You have been invited to the Choi’s family social party. RSVP if you are to attend.

Hwa Yeon rolled her eyes as she threw the beautifully embossed invitation onto her dressing table.

The Choi Family were the sort of people Hwa Yeon didn’t like very much. They were the sort of people who had friends in high places.

Gold credit cards.

Designer shoes.

Private airline.

Everything except for a decent attitude of modesty.

But she had to it up because they were her mother’s executives.

“Hwa Yeon?” her mother called out from the study. “Did you get the invitation I left on the bed for you?”

“I did,” Hwa Yeon called and slumped forward onto her pillow face first.

“Don’t say anything stupid, understand?” her mother called out in return.

“I know.” Sighing, she slowly got up from the bed and opened the closet, pulling out a whitewashed blue dress and off-white heels.

“Arggh, I hate heels. I swear, if I get a blister on my foot tomorrow-”

“Hwa Yeon, can you help me zip the back of my dress up?” her sister, Yoona, asked as she appeared at the doorway. Hwa Yeon smiled as she pinched the two sides of the zipper together and pulled the tab up.

“You look gorgeous, eonnie. As always.”

Yoona chuckled and hugged the younger sister tightly before pulling back to admire her.

“Not as beautiful as you, Yeon,” she smiled. “You have Father’s looks.”

The corner of Hwa Yeon’s mouth curled up into a small smile. Though she loved all her sisters, she adored Yoona, the second eldest a little bit more. She felt that Yoona understood her a little bit better not only as a sister but like a best friend. Victoria and Jessica were beautiful and kind sisters, but Yoona had a certain level of trust and understanding that the other two didn’t really have.

“I should really be getting this stupid dress on. Are Jess and Vic done yet?”

“I don’t know,” said the older sister as she headed for the door. “I’ll go and check up on them. And by the way, the hair-straightener is in the bathroom.”

Hwa Yeon nodded as she turned to face the full-length mirror. “Okay, let’s get this dress on…”

When they had arrived at the grandly lit hall, they were welcomed by no other than their Chanel-perfumed hosts, the Choi Family.

Hwa Yeon snickered as she looked distastefully at the youngest Choi daughter, Sulli who clung on obsessively to her boyfriend.

“Where’s your boyfriend, Hwa Yeon? Oh wait, you don’t have one,” smirked Sulli triumphantly. She was joined by the upper socialite cohort who laughed mercilessly. Hwa Yeon had now come upon the dreaded realisation that everyone in the room had a partner. Looking frantically around the hall, her fears were confirmed.

Crap, she thought. I’m the only one without a partner.

“Are you by yourself again? Poor, lonely Hwa Yeon,” they sneered maliciously.

Hwa Yeon clenched her teeth in fury and her hands curled into hard fists, the nails on her fingers digging into her skin.

Is having a boyfriend everything? she thought to herself. Come on, give that cakeface a piece of your hell-

Quite suddenly, she felt someone grab her waist protectively and pulled her in close softly.

“Oh, honey, I was looking everywhere for you. What are you doing here?” a deep, male voice asked.

“Who the hell are you?” she hissed quietly.

The husky-voiced man smiled coyly. “Aigoo honey. Did my amazingly good looks make you lose your senses?”

“Ya, you creep. You’ve got the wrong person.”

Sulli’s upper socialiste cohort glanced suspiciously from Hwa Yeon and then to the tall man who had his arms around her waist quite intimately.

“Is he…your boyfriend?” they asked slowly.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Sulli prodded her boyfriend’s ribs with her elbow sharply. He stepped forward smugly and flashed a stunning smile.

“Cho Kyuhyun. Architectural Engineering. Nice to meet you.” He held his hand out. The other male gripped it firmly, all the while smiling just as gorgeously.

“Park Chanyeol. Oxford University, London and majored in veterinary science. Pleasure to meet you too.”

An awkward silence followed.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll take Hwa Yeon with me,” chuckled Chanyeol. When he had steered her away, Hwa Yeon turned to face him irritably.

“Do I know you? Why are you going around saying rubbish. I’m not your girlfriend.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re not. You wish. I just saved your there, you ungrateful child. And one more thing, you do know me.”

“I am also aware you’re still touching me. Get your hands off me, creep, byuntae, weirdo.”

He removed his hands quickly. “Park. Chan. Yeol. Anything coming back into your pea-sized brain?”

“Park Chanyeol..Chan..No way. It can’t be. You’re the Park Chanyeol from ten years ago?!” she choked, as she doubled over in laughter. “Oh god. You mean you’re the he’s-never-going-to-get-girlfriend Park Chanyeol?”

She couldn’t believe it. The ten year old boy with the trolling face and creepy grin was now the twenty year old boy with the…handsome looks and incredible height.

“I bet your mom set you up to this, didn’t she?” she grimaced as she shook her head to refuse champagne offered by one of the waiters.

“Yes, so don’t go thinking I wanted to do this.”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” she twitched back.

“We might be saved from further misunderstanding if we leave qui-”

“Oh Hwa Yeon-ah,” called the familiar sing-song voice of her mother. “Where were you? You disappeared somewhere.”

She paused before looking up at Chanyeol who was pretending to be occupied with the live orchestra. He was so going to kill his mom for this.

“Hwa Yeon, who is he? He’s so good-looking.”

Hwa Yeon offered a weak smile. “Oh, uh, he’s my uh-”

“We have been dating,” he smiled flawlessly and held out his hand as if on cue.

Ms Moon pulled her daughter to one side awkwardly.

“Hwa Yeon, how come you never told me about this?”

“Well, I thought it hadn’t…come to that stage yet.” She threw a menacing glare at Chanyeol who was now pretending to be occupied with the food table.

“Oh hey, there’s dukbokki."