February 20, 2015
Ten months to D-Day

When Sohee arrives at the lobby of Hyunmi's apartment unit, trying to catch her slightly heavy breath after all the speed-walk, Hoseok is already there, constantly eyeing his watch, and Sohee can't feel anymore guilty.

"I'm so sorry, the elevator took to long to arrive," She chirps as soon as Hoseok is within speaking distance. The male only chuckles in understanding.

"It's okay. Though I was starting to get worried my message didn't reach," He grins, nervous hands shoved inside the pockets of his denims. Why are first dates always so nerve-wracking? "You ready?"

"Yeah!" A wide grin etched on the female's lips, and they're soon walking side by side along the pavement. "Where are we going, exactly? Nothing too fancy, I hope?"

"It's a secret," Hoseok hums. "But yes, just somewhere casual. I figured you'd like it more."

"It's like you already know me better than myself."

His shoulder slumps in relief, and he can't help from releasing another chuckle. "Well, I tried. And we shouldn't walk too long from here."

Sohee's getting more curious and anxious when Hoseok says nothing more, but she keeps her lips shut, not wanting to spoil the surprise with too many questions (although she does chants please not movies, please not movies, please not movies in her head).

“So, how was your day?”

Hoseok is just trying to break the ice (and awkwardness), Sohee realizes; she does get first date jitters too, though surprisingly, maybe not as much as he does. “Pretty well,” Sohee's head bobs in a few small nod, “You remember Hyunmi, right? The one I told you about who’s going to get married soon?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, we met up at her place with the other bridesmaids to talk about a few things for her wedding, though in the end we mostly just talked and gossiped.”

“Girls,” Hoseok shakes his head in amusement and Sohee scowls. “Did you at least managed to get something done?”

“Well, we did find like a check-list for her to keep in-track? There are so many things to on a wedding, you’re not gonna believe it. My head spun when I saw that list.”

“Oh, trust me, I know,” With a shake of his head, Hoseok laughs, but when he realizes Sohee is looking at him in shock and not laughing along with him, he quickly adds, “My roommate got married last year. It was a traumatic experience watching him and his girlfriend screaming twenty four-seven inside the house. She said planning a wedding changes people.”

“I heard differently,” Sohee scrunches her nose up and diverts her gaze forward, “It’s the marriage-life that changes people.”

“That too. But it all starts at the wedding.”

“Scary.”

“I know,” Hoseok sighs. “His girlfriend used to be an angel; gentle, quiet, full of smiles. She turned to a living, fire-breathing dragon during the time.”

Hoseok takes a turn to an old arcade game center a few blocks later, and Sohee, entirely unexpecting it, can only gasp in shock, her focus off the earlier discussion taken off completely. “Our first date is at a game center?!”

Her voice is surprisingly high-pitched that Hoseok isn’t sure it’s out of joy or sheer frustration. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“A very good thing, duh!” Sohee turns to him, excitement overflowing from her words, and before he knows it, he’s already being pulled inside the venue. “I can’t wait to beat you up at everything!”

The challenged boy scoffs in disbelief, but he leads her towards the nearest game anyway; a racing car. “I’m the best at this. Let’s see how you plan on ‘beating me up’.”

“Call!” Sohee can’t contain the smug grin on her face anymore and immediately takes a seat on one of the machine. It’s about time to let Hoseok now she’s not some girl he can mess with at games.

It starts rather expectedly, however, Hoseok’s car blasting forward in ingenious speed while Sohee whines, but it doesn’t stop her from kicking her gas pedal further and changing gears every now and then. Two years effort for a drivers’ license cannot go to waste now.

Nearing the second lap, Sohee has enough sense to turn the game around. Gliding forward passing three, four, five cars later, her car is already side by side with Hoseok’s, and hearing him groaning in frustration next to her lets her know that she’s doing the right thing.

Another lap, a pump- short-haired girl and a desperate boy smashing his forehead on his wheel later, the race comes to an end and Sohee gets to enter a few letters of her initial at the High Score board.

“You’re good at this,” Hoseok playfully squints his eyes at her as she types in DCSTK (he thinks it’s just a keyboard smash, but there’s a satisfied smile on Sohee’s lips that piques his curiosity, though he decides to swallow back a question).

“Told you,” Sohee brags, shoulders bouncing in exaggerated movement. “And I’m only just begun.”

