“BoA-unnie!” Jieun called from her room.

“Coming!” She heard the muffled reply of BoA that was probably caused by stuffing with her remaining rice from dinner. It wasn’t very pleasant.

She opened the door and entered. “Is it done?”

“Yep!” Jieun revealed her completed work by opening her closet door, and BoA gasped, a couple of grains of rice falling out of in the process.

“Oh…My…” But before she finished her sentence, she lunged herself at Jieun’s petite body and hugged to the point of causing her respiratory problems. “OH MY GOOOOD! JIEUN, THIS IS PEEEEERFECT!”

“Dys…p…nea…”

BoA loosened her grasp just a bit to look at Jieun as the younger girl finally inhaled an efficient amount of air.

“Isn’t that a heart attack or something?”

And here, we see BoA’s lack of knowledge with medical terminology.

“OI, YOU DAMN AUTHOR! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING YOU’RE WRITING!”

Jieun caught her breath. “Uh…BoA-unnie…who are you talking to?”

An omnipresent being.

“An idiot.”

Pft, like you would know.

“…Okay…” Jieun released herself from BoA’s grasp. “You’re meeting up with Sung-Hee-sshi tomorrow, right?”

“Yep!” BoA exclaimed. “And, as I promised, just tell me what to do now since you helped me. I may not be able to sew, but you know I’m pretty good with a pair of scissors.”

“Don’t I know it…”

“Hey hyung, can I borrow some money…?”

Donghae looked up from his computer to face Jonghyun. “…For what?”

“Uh…to help…with the wedding?” Jonghyun beamed with a grin, hoping his excuse would-

“No.”

…pass.

“JONGHYUN, LET GO OF ME!”

Needless to say, Jonghyun flung himself at his older brother figure from behind, and they both landed on the floor.

“PLEEEEEASE HYUUUUUNG?! I’LL BE YOUR BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WOOOORLD!”

“JONGHYUN, GET OFF!”

“HYUUUNG!”

“JONGHYUN!!!”

The door to Donghae’s room slammed open.

“DONGHAE, WHAT’S GOING ON-”

However, BoA stopped herself midsentence as soon as she saw the two men on the floor.

“OH MY GOOOD! JONGHYUN!”

“NOOONA!!” Jonghyun immediately jumped in pure surprise.

“I UNDERSTAND YOUR UAL PREFERENCES, BUT DONGHAE IS STRAIGHT!”

“WHAAAAT?!”

“YOU TWO, SHUT UP!” Donghae exclaimed, finally silencing the two young ones.

“What’s all this blasphemy?” Jieun walked calmly into the room.

“The beauties of friendship…or something like that.” Donghae replied dryly while regaining composure and straightening his clothes. “Did you really just say ‘blasphemy’?”

“…Yes…”

Awkward silence.

“Okay…Jonghyun…why don’t you explain why you need money in the first place, and I’ll consider it.”

“Because I want to keep it a secret from Junhyung-hyung and Sung-Hee-sshi…”

“Alright, my lips are sealed. You guys as well?” Donghae referred to the women, in which they replied by nodding their heads. “Now tell us, why do you need the money?”

Jonghyun, unlike his usual behaviour, smiled at them genuinely, and they could do nothing but raise their eyebrows.

“Eh, BoA-sshi. Where are we going? I thought we’re going to a couple more shops today, for our last day to search for a dress.”

“No need!”

“Then where are we going?”

“Nowhere today. Just make yourself comfortable while I go get this dress that I’m sure you’ll absolutely love.”

“Eh? You found a dress?” Sung-Hee asked rather surprised.

“Something like that…just hold on. Let me go get it.” BoA scurried into Jieun’s bedroom and/or workstation to retrieve the masterpiece that had only taken the younger woman a matter of hours to complete last night. Taking the hanger off the hook, BoA handled the dress with care as she made her way back to the living room. “Tada~”

However, BoA did not hear a response from the woman. Instead, she found Sung-Hee gaping at the beautiful dress in her hands.

