(March 6th, 2014).

It's raining outside and Kai hates it. 

Rainy nights remind him of his parents and their many fights. Of the way they carelessly threw around his name like it was a curse, as if the person that ended up with him was going to end up miserable. He remembers nights spent locked up in his room, crying and turning music up loud so that he couldn't hear their shouts. He remembers running outside 

He is glad he no longer has to see them. He's happier without them and they are happier without him. 

It's his last day in Seoul before he has to attend a performance in Paris, and it's painfully dull. The only thing he has by his side tonight is a bottle of champagne. 

"Why haven't you been calling?"

Startled by the voice, Kai glances up from his desk, an array of papers scattered on it. 

It's his girlfriend. Or at least, he thinks she still is. But he doesn't really know if he can call her that at this point... 

Suzy is pretty. He dates her because she's pretty and nice. She doesn't ask many questions and is always conveniently there when he needs her. Her eyes are large and dark, while she has neat, straight bangs that go across her forehead.

Just like she did.

Suzy doesn't come looking for him unless he contacts her first. She knows he's busy.  But today seems to be an exception because she's standing in the doorway of his room, her hands balled into fists. She's drenched from head to toe and she looks like she's about to start crying at any second now. 

"I was busy these past few days," He replies, hoping it sounds sincere.

He's a bastard, really. Suzy is a wonderful, great girl and she is being wasted on someone as pathetic as him.

"These past few days?" Her voice is trembling. "It's been over a few weeks, Kai."

She's crying now, her hands furiously wiping at her eyes. He feels pity for her, but he doesn't know what to say. He should be comforting her, scooping her up in his arms and whispering in her ear that he loves her. To give her reassurance, to let her know that he cares about her.

But he doesn't. Suzy is pretty and nice, but she doesn't make his heart beat any faster.  He tries to make myself love her, but he's haunted by the memories of neat, straight bangs and large, dark eyes that belong to another person.

He likes to pretend that he doesn't see her in Suzy. That Suzy is a different person. That Suzy is pretty and nice, while she was awful. She was the worst thing that had happened to him. 

That's a lie. 

"I'm sorry," He finally speaks, walking so that he is next to her. "Even if I apologize a million times, it won't be enough. You deserve someone better than me."

As the words escape his mouth, she looks at him in horrified realization. His heart twists at her expression and it sickens him that even in this moment, he is  thinking of someone else.

"Leave," He says softly. "Please."

And she does. She runs out of the room, the scent of her perfume lingering. Her sobs ring in his ears and he wishes, for a second, that he had loved her.

A ring from his phone interrupts his thoughts and he gets up to answer it. 

"Hello?"

"H-Hello? Oh my god, is this actually Kai?"

He sighs, thinking it is a fan. He opens his mouth to reprimand the girl on the other end, when she continues to speak, high-pitched and fast.

"It's Park Shinhye! You know, from high school? I was kind of close to Seohyun..."

In a second, it becomes hard to breathe.

How is it, that after six years, just her name makes his heart thunder? Seohyun should just be a name to him, not memories of soft laughs and creamy skin. It's unfair, so unfair. And he almost laughs out of misery because he is still that boy in high school that would give up everything for her. Everything about her will haunt him forever -- her bangs, her skin, her laugh, everything. 

"Uh, hello?"

He clears his throat, forgetting about the phone call he was in the middle of.

"Er, yes, I remember you. Do...do you need something?"

It's a somewhat rude statement, but also a honest one. 

"Well...I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but I'm actually getting married this Sunday. I wanted to invite all my friends from high school, and I know you're probably super busy, but I wanted to try asking you anyway, if you could make it. The ceremony's at Zeus Hotel, 6PM. I...I mean, Seohyun's going to be there too."

"She is?" He hates how eager he sounds. 

"Y-Yeah! So, do you think you could make it?"

He pauses, closing his eyes. He tells himself he's only going to hurt her. To see her pretty eyes widen and become vulnerable because of him. 

You deserve to be hurt the way I was. 

"Yeah, I'm free that day," He says, and his tone is casual and light. "I'll be there."

After a brief exchange of 'thank you's' and 'your welcome's', he hangs up and dials another number into his phone.

They pick up on the first ring.

