Mrs. Do is celebrating her 50th birthday, and they decided to invite some close friends and relatives for dinner. The birthday celebration was held at a top-notch French restaurant on the 35th floor of one of the best 5-star hotel in Seoul. The place had a very luxurious aesthetics with elegant chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and an extraordinary view that showcased the Namsan Tower.

Kyungsoo and Joohyun arrived just in time, the man wearing a classic black tux with a formal white shirt underneath, and the lady wearing a formal black dress. As they entered the restaurant, both of them was surprised to see the number of guests that were invited. If he didn’t hear it wrongly, Kyungsoo was sure that his parents told him that only a number of their close friends and relatives were invited. This room is almost packed, and it seems like the family has rented the entire place for the night. A band was playing live music, and there seems to be a huge screen right beside it with a slideshow of Kyungsoo’s mom’s pictures.

As the couple roamed around the room looking for their table, Kyungsoo spotted some distant cousins that he hasn’t seen in years and a couple of his old neighbors from when he used to live in Goyang. Joohyun also looked around, and a particular person caught her eye. A model-like figure was talking with Kyungsoo’s mother and younger sister, Somi. Her mini white dress was elegant but short enough to accentuate her breathtaking long legs, and the white complemented her flawless porcelain skin. That was when Joohyun thought that the genes of this family are probably descended from gods and goddesses.

“Your cousin is so beautiful,” Joohyun can’t help but blurt out her thoughts.

“Oh,” Kyungsoo was waving at his mom’s friend’s son when he shifted his focus to Joohyun, “which one?”

Joohyun pointed at the girl, and as Kyungsoo followed her line of sight, his jaws dropped. He didn’t answer straight away, and as she sees her boyfriend surprised, Joohyun waved her hands in front of the man’s face.

“Kyungsoo, you there?”

“That’s not my cousin,” he cleared his throat, “that’s Yoona. My ex.”

Joohyun was taken aback by his answer. Thoughts were running through her mind. What was she doing here? Why was she invited to her ex’s mom’s birthday party? Should I be jealous?

As if reading her mind Kyungsoo said with no emotion, “Why would my parents invite her? We didn’t break it off nicely.”

He looked back at the lady they were talking about, and his face was unreadable. He didn’t have any expression that would give Joohyun a hint of how he’s feeling about all this.

“I really want to know what happened,” Joohyun began as she holds both of her boyfriend’s hands, “but, I don’t want this night to be about reminiscing the past, it is supposed to be a good day, and we are here for a party.”

Joohyun caressed her boyfriend’s cheeks with her thumb. And Kyungsoo always gets excited with the constant physical affection that Joohyun shows more often nowadays.

“But I need to be sure of one thing,” Joohyun paused and with the fingers that seconds ago was caressing Kyungsoo’s cheeks, she pinched his cheeks and continued, “should I be jealous?”

“Ouch,” Kyungsoo removed his face from her grip but didn’t let go of her hands. He planted a kiss on her hands and another on her forehead.

“I love you.”

“Kyungsoo-ah, it was a yes or no question,” Joohyun didn’t complain about the kisses, but he didn’t answer her question.

“I love you,” Kyungsoo repeated, and this time he kisses both of her cheeks.

“Yes. Or. No.”

“I love you,” Kyungsoo covered her lips with his own, “you’re mine, and I’m yours. You’re the most beautiful, selfless, awesome, kind, wonderful, amazing-” 

Joohyun covered his mouth with her hands as she couldn’t bear hearing it anymore. Her cheeks were redder than her lips, and he was embarrassing her even though she might be the only one hearing it.

Kyungsoo smiled and pulled her hands away not letting it go, before finishing his sentence, “-girl in my eyes.”

He pecked a quick kiss on her lips once again before saying, “But if that still doesn’t answer you whatsoever, then no. There’s no reason for you to be jealous of her.”

Kyungsoo stared at her, and she swears the way he looks at her makes her feel like she’s the only woman in the room. And if that’s not an assurance then she doesn’t know what is.

“Okay, I trust you,” Joohyun smiled before linking her arms to his.

“Now let’s greet my parents,” Kyungsoo led her towards the table across the room.

Joohyun was a bit uncomfortable about greeting them now as she saw from a distance that the ex-girlfriend was still conversing with Kyungsoo’s family.

“Hold on, I think I need to use the restroom,” Joohyun pulled Kyungsoo’s arm.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you here and probably talk with my cousins.”

When she reached the restroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and had a pep talk with her reflection.

“Come on, you can do this! Just be confident and act naturally.”

Without her realizing, a couple of girls entered the restroom and looked at her weirdly. She quickly entered one of the stalls because she was embarrassed of herself.

“Did you see Im Yoona out there? She looks so pretty omg,” at the mention of that name Joohyun froze in the bathroom stall and leaned in to listen to the girls talking outside.

“Yes! How did aunty know her? Did you see her on the cover of Grazia magazine? She looks stunning,” the other girl said.

“Are you even serious? She’s Kyungsoo-oppa’s ex, you idiot. I think they dated a while ago.”

“What? Why did they break up? Damn, Im Yoona could’ve been my cousin in law,” Joohyun was taken aback by that statement. Her knees felt weak, so she closed toilet and sat on top of the cover.

“I don’t know actually,” the other girl replied. “She would look amazing in a bridal’s dress. Can you imagine being bridesmaids of Im Yoona?”