By the end of the night, Hoseok learns that his bragging rights that he’s a good player is thrown out the window. Sohee successfully beats him up in all games he proposed, except the claw machine where they got 20,000 won more broke and absolutely nothing in return because, quoting Sohee, ‘it’s just a jealous machine who can’t let go of any of its precious plushies’.

But on the bright side, both of them are charged with probably an entire month worth of fun, Sohee just can’t stop grinning.

“That’s probably the most fun I’ve felt in years.”

They decides to spend the rest of the night sitting on the streetside bench, sipping on cheap, 7Eleven coffees and watching cars pass by. They could’ve walked for some food, but who knows playing in a game center for four hours straight can be so exhausting?

“Me too, thanks to you.”

“No, thanks to you,” Sohee grins, leaning her head to rest against the bench with her eyes closed. “Although I have to say, you pick the wrong girl to mess with.”

Hoseok chuckles, and Sohee can’t help but feel her cheeks warming up at the sound of it.

“Oh, believe me. I picked the right girl alright.”

He just can’t wait to have more dates with her, and when he turns to see the girl’s smile, he’s convinced Sohee feels the same way.

— ✩ ✩ ✩ —

Yerin glares at the two flyers held up in front of her. ‘EAT ALL FIFTEEN BOWLS OF RAMEN AND THEY’RE FREE!!” on her boyfriend’s right hand, and ‘BUY THREE PACKAGE OF SPICY RICE CAKES AND GET ONE JUMBO BOWL OF BIBIMBAP HALFPRICE!’ on his left.

“Are you telling me,” Yerin breathes through her nose (if this was a cartoon, she would’ve exhaled fire instead of carbondioxide), “that you called me just because you don’t know which to choose?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol frowns in all seriousness, entirely missing the deadly glare Yerin is sending him and only pulling both the flyers back for himself to read further, “It’s really hard, you know. I mean I want ramen really bad, but I don’t think I can do fifteen? And my friend said this other restaurant’s bibimbap is really good, like really good but the spicy rice cakes are really spicy, so I really don’t know which one I get.”

“How about one bowl of a good punch to your nose?” Yerin huffs in irritation and gives his forehead a not-so-light flick, “I was worried sick, you idiot, I thought something happened to you!”

“Ow,” Chanyeol whines childishly, rubbing one flyer to his poor forehead, “Well, you should be worried enough since your boyfriend is hungry?”

“You’re never not hungry,” Yerin deadpans. Chanyeol only grins sheepishly.

“Come on,” He tries again, holding up the flyer to her line-of-sight, “Choose one.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Yerin sighs. Chanyeol will never stop unless she does chooses. “This one then. I’m craving for some bibimpap, anyway.”

“Aw,” Chanyeol surprisingly looks dejected, and stares at the ramyun flyer, “I actually wanted this one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way you can finish fifteen bowls.”

“Not by myself,” He grins, nudging his girlfriend by the elbow, “It’s possible if we both do it.”

“No,” Yerin stays firm, and Chanyeol pouts, but really, it’s an everyday sight for Yerin that she, entirely unfazed, easily tugs him to walk with her. “Don’t even think about it, I don't have a stomach half as big as yours. What if we actually can’t finish fifteen? Are you going to pay for them?”

“No, I just have to eat the remaining bowls.”

The reply is both true and innocent that Yerin can’t help but groan in annoyance. “Still a no.”

This time, Chanyeol obliges, though still with a pout on his lips. Yerin almost breaks and coos at his adorableness, but no, she’s mad at him right now. Get yourself together, Yerin!

“Your stomach will feel very uncomfortable if you’re too full,” She sighs, trying to reason with him with her voice softer now as she laces her fingers with his, “You know I don’t like seeing you sick.”

“I know,” The tall male smiles before leaning down to press a kiss on the crown of her head. It’s one of the things about Chanyeol that Yerin barely ever understands (but likes anyway); he has a Mature-Immature switch that flips as fast as she blinks. “Let’s have some ramen tomorrow then. Normal portion ones.”

Yerin chuckles, nodding her head in agreement as she leans her head on his arm.

She realizes there actually has never been a moment long enough without the two of them bickering ever since they started dating. To others, it might seem a little risky, but to Yerin, it’s the exact thing they need to keep the relationship fun, so why not?

