According to Taecyeon, the first step towards his transformation from a little tiny fugly caterpillar and into a beautiful butterfly (his words, not mine) was to seek help from the master. Apparently, that was Jay Park. How he even came up to that conclusion I dared not ask. It was sure to confuzzle me in degrees I’d rather not delve into.

Right now I was meeting with them at the mall. Them being Jay, and Taec. Why I was here, they said was because they needed a second opinion. Why not Minji? She said she was busy working on a couple of new songs with Junsu. Very interesting. Why not the other girls? Well, the other girls avoided Taec most of the time. Except maybe Jia and Fei, they were nice, but I guess they weren’t that close.

Which leaves me.

Oh happy joy joy.

According to Jay, the first step was to get rid of Taec’s horrible fashion sense, his wrongly sized clothing, and his grandpa haircut. And so there I was. At the fountain. Waiting as usual.

At some point of my life I had imagined myself waiting like this for an actual date. It never happened. Ian says I should just give it some time and/or stop being so snarky and snobbish. I refused to accept his ideas of me. I was perfectly normal.

In fact, I was perfect.

It was still early, so I pulled out my journal and my trusty pen. Ian often asks why I invested so much in those faux leather notebooks and fountain pens. My rebuttal was him investing on his sheet music and what other things he used when he composed. Granted, he was more resourceful than I was.

Then again, I had no reason to be resourceful, anything I wanted I could get. He knew that. I could get him whatever he wanted too, but he always refused.

Besides, I’d like to think my words are worth as much, or even more, than the pen I used to write them and the paper I wrote them on.

I often wondered why people liked to say they were bored. I found no real reason to be bored, not since I realized that even though the real world was such fail, you could make the most of it by watching the little people as they walked around.

People watching may not have been the best hobby considering its stalker-ish nature, but it was a fun hobby. Maybe, just maybe, I can find a masterpiece from all this. Reality begets fiction after all, and it’s fiction’s job to reveal the truth inside all the lies.

Not that there was anything I wanted to expose at that moment. At least, not yet.

Taecyeon and Jay finally arrived together, and the three of us headed on to the first shop Jay spotted. It was minutes upon minutes of trying on different concepts and styles, but Taecyeon was an excited not-so-little thing. He literally soaked up everything Jay had to say, and I was surprised he didn’t bring a notebook for this, really I wouldn’t put it past him.

In all fairness, Taec did look somewhat better with clothes that were actually in his size. Ever since his mom got him to start working out with her there had been a remarkable improvement in his physique. Sadly he was still a nerd with those Harry Potter glasses and floppy hair.

Ms. Perfect Princess Yoona wouldn’t give him a second glance even if he was literally on fire.

That wasn’t such a bad idea, really.

Taec came out of the fitting room a few moments later in a pair of proper jeans and a plain black v-neck shirt.

Oh.

Dear.

Heart.

I had never been attracted to Taec, but right now I was willing to eat my words. With Jay’s instructions to stand up straight, Taec looked taller than ever, and a lot more virile, may I say. The contact lenses were definitely giving him a different vibe, the new hair, while it made his ears stand out more, made him look less of a nerd.

Taec was hot. Well I’ll be damned.

“So, now you got your look, you’ll need swag to go with it,” Jay was all business, and it was time for the best part of it all. Jay’s swag tutorial.

While Taec paid for all his new stuff, Jay and I waited for him outside. It was nice seeing Jay again. Sure we were together, ish, the last time at the beach, but that was with all those other people.

“Hi,” I said, rather lamely. I keep thinking I should have worn something else. Being out in a dress was not new to me, just pair them off with some ankle boots and I was willing to wear whatever my mother asked, but maybe I should have gone with something pink instead?

“Yo, you busy tonight? Jess says they’re going out to some kind of thing with Yoona tonight, we’re gonna test-run Taec.”

There were three things. Jess? As in Jessica? Test-run Taec? And was he asking me out? “Okay? I guess,”

“Great, I was gonna call you about it, but you’re here now. I’ll pick you up?”

“Okay?”

He flashed me that grin of his and I melted into a puddle of goo. Wow. Just wow. Jay Park must have had some kind of super power. I didn’t doubt it at all. Taec came out after that and the three of us walked around a little more before stopping to eat. This was going to be the site of Jay’s epic swag lecture. Epic, it was sure going to be.

“Alright,” Jay sat next to me on the booth, and he was just about to show Taec how to melt Princess Yoona’s heart. “So the first thing, is you gotta learn how to really look confident, y’know?”

“Confident, got it!” Wasn’t Taec some eager-beaver?

Jay leaned into the backrest, how exactly was he going to teach confidence anyway? “You gotta believe you’re the best looking guy out there and that no girl would ever say no to you.”