"Okay, Kim Kai, I'm going to be positive and assume that you're not calling me because you've caused trouble. Especially since it's the day before you go -- "

"Sungmin-hyung," He interrupts. "Cancel my flight for Paris."

"Wha...? Have you gone crazy? Everyone over in Paris is expecting you! You're drunk, aren't you? You've got to be --"

He wishes he was drunk. But he hasn't drank that much and he knows that everything he's doing right now will have its consequences later.

Maybe this isn't even worth it. What's the point in seeing her if it's going to hurt him more? She'll probably be there laughing, happy and unaffected, unlike him.

But I still want to see her.

His heart races.

"Sorry, hyung! You know I change my mind easily."

And with that, he hangs up. 

--------

(March 7th, 2014). 

More and more these days, Yoona thinks love is just an excuse to get hurt.

It's that way in every relationship, even the ones where it seems like those in the relationship are hopelessly in love with each other. Because love isn't sweet, it's cruel, unforgiving, and painful, no matter who you are. 

In high school, she used to think that being the person who liked the other more was the most painful thing, but now, she realizes that it hurts for both sides.

It hurts just as much to be loved more than to be loved less.

In her first year of college, she meets a guy named Jungsu. He's a few years ahead of her, but they're both majoring in journalism, and above all, he's immediately infatuated with her.

They end up dating, and are still together now. He likes her a lot more than she likes him. In all honesty, she isn't even sure that she loves him at all.

That fact should hurt him more than it hurts her, but Junsu remains delightfully oblivious. Only she suffers from it, spending nights hating herself and practicing the smiles she's going to wear for him.  

But he's good to her family and her mother adores him. That's more than enough. It should be worth the sleepless nights.  

"Do you not like the food here?"

She blinks. She crashes back down to reality. 

"No, it's delicious!" She smiles. "I just had a lot on my mind."

Jungsu an eyebrow at her. "Like what?"

She says whatever she can think of. "Like my job. My boss has been nagging at me to get an interview with someone, quote and quote, worthwhile."

He laughs. "Don't you have a lot of famous classmates from high school?"

"Famous classmates?" She scoffs jokingly. "What are you talking about?"

"No...you went to Dongguk high school, right? I heard that the CEO of Xi Corporations went there..."

She feels nothing when she hears those words. No pain, no surprise-- just blankless. It isn't indifference, it's as if she's hearing a foreign language, one full of confusing letters and sounds

It feels strange to hear news related to them. 

 "Really? I don't know him..." She pretends to ponder over what he said for a moment. "I wasn't really close with many people there."

"So you were a wallflower then," Jungsu remarks. "You have no idea how thankful I am for that. If you weren't, then who knows what sort of guy would've snatched you up back then and stole your heart?"  

It's meant to be a joke, but she feels hollow hearing it.

"Ah! But didn't you get a call from your high school classmate recently? Something about her wedding?" Jungsu asks, and she tries not to panic. She recalls mentioning Shinhye's call to him briefly but she didn't think he'd remember something as trivial as that. 

"I did, but it's nothing important. I wasn't that close with her anyway..."

Jungsu flicks her on the forehead. "Sometimes, you're so slow! If you go there, there's a chance that you might get to see the CEO guy and ask him for an interview."

She wishes he'd stop. "Don't be ridiculous, oppa. Why would someone that famous come to an old high school classmate's wedding?"

"Hey, there's still a chance! If you're afraid, we can go together."

She opens to argue, but realizes that she'll end up agreeing with him in the end. There isn't a way that she can win. "Okay, fine."

He grins and then studies her face for a moment, before he speaks again.

"Actually, there was a special reason why I wanted to have dinner with you today."

She stares at him in confusion. "A reason?"

He rises from his seat and gets down on one knee, pulling out a jewelry box from his pocket. He's smiling at her, that crooked grin of his, and opens the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring.

"Will you marry me?"

She remembers her mother telling that a proposal was one of the most happiest moments in a girl's life. But right now, she can only feel herself suffocating. She wants to breathe, she needs to breathe.

I can't marry him. I can't do this to him or to myself.

But everyone in the restaurant is watching them, applauding and smiling. And Jungsu, he stays there, still smiling at her, looking like he's truly happy, like he's overjoyed that he's proposing to her right now.