(Chanyeol’s pretty much a five-years-old inside anyway; he’s never mad at her for more than one good hour).

“So, how did the meeting go?”

“Hm, it was fine,” Yerin hums, “We’re actually making progress. Which is really good.”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol peers down at her curiously. “What kind of progress?”

“We found this check-list online that we thought might help Hyunmi with her progresses,” Her forehead creases slightly as she tries to remember the content. “There’s a lot of them. Weddings are so complicated.”

“They are?” Chanyeol frowns. “I wonder if that’s why Yura noona didn’t allow me to help her with hers. She didn’t want to disturb me with all the complications. Aw, how sweet.”

“Pretty sure that’s because she knew you would ruin everything.”

“Excuse you! We all know that’s not true…” His voice falters with each words; even he himself knows the amount of truth in his sentence. Yerin can only chuckle at that, giving her boyfriend’s cheek a gentle pat.

“But I guess that’s how weddings are. The most special day of your life, which hopefully will only happen once and for all.”

“Do you ever think of ours?”

The question takes Yerin aback. She never expects such a question from Chanyeol, not that they ever actually talk about marriage before, but still.

“I do,” She lowers her head and the volume of her voice, trying to hide herself out of embarrassment and for once glad that she’s at least one head shorter than the male. “Sometimes.”

“Good,” Yerin can hear the smile on his deep voice, subsequently making her heart hammers in her chest. “You better. I know I can be an awesome husband one day.”

“One day,” Yerin snorts to lighten up the atmosphere (it feels strange having a marriage talk with Chanyeol, even though they’ve been dating for a good three years now), and Chanyeol laughs.

The rest of their walk is filled with nothing but comfortable silence and occasional squeeze on her hand, and a smiling Yerin can’t seem to stop thinking that talking about the future with the always-live-in-the-moment Chanyeol might actually not be as bad as she fears.

— ✩ ✩ ✩ —

“What are you going to get her?”

Myungsoo only shrugs, but whether it’s because he really doesn’t have any idea or because he really doesn’t care, Seulyi will never know.

“Well, there are a lot we can buy around here, we should just look around.”

“Let’s just buy her a huge teddy bear or something.”

“She’s nineteen,” Seulyi crosses her arms over her chest, one of her eyebrows raised skeptically, “not five.”

“Same thing,” Myungsoo grumbles in return and ruffles his hair in frustration. “See, this is why I called you. You know her better than I do anyway.”

“I feel like you’re abusing this best friend privilege you have,” She lands a light smack on the small of his back with a sigh. “Be a good brother once in a while. Chiyeon might appreciate it more than you imagine.”

“Not my fault you’re a girl, too. Girls understand girls better. And hey,” he points a jokingly accusing finger at her, “I am a good brother to her, always.”

Seulyi rolls her eyes at him. “Sure you are. I bet you don’t even remember what year what class she is in.”

Myungsoo chuckles sheepishly. Seulyi is probably the only person alive who always manages to read him open like a book, it’s almost embarrassing. “Does it matter? I have you and that’s enough.”

There’s a faint blush creeping up Seulyi’s cheeks at his words. It’s at times like this that she finds it hard to wave off her own delusion that the words mean something else, even though she knows it’s not the case at all. But, you know, what if?

A cheerful bell sound clinking snaps Seulyi out of her trance; apparently Myungsoo has ignored her comment on getting his sister a teddy bear and enters a huge bear house nearby instead. This guy, really. But she follows him anyway, she’s not the one with the money.

“You go check the left corner, I’ll check the right. The bigger, the better.”

“What ever happens to ‘you know her better than I do’?” Seulyi snickers at his stubbornness (or is it practicality?), though she complies without much protest; again, she’s not the one with the money.

“I don’t have time to think for something else,” she hears Myungsoo replying from the other aisle, figure buried behind the high stack of plushies and teddy bears. “I’m a busy man, you know. My restaurant is doing really well lately.”

“You’re hardly ever there. Don’t act like it’s your doing, your sous-chef wouldn’t like it if he hears,” Seulyi almost snorts, but as soon as she’s finished with her words, Myungsoo suddenly slides back in her line-of-sight with a playful frown on his features.

“Stop raining on my parade.”

Seulyi raises her hands in defeat, and decides to pick up a half human-sized teddy bear to squeeze within her arms. “But honestly though, of all possible cliché gifts, why teddy bears.”

