[EDITING]
When Jeon Jeongguk's sister gets engaged to his friend's brother, almost everything changes.
Desperate to hold onto a fragile friendship, Jeongguk is willing to get himself into sticky situations--even to the point of ruining his sister's...
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Chapter Forty-Five: Middle of Somewhere
At the moment, Jeongguk was less interested in his sister's welcome speech and more so in where the dining room table had gone. It was a big table; it must have taken a lot of manpower to move it out of the room, not to mention a great skill in making it fit through the doorways. Removing it had been a smart choice as it opened up the space. The dining room had become a makeshift dancefloor, the kitchen a buffet, the sunroom a place to chat. The sliding doors between the rooms were wide open so the space felt like one big room. Then, if people wanted privacy, to get away from the noise (or wanted a smoke) they could go out onto the patio. There was a buzz in the air, as if something had been injected into the air molecules around them. People had not seen each other for a while, most had only arrived a few days ago: the bride's many friends, the groom's fewer ones. The bridesmaids were friends Jeongyeon had made in all stages of her life; Nayeon, the maid of honour she had known since childhood. Namjoon had four groomsmen. Three of them were from the university and Taehyung was the fourth one. Now, the bridesmaids and groomsmen stood near the couple as they addressed the guests. Taehyung was leaning against a china cabinet, dressed from head to toe in black: turtleneck, tailored pants, leather shoes. On his fingers he had gold rings, around his neck a necklace.
Jeongguk was on the other side of the room, standing next to Jin, who, to his own dismay, had not been able to devote enough time to his duties as a man of honour, and therefore, was not. Jeongguk always felt strange standing next to Jin when others were around. To him, he was not Kim Seokjin, the renowned actor, but simply Jeongyeon's childhood friend. He forgot about his fame, and he felt weird to be reminded of it. He noticed that the guests were glancing his way––although, granted, his strikingly good looks might also be a factor when it came to that. Those who looked were mostly new friends of Jeongyeon, young women, many of them single and acutely aware of the fact that Kim Seokjin was too, and in this very room. Jeongguk did not do very well with attention, and to feel eyes on someone standing next to him was not something he enjoyed. It made it difficult to focus on what Jeongyeon was saying. Not that he was listening very attentively.
He felt strangely formal. He was wearing a blue sweater, one of his father's, and a shirt underneath, as well as some black fitted pants. He'd tried combing his hair, to little avail: it had a mind of its own. He had his hands buried in his pockets. He knew most of the people there, especially Jeongyeon's friends, although he hadn't talked to them much. There were few relatives present, only the parents and siblings of the bride and groom––this was to keep to the essence of a pre-wedding party. Nobody wanted to get drunk with an old aunt.
His eyes were drawn back to the couple when Namjoon clasped his hands, taking over to say the last words and set the guests free of the grasps of polite listening. "Well, once again, it's lovely to see all of you. Help yourselves to the food in the kitchen and let's get this party started!"
People started to move around, a lot of them eyeing Seokjin while they passed, silently, as they were too scared to approach or speak to him. Seokjin, however, was never afraid to speak. "That was beautiful. Jeongyeon has such a way with words." Jeongguk nodded, even though his sister could have been talking about panda bears and he wouldn't know. He had completely zoned out.
