"So… the wedding fair is being held here, and you didn't tell me?" Kibum was torn between throttling the younger man and hugging the life out of him.

"Um… surprise?" Taemin said with a sunny grin and without the slightest hint of guilt as he parked the car at one of the designated guest parking slots of The Shilla Seoul. Holy , The Shilla NEVER holds wedding fairs. Kibum's head was reeling. Jonghyun voluntarily missed this. What was he thinking? 

"Lee Taemin, you… what in the world are you wearing?" Kibum gasped out in horror as he belatedly realized how severely underdressed the other man was, decked in an (admittedly) artfully shredded heather gray jumper and skinny black denim jeans. Thank goodness for the narrow black Chelsea boots —Kibum would have wept in despair if he had been wearing the Chuck Taylor’s. . 

"It will be fine. Kpop stars dress down to these places all the time, and I never see anybody getting kicked out for being underdressed."

Still, they were normal folks, so Kibum doesn't exactly share Taemin's optimism that the staff would be as forgiving towards them. 

"Taemin-ah, don't bring your backpack."

"But…"

"Just trust me, okay?"

Kibum didn't feel like changing bags before going out earlier, so he just took out  paperwork from the black Saint Laurent satchel (one of his more exorbitant, self-indulgent purchases in the last five years) he used for work that week before leaving the house. "Give me all of the stuff that you have to bring."

As it turned out, Taemin really didn't need to bring much. Kibum looked on in amusement as he was handed a wallet, a tube of lip balm, his phone, Jonghyun's cards, and a tube of his favorite mint candies. Kibum chucked everything into his own bag and then removed his slim-line black blazer with a bejewelled brooch. This should dress him up enough. 

Who knew his propensity for dressing up in layers would be a lifesaver? Kibum was left in an untucked gray, light-knit sleeveless cardigan with a colorful mismatched striped ribbing that revealed his blue and white striped dress shirt underneath. 

"Are you wearing a belt under that?"

Taemin nodded. "Just black with a metal buckle."

"Let's switch." Kibum quickly removed his simple Gucci buckle belt and said,"Tuck in your jumper."

Kibum averted his eyes and slid on the slim—surprisingly elegant—black belt (which would be hidden by his dress shirt, anyway) as he heard a hiss of a zipper sliding down. It was getting a bit hot inside the close quarters of Taemin's sedan, so Kibum snatched his bag up and escaped with a choked out, "I'll wait for you outside."

When Taemin stepped out of the car, Kibum could finally see the full effect of his edited ensemble. Taemin swept an arm down his person and asked in an uncharacteristically subdued voice, "Well?"

Taemin's slim legs looked impossibly long in the black jeans that blended into the narrow boots. Instead of making him look scrawny, the cut of the black blazer emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, which tapered to a narrow waist emphasized by the belt.

On second thought, the hotel staff would probably think that Taemin's an idol and let him in anyway. 

"You'll do," Kibum commented in a brusque voice, as if he hadn't been mindfully telling himself for the last few minutes to stop staring.

"Hyung… should we pretend to be together?" 

He probably meant pretend to be Jinki and Jjong. What are we going to do when the event staff asks for identification? Why am I this nervous all of a sudden?

Kibum eye's met Taemin's, and there was an odd moment when all sound around him became muted, and his vision became tunnel-like that excluded everything but Taemin. He shook his head vehemently to clear it.

Against his better judgement, he reached up to finger-tousle his black hair into some style. Without any product, it ended up flopping back to its usual part. Maybe once they find a men's room, they could use some water and hand lotion to rearrange his hair and make it hold. 

"I don't know, Taemin-ah. Let's just play it by ear."

***

As it turned out, they didn't have to pretend to be Jinki and Jonghyun because the tickets had been transferred to their names, or so the guest list showed. Kibum started to breathe a bit easier. 

Unlike the first wedding fair that they attended, the event at the hotel was a smaller, more muted, yet no less grand affair. The Grand Ballroom's largest section was dressed in full wedding regalia, with the hotel breaking out their finest crystal and china and best linenware to grace the circular tables that were near creaking under the heavy load of profuse blooms in massive vases. Grecian columns with climbing vines lined the U-shaped runway, with the head of the runway illuminated by a glittering chandelier that must weigh a ton.

Kibum was entranced as he all but stood on tiptoe to catch a glimpse whenever one of the staff slipped out from the inner hall. They didn't proceed immediately to the main hall as the first part of the fair was in the anteroom, which housed several booths showcasing jewelry, an exclusive wedding boutique, two haberdasheries, wedding registries for major malls, and impossibly delicate handcrafted stationery. The elegantly attired guests milled about munching on appetizers from the long table spread with crudités and charcuterie and sipping on champagne as they flitted from one booth or the other. Evidently, the target market for this event was the crème de la crème of Seoul—or, at least, the most loaded. 

How in the world did Jjong score tickets? And then, Is he crazy? How could he pass this