Dara looked down at the pile of clothes laid out on her bed. She had been sorting through her wardrobe to find an appropriate dress for her date with MinHo (Wait, when did it become a date?) for almost an hour and still couldn’t find anything. Bom stood at the doorway, looking at Dara with speculation in her eyes.

“Aren’t you just going to a pub? And with MinHo too. Why this fuss?” Bom said, munching on an apple.

“Because apparently it’s a really fancy pub and I don’t want to appear dowdy amongst flashy and fashionably dressed women,” Dara replied, with some irritation in her voice.

Bom, straightforward as usual, asked, “Are you sure you’re not stressing out over your attire because you want to look attractive to MinHo?”

Outraged, Dara threw a bundle of clothes at Bom and said, “Do you even hear yourself now? You’re not making any sense.”

“Fine, fine. Here, let me help you.”

Of course, with Bom-the-fashionista’s help, Dara was quickly able to decide on a dress.

MinHo kept staring at the vision before him – it seemed like an image straight from the fairytales. Dara stood before him, decked in a pretty lilac frock, with her glorious hair swept to one side, which exposed the creamy skin of her neck and shoulders.

“D-D-Dara, you look beautiful,” MinHo somehow managed to get the words out, despite the lump in his throat.

“Thanks, I just didn’t know what to wear to a fancy pub like this,” Dara replied, highly conscious of the fact that she was dressed up.

“You look amazing. Take a seat,” MinHo said, pulling the chair out.

As they took their seats, MinHo couldn’t tear his eyes away from Dara. Dara rarely dresses up because she shies away from parties, or any occasion that requires her to wear a dress. She’s most comfortable in her baggy clothes, as she had often told him. Of course, he had seen her dressed up once or twice but he had never been as affected as he was now.

After ordering their first round of drinks, MinHo asked Dara, “So how was the hospital visit?”

“Ugh, don’t even talk about it. Apparently, I have to wear the hand cast for another week and then go for ANOTHER check-up. And the very presence of Choi Seunghyun is so annoying.”

Laughing, MinHo replied, “I don’t understand why you are so averse to him. Has he done or said anything to you?

“No, not really. It’s the ideas which I associate with him. The fame, money, success, paparazzi, stalkers – all of that.”

Understanding dawned on MinHo. It was about Jung again. “Dara, you know right that you’ll have to move past what happened to Jung eventually. It is difficult, I know. I know that you will never be able to wrap your head around it. But someday, you will have to move past it.”

Clenching one of her fists and downing her shot with the other hand, Dara whispered fiercely, “That world destroyed Jung, and I can never ever like a person who comes from that world, someone who lives and breathes that world.”

“Fine, I get it. Let’s not talk about that right now,” MinHo replied, handing a glass of beer to Dara.

The evening turned into night, and the two friends continued to talk and joke with each other. Anyone wa