“Solar, should I wear a bow tie or a tie? Or maybe none?” She knocked on the bathroom door where Solar was changing into her clothes for the dinner.

Not being able to decide, Moonbyul had packed a few different accessories for her suit. For a moment she debated between wearing a suit or a dress, but the suit had quickly won. It was what she usually wore to fancy parties and what she was more comfortable with. It was already going to be a painful night, she didn’t need to add being uncomfortable with her clothes.

Also she looked damn good with them. Not that she would say it out loud.

“Give me a second! I’m almost done.” Solar asked behind the door. She was carefully applying the last part of her make up. She had decided to go for a natural effect, with a light pink lipstick, black eyeliner to accentuate her eyes with help of the soft coral eye shadow and a bit of blush to give her face more colour. Looking closely at herself in the mirror, she nodded happy with the result.

Moonbyul put all her ties on the bed and was scratching her head indecisive when she heard the door being opened. She turned around to ask Solar’s opinion again but she stopped in her tracks.

“What do you think?” Solar asked shyly, turning so Moonbyul could see the dress from all angles.

Moonbyul continued looking at her with open. She felt as if she had lost her voice and wow, suddenly the room was a bit too hot. Forcing herself to do something, she cleared . A glass of water would have been perfect in that moment.

“You look… Great.” She croaked.

Great didn’t even start to make her justice. Even gorgeous fell short. She was wearing a white dress that fell a bit over her knees and had an open neckline that showed her shoulders and enough of her collarbone to distract anyone. It was classy, simple and beautiful. She looked like an angel.

Satisfied with the reaction, Solar beamed and approached Moonbyul. With care, she took the collar of Moonbyul’s shirt and fixed it, straightening it.

“I like it better without any tie, looks a bit more casual. But I have an idea.” Excited, she headed to her suitcase and started looking for something. Once she found it, she turned back to Moonbyul and showed her a red handkerchief. “My heels are red.” She explained while she folded the fabric. “So you could wear this and we will match!” Solar finished happily.

Unable to stop a smile, Moonbyul took the handkerchief. “That’s a great idea. We’ll do that.” She put it inside the blazer’s pocket. She had to admit it looked nice. She stretched her arms towards Solar. “Can you help me fold the sleeves?”

When Solar finished, Moonbyul took a deep breath. That was it. She was ready. Or at least that’s what she wanted to think. Either way, she couldn’t postpone this anymore.

“Time to go?” Solar asked sofly with a soft smile, showing her support.

Moonbyul felt reassured. As long as she had Solar next to her, it was going to be okay. Feeling confident for a moment, she smirked.

“Pretty ladies first.”

The lounge was bigger than they thought it would be, with an access to an also big outdoor patio. It was already half filled and the loud buzz of the ongoing conversations were already making her feel uncomfortable.

She recognized some faces at first sight, but she couldn’t place others. She hadn’t shared classes with everybody so it made sense.

Whispering in Solar’s ear so she could hear her among all the noise, she told her she was going to get a couple of drinks. Solar nodded and told her she would try to find a free table in return.

Venturing on her own, Moonbyul dodged her ex-classmates as she walked toward the bar. It took her a couple of minutes until one of the waiters noticed her, but soon enough he served her the drinks she ordered. Taking a sip from her drink, she turned around and studied the people around her.

She had to admit being there gave her a strange feeling. A bit on anxiety mixed with some melancholy. She couldn’t help it and she didn’t like it. There was nothing about high school that she missed. But maybe what she missed was what it could have been. If her classmates didn’t happen to be jerks, of course.

And she wouldn’t lie to herself, she was also taking her time to look for Krystal among the crowd. But she didn’t seem to be there yet. Maybe she was outside. Or maybe something had come up and she couldn’t come.

Shaking her head, she forced herself to forget about her for a little while. Wondering about her whereabouts wouldn’t change anything, so she focused on finding Solar.

She found her at the other end of the room, close to the door that led to the patio, so she started to make her way to her. But a few meters forward, she was forced to stop when a man got in her way.

She looked up and froze. She would recognize that face everywhere. He made sure she could never forget him. After all he was the main reason she got bullied during high school.

He looked different. He had gotten taller and stronger. She could see the shape of his muscles under his suit. But what hadn’t changed at all was his smirk, the one he used every time he felt like scaring her.

“I can’t believe it.” He said letting out a laugh. “You are the last person I expected to see here.”

Moonbyul clenched her jaw but kept silent. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of looking scared, even if a part of her was telling her to run away from him as fast as she could.

He laughed again and Moonbyul wishes she was brave enough to punch him in the face. A sweet revenge for all the times he slammed her against the school lockers.

“What, cat got your tongue?”

Moonbyul took a deep breath and clenched her hands around the glasses she was holding.

“Hello Mark.” She greeted with her most neutral voice and expression.

“Oh, so she talks after all.” He mocked her again.

Deciding that she had already stayed there time enough, she thought about a quick way of getting out of there.

“It’s been nice catching up Mark, but there’s someone waiting for me.”

Without waiting for him to reply, she started putting some distance between them quickly, trying to look as serene as possible. She pretended she didn’t hear him say ‘sure’ and cackle again. She couldn’t show she still feared him.

She thought she was over him, but the situation was beginning to be too overwhelming. She was starting to remember too many bad memories she had tried hard to forget. Moonbyul had never felt so relieved to spot a known face before.

Solar must ha