I wanted to bang my head against the table.

Taec leaned forward, propping his forearms on the table. He was directly in front of me, and looked straight into my eyes. “You’re going to want me,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“I am irresistible, I am the greatest-looking guy in this whole shop.”

“Did you eat a bad roll?”

“You want me bad.”

“Taec?”

“Jay, it’s not working on her!”

“Duh,” Jay replied, “I’m right next to her, I’m the master here, of course she’ll want me and not you.”

I was absolutely floored. Jay was shameless, I knew, but this was just a whole new level for him. I didn’t even know he could go past what level he already was. I guess I was wrong. I turned to him, and he winked at me.

It was going to be a cold day in hell before I tell him he was right.

“True, true,” Taec agreed all too easily. Too much perhaps that he was missing the glances several girls gave him as they passed by our table.

Well, how about that. Jay did something right.

“So you gotta learn how to look like you own the place,”

Taec already did own most places. Literally.

“Tell me more master!”

“So you sit like this,” Jay leaned back on his seat again and threw an arm on the backrest. He really did look like owned the place, and when he passed a look to me, I couldn’t help but look away.

Taec tried the move too, though he looked more funny than impressive.

“So yeah, we do a lay-back, and then you just sit there or stand there and pose.”

Pose?

Taec thought about the concept for a moment before breaking out on a pose of his own. “Alright, see the bear! Or, the crane! Or, dude I can totally do the snake!”

I walked away but Jay caught my arm and pulled me back into the seat, actually he pulled really hard because this time I was sitting closer to him. I wanted to cry, but the guys were laughing like they’ve been BFFs forever.

“So you gotta learn to rap, too. I got a few demos, you can rap right?”

“Yeah totally. Soooooootellmewhatchuwantwatchureallyreallywant!”

It was going to be a very, very long day.

…

That night, despite the looks Ian was giving me, I went out with Jay and Taec to what apparently was Tiffany’s birthday party. It was everything that a party should be like. There was dancing, there was lights, and because it was summer and parents apparently didn’t care, there were drinks involved.

I should have listened to Ian.

So there we were at some upper-up bar and everyone was there. Well, mostly anyway. There were a few Cs and a few Bs, mostly the Wonder Girls, some of the PM boys were there too, then Seulong and Kwon. Tiffany was in this little black thingy, while her cohorts Jessica and Victoria were in pink and red respectively.

How this was even relevant I didn’t know.

Jay’s last lesson was by far the most absurd.

Nice guys finish last, so don’t treat her like a princess.

I seriously doubted Jay’s sanity at that moment, but Taec was on the prowl, and I stood there to one side as Jay made like his own butterfly and surveyed the crowd. I stood there, and I wished Minji or Junho were here.

Junsu was here though, why wasn’t Minji? Not that they were a proper package deal now, but Junsu had this uncanny ability of getting the girl to do things she normally wouldn’t.

I figured I had nothing else to do so I followed Taec in his pursuit of Yoona. Should be interesting if Seulong being there was any indication.

“What’s Taec up to anyway?”

“You mean the make-over? He says he’s turning into a beautiful butterfly to earn Yoona’s hand in marriage...something like that.”

“I don’t really know who I feel sorry for.”

“Feel sorry for me, I was the one who had to gauge his progress.”

Seulong laughed much more than what I thought was needed for the occasion. I rolled my eyes at him, but in the dim lights, it didn’t make as much of an impact. He had his phone ready to take pictures of Taec’s attempt, and I just knew there was going to be a wager for how many times Taec tried until security escorted him out.

What I didn’t get is that if Taec was supposed to be bad, then why was he the one approaching her? Wasn’t it meant to be the other way around? Or was my knowledge of the whole thing terribly outdated?

I sensed another person behind us, and I blanched when I saw Nichkhun’s summer blonde head. He was giving me his evil eye, and I wondered why people kept finding me in the most compromising of places.

“I’m hiding out from Victoria, so I’d appreciate some help here. Besides, you still owe me.”

I nodded in defeat and jabbed a finger at Taec’s direction. I didn’t know how much Nichkhun knew about these things, but I figured he knew more than that deceptively innocent face of his let on. He would have been a competent accomplice. Imagine this, Khun’s face and charms were going to get me any kind of information I want.

Maybe we could work on a partnership after all.

“Why do you even come to these things when all you do is spend half the time hiding from Victoria?” My question was valid.

Khun just smiled at me, “It’s a party, it’s better than staying at home.”

Point taken. “Wooyoung and Junho weren’t invited?”

Seulong looked at me weird, “Everyone’s invited. They just never come, you know that.”