"Yes," It comes out as a whisper, and she forces herself to smile. She hopes it reaches her eyes.

He slides the ring onto her finger and everyone cheers for them. She's going to be happy. She'll get married with Jungsu and have a family of her own, and none of her smiles will be fake then. She'll love Jungsu for real.

She repeats it like a mantra in her head.

But it hasn't been even five minutes since she's worn the ring and already, it feels like an anchor, dragging her to Jungsu, tying her to him.

This is the choice you made, Her mind bitterly hisses at her. You deserve to feel the consequences of it.

So she hugs Jungsu and pretends that the warmth of his embrace soothes her.

----------

(March 8th, 2014)

It's a day before Shinhye's wedding when Seohyun gets a call in the middle of the night.

She tries her best not to think about the voicemail. She spends her time searching for extra jobs instead because now, she's officially unemployed.

The board members are delighted when they call her to their room. It's a blessing for them that she's finally made a mistake. The whole time, it feels like they're just stringing up a long way to say, 'I told you so!', and she wishes they could just finish it quickly by telling her she's fired. 

She doesn't tell anyone that she's lost her job. Her father would be disappointed, while her mother would worry to death about her. 

Her father had always wanted a son. A son that could smoke, drink, and play baseball with him. He didn't care too much about a daughter that was soft-spoken and demure. 

She doesn't hate him for it. She's never been very close to him, or her mother, in the first place. She talks to them simply because they are her parents. 

After an entire day spent searching online for jobs, she finally decides to go to sleep. Her eyes are barely shut when her phone rings, loud and blaring in the middle of the night. She almost wants to curse, but she doesn't.

She never does.

It's an unknown number and she debates not picking it up, but decides to because it could be someone wanting to hire her.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Uh...Seohyun?"

It's a female's voice. "Yes, who is this?"

"I guess you didn't get my voicemail...um...it's Shinhye...Park Shinhye, from high school."

She's about to press the 'end call' button, when the other girl begins to panic.

"Please don't hang up! Did you listen to my voicemail?"

She stays silent for a moment, before replying, "I did."

"O-oh...well, I'm not going to ask why you didn't call back because that's not important right now. Could you please show up to my wedding tomorrow? I need you to be there!"

"I'm bu -- "

"I'm begging you, Seohyun! I invited tons of people from high school, but all of them said no or ignored me. You're my only hope! I bragged to my husband that my high school friends were going to be there!"

"Why me?" She asks, unable to hide the annoyance in her voice. "You were closer with a lot more people than me..."

"Yah! Please, Seohyun. It's my special day tomorrow and you won't come?"

She wants to tell her no, that she won't be coming, because she has better things to do than attend the wedding of a girl she wasn't very close with in high school.

But things don't go the way she plans. 

"...Fine. 6PM at Zeus Hotel, right?"

She thought she was a lot colder, a lot stronger now, but maybe she's still the weak-hearted, soft-spoken girl from high school, the one that listens to everything anyone tells her to do. 

It disgusts her.

"Yup! You're the best! See you tomorrow, bestie!" 

Beep. 

----------

(March 8th, 2014).

Shinhye doesn't think her day (or actually, night)  can get any better.

She smiles as she gets off the phone with Seohyun. She feels bad for using the girl in a way to get Kai to come to her wedding, but it's not her fault for wanting a world-famous pianist to attend the most special day of her life.

She giggles to herself in excitement for tomorrow.

Beep.

 Thinking it to be a message from Seohyun, she picks up her phone in curiousity.

Text from unknown number.

She opens it and reading it over, her eyes widen in disbelief.

"Holy ..."

This is Xi Luhan. I'm sorry I couldn't pick up your call the other day. My secretary informed me about it. I just wanted to let you know that I will be at your wedding tomorrow.

-----

A/N: No Luhan this chapter! :( Sorry!

So, to be totally honest, I have no idea what pairings will be the final ones at this point. LuYoonKaiSeo is my OT4 (ok that name is made up lol), so I just wanted to write something with the four of them as the main characters.

(thank you for reading! any feedback is appreciated!<3)

(uh...and i wrote the introduction from my foreword in past tense, but the rest of the story will be in present tense, so yea..)