Just a quick note about how dialouge takes place. Also I may have changed some stuff in the two previous chapters. You don't have to go  back and read, it should still make sense, but some dates may not line up. Nothing super major.

Korean

English

Hyejin waited in the car with Wheein while Byulyi and Genevieve made their way down from their room. With intensive coaching from Wheein, she had finally been able to pronounce Genevieve without the ‘b’ so it was no longer “Jenebib”, but something much closer to how the name was supposed to sound.

As she sat there her leg bounced up and down. Hyejin was blatantly nervous. Not just about meeting Byulyi’s girlfriend in person, but about the whole evening in general. She saw it as either going extremely smoothly or feeling something akin to the city being on fire.

She sighed to herself. Wheein hadn't told Byulyi that Yongsun and her husband were attending as well, most likely because Byulyi would make up an excuse not to go. It wasn't like either of them wanted to stir up any drama, they both wanted a reunion of sorts. An evening as a group again. But Byulyi couldn't very well leave her girlfriend behind, so there was no good reason why Yongsun’s husband couldn't go, and… well it had all turned into a mess quite rapidly.

“Hey guys. Hyejin! Long time, no see!” Hyejin turned to see Byulyi and Genevieve nearing the car. They split and opened the back seat doors, climbing in quickly. Hyejin cocked an eyebrow in mild surprise. This girl really was pretty.

“Annyeong, Byulyi...Hello Genevieve,” said Hwasa somewhat carefully, as she turned the keys in the ignition.

“Nice to finally meet both of you,” replied Genevieve. “Byul has told me a lot about you guys. Stories from back in the ‘glory days’ as it were.”

“Ah yes, glorious days indeed!” Wheein exclaimed jokingly.

“Wheein,” Byulyi turned to face her subject. “When did you get so good at English?”

“Well, since we started our business, I’ve had to learn a lot. It was really hard for the first year, but I took a few classes, and improved quickly!”

“Wow, that’s amazing. My French is still absolutely terrible, even though I’ve been trying for years. Maybe I should take a class?” Byulyi turned. “What do you think Gen?”

“Hmm. Yes, well,” Genevieve took Byulyi’s hand in her own. “Your French could certainly benefit from a little more instruction, Étoile.”

Wheein snorted at this, and quickly filled Hyejin in, although she didn't really know what name Genevieve had just called Byulyi.

“Seoul seems not to have changed so much while I was away.” Byulyi stared out the window as the four drove by. “The stores have changed somewhat, but it feels the same.”

Hyejin pondered this for a moment. Reflecting on events, truly not much had changed since Mamamoo had split up. Well, Yongsun did get married. She couldn’t forget that. Hyejin’s mind now wandered to Yongsun who, with her husband, was going to meet them at the bar.

Yongsun and her husband. It was still a strange thing to think about - words that didn’t roll comfortably off the tongue even after all this time. That was how their entire relationship had felt to Hyejin. Like words that felt strange in . A relationship that by all accounts was lovely, and caring but ultimately confused both Hyejin and Wheein.

The ride was slightly awkward, as Wheein continued trying to get a sense of Genevieve. Hyejin couldn't really tell what her business partner thought, a rare occurrence.

Wheein surveyed the two quickly. She decided that now was the perfect time to drop the bomb. They were only a few blocks away, and surely couldn't ditch at this point. “So, since we're almost there, you should know that we're meeting two others as well.” Hyejin brought her gaze up to the rear view mirror to look at Byulyi’s reaction.

The girl looked a little caught off guard. It didn't take a genius to guess which two people were meeting them.

Wheein also watched the rear view as Byulyi opened and then closed . Opening again she asked in Korean, “Is it Yongsun and her husband?” Wheein nodded. “Oh. Okay.” Byulyi smiled a bit. “It will be nice to introduce Genevieve to our fourth member finally.” She turned to Genevieve, “So, two other people are meeting us there, Yongsun Kim and her husband. Uh, actually. Damn. I've forgotten her new name. I think it's Jeong, or Jeon. You can just call her Yongsun.

“Okay, sounds good. I'm excited to meet her.” Genevieve smiled.

Wheein was a little surprised. Nowhere in either of their tones could she find any bitterness or discomfort. It shocked her to see how much Byulyi had leveled out. In their performing days she had been rather quick to the draw, possessive, and a little jealous. Wheein assumed it was from the stress of essentially pining after Yongsun for the majority of her career, but none of that was present now.

The party parked in a garage a block away and piled out. The air was warm and breezy, but smelled like emissions from all the cars they were near, so they walked fast towards the exit. Outside Genevieve could finally take in the enormity of Seoul for the first time. She found that it was a bit like London.

“Ah. This is it!” Wheein pointed out. “Just across the street.”

It was a decently sized business, with large booths separated by thin partitions along one wall for groups who wanted some privacy. The hardwood floors were very clean, and there were small potted plants lined up along the front window.

The place wasn't very full, so the group had no trouble getting seated. Water and menus were brought out, and the group settled into quiet conversation while they waited for the rest of their party.

“So, Genevieve. What do you do?”

“I’m part of the management of International  Business Relations for a software company called Amalto. It’s rather small.”

“And you live in Paris? That’s amazing!”

“Well, Paris living is incredibly expensive, so we live outside the city.”

“We? You two moved in together?” Wheein turned to Byulyi. “And you didn't tell me?”

Byulyi’s eyes went wide. “No, no. We don’t live together. We’ve got apartments near each other,” she hastily corrected.

“What do you think you want to have with our drinks?” asked Hyejin.

“I want fried chicken!” exclaimed Wheein.

Byulyi leaned over to look at Genevieve’s menu. “Wow, these English descriptions are pretty bad. Tell me what you’ve been looking at, Gen.”

