"Oh, pardon me." Serena excused herself from the table as she looked over at Hanyoung.

"I need to make a call."

He smiled and nodded in understanding. This was her code word if she needed a breather to escape and definitely needed the excuse to destress from interacting since arriving.

"I'll be right here still, love."

Serena wanted to cringe at the pet-name, but remembered she was the one that gave Hanyoung the okay to call her that before being introduced around.

"Okay, sweetie. Thanks."

She knew he knew that she wanted to punch him for all this, but he flashed her a knowing smile as she bowed her head before hurrying away. She weaved in and out of the other guests all the while searching for her young cousin and sister, but didn't see them. She wondered where they had run off to as she knew that Kierra was still with Junyoung and socializing on the other side of the venue, but continued to make her way out of the hall and to other parts of the hotel. Serena found herself in another large room with one of the indoor pools on the lobby floor and was amazed by the nighttime view of it. 

"Wow, this is really pretty."

She moved closer to view the outside better, but avoided being close to the pool itself as she didn't want to fall in and ruined the rented dress since she wasn't the one that had rented it. Still, being at this business function made her realize this is definitely a world she wouldn't enjoy growing up in. Both Junyoung and Hanyoung only came due to their parents to further their network circle, but also knew that their ex-girlfriends would also be coming. At first the two wanted the whole petty revenge of making their ex-girlfriends jealous, but later realized that they weren't worth that. So Hanyoung and Junyoung focused more on enjoying the event with their dates instead.

"Park Jinae?"

Serena heard her name being said from behind her in a familiar yet questioning tone as she slightly turned her head to see who the person was. She was surprised to see Heeseung standing there that she did a double take as he wore an all black three piece vested double ed suit and not the normal wear he usually wore. Serena just hoped it wasn't obvious because compare to Hanyoung, Serena seemed more surprised of Heeseung all dressed up and found herself feeling some sort of way about it. She shook those thoughts away and plasted a small smile on her face while turning the rest of her body to face him properly.

"Uh, hey, Heeseung."

"Hey yourself."

He flashed her with a friendly smile as he gave her a once over.

"You look lovely this evening."

"Uh, thanks."

The awkwardness settled in and she wished she could be anywhere, but here with him. Serena shot Heeseung with a small smile and with one of her hands, moving in an awkward up and down motion towards of his own attire.

"You look handsome yourself."

"Oh, thank you."

A chuckle escaped his lips as Serena grew shy in front of Heeseung. She however figured it may due to the event and seeing him and herself in this sort of unfamiliar setting out of school and just out of their normal circumstances in general.

"So, um, what are you doing here?"

Heeseung chuckled.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Ah, true, but I'm here because my co-worker invited me as his date for a business function."

"Oh?"

Heeseung's demeanor slightly shifted, but a polite smile remained on his face.

"You're dating?"

"Oh, no. No." She answered with a sheepish laugh.

"Him and I aren't like that. It's just for tonight to help him out."

She gave him a curious look.

"What about you though? Are you here for the same business function that's taking place in the grand hall?"

"Ah, that, yes and no. I, Sunghoon, and a few others were invited by Jay and Jake to attend as their parents were unable to make it themselves. So here I am."

Serena realized that he mentioned three particular names and that there would be even three other certain people that would panicked if they came across those said three people. She hoped all went well tonight.

"Oh, I see. Well, aren't you a wonderful friend."

"Yeah, but I'm surprised you and I didn't run into each other earlier until now."

"Oh, yeah, me too. Hanyoung practically dragged me all over the room, but I don't remember half of the people I've met tonight anyway."

"Well, you're not missing out."

The two share a laugh and just as Heeseung opened his mouth to ask a question, Serena got bumped from behind and stumbled into the pool.

"Jinae!"

Heeseung reached out a hand to catch her, but missed the opportunity by a few seconds. His head snapped to the right of him to see who had bumped into Serena to cause her fall into the pool.

"Did you do that on purpose, Seo Yuri?"

"It was an accident, Heeseung. It's not like I purposely did it." Yuri countered.

"By the way, I want you to meet my uncle."

"For what reason?"

Yuri didn't really have a real reason. Heeseung sighed, slightly annoyed.

