Amelle brushed the hem of her daughter's dress and beamed at her. A gift from Jeremy Scott himself, the dress a modification of his popular white and rainbow dress. Amelle had piled her hair up into a high ponytail on the top of her head, and tied it with a royal purple ribbon. She was the epitome of adorable. Amelle placed a kiss on her head.

"Happy birthday my little cupcake" Zulay wrapped her arms around her mother's waist as best as she could.

"Saranghae Umma" 

Jae-sun walked into the room, and the noise of party goers flowed in. He had made sure to dress smart as well, even wearing a bow tie. He took Zulay's small hand in his and started walking her towards the party.

'Come on Zoo. All your ahjummas and ahjusshi's are waiting for you'.

Amelle took a look at herself in the mirror, brushing her hands down her dress. She had chosen a semi-formal purple dress with a slight v-neck and pencil line skirt. Nothing too revealing, but it proved that this mumma still had her y figure.

"Where's my favourite little angel?" SooHyun cried as he pushed open the door to the apartment Amelle and Ji-Yong shared, a large pale box secured underneath his arm. Zulay who had been happily bouncing about on her fathers knee and giggling, let out a squeal of delight, and raced towards SooHyun as fast as her little legs could carry her. Ji-Yong gritted his teeth slowly as he watched SooHyun sweep Zulay into his arms and kiss her on the cheek. She squealed again.

Placing her down on the floor, SooHyun placed the big parcel in front of her. Zulay smiled and thanked SooHyun, before turning to look at her momma. SooHyun looked and a huge smile sprung up onto his face. Amelle nodded for Zulay to open her present, and her little fingers tore into it, Jae-sun helping her with the difficult parts. SooHyun walked over to Amelle and hugged her, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist. She hugged him back equally tightly, then tried to pull away.

"SooHyun"

Sheepishly, SooHyun loosened his grip, then let go altogether. He smiled at her again.

"Thank you so much for coming. It means the world to Zoo"

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world"

Zulays eyes rounded like saucer as the present revealed itself to her. Underneath all that wrapping paper was a rocking zebra. Technically, it was a rocking horse, but it had been painted to look exactly like Zulay's favourite toy.

From where he was seated, Ji-Yong glared at SooHyun and took a sip of his drink.

Amelle leaned over the balcony and stared downwards at the ground floor. She had posted on her personal blog that she would be giving out some giftbags for some lucky fans and she wanted to see how many people had been reading. There was a small crowd still waiting downstairs, some looking up and waving at her. She waved back and laughed. This really was the life. Voices and laughter spilled out onto the balcony and Amelle felt at peace.

"Amelle" The voice broke her train of thought. Turning around Amelle saw SooHyun closing the balcony door behind her.

"I need to talk to you" Amelle swallowed and looked towards the door. The talk she had been avoiding for weeks had finally come to light. She leant her back against the railing, her eyes towards the ground. He stood next to her.

"Amelle, I... I know you know what I'm gonna say, but I need to say it out loud..."

"SooHyun...please..."

"I love you"

Amelle quietened. Now it had been said, there was no taking it back. The friendship she had treasured was officially over. A part of her had known how he felt about her, but she had alwas played it down, hoping that the feeling would go away. To her dismay, it had just gotten stronger.

"SooHyun, you mean the world to me and to Zoo, she loves you, but you know I can't do this. I'm married...and I love my husband. I made a commitment to that man in there and I have to stick to it"

"He doesn't treat you right Amelle, you deserve better. How many times has he abamdoned you to take care of Zoo, and I've been there to pick up the slack..."

"DON'T start on my husband SooHyun. You're in my house. Yes, we are going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean you can come in and criticise my marriage. I want you to be in Zoo's life and in mine, but if this is how it's going to be, then I think we shouldn't be friends"

SooHyun's eyes were on her feet, tears b at the edges. He reached forward and took her hand, gently running his thumb across her palm.

"I love you Amelle. And that's not going to stop. You deserve better than this, and I'll wait until you realise that" With a flourish, SooHyun pulled Amelle to him, and holding her tightly, kissed her. Amelle froze in his embrace, her lips against his. Part of her wanted SooHyun to hold her tigher, the way Ji-Yong used to do. But she knew it was wrong. Pulling away, Amelle slapped SooHyun. His hand rose to his cheek.

