Under the ballroom’s dreamy lighting, it was almost too hard to tell that she'd dyed her hair again, going from the candy floss pink of one role to the luminous platinum blonde of another. "Sorry I tried to stab your boyfriend that one time. You’ll forgive me, right?”
“I'll think about it,” Jiyeon replied, wryly. It was only a music video, but still.
“Think about it faster. We're outnumbered, so we should stick together.” Angling her head in Eunjae's direction, Hazel said, “That's one hell of a haircut. I'm assuming you get the credit.”
Jiyeon had to admit that she'd outdone herself. “Some of my best work. Too bad I can't advertise.”
“You've made him so much hotter already. I haven't done that with mine yet. Maybe I’ll go through his suitcase while I’m here. I could get rid of all the cargo shorts.”
This reminded Jiyeon of something Eunjae mentioned at breakfast. “Hey, do you need anything? I heard they lost your luggage.”
“Again. They lost my luggageagain, because I can never fly anywhere without weird shit happening. Thank god the dress was already here. Then Willa wanted me to sneak into this hotel and I told her to very kindly fuck off. I love my manager and I’d die without her, but I’m not scared of Max’s fans. If they want a fight, they can have one.”
“Did they give you a hard time?”
“They tried.”
An announcement rang out from the stage. The bride and groom were due to arrive at any minute. Denny reappeared, dour-faced, glaring at Hazel’s updo. It was a variation on the classic French twist, simple and somewhat messy, although Jiyeon assumed that part was intentional. The loose strands were there to give it an artless effect, and the jeweled hair pins added drama. She liked it.
Her brother didnotlike it and made his feelings known with zero preamble. “The weapons policy went out in two different emails, Miss Lim. Hand it over.”
“No idea what you’re talking about, officer.”
“Understood. I’ll count to three.”
Hazel swiveled in her chair. “And then what? What happens at three—“
“One.”
“I don’t have any weapons!”
“Two.”
“Where would I even put a weapon? Does it look like this dress has pockets? You know they had to sew me into it, right?”
He opened his mouth. Hazel whipped a pin out of her hair and surrendered it to the authorities, pouting horrendously. Goodness, that thing was sharp. Denny speared it through his boutonnière. “And the other one, ma’am.”
The second pin seemed like more of a very tiny knife to Jiyeon, not that she was an expert. How fortunate, then, that the members of Apollo had managed to make it to their seats at last. They were the experts. That was practically a katana, what was she doing, why did she have that? Aww, Hazel’s hair was still so pretty even when you took the swords out of it!
Hazel threw herself at Namgyu, squealing. She had a clear favorite, and it wasn’t Max Lee, who took one look at his girlfriend and tried to leave. His bid to switch seats resulted in a reprimand from Denny. Or maybe it wasn’t a reprimand, but Max looked so agitated that it couldn’t have been good.
A shutter clicked. Jiyeon turned her head toward the sound and had to smile, because it was Eunjae burning through a roll of film in record time. He’d been so excited to bring that camera. He pointed the lens at her, smiling back.
“Ya,” said Kazu. “Why are you so quiet? Shouldn’t you tell her she looks nice?”
Jiyeon patted the chair beside her. Eunjae sat down and said, “I did tell her, hyung.”
“And that’s it? Shouldn’t you at least say something about the dress?”
“Ah, I did that, too.”
“Idiot. Would Ari take so many pictures if he didn’t think noona looks nice?”
“Oooh, but what did he say about the dress? Tell me, my son. I need to know.”
Eunjae paused to think. “The zipper works.”
Immediate implosion. Max and Jungwoo both fumbled their phones. Hazel stopped pinching Namgyu’s cheeks and promising to marry him in her next lifetime. Why would he say that? Why would he have anything to do with the zipper on that dress? Whatever happened to propriety?
