Monaco.

Playground for the world's rich and the famous.

There was no airport in Monaco because most of the inhabitants had their own private helicopters. Either that or they travelled by speedboat and yacht. Ordinary folk had to get there by bus from Nice, the nearest city with an international airport.

Daehyun didn't own a helicopter, but at least he had enough money to pay for a speedboat rental.

"You know if it were me I'd probably only have enough money to take the bus," Alex told Daehyun as they stepped off board the charter speedboat and onto the Monaco docks. A rickety old bus had also just pulled into the bus stop not far from where they were, and a number of excited tourists alighted.

"No. You probably wouldn't even have enough money to afford the bus," Daehyun joked.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think that you're exactly the same as David Kim, you know?"

"Don't compare me with that asshole. At least I worked for what I have. He was born with a silver spoon shoved into his big mouth. Life is unfair."

"This is amazing!" a short distance away, Eunri stretched out her arms and declared cheerfully as she took in the sights and sounds of this city by the sea.

Monaco was well known for its share of high-end tourists, but looking around at the hundreds of white luxury yachts that were parked all around them, they were seeing for the first time what this actually meant.

Both Daehyun and Alex had been equally stunned when Eunri volunteered to come along with them to Monaco. Alex's first reaction was to leap over the moon; Daehyun's first reaction was just to be plain shell-shocked.

Alex grinned in response to Eunri's comment and picked up both their luggages, heading towards the taxi bay. "Come on," he said, "we should get going to the hotel."

Eunri's mood looked significantly better now than the first day he had seen her back in Shanghai. At least her smile was back on her face. She would never know how precious that was to him. Once he got back into his own body, he would make it a point to tell her all these things that he had so carelessly shoved aside before.

"Which hotel are we staying at?" Eunri trailed along behind him, her eyes still glued on the scenery.

"Four Seasons."

"Four Seasons."

#

After they had checked into the hotel and settled into their rooms, Alex took Eunri around for a stroll about town. He was being a tourist as well, actually, but Daehyun had been here several times before so he knew the place better.

Right now, they also had a bigger mission in mind: they had to get Eunri a new dress for tonight's party.

After turning Eunri's luggage upside down, they came to the realisation that she had brought nothing but casual clothing along for the trip, which was understandable since she was expecting to be going around as a tourist, not as a fashionista. However, all those were not going to do if they were to show up at David Kim's gathering. His invitation had clearly stated that it was to be formal wear, which meant tuxedos and gowns in Monaco terms. Daehyun hadn't packed a tux as well, so that was something he needed to get sorted too.

He took her straight to Vuitton.

When they reached the glass doors with their gilded gold handles, Eunri paused hesitantly. "Daehyun, are you sure we should be looking in here?" she asked.

Alex immediately grabbed her by the hand and pushed open the door. "Don't worry, it's on my tab."

"You mean it's on my tab..." Daehyun grumbled.

"Consider it an investment. Battle armour to protect your fragile ego," Alex whispered.

This was actually his first time stepping into a Luis Vuitton store in his entire life. Firstly, the clothes weren't his style. Secondly, he couldn't afford it even if he worked twenty-four hours a day, non-stop for an entire year. He ran around excitedly checking out all the shiny racks of clothes on display. The material felt expensive in his hands as he ran them between his fingers. Silk, velvet, some light gauzy stuff that felt like cotton candy dancing upon his skin.

No price tags. If you had to ask for the price, then you couldn't afford to be here.

"You're in an LV store. Can you not act like a country bumpkin?" Daehyun warned when he saw Alex acting out of character again.

"Right." Alex turned and smiled at the shop assistant, trying his best not to sound over-excited. "We have an evening party to attend tonight. Could you recommend some outfits for us?"

Eunri was browsing through a rack, looking worried. She walked over to Alex and whispered in his ear, "This is really expensive. I don't have to wear such expensive clothes. Should we go somewhere else?"

Alex shook his head. "Nonsense. You're worth every cent. Besides, if you want to help me get back at David and Jieun, then you have to look like a million dollars at tonight's party, got it?" He grinned at her and flicked her forehead affectionately.

He could sense Daehyun's discomfort like a niggling worm inside his head, but the latter said nothing.

The eager shop assistants returned moments later with a number of gowns and suits for Alex and Eunri to choose from. For Alex it was easy—he simply picked whichever one Daehyun told him to. He didn't understand tuxedos anyway. For Eunri, however, it meant an entire afternoon spent in the dressing room. It took her a good three hours before she finally decided on one.

"Which one did you choose?" Alex asked out of curiosity as he handed Daehyun's credit card to the shop assistant.

"Secret." Eunri winked at him playfully. She grabbed the bags and headed out of the door.

"Coy. I like that in a girl."

"She's mine. Hands off," Alex retorted. He shoved the credit card back into his pocket and hurried after Eunri.

#

"We're going to be late!"

"We're going to be late!" Alex repeated, shouting towards Eunri's door. Daehyun had booked a suite in the hotel, so there was one bedroom for Alex and one for Eunri, connected via a plush living room area. The time was now ten minutes to seven and they were running late.

"I'll just be another minute!" Eunri shouted back from inside the room.

"Girls. They always take so long to get ready..."

"You're absolutely right on that count. Eunri takes ages all the time. There was once she took an entire hour just to get her hair done, and it was only to attend a school party."

Ten minutes later, they heard Eunri's door click open.

"Are you done, we need to—"

The words stopped short when he saw her standing there. His jaw dropped.

Eunri was standing at her doorway wearing a floor length gown made of flowy chiffon fabric. The gown was wine red and had an empire cut that flattered her figure and made her look like a Grecian goddess descending from the heavens. Her hair was lightly curled, cascading down her shoulders in soft, graceful waves.

