The Formalities of Friendship

Chapter 1: Hana

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* You can’t help who you love. You’re not supposed to. *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* When you love somebody, you love them. *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Every girl dreams of her wedding day.

Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.

Even if someone claims that they don’t want to be married, deep inside them there’s still that overwhelming secret desire to settle down.

Everyone that I had met, especially my family, had always given me that same old spiel.

“You need to get married.”

“All girls want to be married.”

“Find you a good man who will take care of you.”

Yada yada yada.

But growing up I wanted absolutely nothing to do with men.

Being a part of the entertainment industry, it was just easier to want to be an independent woman than to have to deal with the drama of dating.

And so that’s what I did.

“Hana, are you ready to go?”

Until about two years ago.

I turned, smiling softly at my fiancé.

“Almost. I’ll meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to my lips before retreating to our den.

I had the opportunity to work with many attractive men during my career, but none had ever really affected me.

But Hyunwoo had gotten to me at the perfect moment.

I was vulnerable.

I still didn’t think that I wanted to get married, but I had started to get down on myself more often.

I was beginning to feel like I was getting too old to be single, so I filled my head with pointless worries.

I decided that it would be in my best interests to start dating, and hopefully wed at some point.

So here we were.

About to leave to a party dedicated to our rapidly encroaching wedding ceremony.

I looked at my reflection and patted delicately below my eye, touching up my makeup.

It was too late to go back now.

I in a deep breath and headed down the stairs.

Hyunwoo immediately wrapped me up in his arms.

“You look so beautiful,” he twirled me around by my hand, “As always.”

I forced a smile and nodded.

“Thank you.”

With that, he took my hand and led me out to our car.

The drive to the venue, which happened to be Mimi’s beach house, was quiet.

She and the girls had insisted on throwing this reception for us.

I hadn’t told them about my true feelings, so they were all still thrilled about handing me off to Hyunwoo.

I sighed.

I sometimes got the feeling that they knew though.

I sometimes even thought Hyunwoo could see through me as well.

But I think he was in a similar position as me.

We were so far into this that it was pointless to try to backtrack now.

I knew that it hurt him; He really loved me.

He would rather have an empty marriage than lose me.

We soon arrived at the house that bordered on the ocean.

It was a mansion that matched Mimi’s bright personality.

She belonged on the warm coast; She was just as warm as the beach.

Hyunwoo placed his hand on my thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Let’s do this.”

I turned to look at him.

He wore a kind smile, his eyes curved cutely into crescents to match.

I didn’t know why I was doing this to him.

He was a good man; He belonged with a woman just as good.

I leaned in to connect our lips a little rougher than I meant to, hoping that his warmth would help chase away the horrible feeling that was growing in my chest.

My hand tangled in his hair, pulling him closer to me.

We parted, but he kept me near.

For no particular reason, tears threatened at my eyes.

“It’s going to be okay, right?” I whispered, the words sticking to the dryness in my throat.

“Of course.”

I tried to pull him into me again, wanting to feel something other than this ridiculous pain.

But Hyunwoo pressed his hands gently to my shoulders to halt my motions.

He leaned in, a lingering kiss finding it’s way to the corner of my lips instead.

“This isn’t what you need right now, Bora,” I winced at the sound of my name, “We’re going to have a good day.”

I knew he was right, but I’d rather ignore our obligations and in his car instead.

It was easier to fake lust than love.

But we exited the vehicle and began making our way to the door of my friend’s home anyway.

When we were about ten feet from the entrance I could already hear Mina’s voice echo loudly through the house.

“THE VIP’S ARE HERE!”

The door swung open in front of us, a crowd of our friends blocking the doorway, led by none other than Jung Mimi.

“Hey!” Her voice lowered immediately when she saw my reddened eyes, “Um, why don’t I take Hana to get you two some drinks? Hyunwoo, some of your buddies are in the kitchen attempting to flirt with Nayoung, if you’d like to try to control them.”

She chuckled with him briefly before wrapping her hand around my wrist and dragging me through her house.

She tugged me into her bedroom before shutting the door behind us.

“Okay,” Mimi took a seat on the bed, patting the empty spot beside her, “What’s the matter?”

I instinctively sat with her, deciding to lay back and stare at the ceiling instead of answering her.

Her sigh filled the room.

“Bora,” she turned and laid down, her elbow pressing into the mattress next to my head so that we were now laying beside each other, “I know something’s up. I’m your best friend.”

“…Mimi, do you think Hyunwoo knows that I don’t love him?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw her her bottom lip between her teeth.

A harsh silence briefly surrounded us.

“You don’t mean that.”

I held my breath.

She hadn’t meant to, but her words pained me.

Why couldn’t she just believe me?

Believe that this wasn’t what I wanted?

I sat up abruptly, suddenly feeling extremely angry for no real reason at all.

“Yes, I do,” I gritted.

Mimi didn’t follow me, instead remaining laying down.

“I think you’re just afraid to admit that someone finally has power over you… Power over your heart. You’re not running away from Hyunwoo or from love. You’re running away from the possibility of you getting hurt.”

I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

I let my tears begin to roll freely down my cheeks.

When Mimi heard me sniffling, she sat up, wrapping her arms gently around my waist from behind.

“Mimi, you don’t underst-”

Suddenly the bedroom door burst open, Sejeong barging in with a handful of glasses.

“You guys are getting behind. Come drink with us!”

When her eyes settled on the mess that sat before her, Sejeong entered the room quietly and closed the door.

“Hana, babe,” she set the alcohol on a nearby vanity before running to me and pressing her palms to my cheeks, “Are you alright?”

Her thumbs away my tears.

“I…”

Maybe Mimi was right.

Maybe it was time to toughen up and stop acting like such a baby.

Maybe Hyunwoo didn’t deserve this.

Maybe I was the only one who had an issue with the marriage.

Maybe I just needed to get over myself.

I stood, shrugging free of both pairs of hands.

“I’m just so happy to finally be getting married,” I grabbed a drink from the collection Sejeong had brought to us and took a long sip, “I’ll meet you two downstairs.”

And just like that I left, leaving the others alone and confused.

I soon joined Hyunwoo in the kitchen, where he was leaning against the counter and conversing with a group of our friends.

I rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes and thinking.

Thinking of Mimi’s words.

Thinking of Sejeong’s concern.

Thinking of my parents’ approval.

Thinking of Hyunwoo’s warmth.

“I love you,” I whispered.

Maybe it was all in my head.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

I'm not sure if I completely like this new style, but I wanted to give it a try with this story. I'll hopefully be posting one chapter for each of the nine girls. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up though. Hehe, sorry. Anyway, let me know what you think. I know this is a bit of a change from my other stories, but I hope you like it :) Oh, and last thing. Hyunwoo is just a made up character. He's not based on anyone or anything. Just wanted to make that clear lol.