Bora tells me the day before Winter Ball that she decided to go with that guy, whom I still haven’t met. She explains to me that while she doesn’t like him, she is willing to give him a chance. I’m glad she is going, because getting ready for a dance would be boring if I were to do it by myself.

Nam, of course, asked Seya to go with him. All of my friends actually have dates, including me; although I would hardly call my partner a date, but exactly that - a partner.

And because of my partner Chanyeol’s request, I had to go shopping to buy a pink dress.

My mom willingly paid for half of the price of the dress including accessories because she was excited for me to go to the dance. When I called her and told her about it, she asked me who the boy was, and what he did, and what kind of guy he was like. I assured her that he was your regular boy with a touch of crazy who liked to help people.

“I’m not sure I like crazy,” she had said, “but if he likes to help people, then I think he is okay.”

Apparently, he also likes to match with people.

I’m not too unhappy about it. I like having an excuse to buy clothes. And I really do like the dress. It’s an old rose pink with a 90s throwback skirt and a mesh back. I honestly think I look good in it.

Whenever there’s a big event I have to go to like a wedding, a play, or a performance, I always eat my meal two hours early and use those two hours to get ready. I’m really paranoid about being late. I always feel like the world is going to work against me, and there are going to be problems like my dress will be ripped, or my hair won’t curl, or someone will call me and I can’t escape them. And since I have to do Bora’s make-up because she has a clumsy hand, I add an extra hour to getting ready – just in case.

We blast the music and pull up our windows, and for the rest of the afternoon we take our time getting ready. We even stop preparing to have little dance breaks or to snack on food. I’d like to think a sequence played like in the movies, where the girls would try on different outfits and model walk in front of the window. Applying lipstick would be effortless, and hair would fall perfectly into place.

It’s definitely not like that. We have issues.

But, since I added extra time, we overcome those issues, and for doing two peoples’ faces and hair, I’m pretty proud of how we look.

So when we walk out of our dorm to meet our dates at the bottom of the stairs, I feel like a princess.

I think that’s why being pretty is so appealing. Because it’s nice to feel this confident about yourself, even if it’s only for a night. It’s nice to think that you’re the most beautiful girl in the world, even when you’re not. And it’s nice that, for just a while, there are no such things as insecurities.

I’m concentrating really hard on walking properly in my heels when I see Chanyeol. I almost trip because, well, I didn’t expect him to look that good. I rarely think about how Chanyeol looks. He’s always there, kind of like how the ground is always there, and gravity, and the sky, so I never have to ponder him the way I used to ponder about Lange. But tonight, I have to ponder him, because he’s wearing a suit with a shade darker than the pink of my dress, and he looks fine.

I’d think ‘fine’ is an old word to describe a charming person, but that’s what he looks like. Suave. Sharp. But still bright, as if he is itching to explode.

He’s kind of beautiful, actually, and I don’t know why I never really took note of it before. Somewhere in the back of my head, a voice warns me to push that thought aside, so I do.

“Hey,” he smiles at me. I like to imagine that he does a double take, and I’m pleased to think that I look that good for him to react in such a way. “You wore pink! I didn’t think you would.”

“I mean. You asked me to.”

“I know. It’s nice. You’re nice.” He offers me his arm, and I take it. “Bora looks good too.”

I look at Bora, who is talking to that guy whom I still haven’t met. He’s sweet looking, and as he talks to her, he has a goofy smile on his face. It’s obvious how much he likes her and how badly he wants to show it, but he’s afraid of being rejected.

“What do you think?”

“Huh?” I say.

“He’s the guy who is too kind to take risks. That’s why he’ll never get the girl. They won’t work out.”

I josh, “So negative at the start. You don’t know that.”

“I have an eye for this stuff. Why do you think I have a great success rate? Anyway, let’s get going.”

Chanyeol drives all o