"Just... be careful, okay? Dating him"
"I'll keep that in mind. Plus, I'm only fake dating him so..."
"That's not what the world will think"
"It's just for the show."
Summer 2023: 75 years have passed since the Korea War came to an end on 27th July...
Her eyes carry the stars of the universe inside them, together with the darkness that comes with it
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Almost three weeks into the show and we were about to have our first public appearance as a whole group. As expected, Jonghyun is my date.
Technically, people have seen us together such as in the live or the first episode, which also received some... opinions...
Today's event was on the next level. This was a formal engagement party with multiple sponsors, public figures, producers, and even politicians attending that we needed to impress.
To ensure that everyone followed the dress code and stayed in line with the rest of the guests, either the good or the wrong way, our outfits were arranged by stylists, which the producers previously approved.
Earlier today, a group of stylists came to the girl's house early in the morning and began to style all of us for the event. Most of us were still walking around with our coffee mugs when the stylists arrived earlier than announced, so we also brewed some coffee for the stylists. It would not be nice to drink coffee without offering them anything.
Out of everyone, Mina was the only one among us girls who had gotten her makeup professionally done before. Tala and I liked a good blowout, which we often got done in our favorite hair salon back in Istanbul but getting our make-up professionally done was an exciting first for us. A very, very exciting first. Like a little girl's dream coming true.
To represent each country we were from, each girl received a dress with one of the colors of the flag of their home country:
Mina and Nauen had floor-length white dresses with either blue or red details on the outer skirts. Tala's dress was white, shorter cut than the other girls' had a golden point around the waist. My dress was a thrilling midi red matching the fiery red lipstick they had applied to my lips.
Jonghyun texted me earlier that they would all wear a black tuxedo with a white buttoned-up shirt and matching cufflinks to their date's dress. It was such a small detail, but I liked it a lot.
The hairstylist did a half updo with my hair, tugging a small moon-shaped hair clip into it to wrap it all up. The finishing touch and my favorite makeup part was the red lip that made my skin glow. Red lips are a bold statement: the message of a powerhouse woman. Which I hoped to be one day. I was overcoming my fears.
Once we were all dressed up, we started taking group and individual pictures of each other before heading to the guys' house. This was one of the rare occasions we even stepped foot into their house, but the same stylists were now working on the guys. They were tackling the hair of the guys and enhancing their facial features with makeup touches as well.
Jonghyun was the last one to be finished, and when he stepped into the living room where we were all waiting, a soft gasp escaped my lips once my eyes landed on him.