“Because every living girls like teddy bears? It’s a safe gift.”

“Uh, no, it’s not.”

Myungsoo’s eyes flickered from Seulyi to the teddy bear she’s squished so tightly to herself, and then he raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Riiight.”

Realizing the contrast between her words and her actions, Seulyi can only grumble to herself to hide her embarrassment. Stupid Myungsoo.

“Hey, Seulyi?”

She responses by lifting her eyes to meet his again, only to find him looking at her with such an unreadable expression she’s slowly burning up from the inside. Seconds from now she will start blushing, she knows it, and she has to avert her eyes elsewhere before he notices, but she can’t. She just can’t.

Her breath hitches indignantly when Myungsoo steps towards her in long strides, and before she can take another breathe-in, he’s already towering in front of her, his face only mere inches away from hers and her heart is pounding so loudly inside her ribcage and holy God is he going to kiss me now?! Any other day, she would worship her creators for the marvelous chance, but this… is all too sudden and the gears in her head is whirring all too loudly for her to think clearly.

That is, until she feels a loud blow of air to her (willingly) closed eyelids and a careless dusting on her hair.

“This fur sure isn’t of high quality one,” Myungsoo frowns as he takes a small step back, dusting the fur from his stubbornly sticking to his palms as well. “Don’t hold on it too tightly, you’ll get all of this all over you.”

… Kim Myungsoo, you little-

“Myungsoo sunbaenim!”

There’s a soft voice calling out from behind her and Seulyi can’t help but drag herself out of her shattering dreamland to face the origin. An unfamiliar face; tall, pretty, bright oranged-colored hair, is smiling brightly at Myungsoo.

Seulyi isn’t very fond of the uncomfortable churning on the pit of her stomach.

“Oh, Aemi!” There’s not a chance Seulyi missed that charming smile on him as he approaches the -blocker. “What a surprising moment to meet. What are you doing here?”

“I work here, actually, part time,” The girl, Aemi, gestures to her ridiculous bear-shaped apron uniform (but even Seulyi has to admit it does look good on her), still with a dazzling smile on her face. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for a doll for my sister’s birthday,” Myungsoo explains to her, and he notices how Aemi’s hopeful eyes and an even wider smile appears as her eyes fall on Seulyi, that he quickly adds. “No, no, not her. This is Seulyi. Seulyi, meet Aemi. She’s my mentee back in college.”

“For two and a half years,” The girl adds with a smile before shaking Seulyi’s hand, and Myungsoo chuckles his usual soft laugh in agreement, only Seulyi doesn’t like how it sounds this time. “I still don’t know I put up with you all those years.”

“Because you liked me too much,” Myungsoo nudges her and she laughs, while Seulyi stands very awkwardly on their side with her lips pursed. Where exactly will this talk head to?

“Perhaps I did. Or do, still,” The last three words are rather mumbled, but unlike Myungsoo, Seulyi doesn’t have a hard time missing it. “So, teddies, is it? We have a high quality one here.”

With a rather sour mood, Seulyi follows when Myungsoo tails after Aemi as she leads them towards the shelves on the very back, near the cashier. The bears are indeed and by the look on Myungsoo’s face as he sights the bears, Seulyi knows their search ends in less than two hours.

Poor Chiyeon. Myungsoo can be very dense to pay attention the most important facts, and unfortunately, Chiyeon is not the first victim of it.

Poor me.

— ✩ ✩ ✩ —

“You know, I saw Mr. Yoo the other day. With his daughter.”

Heejin gasps in surprise and turns to look at her cousin. “Our fifth grade homeroom teacher, Mr. Yoo?! The old bachelor? He’s married?!”

“The very one,” Hyunmi opens her eyes now, a grin on her lips as she looks at Heejin, “His daughter is so pretty. It’s surprising for someone with that grasshopper-like face.”

“Her wife’s genes, then,” Heejin lies back down on the bed when she’s calmed down from her surprise and laughs, “I mean he was a really good person. Most is bound to end up with a beautiful person.”

“Does that mean Woohyun is a really good person to end up with me?”

Heejin only turns to look at her cousin, an eyebrow raised playfully, “I said most. Not all.”

“Yah! What does that mean?!”

Heejin’s laugh echoes throughout the room when it’s her turn to have a pillow smacked square on her face. “I’m kidding, you’re gorgeous! The most gorgeous bride-to-be in the whole planet!”