"I would like you to stay until the end of the party, but once it is over, I don't want to see you in this house again" Sliding the glass door open, Amelle smoothed the crinkles in her dress and tried to maintain composure, making sure to avoid the look her husband was giving her, one of quiet complacence. She felt guilty. She would never tell Ji-Yong what happened. He already hated SooHyun as it was. But little did she know, Ji-Yong had seen the kiss they had shared, and it was eating him up inside.

Ji-Yong had been waiting for an hour before he saw SooHyun enter the balcon again, this time by himself. He threw the last drops of his drink down his neck and headed towards the balcony. Who was this guy kidding? She was his wife for sake. Taking one last look at his wife, who was happily chatting away to JB, he crept onto the balcony and half closed the door.

"Hey man" he said to the back of SooHyun. SooHyun turned and offered Ji-Yong a brief weak smile before returning to looking at the city. Ji-Yong walked up next to him, his black and pink hair waving slightly in the wind.Ji-Yong remained quiet next to him.

"It's a great party"

Ji-Yong nodded.

"Yeah it is. My wife worked hard on it" Ji-Yong studied SooHyun's face as he spoke, looking for any clue that he was getting to it. Ji-Yong continued.

"Amelle. She's really one of a kind. Smart, kind...y as hell. They don't make her like that anymore" Ji-Yong smirked to himself as continued on, watching the little signals SooHyun gave him. 

"I mean sometimes I think, maybe I don't deserve her"

"You don't" Ji-Yong detected a note of anger in SooHyun's voice and decided to press it. 

"Well, it's not like she'd leave me right? I mean, who could she get who's better than me, huh?" 

SooHyun spun around and glared at Ji-Yong. Ji-Yong glared back.

"What's wrong SooHyun? Did you really think she'd go for someone like you?" Ji-Yong was angry now. Who the did SooHyun think he was, coming into his house and going after his wife? The anger was swarming in his stomach and threatening to burst out of his chest.

"She could do a whole lot better than you, you little prick. Amelle's getting ready to make her transition to real men" Ji-Yong's eyes travelled to SooHyun's lips, the lips that had kissed his wife a little while ago.

"So anyways, we thought we'd get a female vocal to feature in..." Amelle and JB were deep in conversation when they heard the bang. Amelle dropped her cup and spun around to find Ji-Yong slamming SooHyun against the glass sliding door that lead to the balcony. Parents and kids alike turned to look at the pair. Ji-Yong had a fixed expression of fury on his face, and had SooHyun's shirt collar in his fists. SooHyun was holding his own. JB gave her one look and she knew: they had to break them up. 

Frogmarching towards the pair, they were joined my TOP and the three entered the balcony. Amelle touched her husbands fists. His head whipped around to look at her, a glare still on her face. Trying to ignore her inner instinct of retaliating for the glare, she kept her voice calm as she pulled at his fingers. TOP had his arm firmly around Ji-Yong's shoulder.

"Please Ji...Not your daughter's birthday"

"You let him come here...You let him kiss you"

Ji-Yong turned back to look at SooHyun who scoffed at him. Seeing red, Ji-Yong attacked again, forcing him against the window. TOP seized Ji-Yong, JB tried to pull SooHyun away. They were creating a scene. The 2NE1 unnis did their best to distract the guests from the drama on the balcony.

As TOP wrestled Ji-Yong away from SooHyun, Ji-Yong let loose a strike that was aimed for SooHyun. It made contact with flesh. It did not make contact with  SooHyun though. Amelle who had been trying to push the boys away, turned in time to be in direct firing line of Ji-Yong's fist. The next thing she knew, her cheek was stinging and the boys were frozen in shock, all watching her. The look of anger he had worn disappeared. TOP released him. 

Ji-Yong reached forward to touch her cheek, but Amelle stepped back, a single tear b. She touched her cheek gingerly with the pad of her fingertip. She looked away from him.

"You couldn't just leave it alone. You couldn't ing let me deal with it, could you?"

With that, Amelle disappeared back into the party, plastering a fake smile across her face. She swept her babygirl into her arms, who unknowingly pressed her forehead against Amelle's sore cheek. Trying not to let her voice crack, she realigned herself with the role of the perfect hostess.

"Who wants birthday cake?"