A/N: Thanks so much for the sweet reviews :) As promised, here we are with Ga Eul, Yi Jeong, and Woo Bin...

"Sunbae!"

Ga Eul flung her arms around Yi Jeong, who chuckled as he squeezed her tightly. She winced when he touched a particularly sore spot on her back, but he didn't seem to notice as he kissed her forehead and mumbled a greeting. He had shown up at her apartment an hour after her parents had dropped her off with the spare key she had given to her mother, who had berated her all morning for being so careless with her things. She hadn't told anyone what had happened yet, and thankfully her mother hadn't asked what had become of her dress. She needed to talk to Yi Jeong first.

"Did you miss me that much for one evening?" Yi Jeong smoothed out her hair. He was wearing another immaculate suit she swore she'd never seen before. The single diamond earring in his left ear glinted in the overhead hall light, and as he looked down at her, he flashed her one of those charming smiles that had captivated her all those years ago. "I told you to move in with me."

Pulling away, Ga Eul asked, "Sunbae, are you all right? You…you look…well, I thought you were really sick last night. I was so worried, and I couldn't get ahold of you."

"Don't worry, I'm okay now. Can we go inside to talk?"

Ga Eul nodded. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in his arms, tell him everything,and cry into his white dress shirt until her mascara stained it black.

The sound of someone clearing his throat made her turn toward the staircase, and she bowed and said a quick greeting, trying to mask her disappointment with a surprised look.

What was Woo Bin doing here? Not that she didn't want to see him, but considering the circumstances…

"Ga Eul-yang." Yi Jeong took one of her hands. "Woo Bin and I have something to discuss with you. Can we all go inside?"

Ga Eul glanced between the two F4 members uncertainly. Did Woo Bin know what had happened last night? He had been there at the party. Had he seen something?

"Ga Eul-yang?" Yi Jeong's voice drew her attention back to his face, where she detected an uncertainty that contradicted his calm tone. A small glimmer of worry shone in his dark eyes.

"Yes," she heard herself saying, automatically giving him a reassuring smile. "Yes, of course."

When they had all gone inside Ga Eul's apartment and had settled themselves onto her couch, with her seated in between them, Yi Jeong wanted to hear all the party details first: How many guests were in attendance? Was Jan Di's whole family there? Was the food good? Did Jan Di and Jun Pyo look like the couple of the year? Were they really able to refrain from arguing (or mock-arguing) for a whole evening? Did Madame Kang preside over the proceedings like the devil incarnate? Were there pictures so he could see how Ga Eul-yang looked in her dress? Where was Ga Eul-yang's dress anyway?

"My dress?" Ga Eul ran her thumb over a crease in Yi Jeong's light gray dress pants. She couldn't tell him right now, not with Woo Bin sitting there. The whole thing was just too…too…unbelievable. "Oh, I had to send it out for dry cleaning," she answered, her eyes pinned to the soft fabric as she rested her hand on his leg.

Great, she was lying to him now.

"My staff could do that."

She looked up at him.

"Oh, I know, but it had a wine stain on it, so I thought maybe I better get it out as soon as possible."

That, at least, had been true.

"Oh."

"You missed it, bro," Woo Bin chimed in, and Ga Eul twisted her head to look at him. "Ga Eul was the prettiest one there, outside of Jan Di, of course. I was jealous of Ji Hoo getting to escort her in."

"Yah, Woo Bin Sunbae," Ga Eul chided softly, "Please don't turn this into another love triangle."

"Aniyo. I will be like your older brother." Woo Bin clasped a hand to his heart and winked. "You can call me 'Oppa.'"

"Like hell she will," Yi Jeong interrupted, and Ga Eul giggled.

"But Yi Jeong Sunbae, I never call you 'Oppa.' Don't you think I need one in my life?"

"I think I'm uncomfortable with the conspiracy brewing in the room right now."

At that, Ga Eul and Woo Bin both laughed outright.

"Anybody messes with Ga Eul-yang, they'll hear from me personally," Woo Bin stated emphatically.

Ga Eul felt a pang go through her heart then but kept a smile plastered on her face while Yi Jeong conceded that he didn't mind Ga Eul having a personal bodyguard, so long as she didn't fall in love with him like in the movies.

What would Woo Bin have thought of the coldness in Madeleine's eyes?

He would hate her.

In fact, he would hate her more than most because he had once loved her.

How could Ga Eul put him through that?

Why should he be hurt by Madeleine anymore?

"Ga Eul-yang." Yi Jeong grabbed her hand, and she knew by the serious expression on his face that he was about to come to the real reason for their visit.

"Ga Eul-yang, I have to tell you why I wasn't at the party last night."

"What? Why?" Ga Eul glanced between him and Woo Bin. "I thought you were sick."

"Ga Eul," Woo Bin spoke up. "Have you heard of the Yi family of the Hotel Adonis chain?"

Ga Eul frowned in concentration, trying to remember.

"I've…heard of the hotel…Actually, didn't we stay in one of their hotels? When we went to France?" Ga Eul turned back to Yi Jeong.

"Oh…yes, we did. I forgot about that."

Ga Eul smiled.

"That was my favorite hotel we stayed at. They had the best breakfast!"

Ga Eul expected Yi Jeong to make a wisecrack about her only remembering the food, but his expression remained serious, his gaze not quite reaching her eyes.

"Sunbae? What is it?"

"My grandfather…has arranged for me to marry their daughter."

Tension gathered in Ga Eul's muscles, causing them to hurt again.