“That’s more like it,” Hyunmi huffs in a childlike manner as she lowers her arms. “But really, do you think we should visit our old school? We haven’t been there in a while.”

“A while as in more than fifteen years,” Heejin chuckles softly. Maybe they should. It would be a nice walk to the past kind of moment for the two of them, “But I’m in!”

Hyunmi cheers. “What are we waiting for then?! Onwards the very school who taught us tardiness means no lunch for a week!”

A hearty laugh slips from Heejin’s lips, and soon enough, she’s arm-in-arm with the smaller girl already, matching steps marched towards her door.

Nine bus stations and fifteen minutes walk later, the cousins let out a long sigh at the sight of the short, yet sturdy gate of their old school.

“Remember when this felt like that Attack of the Titans walls to us?”

“Aw,” Heejin coos as she reaches her hand forward to Hyunmi’s hair. “You must be so happy to know you actually grew taller after all these years.”

“Hey!” Hyunmi makes a face, but Heejin only bursts out laughing. “You are a horrible cousin.”

“You love me anyway.”

“Lucky you,” Hyunmi scrunches her nose up as she jumps over the fence. They might be taller than they used to be, but that doesn’t mean they acquire the skill to do so without much difficulty. They managed to, after minutes of struggling and laughing, that even Heejin brushed off the sting of pain of her scraped knee.

“It still looks the same on the outside,” The shorter of the two sighs as she scans her eyes around, “Though I’m sure it’s all computerized already inside.”

Heejin only hums, walking a few more steps before flopping down under the big tree, legs stretched forward. “It’s a shame the school’s locked.”

“I know,” Hyunmi follows suit, settling herself to sit next to her and resting her head on her shoulder, eyes slowly falls shut at the newfound comfort, “How nice would it be if we could visit our old classes and reminisce our glorius days as teachers’ pets.”

Heejin laughs at that, both because it sounds really funny now that they’re all adult and also because it’s actually true. “Do you remember us just leaving our homeworks at the first row table so that everyone else could copy it?”

Hyunmi lifts her head at that, eyebrows furrowing. “I never did that.”

“What?” Heejin blinks. “Oh. Maybe it’s just me then.”

“You’re too nice sometimes, Heejin,” Hyunmi sighs before letting her head rest on her cousin’s shoulder yet again. Said girl only shrugs lightly, resting her head on top of the shorter female and closing her eyes as well to enjoy the afternoon breeze. They’re content with just lying there doing nothing; it has been a while for them to properly meet and spend some quality time together, not when Heejin’s busy adapting to office life and Hyunmi slowly realizing she’s months away from being somebody’s wife.

Both of them are seconds away from falling asleep when Hyunmi’s phone suddenly plays a specific tone, startling them both awake and causing Hyunmi to hastily presses the device to her ear. “Hello?”

“Change of plan,” It’s obvious Woohyun is grinning wide from the other line, “I managed to sneak out and leave work early. Where are you?”

Hyunmi laughs, happy at the news. “Our old school. We were going to thrash the place and leave handprints all over but apparently it’s locked. Boo,” she mocks a pout, and Heejin chuckles beside her, already realizing it’s Woohyun without having to listen properly. “Pick me up?”

“You? Trying to thrash your old school?” It’s Woohyun’s turn to laugh now. “That’s even less believable than when you said you were the tallest girl in class in first grade.”

“Hey, that one is true!” The petite girl huffs, “It’s not my fault my growth spurt stopped before it actually worked.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say, angel.”

“You’re a horrible boyfriend sometimes.”

“Again, it’s fiancé,” Woohyun chuckles, “Alright, I’ll be driving now, see you soon, Princess. I love you!”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting. Drive safe, I love you more!”

It’s only when she hangs up the phone does she realizes that Heejin has been staring at her, an obnoxiously wide grin etched on her lips.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” The younger female only hums, “I just can’t help but think how cute you two are and how perfect you are together. Your wedding planning will go down very smoothly, I can tell.”

“Aw,” Hyunmi coos and ruffles Heejin’s hair a little, “Thank you, cousin. I have a feeling it will be a blast since you and the girls are helping as well.”

“That’s right. We have to endure being helpful little elves until D-Day to keep the bride-to-be happy.”

Hyunmi happily nods. “That’s the spirit!”

