Chaeyoung has been sitting in front of the mirror, combing her hair for a while now. She glances at her phone, quiet and still. It has stopped singing, has stopped dinging and Chaeyoung thinks that Jungkook is probably fed up. She's read all of his texts, watched his name on the screen of her phone when he called but she hasn't responded to any.

Obviously, the motivational talk Jisoo and Jennie gave her should have been the wakeup call. Obviously, she understands and acknowledges her feelings for Jungkook even more clearly now. Obviously, Jungkook's own feelings and intentions are as real as his existence.

But she doesn't know how to discuss her feelings. She doesn't know how to talk about it to him. It's even harder to face him after the series of ignoring him on purpose that she did. She wishes she's like him, so that when it feels slightly weird, she can talk about other things to him.

She should call him, talk to him about their mission for tomorrow, the wedding day. They can go over everything once again, finalize all the nitty-gritty details of their fake relationship to make it believable to anyone interested to know, nosy to observe.

But Chaeyoung is not him. She doesn't have Jungkook's special ability of switching lanes to talk about something else without any warning.

The word Jennie uses on the situation repeats in her head. Realistic. Maybe everything that's happening between her and Jungkook is indeed realistic. But she's known Jungkook for less than a month. Is it realistic to fall this fast? Is it realistic to even call it a relationship?

Then again, the relationship she shared with Chanyeol shattered after a year and a half of her thinking that the relationship was like a firm and strong building that could never crumble. As she thinks of what caused it to shatter in just a blink of an eye, even that didn't look or sound realistic to her. But it happened.

And maybe that's just how life is. Sometimes not everything that we believe to be real turns out real. Sometimes reality does reside in the things that we least expect to be real.

Chaeyoung settles on her bed with her laptop, deciding to watch 500 Days of Summer with a few snacks. As she munches, she thinks of Jungkook. She's acutely aware that this so-called fake relationship she's in has more flavor. It's richer and the texture is just beyond interesting. It's more than just 'tasty'. It's an unpredictable taste, a taste that piques curiosity, something that gives a new flavor the longer it's consumed.

She thinks of the time they discussed movies, she thinks back of the word destiny, how destiny works for them. It takes her a while to realize that she's not really watching the movie and only realizing that fact when one of her favorite line resonates through the quiet atmosphere.

"Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else."

Chaeyoung inhales deeply like a greedy human trying to take in all the oxygen for herself. Swallowing nervously, she closes her laptop and grabs her phone and she feels her thumb tremble as if it's freezing in the cold when she's typing.

      - See u at the wedding.

She cringes, thinks that the message sounds cold but she's still hopeful for him to reply something, to make her feel less awkward like how he always did so that she can send him more texts that's less cold.

But when she sees the word 'online' appearing beneath his name, Chaeyoung panics and erases her message quickly. Gradually, regret begins to fill her lungs.

*

Chaeyoung arrives at the wedding venue earlier than she planned to. The hotel itself is grand, a five-star hotel, which suits Chanyeol's status very much. Everything inside looks expensive. She had a phone call with Jimin just a few moments before stepping into the venue, and the older male reminded her to pig out. Just as she's about to get herself a drink, her gasp escapes her mouth when she is dragged out of the hall by her arm.

Jennie's foxy eyes scrutinize her before she turns around, craning her neck and turning her head here and there as if she's searching for something, or someone, and Chaeyoung swallows nervously.

"You're alone," Jennie says as a statement. "Where's he? Why are you here alone?"

Chaeyoung isn't sure what to answer. She's not sure if Jungkook is going to come. They haven't quite been in contact and she's not sure if Jungkook remembers what time the wedding starts, where the venue is.

"Um... he'll be here." She's not sure if Jungkook will come.

Jennie narrows her eyes at her suspiciously. "You don't sound sure."

She looks away, taking interest in the design of the walls and the ceiling.

"Chaeng...?" Jennie mentions her name like a mother questioning her five-year old child who's lying. "What's going on?"

Chaeyoung avoids her friend's eyes, humming long before Jennie decides to squeeze an answer out of her by lightly pinching her waist.

"Ow!"

"Are you still ignoring him?" When Chaeyoung doesn't answer, Jennie crosses her arms over her chest. "Okay, what's the matter now?"

Chaeyoung sighs softly. "Look. I'll survive without a man by my side. I'm on the process of moving on anyway, remember?"

Jennie's expression softens momentarily as she sighs. "I know. But first of all, you paid him. You can't just let him run away with your money."

Chaeyoung feels defensive at that statement as she narrows her eyes at Jennie's accusing tone. "He's not like that."

Jennie rolls her eyes and ignores it. "And second, it's not just about having a man to be by your side. I'm sure you're strong enough to be on your own now in front of Chanyeol. But this is about you and your damn feelings that you have yet to sort out. You can't just ignore him. Whatever your decision is, you have to talk to him."

Chaeyoung tightens her hold on her clutch. "I know, I just..." Her shoulders slump. She sighs heavily. "I feel like the timing isn't-"

"Time does not wait for people, Chaeng. Just give it a go. Just- I don't know. If he doesn't show up, call him or text him. For now, don't think of the what ifs. Your mind will be clustered and we don't want that now."

She takes the deepest breath, nodding curtly as she presses her lips into a thin line. "Okay," she breathes and nods slowly. "Okay."

"I think you still need to remind him of the wedding."

