Wow, I’ve finally finished part 1 of chapter 23!!! Yay!!! Sorry that I don’t get to update as much now, cuz I’ve been REALLY busy lately, especially cuz it’s the holidays now! But anyways, this chapter is special, cuz I really forced myself to finish it on Christmas eve! Happy Holidays, everyone!!!

Oh, and Merry Christmas!!! Well, in Asian time, it’s December 25, 2009, but it’s probably Christmas Eve in Western countires! Oh well, happy holidays anyway!!!

Here’s the chapter!!!

HyeBin was- again- in Yunho’s room waiting for him.

“I can’t wait ‘till after graduation,” she happily though to herself. “That’s when Yunnie officially becomes mine.”

She looked around and spotted something that was on his desk. Looking at it curiously, she stood up and walked over. She picked up the object, which was their sophomore yearbook.

“Come to think of it, I never got a copy of this thing,” HyeBin thought as she flipped through the pages. She carelessly flipped the pages of the articles, news clippings and other stuff of the yearbook.

She stopped at the page where the fashion segment was. Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of Seulgi in Boa’s designs. She continued skimming through the pages and lost her breath when she saw what was on the last part of the fashion segment.

Bae Seulgi and HER Jung Yunho were posing as a married couple.

She stared in disbelief as she saw her fiancé and Seulgi, smiling at the camera, feeding each other cake, and other whatnot.

HyeBin clutched the yearbook tightly in anger. “Bae Seulgi, you are so gonna get it.”

She whipped her phone out and called someone.

“Ricardo?” she said as he picked up. “Meet me immediately. I have something to show you.”

When she hung up, she made another phone call.

“Mrs. Jung? I have wonderful news!” she said to her future mother in law as she picked up.
…

Yunho’s phone rang and he answered it to hear his mother’s voice.

“My baby!!!” his mother exclaimed, startling him. He could even hear sniffing in the background.
“Umma?” he asked cautiously, confused why his mother was acting this way.
“Don’t worry, sweetie I know everything now!” she sad, still trying to sustain her sobs.
“Wha-“
“It’s okay, we’ll talk more about it in person! Just come down to the hotel now!”

And with that, she hung up, leaving a very confused Yunho.

He arrived at the hotel a few minutes later and saw his umma and Mrs. Jeon in the restaurant with his appa, Mr. Jeon and HyeBin, who was beaming brightly. The two older women were crying and were holding handkerchiefs, wiping their tears.

“Yunho!” Mrs. Jung said, as she stood up to hug her son and kiss his cheeks. Mrs. Jeon was sitting next to her daughter, smiling while tears fell down her face.

“What’s wrong?” Yunho asked as he sat down next to HyeBin.

Mrs. Jung choked on her sobs. “HyeBin told us everything!” she said. “She told us that you didn’t want to get married after graduation!” she told him.

Yunho’s hopes elevated. Did HyeBin tell them that he didn’t want to marry her? Did she tell them to cancel the wedding?

“Why didn’t you tell us that you couldn’t wait that long?” Mrs. Jeon said fondly.

“WHAT?!?!?!” Yunho half-yelled.
Mrs. Jung waved her hand dismissively. “Yunho, you don’t need to act! HyeBin told us that you wanted to get married as soon as possible, but you were too scared to tell us!”

Yunho was speechless for a while. When he came back to his senses, he turned to HyeBin, who was still grinning from ear to ear. “Can I talk to you outside?” he said through gritted teeth.

Once they were our of their parents’ earshot, Yunho exploded.

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL THEM TO PUSH THE WEDDING EARLIER?!?!?!” he yelled.
HyeBin looked at him innocently. “I just thought this is what you wanted…” she quietly said, crocodile tears coming out of her eyes. “Mianhae, I-I just…” she said, crying.
Yunho sighed and calmed down a bit. “Sorry, I was just kinda surprised back there,” he said.
HyeBin hiccoughed and smiled. “Gwenchana,” she replied. “I’m sorry for not telling you. But what’s done is done. Plus, the mothers are so happy now.”
Yunho heaved another sigh. “I guess,” he said, as they made their way into the restaurant again. HyeBin wrapped her arm around Yunho’s as they walked back. She kept her evil smirk to herself.

