You arrived early at Seohyun’s wedding party. You wandered around not knowing where to go except the food bar. You already said hi to the bride and you promised to go back to her with your friends. Yet your friends were still nowhere to be found. When you went outside the ball room, that was when you bumped into Doyoung.

“Doyoung!” you exclaimed cheerfully, stomping towards him.

He accepted your hug. “Jooyeon, hey, how are you?”

“I’m great. How are you?”

You two ended up catching some updates and recalling old memories. How you two used to be chairmates and groupmates, and how he always asked to borrow a pen from you which ended up missing. You also remembered how you liked to switch your food items from your lunchbox, since his mom’s cooking somehow matched to your liking and vice versa.

“I miss your mom’s radish kimchi and the braised beef. I tried recreating it at home, my mom did too. But your mom is just another level.”

Doyoung grinned. “Speaking of which.. Jooyeon, you’re not married, are you?”

You almost choked on your apple juice. “I beg your pardon?” You quickly wiped your mouth before roaring to Doyoung. “We haven’t met for years and you have to ask if I’m married or not? You really are something, Kim Ddong.”

“Okay, that’s a no. Great.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Excuse me? What’s so great about it?” you asked, feeling somewhat offended not in a serious way.

“Are you currently seeing someone?”

After grasping a bit of the sudden topic change, you finally showed some enthusiasm. “Are you going to introduce me to one of your friends?”

He rubbed his chin while his face looked like he was thinking. Or making something up in his head. “Well, not technically my friend but, yeah, you can say I’m friends with this guy.”

“Who is it?” You playfully wiggled your eyebrows.

“You’re looking at him. He’s standing right in front of you.”

You widened your round eyes, trying to look around. “What? There’s only you.”

He nodded with a big smile.

You gave him a face. “Haha. Very funny.”

Your conversation with Doyoung was interrupted by your upcoming friends joining you. Taeyong was one of them. He came with his girlfriend. Fiance; that was what you’d been told. Ahn Hyemi. This girl never really liked you. Simply because you were close with Taeyong. Or you were used to be close, to be precise. And almost everyone knew Taeyong used to like you, like, a lot—which the feelings were not mutual in your case, and he had a difficult time to move on. He thought staying away from you would help. You were sad, of course. But you respected his decision, hoping things would be alright after giving him some time. Until he started dating Hyemi. This girl was another reason why Taeyong kept his distant even further from you.

“Next month it’s Changmin’s and Siwon’s wedding, the month after that it’s Kyungsoo’s wedding. Gosh, I think Johnny will follow their path very soon,” Sehun commented, followed by the cackles of you and your friends, somewhat agreeing to his statement. That Johnny guy did seem like a family guy.

“Honestly, the good thing about these wedding party invitations in a row is that we get to gather like this,” said Chanyeol in his sassy tone.

“To those who do not have their plus-one, we should hang out more,” stated Jaehyun. “Oops, sorry to Johnny hyung and Taeyong hyung.”

While the others laughed, Taeyong could only smiled bitterly.

You took a glimpse at him. You really wished to be able to talk with him like the old days. But you knew Taeyong himself wouldn’t let it happen. His classic reason was he didn’t want to make Hyemi worry. Luckily these thoughts in your head got distracted by Doyoung and Yerim who dragged you to an ice cream corner.

Doyoung and Yerim left first while you were still standing in front of cake bar. Cakes were always hard to choose. Until someone appeared next to you and put a mini chocolate cake on your plate. You looked up and found Taeyong. He remembered your all time favorite cake.

“Thanks,” you muttered as you flashed him a soft smile.

“How are you?” he quietly asked.

“I’m good. I see you’re doing great too.” You tried to sound as cheerful as possible, while you were actually quite anxious whether Hyemi was spying on you with her eagle eyes. “I hope to hear from you and Hyemi very soon.”

Taeyong pursed his lips and curved it into a little smile. “Are you …still single?”

“And ready to mingle,” you answered with chuckle escaped your mouth.

He paused as his smile faded away slowly. “I hope you find the right one soon,” said him after quickly drawing up a smile again.

“Thank you.” You disguised the disappointed feeling with a smile. How you wished he could stay longer talking with you. It was quite disturbing you that the smile on his face wasn’t as genuine as it used to be. You watched him walk away from you in silence.

I’m sorry I can’t reciprocate your feelings. It’s still a mystery to me as well, why I can’t like you the way you like me.