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Jonghyun glided down the steps toward his engagement party—he meant his sister’s engagement party. Although if he was going to play the part convincingly, he might as well consider this his own engagement party. Like method acting or something. Yeah, he’d go with that.

He spotted Amber and drifted immediately to her, just for the security of being around someone who knew who he was.

She gave him a questioning look. “Jonghyun?” she whispered.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he confirmed. She nodded.

“Just making sure. Also…you should speak more like a girl if you wanna pull this off,” she remarked.

“That’s what Key said,” Jonghyun said in his girl voice.

Amber flinched. “Okay, new plan: don’t talk at all.”

Jonghyun nodded in agreement. Amber looked over his shoulder before grabbing him and spinning him around to face Donghae, who had approached them with a friendly smile. Jonghyun smiled bashfully back at him.

“Mary Sue,” Donghae greeted, taking Jonghyun’s hand. “How have you been this past week?” he asked cordially.

Jonghyun opened his mouth, but Amber cut him off.

“Uhh, he—she has been sick actually,” she spluttered. “She lost her voice unfortunately.” She placed her hand on Jonghyun’s arm in a comforting manner. Donghae looked to Jonghyun, his face painted with concern, and Jonghyun looked down and nodded in confirmation, showing a forlorn expression.

“That’s quite a shame,” Donghae remarked. “I was looking forward to conversing with you. It’s your fresh remarks and wit that I was hoping would make this party a bit more lively.” He stepped to Jonghyun’s side and held out his arm for his betrothed to take. Jonghyun grinned, flattered, as he took it and they walked together through the parlor. Amber sighed in relief before following. This was going to be a long night.

There was a lot of mingling. The bride’s parents introducing Jonghyun and Donghae to lots of important people, Donghae making small talk with his soon-to-be father-in-law, Jonghyun smiling and not saying anything while Donghae explained every once in a while that his poor fiancé couldn’t speak because of a sickness, and what a shame too because her intelligent comments could have enriched this conversation beyond imagination, which made Jonghyun smile bashfully and avert his eyes in modesty.

They also danced for a while. There was a dance floor for a few bold couples to twirl each other to the soft piano music, and all of the guests insisted on seeing the lovely engaged couple dance together. Jonghyun had never danced the girl part before. It couldn’t be that hard though. It’s like the guy part only a mirror image. Or backward. Or something. Amber was standing on the edge of the dance floor trying to send Jonghyun physical cues over Donghae’s shoulder—she mimed putting her hand on an invisible shoulder, and Jonghyun abruptly moved his hand from Donghae’s waist to the position it was supposed to be in. When the dancing started, he fumbled around clumsily and awkwardly, stepping on his fiancé’s—he meant his sister’s fiancé’s—feet.

“Don’t look down,” Donghae whispered encouragingly, and Jonghyun whipped his gaze up from his feet for the umpteenth time to stare straight into Donghae’s deep brown orbs. Donghae’s kind eyes held no judgment toward him, no anger or embarrassment at his inability to dance with any amount of grace. Jonghyun smiled and his eyes tried to find Amber again for help, but it seemed she had given up on him as she had turned away from the dance floor now and was holding her face in her hand and her elbow in her other hand.

It was the dinner bell that rescued him from this catastrophe.

The guests were arranged around the fancy dinner table so that Jonghyun’s father was at the head of the table, with his mother on the left of him and Donghae on the right. Jonghyun then sat next to Donghae, and Jonghyun insisted (with a very convincing display of flailing gestures) that Amber sit next to him.

Dinner was going much better for Jonghyun than the dancing and mingling was. After all, he did love food, and he was relieved of having to talk. Every once in a while though, he would become too engrossed in eating that Amber would nudge him, and he would have to turn some of his attention back at Donghae. Which also wasn’t too hard. Jonghyun spent half of his time just batting his eyelashes and nodding to whatever conversation was going on around him, and most of Donghae’s attention was taken by Jonghyun’s father anyway. This was all too easy, and Jonghyun inwardly congratulated himself for putting on a convincing act this far.

About an hour later, dessert had already been served, and the table had dissolved into several conversations. Everything had gone down without a hitch! Jonghyun wondered if things were going as well for his sister. It was maybe eight o’clock now, so she should probably be heading out by now. He wondered if she had already left yet.

Jonghyun felt Amber nudge his side again. Another cue to bat his eyelashes at Donghae. Which he did.

“No,” she whispered, nudging him again. “Look.” She indicated in the direction they were facing, towards the huge panoramic window.

Oh geez.

Right there, hanging from a vine in front of the large window, was Mary Sue. Jonghyun glanced nervously around the table, praying that nobody else had noticed, and he was relieved to see that the rest of the guests seemed oblivious to the girl dangling in front of the window. The girl that was supposed to be sitting where Jonghyun was right now. Oh boy, that would be awkward if everyone found out that he was actually the one being Donghae’s fiancé right now. Two men getting married? What an absurd and unheard of notion.

“We have to do something,” Amber whispered. Jonghyun nodded in agreement, but at a total loss for what to do. “Before anybody sees her.”

Just then, Donghae turned his attention toward Jonghyun, but he made a double take at the window. Before anybody could process anything, Amber knocked her wine glass off of the table and directly into Jonghyun’s white-lace-clad lap. He gasped and stood up in surprise, followed by Donghae.

“I am so sorry!” Amber exclaimed, drawing the attention of the rest of the guests. “Is that a priceless gown?! Oh no!”

Jonghyun waved off Donghae, who was tending to him with a very concerned look on his face. Jonghyun glanced back at the window, relieved to see that Mary Sue was no longer hanging in front of it.