"I need to take care of Jinae."

"Why? She can take care of herself. Let's go."

Heeseung ignored her as he crouched near the edge of the pool while holding out his right arm when Serena resurfaced.

"Over here, Jinae."

Serena glanced over while treading water to stay afloat. Others glanced over at the trio, but remained where they were. Only one hotel staff rushed over to assist with Heeseung informing the man to fetch a couple of towels.

"I'll help you out."

Serena swam over and took his offered hand. Heeseung pulled her closer to the edge of the pool before taking her other hand in his to help get her out of the water.

"What just happened?"

She looked up at Heeseung as he slightly motioned with his head towards Yuri once Serena's feet safely steady itself back onto solid ground. She groaned, wondering how she was to explain this to Hanyoung and the price it may cost to get this clean properly. Serena felt some type of cloth covering her a moment later. She realized it was Heeseung's suit jacket.

"Are you sure?"

Serena eyes widened at the fabric drapped over her. Heeseung smiled warmly before quickly glancing away.

"You're the one that needs it more than me at the moment."

"But I'm sure I could get a towel or something. I really don't need it."

Heeseung continued to avoid eye-contact.

"It's coming, but you definitely needed something right now."

The way his words came out made her questioned why he would say it like that. She glanced down and realized she was in white and the dress now seemed a bit too fitting for her than before. Serena shot him an uneasy, but grateful smile.

"Um, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Yuri didn't like the interactions as she tried to get Heeseung's attention again.

"C'mon, Heeseung. I really want you to meet my uncle."

"Seo Yuri. You literally just pushed someone in to the pool not that long ago."

"It's fine, Heeseung. I'm fine." Serena interjected, not wanting to hear Yuri's obvious lies.

"See. She says she's fine. Let's go."

Yuri made to grab Heeseung's arm to pull him away from Serena, but he turned his head and gave her a firm look while shaking off her grip.

"You do realized that I'm not really a part of this function, right?"

"Bu-"

Yuri instantly stopped talking once she noticed Heeseung's expression. She huffed, released his arm, and rushed off, leaving the pair behind.

"Did you want me to call your date or something?" Heeseung asked a moment later.

She eyed him weirdly as she heard the hesitation in his voice when he asked the question, but dismissed it and the situation at hand.

"No, it's okay. I don't want to bother him about what had just occured."

Just then a hotel staff returned with two towels. Heeseung immediately took them and placed one around Serena's shoulder and the other draped over her head.

"Need to make sure you get dry soon."

He flashed her a warm smile and Serena just nodded, suddenly feeling flustered by the overall situation.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Still, Serena stayed where she was in hopes that Heeseung would eventually leave her alone and returned to his friends, but didn't. He stayed right beside her and so she glanced at him curiously as his eyes focused on her now than before.

"Hmm?" He hummed with a tilt of his head.

Serena felt the immense urge to ruffled his hair and rubbed his face like she would do to a dog, but she refrained from doing so and slightly backed away instead.

"Um, don't you need to meet up with Jay, Jake, and them?"

"Nah, they're socializing on behalf of their fathers and the others are mingling around, too. My focus now is on making sure you're doing fine as I feel responsible about what had happened."

"I'm doing fine, Heeseung, so you can leave. It's not your fault."

She's done enough interacting with him in such a short span of time already and needed to escape now. Serena knew that karma was working it's way around her and she needed to settled the matter without catching some sort of feelings and the likes.

"Anyway, I'm gonna find the others. It was good seeing you and thanks. Have a good night."

Serena dashed off, leaving a bemused Heeseung behind. Still, a ghost of a smile graced his features as he watched her disappearing from his sight.

"Maybe coming wasn't so bad after all." Heeseung said to no one in particular as he glanced about him and made his way back to the grand hall.

Meanwhile, when all that happened between Serena and Heeseung, the other three had their own interaction with a specific someone.

"Will you excuse me, my dear?" Junyoung asked for Kierra's permission as she nodded with a polite smile.

An older gentleman had just come by to ask Junyoung for a private conversation while he and Kierra were enjoying themselves at a table and discussing work stories. She watched as the two males walked away, leaving her behind to enjoy her grape-flavored wine.

"I don't know why I keep drinking this when I don't