She tilted her head and looked at him strangely. "What? Does it not look nice? The shop assistant said it looked good..." she looked down at her own dress and grumbled.

"No, no! It looks incredible! You look... incredible," Alex gulped. He could feel the blood rushing to his head and his cheeks getting hot. He was speaking the truth though. He had never seen Eunri look this beautiful before. Every time she asked him if she looked nice, he would just nod and say yes, but he never really paid attention. Today, she looked absolutely stunning. His only regret was that it had taken him five years to realise that.

"Yeah. Incredible," a voice concurred in his head.

Eunri smiled at him. "Come on, didn't you say we were late? We'd better go! Can't keep those stuck up friends of yours waiting for too long, can we?" She hooked her arm with Alex's and pulled him towards the door.

#

David's villa was practically a piece of art.

With its white-washed walls and roman pillars, the villa sat on the top of a sea cliff, facing the wide open ocean. It was the most luxurious house that Alex had ever seen in his life. He didn't even realise houses like these existed in the world.

A butler came forth to open the door of the taxi for them.

Alex took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door. Today he was here as Lee Daehyun, and for Daehyun's sake, he would have to play the part well. It was the least he could do since he was sort of renting Daehyun's body against his will. He wasn't quite sure he could pull it off though. It was one thing attending a meeting on Daehyun's behalf, it was another pretending to be one of the rich and wealthy when he had all the habits of a poor street musician.

He felt Eunri slip her hand into his and squeeze it gently. "Nervous?"

He nodded.

"You'll do great. Let's show David Kim who Lee Daehyun is, shall we?" she said with a warm, encouraging smile.

When they walked in, the effect was immediate. Alex could feel all eyes on the room focusing on them, or more specifically, they were focused on the girl who was standing next to him. As he did quick scan of the room, he wasn't surprised though. In his opinion, Eunri was by far the most outstanding female guest present. He spotted David and Jieun in the crowd. The girl looked slightly taken aback that he had shown up, and David wore a grimace on his face that spoke volumes about what he thought about their appearance. Perhaps he had been convinced that Daehyun wouldn't have the guts to show up.

"Looks like we've achieved the desired effect!" Alex tilted his face to one side and said chirpily to Daehyun.

"Practically the entire class showed up," Daehyun mused as he looked at the number of familiar faces in the crowd. "You're going to have to stay on your toes the entire night if we're going to pull this off."

"Gotcha."

"Daehyun! Why are you so late? I thought you weren't going to show!" David walked over with his usual fake smile plastered all over his annoying face. "Eunri, I thought the two of you weren't..."

Eunri smiled back and linked her arm with Alex's, putting on a show for David's benefit. "I never said that we weren't together. I was supposed to head back to Seoul for a meeting, but it was cancelled at the last minute so I could make some time to attend your party with Daehyun."

"Wow. Eunri's good at this."

"Well, that's great! I'm glad you both could make it!" David said with a laugh. They could all tell that it sounded a little forced.

"Is that the latest Luis Vuitton?" Jieun commented as she eyeballed Eunri's dress.

Jieun was wearing a silver sequinned dress that looked very expensive, but when put next to Eunri's simple but elegant gown, the bling did nothing to add to the classiness of her outfit. All around them people were pointing to Eunri and making comments about her outfit. She had clearly stolen the show.

Alex grinned. "Eunri said she liked it, so I bought it for her this morning along with a couple of other dresses."

Jieun nodded stiffly in response, before making an excuse to walk away. She was clearly jealous at not being the belle of the ball, and annoyed that David hadn't done enough to ensure that she had been.

"Excuse me, I need to go entertain the other guests. Have fun tonight, yes? Help yourself to as much food as you like. They're catered for by a Michelin five-star restaurant. The crabs and lobsters in particular were air flown from Norway." David raised his champagne glass at them, then hastily chased after Jieun to appease her.

"Even after he's obviously lost this round, he still has to fight to get in the final word." Alex shook his head, watching as David disappeared into the crowd. He was glad that people like David didn't exist in his social circle.

Eunri laughed. "People like them just need to feel superior in one way or the other. So, how did I do?"

"You did great! Everyone's still looking at you now. Belle of the ball!"

"They're looking at my five thousand dollar dress," Eunri replied.

After they had finished a couple of small appetizers and had a glass of champagne, David walked over to the small stage that had been set up at the front of the hall and tapped the microphone to get everyone's attention.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to Monaco. I hope you're having fun at the party so far. Jieun and I are so pleased that all of us are gathered here today for this little class reunion—" Alex could have sworn that David shot him a look of disdain as he said that, "—since it's been a while since some of us have met. I'm happy to see that some of us have even brought their other halves along! Anyway, I hope the food is to your liking, and we're now about to start the party segment of the night. May I have some volunteers to start us off with the first dance of the evening?"

"Shit. I should have seen this coming. Alex, we need to go. Now. Now. Now!" Daehyun yelled.

"Why? What's wrong?" Alex was puzzled by Daehyun's sudden reaction.

"How about Daehyun and his lovely partner?" David turned to look straight at Alex and Eunri, a gleeful twinkle in his eyes.

"Too late..."

Alex was stunned by David's sudden question. His first instinct was to wave his hands about to reject the offer, but the crowd had erupted in cheers and Daehyun's ex-classmates were suddenly all pushing them forward towards the dance floor. Eunri looked to him in alarm, but there was nothing they could do. It was too late to run away. A blinding spotlight shone down upon them.

"I can't fucking dance, Alex. I can't."

#