— ✩ ✩ ✩ —

What are the odds of being abandoned alone by your cousin and ending up walking aimlessly around a shopping mall all by herself?

Heejin should know, now that she’s experiencing it.

It’s not that she’s complaining, but obviously, she expected a day full of cousin-bonding after Woohyun told Hyunmi that he has to do overtime. But the plan was quick to be shattered, and Heejin ends up sitting at the corner of Starbucks as the day falls to dark, alone, with a cup of iced cappucino to accompany her.

Not cool.

Okay, maybe slightly cool, since it’s Starbucks. But still.

It doesn’t help that the creepy guy from the other corner keep glancing at her and flashing her his creepy grins every now and then. She visibly shudders, trying to shake it off by taking a long sip of her coffee. What a bad ending to a beautifully-started day.

But apparently, her misery doesn’t end there. She almost chokes on her drink when she sees the creepy male raises from his seat and walks towards her. No, she panics, no no no no, this cannot be happening. Her palms are sweaty now in nervousness, but it would be too obvious if she shows how fidgety she is now that he’s only steps away from her.

“Hi.”

Oh, wow, his voice isn’t so bad.

“I noticed you’ve been sitting here for a while now, so I assume you weren’t waiting for anyone,” The guy just happens to be so casually sit next to her, on her table, infiltrating her zone, “If you were, then don’t bother, you’re already being stood up.”

Oh, wow, rude. Forget I ever complimented him.

“That is actually none of your business, thank you,” Heejin replies, slightly cold, and she’s surprised at her newfound non-shaking voice.

“Feisty,” the male chuckles, unfortunately seeming more impressed rather than backing down at the lash, and Heejin almost whimpers in desperation. I really do not want this right now. “My name is Hoya, but I can assure you, you can call me tonight.”

There’s a wink following those words and it’s getting a little harder for Heejin to hold back from throwing herself off a cliff.

“Thanks, but no thanks. Please leave me alone.”

“And miss my shot at a date with a pretty girl like you? I don’t think so.”

Heejin is close to slamming her forehead to the table, but before she can even blink, a rather familiar voice cuts in.

“Sorry it took me so long, baby, the line was too long and they almost forgot my coffee. Is this man bothering you?”

There’s an arm casually sliding around her shoulders after and then soft lips pressing against her cheek and Heejin, utterly surprised, turns and lifts her head at the culprit so fast her head almost spins.

Oh, for God’s sake, I really don’t need this right now.

“Oh,” the Hoya guy stutters, half-terrified now that he finds out the girl he’s trying to hit on is not exactly single (or is she?), and with an inaudible mumble of an apology, he quickly scurries away.

“Well, that was rather easy. I thought he’d actually put up a fight,” the new male wolf-whistles before casually sitting across Heejin’s seat, a playful grin on his lips. “Fancy seeing you here, Song Heejin-sshi.”

“Kim sajangnim,” Heejin sighs at the sight of her boss, but even so, she still nods her head at him politely and keeps her eyes on her lap afterwards. No one needs to know the feeling of his lips still lingers on her reddening cheeks.

“Please, we’re not at the office now. Call me Minseok.”

“But, I don't—“

“I insist,” Minseok raises an eyebrow at her, and Heejin can’t help but purses her lips, obeying almost immediately. “You know, if you don’t want to be hit on by a guy, make sure you bring another girls with you next time. Or another guy, for that matter.”

“I just didn’t think someone actually would hit on me.”

“Eh,” Minseok turns his head towards the front door again, and then around the café, his shoulders bouncing up in a small shrug before he takes a short sip of his coffee, “Me too. I mean there are prettier girls here, obviously.”

Heejin grits her teeth at the sudden change of demeanor. What a jerk. “Thank you,” she mumbles, hardly meaning the words but he does help him get out of a difficult situation anyway.

“You owe me one.”

What. “I didn’t actually ask you to help me.”

“But you still do,” Minseok crosses his legs now, with a smug little smirk on his lips and oh how I wish I can slap him without any fear of being fired. “You’re coming home with me.”

“Excuse me?!” Heejin gasps in surprise, eyes wide. What is he thinking?!

Minseok rolls his eyes as if he can read her mind. “Relax. I meant I will take you to your own home. It’s getting late, stupid jerks will start popping up even more.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Heejin blurts without even thinking, and when the words registered in her mind, she quickly clamps her hand over in shock. “I’m sorry, Sir, I didn’t mean—“

But Minseok only waves it off with a chuckle, though his expression is unreadable. Heejin decides not to touch the matter again as the wordless male leads her towards her car.

