Key spent the next twenty minutes “fixing” your look in what you assumed was Bom’s bedroom.

“Is it okay for me to wear this?” you said, twisting the fabric of the cotton dress Key had swiped from the closet and forced onto you.

He turned back to you from his continuous closet raid and slapped the blue knot out of your hands. “Don’t worry about it,” he snapped. “Just trust me, okay?” He handed you a pair of strappy sandals. “Put these on,” he demanded, and you obeyed as he turned his full attention to your hair.

He brushed out the teased mess and sprayed something he had procured from nowhere on it to give it a glossy shine. When he was finished, your hair no longer seemed so stiff and had a nice wave to it. He also removed all of your makeup and re-applied a much more natural shade, and when he was finished you looked into the mirror. You felt very chic, admiring the way the over-the-shoulder minidress accentuated your figure and the way your shiny hair framed your face.

“You’re ready now,” Key said, beaming. He ushered you out of the room like a designer ushering his model out onto the catwalk.

You wandered into the main room and looked around for Himchan. You felt every pair of eyes on you as you passed them by. Whispers followed you, and you caught just a few words, like “new girl” and “Himchan’s girlfriend” and “changing the status quo.” You couldn’t fathom what any of this meant.

The crowd parted and you spotted Himchan, standing alone and looking disconcerted. He finally noticed you and you grinned shyly at him. He smiled back, the anxious expression having left his face.

“Well, you certainly did a good job freshening up,” he remarked, his eyes lighting up in amusement.

You giggled nervously, not wanting to explain. Then you glanced around. “Everyone is staring at us,” you muttered. It was quite nerve wracking. “Is it because I’m with you?”

Himchan took your hand. “It’s because you’re the most beautiful thing anyone of them has ever seen.” You smiled, flattered, and he led you outside and away from prying eyes.

“What are we doing out here?” you asked him as the two of you stood in a small garden a few yards away from the house.

“I wanted privacy,” he remarked.

“Privacy?” you repeated. “For what?”

He didn’t say anything as his gaze met yours, and you stood silently, staring into each other’s eyes. His smirk was plastered to his face and his sly eyes glinted in the moonlight as he took a step toward you. You found yourself glued to your spot, unable to move beneath his penetrating stare, gazing back into his eyes.

His face drew closer and closer, until you could feel his breath lightly brushing your face. Your own breathing had stopped, but you hadn’t noticed. He was inches away, centimeters, millimeters. Your eyes fluttered shut in anticipation. Just before your lips met, you briefly wondered how Jonghyun was doing at your engagement party.

“Well,” Amber said as she helped Jonghyun try to clean up a little bit. The two of them were alone in the kitchen, and Amber was kneeling in front of Jonghyun with a rag and some seltzer water, dabbing at the wine stain. “That went well,” she said.

Jonghyun gave her a pitiful look that conveyed that things couldn’t have been any worse.

“At least we haven’t been caught,” Amber reasoned. “It really could be worse.”

Jonghyun sighed and looked down at his ruined dress. “Let’s just get this night over with,” he murmured sadly.

Just then, a gentle knock was heard on the kitchen door, and Donghae peeked his head inside. “How are things going?” he asked.

“Well,” Amber said. “It looks like the dress won’t be saved.”

“Maybe I can try?” He walked up to them and gestured for Amber to hand him what she was holding. “Mind if I…?”

The siblings shared a look, and Jonghyun felt like they were speaking with each other without him hearing. Amber then gave a resigned sigh and handed Donghae the rag and water, before leaving him and Jonghyun alone in the kitchen, Jonghyun looking after her with fear and confusion and discomfort.

He watched as Donghae knelt before him and focused his attention on cleaning the stain on Jonghyun’s lap. He felt his face become warm with embarrassment. Dongae—the Lee Donghae—was cleaning his lap, and he didn’t even know that it was actually Jonghyun in the dress. Oh boy, he was getting awfully close to—no Jonghyun, just don’t think about it. Oh wow, why wasn’t Donghae saying anything?

“I know you’re nervous,” Donghae said gently.

The sound of his voice had an immediate calming effect on Jonghyun’s nerves.

“It’s okay,” Donghae continued. “I’m nervous too.” He looked up at Jonghyun, giving him a comforting smile.

Jonghyun smiled meekly back at him.

“I know we’ve only just met this week,” Donghae said. “And everybody is already expecting so much from us.”

Jonghyun nodded, feeling the emotions from the stress of the night building up.

“So let’s help each other,” Donghae said, standing up. “It will be nice if we can get to know each other and become comfortable with each other.”

