Julie curiously looked at the door of the room that, supposedly, our friends and famous individuals were partying in. She stood there frozen – unable to actually open the door because of her fangirl jitters. Wanting to get everything over with, I rolled my eyes and swung the door open while Julie’s eyes animated; I imagined her floating away on her Big Bang cloud. On the other side, I cringed; I wasn’t ready to face people who could possibly have been part of my past.

“ELLEEE!!” Hyejin smiled widely with arms open, waiting for me to enter the room. “Boys, this… is the HOT and SINGLE friend I was telling you about, ELLE!” she slurred.

“Hey Elle!” handsome kpop gentlemen and their equally attractive model friends chimed with glasses in their hands. I scanned the group and sighed with relief; they were people I never met before.

I forced a smile and awkwardly waved back at them who good-humoredly cooed back. It wasn’t abnormal for my friends to try to play match-maker with me; they thought I was too anti-social and shy to find them myself.  Little did they know, I once had a whole other life ahead of them.

I gingerly walked over towards the group to give Hyejin a hug, and she immediately offered me her drink afterwards. I politely rejected it and carefully informed her that I was leaving, hoping not to upset her.   

Drunk as she already was, Hyejin gulped down the rest of her drink and dramatically stepped back. “What?! You’re leaving already? YOU CAN’T. We have all these wonderful looking people here. Plus, the partyyyy just startedddd!” she began to dance around and gather everyone for another round of drinks. Hyejin’s friends were very drunk and very ecstatic to be so close to celebrities; never in their dreams would they ever imagine to be where they were now – partying with top class stars out of pure luck and good genes.

I watched Hyejin’s tiara hang loose in her tangled hair as she wobbled to the table demanding that everyone take a shot for her birthday. Finding my chance, I casually slipped out of the center of the room and proceeded to head out. I knew that Hyejin and Julie would be too busy flirting with the boys before realizing that I was gone.

“Elle…?” a sweet voice called out to me.