This is going to be one hell of an awkward drive.

— ✩ ✩ ✩ —

It’s not exactly unlike Woohyun to wander around to an unknown neighborhood, but they’ve been driving for almost an hour now to the part of town that Hyunmi has never been that she can’t help but ask, “Where exactly are we going to now?”

Woohyun only replies her with another question. “Do you remember Mira?”

Hyunmi scrunches her eyebrows as she turns to him, the gears in her head whirring as they try to match the name with a face. “Your seatmate for three years high school, Han Mira?”

“The very one,” Woohyun glances at her with a grin. “She was off to study in the Netherlands after high school, and now she’s back and guess what?”

Hyunmi responses with a curious blink.

“She owns a florist now.”

“Really?!” Hyunmi claps her hands together excitedly. “Does that mean we can get our flowers half-price?! You are her close friends, right? Right? We can get a discount, right?”

“Calm down, princess,” The male laughs. “I mean I will try. That will depend on how hard she does her business. Hopefully we will.”

“We have to,” Hyunmi nods her head in determination, “we need all the discounts we can get.”

“And here I thought all girls want to go all out with their weddings and only want all the high quality stuff.”

“And what makes you think we can’t bargain ourselves to get cheap prices for high quality stuff?” Hyunmi playfully wiggles her eyebrows, and Woohyun bursts out laughing louder.

“Ah, I must be a war hero in my past life to deserve someone as perfect as you.”

“Cut the cheese, Mr. Nam,” Hyunmi clicks her seat belt off right after Woohyun parks in front of a certain house and leans forward to plant a kiss on her fiancé’s cheek, “we have some sales to tackle.”

“Wait, no, I told her today’s just a friendly visit—“

The male can only watch as Hyunmi hops off his car and jogs towards the front door excitedly, and he can’t help a chuckle himself before following her steps and letting her knock on the door. It’s alright, he knows how to handle two girls together. Hopefully.

A rather tall, black-haired girl opened the door a few moments later, confused at first when her eyes fall on Hyunmi, but it immediately turns into crescents alongside the widening smile on her lips when she sees Woohyun.

“Wow, I can’t believe you actually came today!”

“I did say I would!” Woohyun laughs, enveloping his dear friend into his arms. “Wow, it’s been so long, how have you been?”

“Oh, you know, just hanging in there,” Mira chuckled as she gives Woohyun a few gentle pat in the back. It takes her a while until her eyes fall on Hyunmi again, and much to Hyunmi’s surprise, she smiles widely as she offers her hand. “And this pretty lady must be your fiancé.”

“Call me Hyunmi,” The petite girl hugs her instead, startling her, but soon enough she falls to a fit of chuckle. As expected of someone who's a good match to Woohyun. “A friend of Woohyun is a friend of mine.”

“But a friend of hers is not always a friend of mine,” Woohyun huffs childishly, “not when she has so many good-looking male friends.”

“Oh, come on,” Hyunmi nudges him with her elbow and a playful smile. “You might not be the most good-looking but I chose you anyway.”

“Yeah, well—“ Woohyun is about to shrug, but then he realizes the oddness in her words and he scowls, “Excuse me, I’m sure none of your friends is nearly as good-looking as me!”

“Sure, they’re not,” It’s Mira who’s answering, and Hyunmi laughs at that, happy that for once she gets to fiancée and not the other way around.

“I don’t like this,” Woohyun’s nose scrunching up slightly. “You two are bonding way too fast.”

“Sisters before misters.” Mira sticks her tongue out at him before chuckling and leading the couple inside.

“Woohyun told me you’re a florist?” It’s either that she’s too excited or just impatient that the question pops out as soon as her touches the softness of Mira’s couch, “So I was wondering if you can give us a discount if we ask you to help our flower decorations for our wedding?”

“Whoa, babe—“

The florist bursts out laughing yet again, head shaking in amusement at the unexpected question. “She’s a keeper, Nam-sshi, you better not let her go.”

“I never planned to,” Woohyun grins his signature smirk, and Hyunmi feels her cheeks reddening at how blunt he is.