Jonghyun agreed, his eyes beginning to water from—what was it, stress? Relief? Comfort?

A warm smile spread across Donghae’s face. “Let’s be good friends,” he said, holding out his hand to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun ignored the hand, however, and just went straight to hugging Donghae. He couldn’t help it. This whole ordeal just took such a toll on him, and Donghae made him feel so accepted, and he really wanted to be good friends with Donghae. He couldn’t help that he wore his emotions on his sleeve. So he just stood there hugging Donghae in the kitchen, and Donghae hugged him back before suggesting that they go back to the party. It was, after all, their party, and they should probably be in attendance for it. What kind of person didn’t attend their own engagement party? He chuckled at the notion.

“What are you doing with her?”

You stood there awkwardly in the garden, CL standing between you and Himchan looking enraged.

The kiss was barely anything. Your lips barely brushed each other before CL’s furious shriek brought you back to awareness of your surroundings. She yanked you away from Himchan by the shoulder and you fell to the ground. She only spared you a menacing glare before rounding on the man she thought was her boyfriend.

Himchan’s smirk could not be removed from his face, but his eyes held a note of contempt for the super-super-super-super senior. “I was about to kiss her,” he growled, “before you interrupted.”

CL spat out a “tch” that made you think of a cat. “And what makes you think you can go around kissing any girl that follows you around like a lost kitten?”

You didn’t follow Himchan around like a lost kitten… You pouted at the insult.

“She’s not just any girl,” Himchan said. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Ha!” She laughed viciously. “Since when?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Look at her, Himchan!” she demanded, turning to you to scrutinize you before facing him again. “She’s trash! Worthless and dull, one-dimensional, a walking contradiction who acts timid one second and headstrong the next because she can’t figure out what her personality is supposed to be. Just plain wishy-washy.” The words cut into you like a knife, because you knew every one of them was true. Himchan’s eyes darkened as she continued. “The has no self esteem and no self respect. She relies on everyone else to tell her that she’s worth anything, which they only do out of pity. Isn’t that right, Himchan?”

You looked at him, tears welling up in your eyes. Was it true? Did he really only talk to you out of pity?

You didn’t want to stand here and take any more of this , so you just left Himchan and CL in the garden and walked back toward the house, where the windows were full of people pressing their faces up to the glass to witness the drama that had unfolded outside. Inside it was silent, and all eyes were on you as you walked through the crowd. You spotted Sunny in the crowd, looking at you with concern and worry. You noticed she was standing with Sungmin, who had his arm around her shoulders and was also looking at you with concern. You took little comfort in knowing that at least things had worked out for them tonight.

Key was waiting for you at the front door. He put his arm around you. “I’ll take you home,” he murmured. You nodded.

You were halfway across the massive front lawn when you heard someone calling your name.

“Mary Sue,” called Himchan. “Mary, wait.” He caught up to you and spun you around. You averted your eyes, refusing to look into his face when you had tears running down your cheeks.

“Is it true?” you choked out. “Do you only hang out with me out of pity?”

“Of course not,” he said.

“Then why would you ever want to talk to me?” you demanded. “Why did you rope me into this mess?”

He smirked. “You owe me for destroying my jacket,” he remarked.

You rolled your eyes. That didn’t make you feel better at all. Himchan seemed to have realized this, because he dropped the smirk and spoke in a more serious tone.

“CL won’t bother you anymore,” he said. “I told her you were worth more than her and her posse combined, and that she was a conniving who tried to compensate for failing at life by being at the top of the hole that is high school, but that she’ll end up with an unfulfilling life because everyone else will have moved on from high school while she stays there dealing with new roves of students to rule, and the between her and them will continue to increase until it is completely pathetic that she’s even trying to remain popular when she’s so decrepit and old.”

Did he really tell her that you were worth more than her? That made you feel a little better. You were still hurt though.

He grabbed your chin and tilted your face to look at him. “Let me take you home,” he said.

You pulled your chin from his hand and looked down. “I can’t,” you said.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why not?”

You gulped. “Because I’m missing an engagement party.”

“An engagement party?” he asked, still confused.

“Yeah,” you said. “Mine.”

…

“What?!”

“Why do you keep saying that?” Key snapped at you.

You slowly turned away from Himchan’s face and followed Key to his car so he could drive you home. You weren’t sure about this, but it seemed Himchan’s expression after you told him that held…but it couldn’t be…

If you weren’t completely mistaken, you would think that Himchan looked… jealous.

What?!