Everything—her heart, her lungs, even in the air in the room—seemed to constrict.

"What?" She could barely hear her own voice.

"Last night I wasn't sick," Yi Jeong continued, fiddling with her fingers, still not looking at her. "I wasn't at the party because I was with my grandfather. He's the one who sent you those messages telling you to go to the party without me."

"Oh…Oh, I see."

He looked up at her then and must have noticed the absolute terror in her eyes because he blurted out, "I'm not going through with it, I swear!"

Ga Eul nodded, automatically again.

"I believe you, Sunbae," she managed.

Yi Jeong's strained expression lessened, but he now had her hand locked in a death grip.

"Sunbae...You're hurting my hand," she said quietly.

"Sorry." Yi Jeong loosened his grip. "I'm sorry about all of this." Yi Jeong looked away. "My grandfather wants to announce our engagement next Sunday at my exhibition. I said I was fine with it, but only because I needed to buy time. To be honest, I didn't expect this to happen so soon. But Woo Bin seems to think this could work to our advantage." He turned his head towards her again. "I'm going to need your help, though."

"My help?" Ga Eul said slowly as she tried to process his last words. "I mean, sure, I'll do anything you need me to do, Sunbae."

"Remember when we went on that pretend date a long time ago? When we were trying to get Jan Di and Jun Pyo back together?"

Ga Eul nodded.

"Well, we're going to do that again, only the opposite way. The first thing we have to do is pretend to break up."

"Break up?"

"Just for a week, I swear. Just until my exhibition."

"So we're just going to do a bit of acting again. Don't worry, Ga Eul, we'll set you up with a killer wardrobe," Woo Bin quipped, and Ga Eul was thankful for him trying to lighten the mood though she hardly felt cheerful.

"Do I get to keep it?" Ga Eul asked, giving him a small smile.

"Do a good job. Then we'll talk payment."

Ga Eul nearly shook her head. Sometimes Woo Bin's upbringing showed in small things.

Turning back to Yi Jeong, she asked, "Do I get to know her name?"

Yi Jeong nodded.

"It's Madeleine. Yi Madeleine. I'm supposed to have lunch with her family tomorrow."

A sharp pain flared up in Ga Eul's back, and her lungs tightened again.

Madeleine?

Ga Eul rarely cursed, but the bitch suddenly started making sense.

And if Madeleine knew about her, it only stood to reason that Yi Jeong's family did too, no matter how quiet they'd been about their relationship.

Ga Eul glanced down at her lap and took a deep breath.

"Ga Eul-yang?" Yi Jeong touched her arm. "You sure you're okay? I know this is a lot to process."

"Ga Eul?" Woo Bin prodded, concern in his voice as well. She looked up at him then. His expression was blank, too blank.

We're going to have to do a bit of acting again.

Shit.

She'd bet anything he hadn't told Yi Jeong that he knew her.

"You okay?" Yi Jeong asked again.

Ga Eul fought the urge to tell him 'no.' She could have told him about Madeleine earlier, but she didn't, and now she couldn't bring herself to worry him more than he already was.

Worse than that, she hated feeling weak and vulnerable, the way Su Pyo had made her feel and now the way Madeleine had.

She'd never wanted to appear that way again in front of Yi Jeong, and him bringing Woo Bin here meant he must have already been quite worried about how she would take everything.

He didn't need to worry about her.

If Woo Bin could push aside his own pain to help Yi Jeong, then she could be strong for him too.

Which meant she needed to keep her own mouth shut.

Her mind made up, she spoke up in a confident tone, "Yi Jeong-ah, I'm not going to break into pieces. It's okay. You do whatever you have you to do." She paused a beat then added, "I'll miss you."

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving the country again. It'll only be for a week."

"I know, but it's still not fair. You just got back, and now I guess I won't see you again for another whole week."

"It's not a whole week. Today is Sunday, which makes it six days."

"Oh, that makes it so much better, Sunbae."

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Of course not." She smiled. "But be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry. I've been taking care of myself for a long time."

"Yes, and you did such a great job with that before you met me."

"Don't take so much credit."

Woo Bin cleared his throat.

"You know as beautiful as this is, you have to pretend not to like each other now. Not that Yi Jeong has ever known how to do that."

"Yah, what are you—"

"Oh, don't worry Woo Bin Sunbae," Ga Eul answered, "I can definitely do that. All I have to do is remember what an annoying and entitled prick he was when I first met him."

"Yeah, and I used to think you were a nice person," Yi Jeong bit back sarcastically.

"He was always dragging me everywhere liked he owned me, and he'd roll his eyes at everything I wanted to do. Honestly, I thought he was a bit mental, going from completely charming one moment to downright infuriating the next." Ga Eul shook her head in mock-disappointment.

"It's not real, you know," Yi Jeong muttered.

"I know, Sunbae. But wasn't it you who told me we should do everything to the end?"

Ga Eul smiled brightly at him, tamping down the bad feeling she had about all of this.

The mere fact that Yi Jeong was being completely transparent with her, while she and Woo Bin were both harboring secrets, felt like a betrayal, but secrets seemed to be the way of survival in their world, and she bet Madeleine had plenty of her own, her relationship with Woo Bin notwithstanding.

She remembered Madeleine saying something in the dressing room about it being too late for her, like maybe what she'd done to Woo Bin, and now to Ga Eul herself, was just the tip of the iceberg.

She bet that when the smoke cleared, Madeleine would have to hold up the mirror to her own warped, twisted soul.

She bet they had all better be on their toes in the meantime.