Mira throws him a meaningful grin and chuckles. “Alright then, to answer you, Hyunmi, yes, I am a florist. But about the discounts, I can give you some, just not too much.”

“It’s alright!” Hyunmi smiles at her brightly. “I appreciate your help, really. Thank you.”

Mira returns the smile just as radiantly. “You’re welcome, I’d be glad to help. I know how complicated and expensive a wedding is. Mine squeezed every possible won out of my pockets.”

“Wait, wait—“ Woohyun holds up both his hands in surprise, “You’re married?”

“Yes?” The reply translates as ‘duh’ but then she remembers not inviting him. "Right, sorry for not inviting you? The wedding was back in the Netherlands and we didn't have many guests, so I kind of didn't invite anyone else from Korea other than my parents."

Woohyun’s nearly scowl at the revelation, considering both of them are close enough to disclose any event as important as a wedding, and opens his mouth to refute, but they are all stopped at the sound of the front door opening and keys jingle.

“Oh, hello,” A neatly dressed male enters the scene with a hesitant greeting when he sees two unfamiliar figure inside his house. He'd be suspicious, but apparently his wife is sitting with them, so he smiles anyway. “I didn’t know we were having some company.”

“They told me they'd visit today but I thought they were just joking,” Mira rises from her seat to meet him as he presses a soft kiss to her cheek, before turning to the couple again with a smile to introduce him. “Woohyun, Hyunmi, meet my husband.”

“Pleasure to meet you, I'm Mark,” The male flashes a smile as he shakes both Woohyun and Hyunmi’s hands, but soon the arm snakes around Mira’s waist again. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything important?”

“No, no, we were just chatting away, actually,” Woohyun returns the polite smile before sitting down again with Hyunmi following suit.

“I see. That's a relief,” Mark nods his head, the reply mostly just to be polite, before turning to his wife again. “And how’s my princess doing?”

Mira coos at the nickname; it's obvious she's loving it. “The princess is rather exhausted from work today that she forgot to cook dinner. Do you mind?”

“I was actually talking about the other princess,” Mark chuckles as he presses a chaste kiss to his wife’s pouting lips, “but sure, it’s been a while since I cooked anyway.”

Hyunmi can’t help a smile from spreading on her lips at the warm interaction as Mark leaves them to strut towards a fully pink-decorated room; she wonders if she and Woohyun can stay just as loving when they have a baby of their own. It seems easy to watch others do it, but she knows how challenging it is to experience your own.

“Right,” Mira claps her hands again, catching both Woohyun and Hyunmi’s attention back at her. “Where were we? Ah, discounts.”

Hyunmi nervously nods her head.

“How much I can give depends on what flowers do you plan to use.”

“Oh. Okay…”

There’s silence after that, and Hyunmi’s strangely feel like Mira is waiting for her, though for what, she isn’t too sure.

“Uhm, so what flowers are you planning to use...?”

Oh. “Oh, right!” Hyunmi anxiously glances at her fiancée briefly and clears , “Well… Actually, we still haven’t thought of that.”

Mira blinks, slightly taken aback. “Wait, really?” Her eyes dart towards Woohyun for confirmation, only to have the male grinning sheepishly at her. “But I thought you only have until the end of the year?”

“We do,” Woohyun purses his lips, now unsure of his own answer.

“Wow,” Mira sounds surprised, and Hyunmi can’t help but feel a little uneasy. “No, alright, it’s okay, we can talk again later when you have decided, but make sure not to take too long, you’re a little behind average time to prepare your wedding.”

“Is that bad?” Hyunmi can’t stop herself from asking.

“For some couples, yes,” Mira actually looks concerned now as her eyes switches from Hyunmi to Woohyun, “Especially if they actually haven’t laid a basic idea of how their wedding will look like.”

“That’s us,” Woohyun turns to Hyunmi, meeting Hyunmi’s petrified gaze with his very own.

“It’s okay!” It is obvious Mira only wants to ease the mood by how quick she responds, but even Hyunmi realizes now it is definitely not alright to be ten months away from their wedding without barely anything prepared. “Maybe we can start discussing it together now? If you’re both free?”

Woohyun sighs. This was supposed to be only a friendly visit, but reality check does have its scary moments sometimes.

“Sure, let’s do this now.”

I'm sorry this is so long I didn't even know what I wrote omg.

Also yay for Yoo Jaesuk as a cameo-mention.