Chaeyoung looks at Jennie, feeling uncertain briefly but sighs when Jennie doesn't budge, continuously staring straight into her eyes, obviously waiting for her to do something. She types in something very quickly.

"What did you tell him?"

Chaeyoung lifts up the phone for Jennie to see; don't forget about the wedding.

"That's all?!"

Her face creases in confusion. "Yeah? What else am I supposed to say? You told me to remind him about the wedding."

"You see, this is why everyone says you're frustrating. Give me you damn phone." Jennie doesn't wait for her to give the phone, snatching the device forcefully from Chaeyoung's hand. After typing a message and sending it, Jennie smiles at her and pats her shoulder, handing her back the phone. "There, that's more like it."

Chaeyoung quickly checks the message and widens her eyes as she reads it word by word; if u don't show up, I don't think there will be another chance for me to clear things up about my feelings.

"Jennie!" Her mouth hangs open, brows dipping as she shakes her head.

"You're welcome," Jennie grins.

"I wasn't thanking you!"

The older female scoffs. "Be thankful."

"But this-"

"Ladies," Taehyung butts in from nowhere. "It's starting soon. We should get inside." He turns to Chaeyoung. "Hey, where's your date?"

"He's-"

"Going to be a bit late," Jennie completes the sentence for her and interlocks their hands together. "Let's go."

*

The seat is quite comfortable, but she feels slightly uncomfortable sitting after seeing her former boyfriends, sans Chanyeol eye to eye without feeling awkward.

She bumped into Jaehyun when she and Jennie first went through the door, and she felt like her mouth was stuffed with a cloth when she couldn't reply Jaehyun's simple 'Hey' with her own 'Hi' that she'd thought of in her mind. She'd nodded her head at him instead –robotically –and tried to smile, but before she could, Jaehyun had already looked away as he walked hand in hand with another woman.

As she was turning her head around after finding her seat just to check if Jungkook was anywhere, she had locked eyes with Junhoe and he managed a small smile at her. Chaeyoung did smile in return, she thinks but who knows that she smiled to him only in her mind. She can't be sure.

Chaeyoung looks down at her phone, no reply. She sighs. Jisoo nudges her from the left. "What's the matter?"

"Jungkook's probably not coming," Chaeyoung murmurs, nibbling on her bottom lip as she feels her stomach churning in guilt. She types something as she holds her breath, not even realizing that Chanyeol is already standing in front waiting for her bride to come through the entrance.

"Chae-"

"I'm so stupid," Chaeyoung sighs, cutting Jisoo off as she erases and types something more before she hits send. "I can't believe I'm this stupid."

"Chaeng," Jisoo mutters once more.

"I shouldn't have- ugh," she grunts softly with her head lowered, still staring at her phone, pouting. "Maybe I should leave. Jungkook's not coming and it's because of me. I should-"

"You can't leave now," Taehyung hisses. "It's about to start."

"I don't care," Chaeyoung grunts. "I just- I have to go."

"Chaeng," Jisoo repeats, a bit sterner with a lower voice. "Don't you go anywhere. He-"

"I think I messed up, Jisoo. No. I have messed up. I should-"

Chaeyoung is half standing when someone plops next to her, words rushing out. "Sorry I'm late."

She freezes, eyes settling on Jungkook who's quickly taken out his tissue to dab on the sweat on his forehead. "Jungkook..." she breathes like a huge weight is finally lifted off her chest.

"Long story short, I crashed a different wedding. Accidentally," he says quickly, fanning himself with his hand. "I was at a different hall, talked to strangers and maybe I made some friends there. I realized that it's the wrong hall when literally 70 percent of the attendees are old people including the groom. Can't be possible that the charcoal dude is in his 50s, right?"

She wants to say something, but she realizes she's only staring and smiling softly and Jungkook stops fanning himself when he looks at her.

"Is someone else supposed to sit here?" he asks, catching his breath and Chaeyoung immediately shakes her head.

"You..." she bites her lower lip softly. "You came."

Jungkook flits his gaze to the tissue and nods softly. "Well, I got paid to come. So, I should be here, shouldn't I? I'm not irresponsible."

She frowns softly, gripping her phone in her hand.

"Am I not supposed to be here?" he asks with a lifted brow, and Chaeyoung's eyes widen. "I can leave, you know. It's no big deal."

"No, don't." She shakes her head quickly. "I..."

She feels her cheeks blooming in heat, knowing that Jisoo and Taehyung are definitely listening. Taehyung, especially, is eyeing them closely, not even being discreet about it even though Jisoo has asked him to look away.

Lowering her voice, Chaeyoung leans slightly towards Jungkook. "I want you to be here."

Jungkook hums and briefly nods.

As he wipes on his forehead again, Chaeyoung feels her heart sinking deeper when she notices how his nails are all clean, the nail polish has been removed, including the rose. At the same time, Jungkook takes out his phone and furrows his brows, and she realizes that he's reading her messages.

She stares at him, waiting to see his response, waiting for him to turn towards her, but he doesn't as he keeps his phone.

"Jungkook, I-"

"Ssh," he says while turning his head towards where the groom is, "the ceremony's starting."

With a disappointed sigh, Chaeyoung turns to Jisoo with a pout, silently asking for advice in that crucial moment but the older female is looking at her with wide eyes before she looks away. She doesn't miss Taehyung mouthing at her 'you fucked up'.