Just as she was about to step out from the car, she grabbed her fur coat from the backseat while he adjusted his looks in the mirror once again. She put on the coat, tapping his shoulder, asking him to be the mirror and fashion critic.

“Enough with the fur coat already. It’s overrated. You worn them so often when we were younger, the effect of elegance is just not there anymore,” he slated, narrowing his already small eyes at the fur coat.

She huffed at his judgement, but he was right. Fur coat was last season, anyway. She dumped it to the backseat. Now, focusing her attention on him, fixing his collar as her eyes scanned his appearance. His lips were slightly cracked but it was nothing lip gloss cannot repair.

“Here, wear this lip gloss. Your lips are so dry,” she said, wearily. He gave the lip gloss a long hard stare, and then stared at her incredulously. “You don’t expect me to wear that, do you?”

“Why not? Give me a good reason why you should refuse to wear this,” she crossed her arms, furrowed her brow.

“Well, it is a girl’s. Men like me don’t wear such things, ”he retorted, as if it was a common knowledge.

“You already wear eyeliner and that is a woman’s accessories-

He protested,“It was a guyliner!”

“Say what you want, it is still eyeliner. Once eyeliner stays as eyeliner.”

She shoved the lip gloss into his palm, commandeering him to wear it with a glare. “Just think of it as lip balm, men wear it, too.” With that, he dabbed the lip gloss on his mouth lightly and a satisfied smirk formed on her beautiful face.

“Much better, now let’s attend the party.”

They walked out from the car, fake smiles on and she hooked her arm into the arm of her . He glanced at her nervously, she paid him a genuine smile to thaw out his anxiety and he began to smile, earnestly. Honestly, he was horrible in disguising his emotions.

The traces of the banter (their real personalities) vanished, replaced with the alluring aura of Rian, a famous and award-winning actress and charismatic aura of Yoo Jin, the most successful rock star that charmed the world with his unique sense on music.

They entered the ballroom, in unison, earning the admiration of many respective celebrities and reporters alike. They greeted the hosts and guests, bowing to veteran actors and singers and having the younger ones bowed to them as an honour.

Their eyes were on them, specifically on her. Yoo Jin beaming with the pride of a man proud of his best friend, seeing how everyone was captivated by her, thanks to that little black dress. He did not mind the attention they poured towards her, instead of him despite achieving similar success in a different field.

He knew she enjoyed the limelight as much as she enjoyed his unwavering support since their Kirin High days. That was more than enough to compensate the lack of attention he received.

They parted from each other respectively, she joined in the conversation fellow actress Park Sunyoung and Im Yoon-Ah and he headed for the rest room. Rian found herself skimping through the crowd for him every once in a while, but to no feat. It was like he disappeared from the face of the Earth altogether.

“Riannie,”Sunyoung called out, capturing her attention immediately. “So, tell us about your husband. He seemed to be a quiet guy outside the music scene. Hardly any rumours that plagued his carrier.”

“Yeah, I agreed. He’s squeaky clean. How did you guys meet anyway? I mean he’s a musician and you are an actress. Good musicians are hard to find these days, the bad ones are all over the place,” said Im Yoon-Ah, her co-star in one of her recent movies, became her close friend within a sort amount of time.

“They are not that hard to find. You found your husband and he’s a musician, isn’the?” Rian replied, teasingly. Yoon-Ah waved her hand dismissively at the mention of her husband, countered with a grin, “Yeah, an imported singer but he hardly sings these days, participating in variety shows instead. Only in his band prime time, he could be called a singer. He doesn’t even serenade me anymore. He thinks flexing his muscles was romantic enough to make me weak at the knees.”

“Maybe, he should change careers, you know. A gym owner or a fitness guru would be more fitting,” chirped Sunyoung.

All three broke into fits of laughter. “Speaking of husband, please excuse me. I have to find him, he’s been missing for sometime now,” excused Rian, smiling at the two actresses. Sunyoung raised her brow, mischief flashed in her eyes, “Oh, you better find him. God knows what he might be up to. Might be fondling women behind your back,” she winked at Rian.

The younger actress just shook her head, chuckled, “I rather have him fondling women than men.” Ending their conversation, she went to search for him. It took her a while to locate him. Seeing how parties like these were not his style, he might want to be alone and the only place offering the tranquillity he needed would be in the patio.

She headed towards the patio, found him leaning against one of the beach chairs, in the full view of the bright full moon. She joined him, taking a seat on his edge of his chair and he moved to make space for her.

His closed eyes were now opened, squinting at her. Slightly spooked at her sudden appearance in front of him, she carved a small, concern smile at him, putting a hand over his arm, “Let’s go home.”

“No, I still want to see the moon. And it’s only,” he paused to take a quick peek at his watch, returned his gaze at her and held a finger up. “Ten. We are only been here for an hour. No, you are going to stick around, get yourself another project,” he said, stubbornly.

“I just finished several projects in the span of two years, that’s a lot and now, you are asking me to work again. Do you enjoy seeing me in the state of exhaustion?”she snapped.

“No, but you been complaining on how less money I make on my rock star’s salary, how you wanted that grand piano for the kids and how we could not afford it. So, take the innovative,” he grinned at the flabbergasted actress.

“Close your mouth, princess. It’s unflattering.” Seeing the smirk on his face, she lurched out and pinched his cheeks, causing him to wince in pain. “Stop it, will you?” Yoo Jin barked at her.

She paused, gazing at him with concerned eyes, placing a hand on his warm face. “Are you truly alright?”

“Yes, I am fine. Go return to the party. Everybody must be wondering where on Earth Rian is. They are here for you; you should enjoy the attention while it lasts.” The smile on her face, faltered at the sound of his cough.

She got up to her feet, gaped at him for a moment to asses his condition and saw the smile he put on to convince her to return to the party. “Fine, I’m returning to the party.”