“Would you like me to help you clean this up?” Donghae offered. Jonghyun contemplated this for a moment, but before he could respond, he heard the revving of a motorcycle engine. Thinking quickly, he did the only thing he could do in this situation that would keep every single person’s attention on him.

He pretended to faint.

“Oh no!” Amber shouted, covering up the sound of the engine. She kept up her vocal acrobatics until the sound of the engine died completely. When she calmed down, Jonghyun allowed himself to be woken up. Donghae was looking at him with the most concerned expression on his face. Boy, did it feel good to see that somebody cared about him like that.

Jonghyun stood back up and righted his chair before settling himself back down into it. He looked around the table at the rest of the guests. Of course, every single one of them was staring at him with confused, concerned, and just plain frightened looks on their faces. He felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. He only hoped Mary’s party would go better than this.

When you and Himchan arrived at Bom’s party, the party was in full swing already. You were amazed at the amount of people that could be packed into this house, regardless of the sheer size of the place. How would you ever find Key in this crowd? You scanned the masses of drunken high school students doing questionable things in search of your girlfriend coach.

“Looking for someone?” Himchan asked you, having noticed the way you anxiously searched the room.

You smiled and let out a nervous laugh. “Who would I be looking for?” you replied. “I’m just wondering where the bathroom is, so I can go freshen up.”

He smirked and pointed down a hallway that branched from the foyer. “On the left,” he said.

“Thanks,” you answered as you detached yourself from his side and walked in the direction he pointed. You found the bathroom, which was also surprisingly spacious and full of teenagers. You didn’t want to just go back down the hallway in case Himchan would see you and get suspicious. Luckily, there was another door on the other side that led to a completely different hallway. This house is like a labyrinth, you thought. You waded through the that was taking place on the tiled floor and resurfaced on the other side of the bathroom and kept searching for Key.

You were peeking into another bedroom, afraid your eyes might meet yet another sight that would burn onto your retinas and haunt you in your nightmares forever, when you noticed a familiar face that belonged to a person who was huddled in a corner looking upset. “Sunny?” you called out to her as you approached her and sat down beside her. She looked up at you and smiled slightly.

“Hi, Mary Sue,” she said. “It’s so nice to see a familiar face, especially one as nice as yours.”

You wondered what had happened to make her so depressed. “What are you doing here in a corner by yourself?” you asked her.

“Hiding,” she retorted. “I’m afraid to ask Sungmin out. He’s out there somewhere, and I feel like it’s the perfect time, but…what if he rejects me? What if he doesn’t like me? What if he just laughs in my face?”

You quelled her stream of worries with an upheld hand. “You yourself said he’s a really genuine and nice guy,” you consoled her, “so I don’t think he would ever laugh in your face. Besides, you’ll never find out if he really likes you if you never go for it!”

She just stared straight ahead at the on the armchair by the bookshelf. “But I don’t know how to ask him out!” she wailed.

“You just need a bit of a pep talk!” you exclaimed, trying to lift her spirits. You glanced around at your musty and surroundings. Grabbing her hand, you stood up and pulled her into a standing position. “Let’s find a more quiet place to talk,” you muttered, dragging her out the door.

The moment you exited the bedroom, a hand grasped your shoulder and sent you jumping out of your skin. It was only Key though, holding his hands up defensively at your reaction. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked you sassily.

“Somewhere where I can coach her on how to ask out the guy she likes,” you responded.

“This way,” he beckoned, and the two of you followed him to a nearly hidden door near a staircase. It was a storage closet, but it was spacious enough to fit the three of you and there were no other people inside.

Once inside, you sat Sunny down on a bucket and grabbed ahold of her shoulders, steeling yourself to muster up a fantastic pep talk. But before you could get a word out, you were pulled around to face Key. “We need to talk about how to act like a girlfriend,” he said.

“But I’m about to tell Sunny how to—“ you began to protest, but he silenced you with his hand.

“First of all, the two of you would have been together now for what, a week? You’re still in the honeymoon stage, which means you’re inseparable. You don’t just go wandering off in a crowd at crazy parties. You stay attached to his side.”

“This is ridiculous,” you snapped, tearing his hand away from your mouth and turning to Sunny. “Now, you’ve known Sungmin for a little while at least. I could tell in chemistry class that you two are at least on speaking terms, which is already a major step in the right direction.”

“Second, even though you two are dating, that doesn’t mean that you have to be completely exclusive. Since it’s only been a week, you’re not in love. The hottest couples are the ones that flirt with other people too.”

“And I think he already likes you too. I could tell by how he talks to you that he definitely has a thing for you. Trust me, there is chemistry between you.”

“The key to making it convincing to everybody else is convincing yourself first. You have to believe that you like Himchan and that he likes you.”

“So you just go out there, and walk right up to him, and just start a conversation with him.”

“Make him think you are the iest alive. Do this by making him feel y.”

“And then, when it feels right, just say, ‘Sungmin, would you like to go for coffee sometime?’”

“The iest es are the ones who make other people feel y in their presence.”

“Just say it naturally. And honey, you are beautiful.”

“Be the y .”

“Are you quite finished?” you asked Key.

“One more thing.”

“What is it?”

He looked you up and down. “Who dressed you?” he asked disapprovingly.

“Himchan said to dress ty,” you said a little meekly.

“Yeah. ty. Not like a sparkly drag queen.”

You looked down at your ensemble forlornly. “I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“Sweet heart,” he countered. “You look like a hooker clown.”

“What?!”