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...

...

The frilly black and pink apron was a bit much, Ga-eul thought, but Yi-jung had insisted on wearing it to protect his new shirt. She stifled a giggle as she watched him absentmindedly fiddle with the lace-edged strap that kept slipping off his shoulder. He tasted the soup and added more parsley, then did a little impromptu bump and grind to the pop music drifting in from the speakers in the living room. Ga-eul's laugh could not be contained this time. Yi-jung looked up from the soup and grinned.

"Care for a little turn around the dance floor, pretty girl?" he offered with a comical waggle of his eyebrows.

Ga-eul gave an unladylike snort and smoothed her shirt down over her round figure. "Does the F4 know about your obsession with Girls' Generation?"

He came around the counter to where Ga-eul was sitting and offered her his hand with a deep bow. "I think, my lady, that you're just jealous of my sweet moves." He pulled her to her feet, spun her gently around, and dipped her deeply before planting a warm kiss on her upturned lips.

"What are you doing, yobo? I'm as big as an elephant!"

"And light as a feather," he said loyally, standing her upright once again.

Ga-eul smacked him playfully on the arm. "Liar." She slid her arms around him, though she couldn't get as close as she would have liked with the swell of the baby between them. "Thank you for doing the cooking, Yi-jung-ah."

"It's the least I can do, since you're singlehandedly marinating the newest member of the So family," he teased, tenderly rubbing a hand over her belly. His face grew serious for a moment. "And I know how tired you've been. Dr. Park said the baby could come at anytime. You need to stay off your feet, jagiya. Are you sure you feel up to having people over tonight?"

Ga-eul smiled at his concern. "Of course! Besides, the baby absolutely cannot come until I get everything worked out for Jan-di and Ji-hoo. Wait until you see what Yun-jee and I have cooked up for tonight! If this doesn't shake Jan-di out of her complacency, I don't know what will."

Yi-jung shivered. "You women terrify me. I hope I never find myself in the center of one of your nefarious plots." He winked at her and went to set the table.

...

The doorbell rang, and Yi-jung ran to answer it. When Ji-hoo and Jan-di walked in together holding hands, he nearly dropped the wooden spoon he was gripping. He opened his mouth as if to say... something, but for once words failed So Yi-jung. Instead, he grinned and elbowed Ji-hoo good-naturedly, shouting back over his shoulder, "Ga-eul! I think you should come out here..."

Ji-hoo seemed unruffled. "Nice apron," he observed.

Yi-jung reddened and hastened to remove the frilly kitchen-wear, rolling it into a ball and stuffing it behind the vase on the hall table.

Jan-di laughed, and Ji-hoo, thankful that she wasn't too embarrassed by the awkwardness of going public, slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. The glow of satisfaction on his face could have lit several small cities.

Just then, Ga-eul appeared in the entryway. She assessed the situation in a heartbeat, and, with a squeal more suited to a fourteen year old girl than a mother of two, she grabbed Jan-di's hand, dragging her out of Ji-hoo's grasp and down the hall into a bedroom. Shutting the door behind them, she turned to her friend. "Spill," she demanded.

So Jan-di spilled.

...

"You're saying this happened almost a week ago, and you didn't tell me?" Ga-eul asked indignantly.

Jan-di ducked her head in chagrin. She usually did tell Ga-eul everything, but the past week had been a crazy one at the clinic, and she and Ji-hoo had been stealing every spare moment to spend with each other and with Hee-jin. "I'm sorry, Ga-eul-ah."

“Nevermind that," Ga-eul said, "I want all the juicy details! I’ve wondered forever: is he a good—”

“Ya! Chu Ga-eul!" Jan-di interrupted, laughing. "That's personal!”

Ga-eul's face fell in disappointment.

With a wicked grin, Jan-di leaned closer to add, “And yes, he is.”

…

In the living room, a similar interrogation was taking place.

“Even I didn't expect the plan to work that fast,” Yi-jung teased Ji-hoo. “Turnaround time: two days. Impressive.”

Ji-hoo laughed quietly. “Yeah, just two days and eleven years. A brilliant strategy.”

Yi-jung leaned closer, his voice dropping confidentially. “So?”

“So what?” Ji-hoo asked, genuinely puzzled.

Yi-jung raised an eyebrow. “So is she worth waiting for?”

Ji-hoo's face darkened for a moment, but then he saw the sincerity on his friend's face and realized he'd misunderstood the intent of his question. He relaxed, a broad smile spreading over his features. “Yes. Yes, she most certainly is.”

...