I did, but I was hoping there was a reason for their absence this time. Junho was the usual non-goer, but Wooyoung? I let the issue go eventually when both Seulong and Khun started giggling like girls. I was about to tell Nichkhun how unbecoming this was of Prince Khun and that his girl was probably going to be more impressed with him if he were to just behave, but even I was knocked out of my better sense when Taec channeled Jay and swagged into Yoona’s line of sight.

He didn’t talk to her, he went to the bar actually, and it was then the looks of surprise and appreciation kicked in. Rumor had it that although Princess Yoona was perfect, she had this penchant for dating bad boys. Now whether this was an actual rumor or just some romance novel cliche I had yet to confirm. I had my ideas and opinions on the whole subject matter, but that’s for an entirely different conversation.

Taec actually ignored Yoona this time, he just walked right past her. Of course the smaller fish schooled around him easily. I thought it only happened in movies but with Khun cursing in Thai next to me, then maybe it actually only did.

“Who is that? He looks like Taec, but it’s not Taec,” Khun muttered.

“Dude I think aliens ate out his brains!”

I rolled my eyes at them, “Aliens? I think it’s some conspiracy. Someone from the international security used Taec’s body as a host and planted a different consciousness into him.”

“Yeah, no.”

I slapped Khun on the arm but he just shrugged it off. Seulong was already ducking away when I laid my eyes on him. We needed to congratulate Taec, or maybe Jay.

Although I had my qualms about revealing Jay’s secrets to success. There wasn’t a need for more Jays in the world. One was already too much to handle, and Taec as a clone should be enough for the world as we know it.

The end of the world can wait.

With nothing more to see, we left the sideshow and found a booth to ourselves. Normally I’d be with my normal lunch group, but seeing as I was the only one there, I had to be resourceful. Besides, Khun and Ong weren’t bad company. I started to wonder then why I never hung out as much with them before.

Oh right. Ong was nosy, and Khun was, well, Prince Khun.

We were currently engaged in some debate over the truth in behind Taec’s transformation: whether or not nice guys truly did finish last. Ong was taking Taec’s side with the affirmative, and Khun, the negative.

According to Khun’s initial argument, being nice was better in the long run, to which Ong pointed out that if it were true, then Khun wouldn’t be having such a hard time with his mystery girl.

I was the sad mediator and the unfortunate fountain of the female viewpoint.

“So,” Seulong began, “Was Jay nice to you, or was he mean to you?”

I almost choked on my juice. “Excuse me? How is this relevant?”

“Well, you are going out with the guy.” Khun answered.

Again, I choked. “Excuse me? Since when?”

“Everyone else says so,”

I stared hard at Seulong’s serious face. “Whatever happened to responsible journalism?”

“Whatever happened to you? You used to be on top of these things.”

Khun was just laughing next to me while I gave Seulong my evil eye. “What else have you heard?” Ong gave me a look, “that you haven’t had Jinwoon publish?” I added.

Said class newsman sent me his version of the intriguing eye and waggled his brows. “You’d have to find out. Jinwoon and I are planning some major scoop stalk in the next few days, you’re more than welcome.”

“Can I come too?” Khun chirped.

Seulong agreed in the most enthusiastic way possible. I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was regarding Khun’s cherubic good looks.

It appeared to be set in stone that we now had a new scoop team.

I opened my mouth to give my two cents’ worth on the subject, but I was abruptly yanked out of my thought process when Taecyeon walked by. All three of us congratulated him, but it didn’t appear like he heard us. I stood to follow Taec, but instead, Jay was right behind me, hands on my waist as he pulled me away.

“Don’t interrupt the man when he’s on his game,”

I was skeptical on so many levels. “Taec has no game other than video games. Or those nerd games with the triangles and stuff.”

“Let’s not talk about Taec,” he said, talking my hand and pulling me away. By this time I was no stranger to Jay and him dragging me everywhere. I at least could say that despite the several pictures he had with Jessica and whoever else, I was pretty sure he never dragged them around like this.

I refuse to comment and argue on which bore more implications.

We stepped out of the club and before I could even process what was going on or going to happen, Jay wrapped his arms around me, embracing me from behind. At that moment, I couldn’t breathe. Jay was warm, very warm, and even though we liked teasing him about his height, that was irrelevant. I though I felt his heartbeat from the way he was flush against me, but maybe that ultra fast beat was actually mine.

“What are you doing?”

“Hugging you,”

“No, I can tell. I mean-”

“Thanks for coming tonight, but do you really have to give me such a hard time getting a date with you?”

I had nothing to say to that.

“I’ll see you again tomorrow, okay? I’ll pick you up. I forgave you for the other times you stood me up, but you can’t say no tomorrow. I really really want to show you something, okay?”

The way he said that, it was...well it gave me no room to say no. And when he finally squeezed an okay out of me, he kissed me on the cheek.