TEN:
You Make My Dreams

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Jisoo was excited when August ended and Boyoung Unni’s wedding finally rolled around. She loved weddings and parties and she especially loved that a girl she had idolized and thought of the cool big sister that her parents never gave her was finally getting married. 

The Parks had a small, intimate ceremony in the morning with just hers and Yoshiki’s immediate family, who had flown all the way from Tokyo. Boyoung and her new husband were planning to fly back the following week so they could have another ceremony with the rest of Yoshiki’s clan.

So it was late in the afternoon by the time Jisoo walked into the hall at the hotel where the reception was being held. She was a little late, though. Mostly her fault for waking up late and then forgetting that she still had to make sure her grandfather had dinner since her parents would be out of town tonight. Then she hurriedly got ready, telling her grandfather not to expect her back until later that night. She didn’t realize she had left the still-broken door leaning against the side of the house when she left.

Bundles of wisteria and round white lanterns dangled from the ceiling, illuminating the hall with a soft, romantic glow. Tables had been set around a dance floor and were covered in white linens and centered with short vases overflowing with wild roses, lit by strings of fairy lights. The effect was whimsical and otherworldly. A midsummer night’s dream of a wedding.

“Jisoo!” called out a beautiful young woman in a sparkling white gown. Jisoo rushed over to Boyoung Unni and wrapped her arms around her.

“Oh my god, I am so psyched that you could make it!” Boyoung said, crushing the younger girl to her chest. 

“Congratulations,” Jisoo said fondly. Beside them, a tall, tuxedoed groom with a man-bun clear his throat. Jisoo remembered her manners.

“Oh, hello,” she said nervously, pulling herself from Boyoung’s embrace. “I’m Kim Jisoo, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I’ve heard about you, too,” said Yoshiki, giving her a firm handshake and a warm smile. “I heard you stole the show from Cinderella in the third grade.”

“And I heard you’re stealing the show again,” Boyoung said. “From your mom this time. How’s the program going?”

“Oh, it’s coming along just fine, I think,” Jisoo said. “The kids don’t want to die every time they show up for rehearsals anymore, so I think we’re making progress.”

“Ugh, I can’t wait to see it,” Boyoung said, gripping Jisoo’s hands. “I’m so glad you could make it, I missed you so much! And you’ve gotten so pretty! Five years away from home and you went from a five-and-a-half to a ten, damn girl!”

Jisoo did dress up a little, it was a wedding after all. She had unearthed a periwinkle dress from the giant luggage bag that she had yet to unpack and put her mother’s steamer to good use before showing up. She curled her hair and let it fall over her shoulders like it naturally would. She was satisfied with her appearance when she left the house, but still, Jisoo swatted at Boyoung’s compliments like flies.

“You’re the bride here,” Jisoo said. “No one’s allowed to be a ten tonight except you.”

“Huh, guess you’re right,” Boyoung said. After exchanging their pleasantries, Jisoo headed into the hall and quickly found her table. She was sitting with a few of Boyoung’s college friends and some of the Parks’ distant cousins.

Jisoo befriended them easily enough, learned about a recent trip they made to Las Vegas and a new baby in the family. She casually mentioned having spent time in Los Angeles and they prodded her for stories of what life was like on the Golden Coast. The only story she could tell that would satiate their hunger was an anecdote about the time she accidentally stole Joe Jonas’ smoothie at a Jamba Juice and a thirty-second encounter with B. D. Wong at a photo shoot, which was only because she was taking care of lunch for the crew and needed to know if he had any food allergies. 

“So how do you know Boyoung?” asked one of Boyoung’s college friends. 

“I was—am—friends with her younger brother, Jinyoung,” Jisoo explained. “He and I go way back, all the way to third grade practically, and I hung out at their house a lot. Boyoung went to our school, too, and she walked home with us sometimes. Before she graduated.”

“Aww, how sweet,” the girl said. “Childhood friends.”

Jisoo had been keeping an eye out for Jinyoung, in fact. She had already spotted Mr. And Mrs. Park who were sitting at separate tables with respective grandparents. Miyoung, as the maid of honor, was rushing around, usually surrounded by a gaggle of bridesmaids in mauve dresses, trying to make sure everything was running smoothly.

When she got up to get a drink at the bar, however, it was Jinyoung who found her. The waiter was just handing Jisoo a cocktail when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Turning around to face Jinyoung this time felt an awful lot like that time Jisoo saved Minji from her grandfather and Jinyoung had come running out of the tailor’s shop. He was wearing the same sleek tuxedo and his hair had been combed back.

The thing about tuxedos is that all men look good in them. Even a guy who is a four (at best) in his daily wear gets bumped up to a six or seven when he wears a tux. 

Jinyoung was better than a four.

“Hey,” he said, raising his voice a little so she could hear him over the hundred or so other conversations taking place. Jisoo took a sip of her drink.

“Hello there,” she said with a smile. “Nice tux.”

He looked down at his clothes with a smirk. “Thanks,” he said. “I see you’ve started drinking already.”

“Of course, I love weddings, especially weddings with open bars,” Jisoo said, lifting the cherry from her glass by its stem and popping it into . 

“What are you drinking?” he asked.

“It’s a Manhattan,” Jisoo said, covering as she chewed. “Which, I understand, is where you’ll be flying off to at the end of the summer. When are you leaving?”

Jinyoung bit down on his lip. He looked across the room at the table where his girlfriend was sitting, talking to another guest.

“It’s kind of up in the air right now,” he said. “Officially, our plane flies out of Seoul on the 24th of September, but we might actually be heading back up to the city next week.”

“Next week?” Jisoo’s heart sank. “That’s… that’s so soon, though.”

He looked down at his shoes. “It is,” he said. “But there’s so much to do. We have to pack up the apartment, and I need to get everything straightened out at work.”

Jisoo couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She took another sip of her drink.

“But if you leave next week,” Jisoo said. “You… you won’t get to go to the rest of the reunion events.”

Jinyoung’s expression looked troubled. “Tell Jennie that I’m sorry,” he said. “I bet she worked really hard on it.”

“You bet your she did,” Jisoo downed the rest of her Manhattan and then waved the empty glass at him. “She’ll be really disappointed. And you will be, too, in the long run. So many fun things that you’re going to miss out on.”

Jinyoung made a show of sighing with deep disappointment. “I’m already so full of regrets as it is,” he said. “What’s a couple more?”

“You’re a buzzkill,” Jisoo said. Jinyoung laughed, but he started to fidget with his cufflinks.

“When is the last event for the reunion?” he asked. 

Jisoo stole a chocolate truffle from a dessert tray. “I don’t know,” she said. “Twentieth of September I think.” 

Jinyoung rubbed his wrists. “I could… drive back down for that weekend.”

Jisoo looked at him with half full of chocolate. “But don’t you fly out on the 24th? You don’t think that’s cutting it too close?”

He shrugged. “It probably is,” he said. “But still, I… want to be there. I’m moving to another country. I don’t know when I’ll see you or any of