “People are going to notice that you’re staring at them.”

“Then distract me,” Yewon asked him, turning to face him instead. She really needed a distraction so she would stop feeling so compelled to watch Wonwoo and his ex-fiancée.

“Okay,” Seungcheol agreed. He stood up and extended his hand towards her, as if asking her to dance.

Yewon was surprised; Seungcheol was not the kind of person who would dance at banquets. But it was indeed the perfect distraction, and so she took his hand without a second thought as the two of them descended onto the ballroom. Seungcheol made sure that her back was to Wonwoo and Jinye when he held her waist, which meant the Yewon could not look at them even if she tried.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to Seungcheol as he led her, always making sure to keep her back to the couple.

“Don’t thank me,” Seungcheol replied. “If the future Queen of Solen is caught staring at another couple with envy, that’s not good for her honor. Of course, I have to interfere.”

Yewon nodded, feeling very ashamed that her husband was aware of her jealousy for someone else. She wondered why he wasn’t getting angry or bitter, rather he acted like this was something ordinary and expected.

Seungcheol led the dance, and Yewon could not help but compare him to Wonwoo. Wonwoo’s eyes would not leave hers for the entire time they were dancing, whereas Seungcheol was afraid of direct eye contact. Whenever their eyes would meet, Seungcheol would avert his slightly. Wonwoo was a lot more firm in how he led her. His hands were tighter around her waist and he moved with more confidence than Seungcheol did. Seungcheol seemed far more inexperienced, and far less able to direct her. With Wonwoo, she felt like she was drifting across the ballroom, with Seungcheol, she felt like she was taking clumsy steps to follow him

She cursed at herself again. She was thinking of Wonwoo again, and this whole dance was meant to make her forget him. But he kept creeping into to her mind like a ghost whenever she tried to think of something else.

This was ridiculous, she thought. She was supposed to be over him. Wonwoo was not hers, he was not available for her to fawn over or be jealous of any potential love interest. She hated that she felt this way. She hated that just when she thought she had buried her feelings for Wonwoo deep in her heart, they resurfaced and are now making things so difficult.

As if reading her mind, Seungcheol said: “You’re still free to be with him, by the way. The offer hasn’t expired. Maybe he’ll even be the one to give you the baby that we need.”

There it was again, that sacrilegious offer was coming back and this time it was haunting her. “Aren’t you the one who wants to protect my honor?” Yewon asked him. “It looks like I care more about that then you do in this regard.”

“Your honor will only be affected if people find out, and they won’t,” Seungcheol reminded her.

“Are you trying to convince me to do it?” Yewon asked him.

“Maybe,” Seungcheol replied.

“Well don’t,” she told him. “And don’t bring it up again.”

They were bound to step on one another’s feet eventually given how clumsy and unmatched they were in their steps. When it happened, Yewon didn’t want to keep dancing anymore. She noticed that people were staring at them and felt embarrassed that they had to see their clumsiness.

“Let’s sit down please,” Yewon asked Seungcheol. “My injured foot is starting to hurt.”

Seungcheol nodded and took her hand and led her back up onto the platform. When she was seated, she could not help but look back at Jinye and Wonwoo, who were still together. She noted that Wonwoo was whispering things to her and his hands were caressing her back.

Yewon tried to stop herself from looking. She knew that a lot of people were watching her right now, and she didn’t want to be caught staring. She turned to Seungcheol, hoping she could distract herself with him, but she saw that he also was staring the couple.

“What are you looking at?” she asked him.

Seungcheol turned his head to her. “At them,” he answered honestly.

“Why? Are you jealous too?”

Seungcheol narrowed his eyes; he looked surprised she would even suggest that. “Jealous? Of what could I possibly be jealous.”

“I feel like Jinye is a special person to you too,” Yewon noted, trying not to sound bitter but failing.

“And what brings you to that conclusion?”

“I saw you smiling at her. And you never smile,” Yewon said. She realized that maybe this bitter feeling in her heart was not just about Wonwoo at all. It might also be about Seungcheol, and it might be about Jinye herself, and the radiant beauty that Yewon wished she could be.

Seungcheol narrowed his eyes and turned his head back to the couple before explaining himself: “Jinye was a close friend to Solbin. I smiled because something that Jinye said brought back a memory I have of her.”

Yewon knew Seungcheol enough to understand that whenever he turned his head from her and avoided eye contact mid-conversation, he would be talking about something that was painful. It was as if not looking directly at her somehow hid his pain from her, but it didn’t. Yewon saw the pain in his eyes and heard it in his voice.

“Can you share that memory?” Yewon asked him.

“Not now,” Seungcheol replied.

“Please,” she requested. “I really need something to distract me right now.”

Seungcheol hesitated, but the nodded and began recalling it: “Like you, Solbin was also jealous of Jinye. She was envious of Jinye’s beauty, but also of her nickname. Wonwoo’s nickname for Jinye was Venus, named after the brightest star in the heavens, as well as the Roman Goddess of love and beauty. Solbin also wanted a nickname like that, and so she asked me to come up with one. That’s why I called her my Sun, because the sun is a million times brighter than Venus.”

Seungcheol paused, as if he were grappling with the memory in his head a little bit. She could feel the melancholy in his expression as he thought about his deceased lover.

“When Jinye came to greet me just now, she reminded me of that, and I couldn’t help but smile,” Seungcheol told her, slowly turning his head back to Yewon.

The mood was suddenly heavy between them, and Yewon felt obliged to try and lighten it a little bit. “What to do?” she probed lightheartedly. “Now I’m jealous too. I want to be called after a heavenly body too.”

For the second time that night, Yewon saw Seungcheol smile.

“What?” Yewon asked smiling because he was smiling. “I’m serious, I want a nickname from the heavens. I’ll suggest one actually: what about the Moon? Because even though I will never shine as bright as the Sun, maybe I can reflect her light just a little bit.”

Seungcheol gazed at her for a long second before accepting it with a nod. “It’s perfect,” he said, still wearing a hint of that smile on his lips.

A/N: ok guys we have a problem and it’s that I’m running out of H words to use lmao

sorry for the short chapter but it felt right to end it there ^^