The two put their heads together and mulled over the menu choices while Wheein and Hyejin looked on. They were both obviously getting fried chicken.

“Ah! There they are!” Wheein and Hyejin looked up in unison. “Look, they haven’t even ordered yet, I told you we weren’t going to be late,” Yongsuns’s husband waved to the girls.

The way the group was seated made the next few moments awkward. Wheein and Hyejin were seated on one side, facing the windows. Byulyi and Genevieve sat across from them. After a moment’s hesitation Yongsun made for the open space by Byulyi, but the two were not coordinated, and her husband awkwardly bumped into her, taking the seat next to Byulyi himself. Yongsun shuffled over by Wheein.

“So we were just talking about what Genevieve here does for a living.” Wheein addressed the two newcomers. “Oh but first proper introductions are in order.”

Byulyi turned to Yongsun’s husband, “Hello, I'm Moon Byulyi. It's very nice to finally meet you.”

“Hello my name is Genevieve. It's nice to meet you two.” A few handshakes were exchanged, and the waitress brought more menus and more water.

“So. As I was saying, Genevieve works with international business for a company in Paris!” Wheein exuberantly relayed all she knew about Byulyi’s new life abroad, and in the midst of the small talk they placed their orders. Lots of beer, soju and fried chicken. Yongsun listened on quietly as Wheein spoke animatedly about the entertaining stories Byulyi had texted her from France, and how Hyejin and she were getting on with their business.

For the most part Byulyi was able to keep on top of the conversation. She and Wheein were able to speak mostly in English. Wheein translated for Hyejin, Yongsun and her husband, while Byulyi translated for Genevieve. As such there were moments when everyone got a little lost, but Byulyi found that the constant translating made it easier to avoid awkward conversation with Yongsun. After all, not only had Byulyi ditched her best friend’s wedding, but had also been out of contact since then.

“But enough about me!” Wheein smiled with a slightly flushed face. They were on their third round, and Hyejin supposed Wheein had finally grown tired of talking.

“Yes, enough about Wheein, what about you two?” She nodded toward Yongsun and her husband. “How have things been going for you? Last I checked you were trying to buy a house?”

“Ah, yes. We have been narrowing our searches.” Yongsun’s husband smiled. “We’ve seen a few places we love but they’ve been far too expensive.” He took Yongsun’s hand in his, and passed his thumb over her knuckles. “As expected, we will probably have to settle for somewhere further from our jobs than we’d like.”

“I would have really liked something closer to Wheein and Hwasa, but since they live in their company building, they can afford to be in a more expensive spot than we can.” Yongsun looked a little tired of the subject already. Byulyi assumed it was because she had already talked with her husband about this at length.

“Being further away from the city isn’t all bad though.” Yongsun’s husband let his eyes drop just a little bit. “Having a nice back yard and a little more space is nice too. Since we’ve been talking about kids.”

The table was silent. “Not here please.” Yongsun muttered under her breath. Hyejin and Wheein knew about this development, but Byulyi obviously did not. It would be fair to say she was a little surprised, especially when considering the fact that the Yongsun she knew didn't really want kids.

Nevertheless, Byulyi translated for Genevieve, trying to mitigate her shock as much as possible.

The conversation thankfully changed and began to bounce from random topic to random topic. They talked a little about Yongsun’s job at RBW, and her husband’s job at Citi - a little about the changes in Seoul since Byulyi had left, and a little about the hijinx that Mamamoo had gotten up to in the past before they finally settled back on Byulyi and Genevieve.

“Alright Byulyi.” Hwasa smirked deviously. “When are you planning on proposing?” Byulyi froze and nearly choked on her beer.

“Oh my god, Hyejin. No time soon!” Byulyi sputtered and continued coughing the rest of her beer out of while Genevieve patted her back and chuckled.

“What did Hyejin say, Wheein?” The Korean speakers all had the decency to look a little bashful, except for Byulyi.

“Wheein if you answer that question I will eat all the rest of your chicken right now.” Byulyi looked at her intensely. “Trust me Gen, it was just stupid.”

----------------------------

By the time the group was done embarrassing each other and catching up it was dark out. They paid, and shuffled toward the door.

“So did you guys have a plan for after this?” Asked Wheein.

“Well, we were just going to go home,” said Yongsun’s husband.

“I was thinking that Gen and I might walk back to our hotel. See the sights. Get a bit of a feel for the city.” Byulyi placed her hand on Genevieve’s shoulder. “Are you too tired? We can just go straight back to the hotel too.”

“I’m a little tired, but I think walking would be nice,” Genevieve smiled and leaned a little closer to Byulyi.

“Alright, so you don't need a ride home then?” asked Wheein.

“Nope. We’re good.”

“Cool. Well, we’ll have to get together again some time before you two leave! Send you off with more first rate beer and chicken!”

The group made their goodbyes and parted.

Byulyi took Genevieve’s hand in hers. “There’s this really lovely park I want to show you. Even though it’s lit up at night, its still never busy. I spent a lot of time there as a trainee when I wanted some alone time.”

“Sounds great, Étoile.” Genevieve leaned down a little bit and kissed Byulyi.

Yongsun looked on, at the backs of the two retreating figures before turning around herself.

“Alright, let’s get the car.” She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and ran her hands down the front of her coat, straightening out invisible wrinkles.

She pursed her lips. The image of a smiling Byulyi walking into the Seoul night hand in hand with this Genevieve was going to be engraved in her mind for a while yet.

There it is! Finally done. RIP

In the next chapter I will show you guys some notes about Byul and Gen, and include some of my own comentary about how I wanted this story to come across. Maybe you guys can tell me if I suceeded or not, or what you guys saw!

-Tom