I push all of my doubts away and try to focus on the wedding. My sister, Jinah, is flying in a week before the actual wedding to help prep and I know she’ll know something’s up if I don’t come to terms with myself. So I do my best to flush every thought out of my head and act normal—whatever normal means nowadays anyway…

We go to lunch after I pick her up from the airport to plan what’s getting done on what days and make sure everything’s going perfect. She’s kind of obsessed with planning and making sure every little detail is right, which is why she’s here so early. Although I totally could have handled planning this wedding by myself, she wouldn’t allow it without at least supervising what I was doing.

She got married a few years ago and she totally loved every minute of planning and ordering everyone around and when her wedding and honeymoon were all said and done, she almost went through a state of depression. Life speeds up so fast and all of a sudden slows down significantly after you get married. She had so much time in the day again and she didn’t know what to do with herself for a while. But now there’s another wedding for her to plan so obviously she had to get her fix.

“Okay, so tomorrows the trial with the hairstylist and also your flower appointment-”

“Flower appointment?”

She squints at me like I’m some idiot that doesn’t know how to put two and two together, but I really didn’t understand the need to have an actual appointment to look at flowers. We had one of the best wedding planners in town and I trusted her with all this stuff, but of course my sister needs to double check all of her work just in case.

“It’ll only be like twenty minutes. It’s just to make sure that the ribbons around the bouquets are the right color and fabric and that the arrangements don’t have too much Baby’s Breath and stuff,” she says like it’s such a common thing to do to have an appointment to check on flowers.

“Okay…” I say, stuffing a tortilla chip in my mouth. I almost choke on it when I notice a familiar pair get seated a few booths away.

Jinah’s eyebrows crease at me and she turns around to see what had startled me. “Who’s that?” she asks when she’s facing forward again.

“No one,” I say, pulling my menu up to hide my face. 

She pulls my menu down. “Then why are you hiding?” She glances back at them again. “What’d they do? Did Hyosung date one of them? Both of them?”

“No, Jinah, they’re just...coworkers…” I reply, pulling my menu back up above my face. Not only was Baekhyun in the same restaurant as us, but he was with Chanyeol. As far as I know, this is their first encounter with each other after the big incident… They seem to be having a civil conversation with each other.

“Do you not like them or something?” my sister still pries.

“Uh, there was just some drama between the two…” I quietly comment hoping she’ll drop it, but it only intrigues her more.

“Ooh, do tell,” she eagerly requests.

I sigh, knowing there’s no way out of this. “Well, they used to be best friends but one of them slept with the other’s fiancé the other day,” I explain as that night involuntary flashes in my mind.

“Whoa, that’s messed up,” she says as she leans back in her seat. Luckily our waiter shows up to take our order so we can finally move onto a new topic.

In the middle of saying my order, I hear Chanyeol’s voice raise over everyone else’s and I stop talking to listen. “You have no right to be upset with me! You were doing the same exact thing except on multiple occasions!” I know exactly what they’re talking about and I nervously tap my feet on the ground.

“That doesn’t matter. It’s still ed up, Chanyeol. You were my best friend,” Baekhyun replies, trying to remain level headed.

Chanyeol stands up, and our waiter’s attention is now fully on them, probably waiting for the right moment to step in. “You slept with a girl that was engaged to someone else too! You of all people know what it’s like to want something that’s not yours!”

“Oh my god…” I quietly mutter, resting my forehead in my hands as I look away.

“The other guy cheated too?” Jinah quietly whispers, obviously eavesdropping on them as well. Although I don’t know if it’s still considered eavesdropping if you have no choice but to hear it…

“It’s different,” Baekhyun murmurs.

“Oh is it? The only difference is that the girl you slept with was a whor-”

My head snaps up when I hear the sound of a fist make contact with what is now probably a broken nose. My eyes widen as the waiter goes straight to Chanyeol who is bent over clutching his face. Baekhyun is twisting his wrist and glancing at his unscathed hand when Chanyeol suddenly stands up straight again and punches Baekhyun on the side of his jaw. When Baekhyun recovers, he hits Chanyeol in the eye sending him down once again.

I know I’ll probably regret it, but I hurriedly stand up and jump in between them before either of them can retaliate. I stand with my back facing Baekhyun and suddenly get knocked to the floor before I can even say anything.

I hear a lot of ‘Oh my God’s and a ‘You ing idiot’ and it all suddenly makes sense when the side of my face begins throbbing. A face is really close to mine probably staring at the bruise that’s forming on the side of my face. They gently trace the side of my jaw and I recognize the touch of Baekhyun’s hand on my face right away. I’m pulled up onto the seat of the booth as my sister appears in front of me staring at me with her hands covering most of her face.

“Are you okay?” she asks, tucking strands of hair behind my ear and placing a cloth napkin full of ice on the side of my face.

“I’m fine,” I reply bitterly, grabbing hold of the ice.

I notice behind my sister that Chanyeol and Baekhyun are bickering again, but as I become more coherent I realize that they’re actually apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me…” Chanyeol says, holding ice on his eye and a napkin under his bleeding nose.

