"Candles," Wooyoung said, handing me the lighter. "Don't forget the ones by the gazebo."

I nodded, then walked over to the nearest table, set with thick and gold-rimmed china, a huge collection of white roses at its center. As I bent over the three pillar candles arranged just so around the place, I breathed in their fragrant smell, hoping it might improve my mood. It couldn't hurt.

So the week hadn't been great. At least it was busy, with the details for this weekend's Jeon Somin rehearsal dinner and wedding distracting me from Sehun's cheerful mood and Gayeon's own epic night, which I'd heard all about since she called me. Im Jaebum (His surname is indeed 'Im' pronounced as 'I am') had just graduated from GOT7 High, skateboarded in competitions, had four other siblings, too, just like her! She showed me a picture of him, of him leaning on an BBQ Truck, smiling. He was good-looking and, yes, not her type at all. You just never knew, I guess.

I moved on to the next table, lighting candles there. Behind me, distantly, I heard Eomma talking with Jeon Somin's mother, who had proven to be the worst of this weekend's events. Mothers of the bride were always a factor: they had Emotions and Opinions and were often enlisted to convey certain messages or directives the bride was too shy to deliver herself.  Jeon Somin didn't need anyone to speak for her, though: she was smart, assertive, and knew exactly what she wanted. I'd thought she was though until I met Mrs. Jeon, who was all of these things but louder, bossier, and ready to Hulk Smash at any second about whatever didn't suit her. In another world, she and my mom might've been friends, purely out of their similarities. In this one, though, they were anything but.

"People will need directions as they come in," Mrs. Jeon was saying as she dabbed her face with a tissue, of which she kept an impressive supply in her purse. "And it's rude to not have someone there to greet them."

"Somin felt," Eomma replied, using the two word prefix she always utilized with Mrs. Jeon in these conversations, "that having the table assignments in the gazebo as guests entered would be enough."

"Well, I don't. So put someone there."

With that, she walked away. I risked a glance at my mom, who was watching her go, face calm but eyes narrowed. There was really no counterargument to a person telling you that you are wrong and then what to do, even if you were Soojung Bae, and I felt a rush of protectiveness toward her. When she glanced at me, though, I quickly went back to the candles.

Just as I lit the candle, someone leaned over me and blew it out. Annoyed, I glanced up. Sehun.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I just can't light a candle without making a wish and blowing it out. It's some kind of birthday sickness."

I looked at the plastic lighter in his hand. "Then you definitely should not be doing this particular job."

"It's okay," he assured me. "I'm just lighting them, wishing and blowing, then lighting them again."

Granted, it had been a long day. Just about anything bad the potential to cross the line of Just Too Much. But there was something about this that shot me over it. "Are you serious?" I demanded.

"What?"

"That is the stupidest, most waste-of-time thing I've ever heard."

"Ouch." He raised his brows. "Are you mad at me about something?"

"It's not professional! Making wishes, lighting candles twice. You're here representing our company. You need to act like it."

I watched him as he took an exaggeratedly slow look around of the venue. Besides us, there was only the string performance, tuning up, and a couple of caterers. "Okay. I'll stop. Sorry."

With that, he went to another table, and I went back to my own work. I found myself pausing, though, with the next candle lit, thinking of what he's said. But I didn't make a wish. What was the point?

By 6:55, when all the candles were done and the first guests were pulling up at the valet stand, eomma came over to me. "I'm going to need you to stand by the gazebo and direct guests to their tables."

Her face was sour as she said this, clearly not happy. That made two of us. "Sure," I told her. "But i don't think we need it. People can figure it out for themselves."

She gave me a smile, squeezing my arm, and walked away. Over in the gazebo, I double-checked that all the tea lights were lit, the seat assignments lined up neatly on the table in front of them. When an older couple came through, I smiled, ready to guide them, but they just took their cards and walked on, not even looking at me. One point to Soojung Bae.

As another group of guests approached, I looked across the tables to the small pond on the venue's edge, where Sehun was standing with Wooyoung, talking about something. His face was animated as he gestured, smiling frequently, as Wooyoung nodded politely, seeming kind of charmed. I thought of Gayeon eariler, and all day really, the unique quality to a person's voice when you know they are to tell it to you. Of course I couldn't say Sehun was definitely talking about Tzuyu: it could've been Vivi, or anything. And yet.

"Suzy?"

I turned to see Mark Tuan standing by the place card table, wearing a shirt and tie and smiling at me. He'd sat beside me for an entire semester of the most boring Economics class ever, during which we'd taken turns keeping each other awake and always partnered for projects. He was a nice guy, funny and sweet, with a longtime girlfriend, Sana Minatozaki, who he'd dated since middle school. "Hey," I said, then gave him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Archery," he explained. Mark had played for the team; until that moment, I'd never seen him without the arrows poking out of his backpack. "Jeon Jiwoo and I grew up doing camps and tournaments together. Our parents are close. What about you? How do you know Somin and BM?"

"My mom's the wedding planner. I'm working," I explained, then turned to the table, scanning the cards until I found his name. I picked it up, holding it out to him. "And you're at table seven."

"Thank you," he said, taking it from me. He glanced out into the venue. "Looks fancy. now I wish I'd brought a date."

"How is Sana?"

He winced, hearing this, basically answering the question. "I wouldn't know. We broke up a couple of weeks ago."

"What?" I said, shocked. He winced again. Oops. "I'm . . . Wow, I'm sorry. You guys were so . . . wow. I'm sorry."

He nodded. "Thanks. It was her decision. Last summer before college, wanting a fresh start at Twice University, blah blah. I should've seen it coming."

"Well, I didn't."

"Me neither. I'm basically gutted." He sighed, looking down at his card. "Anyway. It's great to see you. Especially without having old Kavass teaching about global economy in front of us."

"She did love the the big consquences," I agreed, as two women entered the gazebo. "Have fun tonight."

At this, he made a face, then smiled as he started walking to his table. Halfway there, he turned back and looked at me, glancing away when he saw I was still watching him.

"Wait, what is this? The tables? How do we know which number we are?"

I sighed, then turned around to help the two women. One point to Mrs. Jeon. No matter the issue, there was always an ongoing tally, somehow.

I think this story is going end before 50 chapters, hopefully. This book is my longest work, and I am very proud that I can write for this long!

I just wanted to thank every one of you readers for reading this 'average' work with grammar-errors and etc.

Make sure to comment anything  below! It really makes my day and ecourages me to write more!

Also to add, my other two works, Lifeguard Jeon and Almost V, will be in draft mode since I really want to work one story at a time.

But I am also currently writing them along with this story! I hope you all are excited about that!

SENIOR YEAR IS TAKING A TOLL ON ME. Especially with this flu I have. Blah.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!