After regaining their previous seats, they started to discuss about wedding plans.

“So, it’s settled,” Mrs. Jung said excitedly. “The wedding will be two weeks from today! I’m so excited!”

Uh oh.
…

Seulgi rested her head on her desk and rubbed her temples the following morning. Headaches were her companions now.

“The nurse said that it’s because I haven’t been sleeping much,” she though to herself, remembering her little visit to the school clinic the day before. And how would she get any sleep if Yunho and HyeBin keep on interrupting her dreams?

“Bae Seulgi, are you listening?” asked Mr. Song.
Seulgi forced a smile and nodded.

Mr. Song shook his head. “I don’t believe you. Go to the nurse’s office,” he said, as he gave her a hall pass.

As Seulgi made her way to the clinic, she bumped into the one person she didn’t want to bump into.

“Seulgi!” HyeBin said cheerfully.
“Oh, hey HyeBin,” she said weakly.
The smile on HyeBin’s face turned into a frown as she noticed Seulgi’s behavior. “Are you okay? You seem really weak.”
Seulgi waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine, it’s just a little headache is all.”

HyeBin’s frown turned into a smile again as she walked down the hallway with Seulgi to the nurse’s office.

After their quick visit to the office, Seulgi left with another prescription of Panadol, with HyeBin in tow.

“Seulgi, I wanted to ask you something,” HyeBin said, twiddling her fingers as they walked back to their classes.

Seulgi turned to HyeBin. “What is it?”
HyeBin looked at her with pleading eyes. “Will you be one of my bridesmaids?”
Seulgi’s eyes widened. “HyeBin, I don’t-“
“Please, Seulgi!” HyeBin pleaded. “I don’t have many friends here, and you’re the only person who’s close enough to me!!!”

Seulgi looked at the sad puppy eyes HyeBin was giving her. The girl had been nothing but nice to her ever since they met, and it wasn’t her fault that she was marrying Yunho, right? Plus, she had JaeBeom now. There wasn’t any reason for her to say no.

Seulgi nodded. “Okay. I’ll be your bridesmaid.”
HyeBin squealed with delight and jumped up and down clapping her hands. “Great! We have a lot of work to do if we’re gonna do it all in two weeks!”

Seulgi’s eyes grew wide. “Two weeks?” she repeated. “I thought you were getting married after graduation?”
“Our parents moved it up!” HyeBin said. “Happy for me??”
Seulgi’s smile was somehow forced. “Of course I am! Congratulations, HyeBin!” she said, as she hugged her.

The bride-to-be beamed. “Thanks!” she said, as she turned around to leave. As soon as she did, an evil grin formed on her face.

Seulgi just stood there, frozen on the spot. “What have I just gotten myself into?”

…

The bell rang and calculus was officially over. Jaejoong stood up to stretch his limbs before making his way out of the classroom with Donghae.

“Oops, sorry!” Jaejoong said, as he bumped into someone.

It was none other than HyeBin. She was carrying a binder and some papers fell out when she bumped into Jaejoong.

Some papers fell from the binder, and as HyeBin and Jaejoong crouched down to pick them up, one more piece of folded paper fell and Donghae picked it up.

“What’s this?” Donghae asked himself as he saw a name scribbled on the note.

“JaeBeom.”

“Don’t touch that!” HyeBin suddenly said loudly, as she snatched the note away from Donghae.

“What is that, anyway?” Donghae asked suspiciously.
“It’s nothing!” HyeBin answered a little too defensively. She walked away as fast as she could from Donghae’s intense stare, leaving the two friends baffled.

“Something’s up with that girl,” said Donghae as they watched HyeBin’s retreating figure.

…
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!” Boa and Hyojoo yelled, as they heard Seulgi’s story that night.