“Whe-…where did you get that dress?”

“It was actually a small mini skirt dress of mine from a few years ago…I had my friend, Jieun, the other girl living with us, sew a brand new skirt with frills to complement the simplicity of the upper portion. Not to mention, the veil works out perfectly, don’t you think?”

Sung-Hee gasped.

“I-…I couldn’t possibly take your dress!”

“Yes you can!” BoA the dress into her arms, placing her hands at her hips. “And you will! You only get married once, Sung-Hee-sshi! So make it perfect!”

“But-”

“No! I dunno what you’re gonna say, and I don’t care, now try on the dress!” She began pushing Sung-Hee into the other room. “And don’t you even think having second thoughts about it!”

“BoA?”

BoA turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Donghae standing at the doorway of his own room, the pair of glasses loosely placed before his eyes as usual.

“Ah, Sung-Hee-sshi, I’ll help you into your dress in just a few moments.”

--

Sung-Hee watched as BoA walked up to, and eventually, chatted rather animatedly with her male companion. Observing more closely, she could see how they both exchanged extraordinarily genuine smiles as they laughed every once in a while, still staying on topic on whatever they needed to discuss. She herself suddenly found a smile etched on her face.

“So it’s all settled then. Just a couple of final arrangements with decorations and catering?”

“Pretty much. I think Jieun needs you more for your brute strength to lift all those curtains up though.”

“Yaaaah, don’t tease me. You know I was constantly teased for that back in high school and college.”

Donghae stuck his tongue out at her.

“Pft, you’re such a child.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Ugh, whatever! I’m here to help Sung-Hee-sshi with her dress, not argue with you!”

“Ah, that’s right.” Sung-Hee found Donghae looking at her with a smile. “Sung-Hee-sshi.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard these words from BoA before, and you probably question why she was so passionate about it, but I’m here to reinforce it.”

“Huh?” Sung-Hee tilted her head in confusion.

“You only get married once, so make it memorable.” Sung-Hee stood there, surprised, as Donghae gave BoA and awkward side hug. “Anyway, I still have some things to finish for some websites, then I’ll get to finalising the schedule for the wedding.”

“Alright, see ya then.” BoA hugged him back before turning back towards Sung-Hee. “Now for that dress…”

“BoA-sshi…”

“Huh?”

“Are you and Donghae-sshi…together or something?”

“Eh?”

“Well, I mean…you two seem so comfortable with each other…and know…and…yeah…”

BoA tilted her head to the side. “That…didn’t really make any sense.”

Sung-Hee felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I mean, it’s just that…you two…never mind.”

BoA didn’t really know what Sung-Hee was talking about so she merely ignored it, switching the subject again.

“Well, anyway, let’s see how this dress looks now, shall we?”

Jonghyun sighed as he stepped off the train, taking his oversized suitcase with him.

“The things I do…” He trailed off, though he knew he wasn’t even going to complete that sentence. As opposed to having been raised in that manner, he knew that even if he wanted to deny it, it was practically a part of his blood to go this far for someone else.

Even if someone betrays you, don’t you ever turn your back on anyone else. Even if you feel like you’re the most worthless person on Earth, that feeling will never match up to how bad you’ll feel after having let someone down. Even if the entire world is turning away, you have to be the one that keeps on going. Remember that, Jonghyun.

The words echoed through his head as if engraved permanently into the fibres of his brain. He would never forget them, and once again, here he was, helping another person out.

Of course, this trip wasn’t that big of a hassle financially for he did manage to convince his dear hyung, Donghae, to lend him the remaining amount that was not covered by the leftover budget of the couple to-be-married. However, the hours of train rides and walking were finally taking its toll on him. Ugh, maybe I shoulda listened to hyung and brought someone along. He sighed exasperatedly, but, nonetheless, looked at the address written sloppily on a piece of paper once more. Well, it’s only two more stops. Yosh! He inwardly let his Japanese obsession take over as he hauled his suitcase and headed to his next connection.