“Oh my god,” the other girl started screaming. “I’m starting to imagine a beautiful garden wedding. And Kyungsoo oppa would kiss Yoona before our eyes.”

“Stop your imaginations,” the girl paused. “Sorry to disappoint you, but Kyungsoo oppa’s dating another girl. She’s an employee of the company or something. I don’t know who though.”

“Exactly! I think she’s a nobody,” the other girl replied. “I mean Kyungsoo oppa raised the bar high. How could you find someone better if your ex is freaking Im Yoona.”

Right then and there, Joohyun’s heart sunk. A teardrop left her eyes, but she made sure she was quiet as to not attract attention.

“Come on, let’s go out and hope aunty would introduce us to Yoona.”

“Hold on, I need to touch up on my makeup.”

“As if it’d make a difference,” there was a smack before the girl continued, “I’m serious it doesn’t matter how much makeup you wear you’d just look like a hobo beside the one and only Im Yoona.”

Joohyun stayed a little longer inside the stall. Crying. She was hurt by the words. She didn’t know why but her emotions were extremely strong that day. She wiped the tears carefully with toilet paper inside the stall and went outside only to see her reflection staring back at her. She looked at herself and thoughts were running through her mind.

Oh, so she’s a model. Who am I to be compared with such a goddess? Why does Kyungsoo like me? Why did he even date me in the first place? Was it out of pity?

She shook the thoughts off as she remembered what her boyfriend said. Or more exactly proclaimed, just a few moments ago. She collected herself, retouched her makeup that was a little smudged from the crying and went outside.

As soon as her eyes spotted Kyungsoo, she went towards him and naturally grabbed her hand.

“What took you so long,” Kyungsoo says as he fixed up a few baby hairs that were out of place on her forehead. Only then did he realized that her makeup was a little bit smudged.

“What happened? Is there anything wrong?”

“What? What makes you say that? Nothing, nothing’s wrong,” Joohyun avoided his eye contact.

“Your eyes,” Kyungsoo said. “Did you cry?”

“Oh no, of course not, why would I cry?” Joohyun nervously laughed a little bit. “I was yawning and rubbed my eyes, I didn’t wear waterproof mascara today. Do I look that bad? Oh my god what if I look bad meeting your mom and dad for the first time? Should I go back and retouch my makeup?”

Joohyun became nervous all at once, blurting out random things to distract Kyungsoo from bombarding her with further questions.

“Don’t worry, love, you’re beautiful,” she succeeded, and Kyungsoo smiled. “Apparently we’re sitting together with my parents at their table, so let’s just go there shall we?”

There was a knot in Joohyun’s stomach, and her heart started racing as they got nearer to the table. From a distance, she spotted Kyungsoo’s mom (still) talking with Yoona, and Somi sitting in her seat playing with her phone. 

“Hello girls,” Kyungsoo greeted. He went straight to her mom to hug her and kiss her cheek. “Happy birthday mom.”

“Aw, my lovely boy, where have you been I was looking for you,” her mom kissed Kyungsoo’s cheek as well.

“Yeah, oppa,” Somi raised from her seat. “I texted you to come here at 6 PM sharp.”

“I just talked with cousins that I haven’t seen in a while,” Kyungsoo said. “About that, I thought this was only a small gathering. And where is dad anyways?”

“This IS a small gathering, honey,” Kyungsoo’s mom giggled. “Your dad’s on his way, he just came back from a business trip.”

It was awkward for both Yoona and Joohyun to have just been standing in between a mother and son reunion.

“Oh, by the way,” Kyungsoo’s mom pulled Yoona to her side. “You don’t mind that I invited Yoona, don’t you? Before she was your girlfriend, she’s my best friend’s daughter.”

Yoona looks at Kyungsoo and smiled. At that moment, Joohyun felt out of place.

“It’s nice meeting you Soo,” Joohyun didn’t miss the nickname the girl used to address him. “It’s been a while.”

Kyungsoo didn’t spare a single second to look at Yoona.

“Oh, right I almost forgot,” Kyungsoo pulled Joohyun to his side and introduced her to his mom. “This is Joohyun, the girl I’ve been telling you and dad about. She looks better in real life, right?”

Joohyun bowed to Kyungsoo's mom but the latter just nodded in return. Upon this, Joohyun can't help but notice the different treatment she's getting from how loving his mom was towards Yoona. 

Kyungsoo's mom greeted some other guests and both Kyungsoo and Joohyun took a seat at the table.

"I don't think your mom likes me," Joohyun spoke to Kyungsoo silently.

"No, don't worry," Kyungsoo caresses Joohyun's head. "She's always like that when she first meets all of my ex-girlfriends."

"Woah, is that plural," Joohyun suddenly changed the topic. "Elaborate please."

Kyungsoo slowly took his hands away and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked away wanting the floor to just swallow him away. Joohyun kept on prying him but they ended up laughing and talking some more. That is when Kyungsoo's mom suddenly came back to the table.

“Oops, it seems like I forgot my phone in the hotel room,” Kyungsoo’s mom blurted out to the pair. “Joohyun, dear, would it be okay if you accompany me and go get it?”

Joohyun felt excited. She feels accepted to the family at the simplest action.

“Yes, no problem, eonmoni,” Joohyun didn’t spare a second to answer the older lady.

The pair started walking, and Kyungsoo followed suit.

“Oh, Kyungsoo, you can just wait here,” his mom exclaimed. “You won’t miss us that much, we will be back in no time.”

The three of them laughed at the joke, b