It was a beautiful day, warm with a clear sky. Yijeong strolled around the lawn in front of the building, nodding thoughtlessly as people passed him. Everyone was dressed elegantly in crisp suits and lovely dresses. Yijeong flattened the collar of his jacket as the music inside the building started. He didn’t want to be a part of this, but it would be rude to skip out entirely.

Yijeong walked up the stairs and took a spot on one of the benches near the front. The music ended and another song began—a march; everyone stood and looked at the back of the room. Yijeong did the same, an unwanted smile filling his face. Just like the day, his sister was beautiful. Her hair fell in soft curls around her face and she wore a white, wide necked dress with beading around the bodice and down the long sleeves. Beside her was their father, carefully walking with her arm-in-arm down the aisle.

He hadn’t talked with her in six months, since the day he got back from an outing with Jaeho and Sihyoung. After a few months, Yijeong had finally gotten back to a somewhat reasonable way of living. He wasn’t moping around anymore, he was going to work and going out. It was the best anyone could ask for.

Then Yijeong saw him.

Kyungil was standing in front of his door one day and for a split second Yijeong thought he was there for him. Only, Raina stepped outside and the two smiled at each other and Yijeong understood. It felt like he’d been punched in the gut, even worse than when the guard confronted them. He thought back and the simplest things made his blood boil. They looked at each other too long when they first met, at lunch Raina’s expression changed but he ignored it, Kyungil even made her a set of earrings.

Realization tore at his heart and he flew towards his house, pushing past Kyungil and Raina. Betrayal was strong and irreverent in his mind, coursing through his body like cheap liquor. The whole situation was almost comical. It didn’t make sense and yet on some bizarre and ed-up level, it did. It just didn’t add up, his rationality wasn’t hearing that, though. The pain overwhelmed everything else.

If he was going to be unhappy and everyone was going to lie to him, what was the point of trying anymore? Being at home wasn’t an option any longer; Yijeong started working more and picked up a second job, pulling in close to eighty hours a week. It was best if he was exhausted when he got home that way he could sleep the extra five or six hours between jobs.

Nothing mattered. Why was everyone else allowed to be happy?

Yijeong turned his attention back to the service, trying to soften his features from the stiff anger he felt. Kyungil was standing at the altar, opposite Raina, and all he wanted to do was lunge at him and strangle the life out of the older man.

He wished he’d never met Kyungil. It is not better to have loved and lost, Yijeong thought, it’s torture.

Kyungil took Raina’s hands in his own and recited his vows before sliding a ring onto the girl’s finger. Raina repeated the same vows and actions. Yijeong was furious and fighting the urge to cry and scream simultaneously. He was able to handle it until the end when the minister pronounced them officially married. They smiled and leaned in, pressing their lips together in a simple, chaste kiss. Wedding appropriate. By now Yijeong was gnashing his teeth together and gnawing on the inner part of his cheek and as soon as the ceremony finished he bolted.

He still had to attend the reception but no one would miss him for a few minutes, the urge to punch something or throw up was too strong to ignore. Yijeong ran past guests tearing his suit jacket off as he went; he needed somewhere quiet. Behind the building was the garden where the reception was taking place, even further back was a topiary maze. Yijeong squatted in one of the corners of the maze burying his head into his bunched up jacket. He could hear people beginning to fill out the tables and chatting with one another on the other side of the wall of leaves.

“Getting married so quickly? You don’t think she’s pregnant again, do you?” It sounded like an older lady and it pissed him off. Not just the thought of Raina sleeping with Kyungil, because it was inevitable, but who were they to say these things about his sister? He was angry at them both, something he would probably never truly get over, he would forgive them eventually. Though it may take years.

“Hey,” Raina appeared next to him, squatting down tastelessly in her dress beside him, “I’m glad you came. I know you didn’t want to.”

Yijeong turned his head so one eye was visible from under the fabric and he glared at her. Raina smiled sadly and soothingly petted his head.

“Did you see their rings? They didn’t even match, it looked like they came from two entirely different sets,” a man said in between stuffing his face. Raina chuckled and stood up.

“Come eat when you’re ready. I sat you with Dokyun and Eunjung, she’s missed you.”

Yijeong wrapped his arms around his legs and squeezed, why did she have to be so calm about everything. Did she not understand how he felt? Not just seeing Kyungil but them together. He still loved Kyungil and she knew this…how could she be so heartless. Why did she have to find happiness with the man he loved?

He stood up and exited the maze and quickly found his seat. Eunjung was sitting on one of Dokyun’s knee’s swinging her legs back and forth. Like usual, for any big occasion she had the tiara positioned on her head.

“Eunjung, your tiara is getting a little worn out,” Yijeong teased the girl, hoping his true feelings of agony and fury weren’t apparent. The girl touched the tiara gingerly and leaned back into Dokyun’s chest.

“How are your lessons going?” Yijeong poked at his meal, he and Dokyun didn’t talk much but they both loved Eunjung.

“I was just telling da—I mean Dokyun that I got perfect marks!”

Dokyung tutted and gave the girl a warning expression, “don’t lie.”

“Fine,” she mumbled, “I got perfect marks except gym and social.”

“It’s cause you don’t interact with anyone your age,” Yijeong looked around, there were a few younger kids, “go play with them. Get some practice in.”

Eunjung stared at Dokyun with pleading eyes but the man lifted her off his lap and motioned her on. Once she was gone Yijeong turned his attention to Dokyun, “what do you think of all this?”

“If she’s happy, that’s all that matters, right?”

Yijeong snorted, “I don’t believe you.”

Dokyun grinned and tipped his champagne glass at him, “maybe not. If she didn’t want it, it wouldn’t have happened. You know that’s how she is. Besides, I know things even you don’t.”

“I doubt it,” he growled and stared at Kyungil, the man who made his life hell. Why did he have to be so attractive? Even more so today in his sharp black tux with his hair pushed back and his tie loosened.

Yijeong still wanted to strangle him and every time Kyungil looked his way and their eyes met, the older man would smile. It was a half-smile, only the pulling the corner of one lip. It made him want to hurt him even more.