French Vocabulary:

1 Qui est-il?: Who is he?

2Mon ami d’enfance: my childhood friend.

 

“You’re a blonde now?!” Dong Hae exclaims in humoured incredulity as he stares at Amber up and down.   Amber guffaws. “You look so much manlier now! Do you live in Korea? I thought you went to America?”   “Yeah. Been here since five years ago,” Dong Hae shrugs offhandedly, “Lots of things have happened in America. Do you live here now?”   Krystal leans in past Hyun Joong and whispers to Myung Soo, “How do they know each other?”   “No, I’m in Korea for a vacation. I live in Paris.”   “Whoa… Paris?! How about Jjong?”   Myung Soo eyes the two childhood friends grimly and grimaces when Dong Hae places his hands on Amber’s hips. “How the would I know?” he hisses to Krystal.   “He is still in Sydney,” Amber answers. “What you in Jeju for?”   “My friend’s wedding,” Dong Hae answers.   “Is it Tiffany and Si Won?”   “Yes! How do you know them?”   Myung Soo brings himself up towards them as Krystal and Hyun Joong exchange amused glances before laughing silently. Myung Soo moves to Amber’s side and hauls her away from Dong Hae discreetly, pulling her to his side firmly. Dong Hae misses the gesture; his eyes twinkle as they remain on Amber.   “You two know each other?” Amber inquires the two men before her.   At this, Dong Hae starts to realise something. “You and L know each other?”   “We go to the same church,” Myung Soo explains as Dong Hae looks at them from one to the other. “So, how do you guys know each other?” Myung Soo asks with a wide grin plastered on his face.   “This is Dong Hae! The one I told you about!” Amber begins in excitement. “My first kiss!”   Dong Hae releases a gasp. “You remember?” A proud smile breaks out on his face. “That’s how you remember me?”   Amber blushes hard and bites on her lip sheepishly. She wanders to Myung Soo, whose grasp on her hips is tightening. She composes herself and clears , “Jjong’s friend.”   Krystal and Hyun Joong drop their jaw in a comical manner and exchange another glance. “Should I laugh at this coincidence?” Hyun Joong questions his girlfriend.   Krystal snickers, “Let’s just see how this turns out! Jess and Jae are missing out on a good show!”   “Does Jjong have a daughter?” Dong Hae asks.   Amber frowns as she looks at Dong Hae oddly. “No, he has a son.”   “Really?” Dong Hae is slightly surprised. “But I saw a photo of him with a little girl on his facebook. Probably about seven?”   Amber chuckles, “That’s probably his friend’s daughter.”   Dong Hae shakes his head. “I don’t think so. He calls her his ‘Princess’. Unless it’s a close friend’s.”   “Princess?” Amber narrows her eyes at Dong Hae, skeptical.

 

∞

 

