Chang-min hissed through his teeth as rain drops stained his new leather shoes. He stomped the water out as he marched down the street, furiously struggling with his umbrella which had become bungled in the wind. It seemed a wretched day for a joyous occasion. Today he was meeting his best friend who had only just returned from a six month work placement in Beijing. It should have been a happy occasion, and Chang-min should have been looking forward to it, but he couldn't shake the sense of frustration he felt when he read his friend's last message.

Dear Chang-min, it read, my dearest friend in the whole world. (Immediately Chang-min was suspicious by this qualification, since when did Kyu-hyun sound so openly affectionate?) I'll be getting into town around noon and I want you to meet me at the old library. I'll be bringing my fiancée, so look forward to meeting her.

Chang-min calculated that he would end up a bit late to the rendezvous, and this suited him, since he didn't want to be too early, lest he end up standing there like a lonely fool. He partly wished that he had a fiancée or girlfriend of his own that he could bring along, so he wouldn't feel like a third wheel. And this was the heart of Chang-min's frustration: Kyu-hyun had a fiancée! They had always been the famous pair, an inseparable two-for-one deal. Girlfriends would come and go and this never bothered Chang-min. But a fiancée, a fiancée was final. It didn't seem right to him that Kyu-hyun was getting married already. Sure, they had been in the workforce for a few years, but they were still young, weren't they? Marriage meant growing up, and Chang-min didn't feel like they were ready for that yet.

What about the time spent staying up all night debating crazy theories, going down town and getting so drunk that they would forget their names but still be able to crawl to work the next morning? That was the stuff of legends, and now, it seemed, the stuff of the past.

Chang-min stood alone on the steps of the old library. His friend was late. He struggled to close his bungled umbrella and swore as it snapped out of shape again.

"Chang-min!"

He turned around to see his friend and the girl. The girl was looking at him with a crooked smile, and he realised that he had probably just sworn out loud in her presence. He almost wanted to swear again.

"Nice weather," Kyu-hyun added, ever the sarcastic one.

"Isn't it just," replied Chang-min through gritted teeth. He finally gave up on the umbrella and let it fold into a mess.

"Don't worry about it," Kyu-hyun said, gesturing towards the umbrella. "You won't need it. Victoria wants to sit down somewhere, so we'll go to the coffee shop around the corner. Don't look so grumpy. You always said you liked the rain."

Chang-min could do nothing but nod stupidly. He followed them to the coffee shop.

"I have to introduce you two formally now," Kyuhyun said, smiling proudly when they sat down. "Victoria meet Chang-min. Chang-min, Victoria."

"Hello, Chang-min, how do you do?" Victoria said with good pronunciation. Chang-min had expected that her Korean would be poor, on account of her being Chinese. But alas no, she was perfect. She smiled at him with bright eyes and perfect straight teeth.

"Wow, your pronunciation is very good."

"She spent some time in Korea already. She's perfectly fluent," Kyu-hyun explained.

Of course, Chang-min thought.

"She can speak Korean and I'm quite good at Chinese, so we are perfectly suited."

Victoria rolled her eyes at him, but stayed smiling. "He's okay," she said.

"Well, still better than me, I can't speak any Chinese," Chang-min said. He meant it to sound lighthearted, but it came out sounding a bit dejected.

Kyu-hyun continued to ramble on about his time in China, talking about some of the places he went to, and every so often he would address Victoria and say, "Do you remember that? Is that what happened?" and she would join in telling the story. It was like these two people were sharing something of their own world and Chang-min was an outsider. He listened politely.

When they were leaving, Kyu-hyun excused himself for a moment and Chang-min and Victoria stood alone together outside the coffee shop. The rain had stopped now, and yellow sunlight was reflecting off the wet pavement. It seemed to sparkle in Victoria's eyes.

"I'm a year older than you," Victoria said to him as they waited. "Is it okay if I speak to you informally?"

"Of course it is," he replied, but what else could be say.





"So what do you think of her?" Kyu-hyun asked him later over the phone.

"She's cute," Chang-min replied. He added a tone of condescension to the word cute, as if to imply that being cute was not something he thought highly of. Of course Chang-min always proclaimed to like cute girls the best, so his attempt to be dismissive was a hollow one. "What does your family think of her? Are they okay with her being..."

"Chinese? To be honest, I don't know, but I guess they'll just have to like her. She's perfect isn't she? I mean, she has the beauty and the brains, and she can cook and she's kind, and really, what else is there?"

"How the hell did she end up with you?"

"I know, I keep asking myself the same question."

Chang-min had only made the comment as a joke. He knew that Kyu-hyun always got what he wanted. He was the sort of person to succeed in life without appearing to lift a finger. Chang-min had always rather admired that aspect of his friend.

In the following few weeks Chang-min did not see Victoria very often. He would purposely arrange to meet with Kyu-hyun whenever she was not present, so that at least for a little while he could pretend that things were like old times, just the two of them. After the wedding there would be plenty of time to spend with Victoria, so he did not think of it as being selfish at all.

However, things were not like old times, and Chang-min began to realise that they would probably never go back to the way they were before. Conversations seemed to revolve around more mature topics, work and mortgages, and Kyu-hyun made excuses to go home early. He even told Chang-min that he was giving up drinking on weeknights, and in a solemn voice said that he was about to become a proper family man.

It was a familiar old tale, Chang-min thought to himself as he walked home grumpily. Two best friends should be separated by a woman. Damn her pretty eyes, her pretty smile!

Chang-min saw Victoria one Sunday morning out of the blue. He was about to take his morning run when she rolled up outside his apartment, on a bicycle wearing sunglasses and short shorts. He couldn't help but notice the geometrically appealing curve of her leg. She stepped off the bike and called hello to him, and he was embarrassed that he had been caught staring. It wasn't very often that he saw her, and when he did it was always with Kyu-hyun and they rarely spoke to each other directly. He considered making an excuse to get away from her, but by the time he collected his thoughts she was already talking to him.

"Hello, how are you this morning?"

"Ah, fine thank you. And please, don't address me formally. We already agreed that we can be informal with each other, didn't we?"

Victoria smiled, but there was a hint of a sigh. "Very well then. Ah, maybe I shouldn't say this. I can't help but feel that you and I are a bit awkward still."

Chang-min was taken by surprise. She was right, but how could she say it so directly? He could do nothing but deny it now.

"No, no, I just don't know you very well yet."

"I brought you a cake." She smiled a little sheepishly as she took a box from the basket of her bicycle. "People say I make it pretty well, so I hope you like it. I thought it could be something of a peace offering? No, a friendship gift. I would like for us to be friends." She took her glasses off so there was no escaping her eyes. "I don't know a lot of people here yet, so I hoped that I could count on you as a friendly face..."

"Of course, of course," Chang-min spluttered. Now she was making him feel like a bad person. "We'll probably be seeing a lot of each other in the future."

"Anyway, I better be going now. I hope you enjoy the cake."

"Right, thank you!" he responded awkwardly as she mounted her bicycle. He blushed slightly as he was confronted once again by the sight of her pretty backside, and he stood there holding the cake for a few moments after she had left, watching as she disappeared down the street.