“It’s alright, man. You were angry, I get it,” Baekhyun reassures, as he fiddles with his jaw. His gaze softens as he turns to me. My sister gets out of the way as he kneels down in front of me. He gently grabs my hand holding the ice and pulls it off my face as he looks at my jaw. “You’re an idiot,” he whispers, gently moving my head to the side so he can get a better look. “But luckily for you, Chanyeol doesn’t know how to hit,” he says a little louder and Chanyeol chuckles behind him.

“No fair, I never took Hapkido,” he says as he approaches me. “I’m really sorry though,” he says to me. “About, um, calling you a-”

“It’s alright,” I hastily interrupt, but I know it’s too late because my sister is already gaping at me. I finally am fully recovered, well, as recovered as a girl that just got punched in the face can get, and stand up. The restaurant manager is storming their way towards us and we get the idea and file out of the restaurant right away.
 

“Wait, you’re the girl they were talking about?!” my sister states as soon as we’re out of the building.

The heat rises on my face. “Uh… yeah,” I quietly admit, knowing I’m in for an earful.

Baekhyun hears and steps in, “Listen, she-”

“Shut up,” she says to him quickly before lacing her arm through mine as she drags me to the car. “Why didn’t you tell me you were having an affair?” she says in a strange tone, almost like she’s more intrigues than she is disappointed.

“What?” I say, not knowing what else to say.

“We’re sisters. This is the kind of thing we should be talking about! I know I live in another state, but that’s no reason for you to leave this kind of information from me,” she says as we continue walking down the block to the car. I look behind me and Baekhyun shrugs at me and that’s the last I see of him as we turn the corner to the car.


Jinah goes into my bag and grabs the car keys. “You’re in no condition to drive,” she says, opening the passenger door for me and settling me inside before skipping around the car to the driver’s side. As soon as she gets in and fastens her seat belt, she says, “Okay, spill everything.”

“I have to be honest with you, this is not the reaction I was expecting,” I say as she starts the car and pulls out of the parking spot.

“What’d you expect?” she asks, keeping her eyes on the road.

“I don’t know. You’re so perfect. I figured you’d be super disappointed and upset that I’d do something so… not perfect.”

“I’m not perfect.”

“Yeah, you are! You have the perfect body, perfect hair, perfect face, perfect job, perfect husband, perfect life-”

“It may seem perfect now, but that’s only because I took a crazy risk.” She glances at me as we wait for the light to turn green at a stoplight. “I’ve never told you this, or anyone really, but I’ve cheated on someone before.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised by her sudden confession. Cheating was something my sister would never do. She’s too good. At least that’s what I always thought.

“Mhm,” she says, nodding her head.

“What happened?”

“I cheated on my boyfriend with my best friend. I never thought I felt anything for him, but I guess I did because we let it go on for a while… And well, basically I left my boyfriend for him and honestly as bad as it sounds, I don’t regret it.”

The information settles when I realize something. “Wait, the only guy best friend you’ve ever had is…”

“Yeah, I kind of married him,” she says with a chuckle. I always thought Nick, her husband, and her got together way after she broke up with that guy. At least, that’s what she told everyone. “Our story’s not as cliché as you think. ‘Marrying my best friend’ is actually a lot more complicated.”

“That’s insane.”

“And look where it left us. I could never be happier.” She probably notices the apprehension on my face and adds more. “I’m not saying that cheating is right, because it really isn't, I’m just saying that sometimes you gotta put everything on the line and take a risk.”

“So do you like the guy?” she asks before I have any time to let her advice sink in.

“What?” I reply feeling a little disoriented from so much happening in the past five minutes.

“Listen, you can be honest with me. I’m your sister. Now just tell me, I won’t judge.”

I mull it over for a few seconds but I don’t even know what to say. “I-I don’t know. I guess?”

“Do you love him?” I’m taken aback again and thoughts I’d pushed away easily resurface again. “He punched a guy in the face for you. Clearly he cares a lot about you.”

I lean my head on my arm that’s propped against the car door and smile a little to myself. My sister catches it and exclaims, “Oh my god, you do love him!” Her excitement quickly vanishes. “Oh my god, you love him and you’re getting married in a week. What are you gonna do?”

I quickly snap back into reality. “Nothing. I’ve already made up my mind. I’m marrying Jongin.”

My sister doesn’t say anything after that and it only worries me more. Why did she have to swoop in and suddenly tell me that good can actually come from an affair? More than that, why did Baekhyun have to punch Chanyeol in the face over me?

My mind is supposed to be made.

My mind’s already made.

But I still can’t help but wonder if it’s the right decision.  

...I just love when a guy hits someone for a girl... its my weak spot sorry lmao 

Exo's comeback is aklsdjfhdlkjghslkjghalskjdghsdagh I AM READY FOR THE RETURN OF HOT BAEKHYUN AND BLONDE JONGIN ...but at the same time no... This concept is just so unique and wonderful and dark and uugghhh T_T 

Anyways, are any of you going to the KBS Open Concert in LA? :D I'm going and I'd love to meet some of you if you are! ^o^