“That girl is seriously getting on my nerves…” Boa said, cracking her knuckles.
Seulgi shook her head. “Don’t do anything to her; all she did was harmlessly ask me to be her bridesmaid, that’s all.”
Hyojoo was shocked. “Why are you defending her?!?! She’s the enemy! Be mad at her! Grr!!!”

Seulgi shook her head again. “Look, she’s been really kind towards me, and she doesn’t have many friends here, so it’s the least I can do for her…” she trailed off.

Her two friends, however, wouldn’t back down. “That girl is pure evil, I just know it,” Boa stated.
“I can feel it, too!” Hyojoo said.

Seulgi just sighed. “Look guys, I’m absolutely certain that there’s nothing wrong with HyeBin. Plus, why should I care? She’s Yunho’s fiancé, so I don’t have to deal with her; he does. And I’m with JaeBeom now, so I’m happy.”

Boa and Hyojoo didn’t buy it. “No, you’re not,” they said together.”

Seulgi didn’t say anything she just hopped on her bed and snuggled with Yungi under her blanket. “I’m pretty worn out, guys. Good night.”

The two friends just sighed at Seulgi, who was trying to stop the tears under her blanket.

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Boa and Hyojoo opened it to see her boyfriend and Jaejoong with serious looks on their faces.

“We think something’s going on with HyeBin,” they said.

“We know,” Boa and Hyojoo said together.

…

[A few days later]

Yunho lay down on his bed and heaved a sigh. He was getting married in about a week and three days. Yes, he was keeping count.

He rolled on his front and buried his face into his pillow. How could this have happened to him?

“If only I didn’t make that stupid bet,” he said to himself. “Then this wouldn’t have happened.”

At that very moment, he hated himself. All he wanted to do was be with Seulgi. And now, he wouldn’t even have the chance to do that, because in ten days, he would officially belong to someone else.
…
[A Week Later]

Seulgi sighed as she stood up from her desk after the ring of the final bell of the day. The wedding was three days away and she wasn’t feeling very good. Why would she? She was going to walk down the aisle with a random stranger and stand by the altar, and watching the guys she loves commit himself to another girl. She really needed a break.

And just when she thought things couldn’t get any more worse, she got a text from HyeBin.

“Come to my dorm! Quick!”

Seulgi heaved another heavy sigh as she made her way to HyeBin’s room.

“Come in,” she heard a muffled voice say after she knocked on the door. She opened it to find HyeBin hiding behind her bathroom door.

“I want you to see something!” HyeBin said from behind the door. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” Seulgi answered.

A few seconds later, HyeBin came out of the bathroom, wearing a wedding dress.

But it wasn’t any normal wedding dress. The sight of that dress made Seulgi’s heart ache.

It was exactly like the wedding she wore when she was modeling with Yunho.

“Isn’t it gorgeous?” HyeBin said, as she twirled around to give Seulgi the full effect. “I saw it somewhere in a random magazine, and I told my designer, Ricardo to make one exactly like it!”

Seulgi swallowed the lump that formed in . She gave her a forced smile and a stiff nod. “Uh… yeah,” she said weakly. “It’s beautiful… I’m really happy for you HyeBin…”

HyeBin beamed and hugged her. “I knew you were the perfect bridesmaid.”

Seulgi suddenly felt woozy as she hugged HyeBin back.

Seulgi broke the hug as tears formed in her eyes. “Uh, HyeBin I have to go now… I have some homework to catch up on.”

HyeBin smiled at her warmly. “Okay… but be sure to be back her later with the other bridesmaids to try on dresses, kay?”

Seulgi nodded and quickly left the room, silent tears flowing down her cheeks.

As the door closed behind the troubled bridesmaid, HyeBin smirked. Things were definitely going her way.

<3--------------------------------

The wedding is three days away! What will happen? Will Seulgi be able to realize her true feelings and stop it? Will Yunho finally come to his senses and stop it himself? Or will HyeBin get her way again and ruin it for everyone? Find out in the LAST chapter of Place Your Bets!!!