“Who else was supposed to zip it up for me?” Jiyeon asked them, puzzled. “I couldn’t reach it by myself. And there was something wrong with the zipper when I tried it on the first time.”
“Oh my gosh. Ohhhh my gooossshhh, so who helped with Hazel’s dress—”
“My manager? Hello?”
Nicky had partially melted out of his seat. “But Max could’ve helped you with that,” he wheezed. “He’s a knight in shining armor.”
“Gross,” Max exclaimed.
“Yuck,” Hazel cried out at the same time. The chaos intensified from there.
Looking back, it struck Jiyeon as the most uncomplicated moment of the night, free of tension, light as air. Only later would she realize that Denny hadn’t laughed along with them.
34
Outside,rainslickedthecity streets and sluiced into gutters, drumming on rooftops and umbrellas. But if you had enough money, weather was no obstacle. You could bring the night indoors, a perfect night with a clear sky, hung with constellations that burned more vividly than reality.
Eunjae had a lot of time to admire this artificial sky; the father of the bride had been sobbing off and on for the better part of the evening. He did a lot of his sobbing on Apollo’s Ari.
“Why did you sit there for so long?” scolded Kei. He fussed at the fabric of Eunjae’s jacket, declaring it to be a wool-mohair blend requiring meticulous care. “At least he did most of the crying on your shoulder. The suit’s holding up fine, but these lapels are faced with silk.”
Jiyeon observed this lecture from a nearby bench, catching her breath under a bower woven from branches and fairy lights. She’d only just returned from a round on the dance floor with Namgyu. Before that, it was Kazu. Now she leaned forward,phone up, camera rolling. “So you’re saying that tear stains are permanent on silk?” she asked Kei.
“Yes.”
“My mom owes you a hankie, then. You let her borrow yours when she cried about Kazu replacing all the chairs in our dining room.”
Kei took a break from pawing at the suit. This was a brother with a vast and varied repertoire of frowning faces, each bearing nuanced meanings; by Eunjae’s estimation, the current frown had shifted from irritated to thoughtful.
“Of course not,” he answered. “I told her to keep it. I think of it like… silk holds on to memories. Tears leave a mark that won't wash out. That happened in the summer, and when summer comes again, the memory will still be there. You’d want to keep that, wouldn't you? If you were crying good tears.”
Eunjae smiled. “I think those were good tears.”
“Oh, sure. She was really happy. We'd been wanting to replace the chairs forever.” Jiyeon smiled, too. “What a nice way to look at it. Hey, was this your dream? To be an idol?”
“An idol.” Kei’s thoughtful frown remained in place. “I wanted to sing, and I wanted to be good at it. I guess I dreamed of being the kind of performer people wouldn’t forget.”
Jiyeon had more questions for him, but Nicky strolled over, jacket missing, sleeves rolled just so. His tie was gone, too. “By request,” he said, when Kei switched to heckling him instead. “See those aunties over there? This is how they wanted me. The answer’s yes if you’ve got the cash.”
“Disgusting.”
Nicky grinned. “Now, here’s the situation. We’ve gone viral again thanks to ajumma’s last post, so the MV forLove Me, Leave Mejust hit another milestone for views. Can’t remember how many millions we’re at now, but people have been watching for that scene. You know, with Zu and the desk?”
“Blech.”
“What was he doing on the desk?” Jiyeon glanced up at Eunjae. “Did you do something on a desk?”
“Ah, no.”
“Huh. Too bad.”
You’d never guess that it was supposed to be winter in this part of the ballroom. Why was it so warm?
“So,” said Nicky, clapping his hands together, “what I need is for Keiichi to have some more wine. Ari, make sure he drinks up. We’re borrowing Jiyeon for this dance challenge. I’ll team up with His Royal Highness while you get the video.”
“But she just filmed me!” came the inevitable protest. “Nobody else had to do two videos!”
“Hear me out. I took notes on Eric’s social media presentation, and it said the audience loves ‘moments of authenticity and vulnerability.’ You’re veryauthenticafter some drinks. Now, since you hate the choreo for this song—”