Paris, who has gone to the toilet, returns to find a strange man talking to her parents and curiosity pokes her. She approaches them and tugs at the bottom of her mother’s blazer. When Amber turns to her, she mouths, “Qui est-il?1”   “Mon ami d’enfance2—”   “It’s her!” the childhood friend cries out, rather too excitedly, as he points to Paris, who is raising a lone brow at him.   “Is he really your friend, Mum?”   The man’s eyes widen slightly at what she calls her mother. He lifts his brows incredulously at the woman before him, “Mum?”   Her mother chortles and grabs her into her embrace. “This is my baby!”   The man’s jaw drops. “W-what? You… you got married?”   “Uh… not really,” Amber justifies, grinning. “But I have a child.”   “And we’re expecting a second one,” her father inserts as he grabs Amber by the waist and places his hand on her lower stomach protectively.   Amber almost drops her jaw at Myung Soo’s somewhat childish behaviour. She glares at him in annoyance. She forces out a smile to her childhood friend and pushes Myung Soo away, to his dismay.   “What?” the childhood friend looks at her father as if he is crazy. “You’re kidding! They may have the same name, L, but…” Paris sees a flash of recognition in the man’s eyes and wonders whether he knows something. “What? Wait… your Amber is dead… they just have the same name…” he stutters in disbelief as many thoughts run through his mind.   Dead? Paris repeats the man’s word. Dad thought Mum was dead?   “You know me?” she hears her mother questions the man and contemplates on how many people her father has spoken about her mother to.   “It’s a long story,” Krystal pipes in and greets the childhood friend with a punch on the arm. “It’ll take at least a week to get you to understand, Dong Dong!”   “Stop calling me Dong Dong!” He glowers at Krystal, only to be reciprocated with an amused laugh. He turns back to her mother, “Who doesn’t know L’s Amber?” Paris catches her mother sneaking a glance to her father, who stands restless next to her. The man’s voice brings Paris back to him, “She is the reason Krystal and L broke up!”   Krystal smacks the man hard on the head, to the point that the sound echoes in the room. But they have heard him loud and clear. Paris turns to her father, just in time as her mother does the same. He lifts up his hand to non-verbally ask them to calm down and listen to him, “I can explain. It’s not what you think it is.”   “You and Krystal were together?” She stares at him with shock, anger, and betrayal. “Is that why you never turned up, Dad?” Her fists clench, her nails digging into her skin so hard, but she doesn’t seem to care.   “No,” Myung Soo quickly says, “it’s not like that, Paris. Let me explain!”   Ignoring him, Paris turns to her mother, who seems to be in a trance. She finally finds the ability to speak, “You two were together?”   “Amber, it’s not like that,” Krystal explains. “We were together, but then we broke up because it just never worked out. I’m with Hyun Joong now and I’m happy!”   Amber regains her composure and swallows. She gazes at Myung Soo with a wistful look. He heaves a sigh of relief. “I’ll explain it later, Am!” he promises, taking her hand into his. She contemplates on it for a moment before nodding in agreement.   “Mum!” Paris shrieks. “Can’t you just tell me why Dad never came?” She pleadingly stares at her mother, wishing she would just tell her everything. She wants to know. “You do know that I’m not some ten-months-old who doesn’t know what’s going on, right? I’m not a child anymore!” There is something they are hiding and she wants to know, she needs to know.

 

∞

 

“You better be careful with that dress, Amber!” Krystal warns in a stern voice. “I want it back in a one piece.”   Amber chuckles. “Of course I’ll give it back in one piece! I’m not going to rip it during the party.”   “Well, I trust you, but I don’t trust L could keep his hands off you when he sees you in that dress.” She smirks suggestively and nudges the woman in red dress in front of the mirror—Tiffany’s room mirror. Amber and Paris have migrated to Tiffany’s room to get themselves ready with Jessica, who is to be the Matron of Honour, and Krystal, who has been chosen as the MC of the reception.   Amber dismisses the comment and regards the one-sleeve open shoulder mini dress in the mirror. Her fingertips trace the material of the fitting red dress on her body and she fixes the bottom of the outfit as it keeps moving further up. At least, the length covers up the marks on her thighs. Still, the deep ones on her neck and under her right collarbone remain visible.   “You’re lucky I remember this Super Tan product; otherwise those hickeys will be out in the open for the whole world to see!” Krystal beams proudly at the memory of how Amber approached her earlier this morning, seeming anxious. When she told Krystal her predicament, she had no choice but to show her what she was worried about. Krystal has bought a tanning product when she went on a summer vacation to Los Angeles last year and thought maybe it would help to cover up those marks on Amber. Super Tan by Model Co gives the most natural looking fake tan, in her opinion; the mousse dries in an instant and leaves a deep tan within two hours. It has a very faint scent of Coconut Butter, but no fake tan fragrance. She has discovered it when Jessica Alba mentioned the product on her twitter. “You might wanna tell him to not be so rough. That is one hell of a