The four friends were sitting around the low dining table, three of them enjoying a pre-dinner glass of wine, while they talked and waited for the bread to come out of the oven. Ga-eul clocked every sidelong glance and clandestine touch that passed between Jan-di and Ji-hoo with a proprietary glee that suggested she considered herself personally responsible for their happiness.

Yi-jung was just putting the last of the side dishes on the table when the doorbell rang. He opened it, and Yun-jee strode confidently into the room. She was wearing a form-fitting green silk dress and a pair of strappy heels that made her legs look lean and toned and six feet long. Her hair hung loose and unbound down her back, and silver earrings sprinkled with inlaid emeralds dangled from her ears. She looked like an actress. Yi-jung choked when he saw her, earning an irritable glare from Ga-eul.

Yun-jee slipped off her shoes and smoothly took a seat at the table next to Ji-hoo, turning the full force of her brilliant smile on him. "Hello, Ji-hoo-ssi." Her voice was like velvet.

Jan-di struggled to keep a polite look on her face.

"I hoped I'd see you again," Yun-jee purred, laying a hand softly on his arm.

Ji-hoo flushed and leaned away from her, hastening to wrap his arm around Jan-di's shoulder so he could pull her closer to his side. "Yun-jee-ssi, I think you met Geum Jan-di, my girlfriend?"

Yun-jee blinked. dropped open. She looked back and forth between Ji-hoo and Jan-di, then threw back her head and laughed loudly. "Well," she said at last, a grin spreading across her face, "It appears my work here is done."

Jan-di looked around the room in confusion while Ji-hoo's expression transitioned from embarrassed to mildly alarmed. He took in Jan-di’s look of dawning suspicion and rushed to clarify the situation.

"Ahh, Jan-di-ah, there's something..." he began, then ran his free hand absently through his hair in frustration.

"It was my idea," Ga-eul interrupted. "And you're welcome."

It took a while to explain. By the time they finished, Jan-di's mouth was twitching in amusement. Ji-hoo, holding her hand, looked vastly relieved. And Ga-eul was smiling like the cat that got the cream.

...

Later, after dessert, the girls sat close together on the sofa, talking, while Yi-jung and Ji-hoo stood on the other side of the living room laughing together over drinks. Jan-di turned to Yun-jee. "I really didn't like you," she admitted guiltily.

The younger girl laughed. "I guess I did my job too well," she said. "I hope we can be friends now that you know I'm not really competition. Although..." she mused, looking over at Ji-hoo, "if I thought I had half a chance of turning that head, I might have been tempted."

Jan-di wasn't sure if she was kidding.

Yun-jee sighed. "Alas, I think you're stuck with that boy. He is head-over-heels in love with you, Geum Jan-di."

Ji-hoo glanced over from across the room and caught Jan-di’s eye, giving her a private smile, and she felt a flood of warmth spread from her chest out to the tips of her fingers. Her unease around Yun-jee dissolved like mist before the sun.

…

Later, as Ji-hoo walked Jan-di home through the softly lit streets of her neighborhood, they held hands, their fingers intertwined in a way that was quickly becoming familiar. Jan-di was strangely subdued, as if lost in her own thoughts. Eventually, she pulled Ji-hoo to a stop in the shadows of a beech tree overhanging the road and swung around to face him.

“Ga-eul I can understand,” she said, as if taking up the thread of a conversation they had already begun. “She’s a romantic and a meddler. I’m sure she jumped at the chance to play matchmaker.”

Ji-hoo waited, letting Jan-di finish.

“But you… you have only ever been honest with me, sunbae. This doesn’t seem like you at all. Why did you agree to go along with it?” She didn’t sound angry, just puzzled and… something else. Hurt, maybe?

Ji-hoo rubbed his hands softly up and down Jan-di’s arms before taking hold of her shoulders and leaning down so that he could look right into her eyes. “I think, Jan-di-ah, that you’re underestimating how desperate I had become.” He paused, searching for words. “I had already confessed, had already kissed you, and waiting for you to come to me was driving me mad. I was ready to try anything.”

Ji-hoo pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear, “Besides—it worked, didn’t it?”

Jan-di could hear the smile in his voice, and warmed to it. She slid her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest to hide her answering grin.

Ji-hoo drew back slightly and, placing his hand under Jan-di’s chin, lifted her face until they were once again looking into each other’s eyes. Slowly, he moved in for a kiss.

Just before their lips touched, Jan-di whispered, “But… did she have to be so beautiful, sunbae?”

“I told you, Jan-di-ah,” Ji-hoo murmured, “I’m not your sunbae anymore.” And with that, he swooped in to claim with his, kissing her under the soft light of the streetlamp until neither of them could have pointed out the way home.

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