THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Wedding Reception, Pt. 2

The wedding reception passed like a flash.

The eight of them got allocated to one table. They sat in the similar seating arrangement as earlier, no matter how hard Yoojung tried to squeeze herself next to Jieun, Jimin always ended up next to her. Tragically, Byulyi ended up next to Jisoo, though Taehyung was next to her, providing her with some support. Jieun was sandwiched between Taehyung and Jungkook.

"...and that's how I met him." Ms Ahn finished her speech, and the dining hall burst into applause.

It turned out Mr Kim and Ms Ahn had started out as loggerheads, but one day they shared an umbrella on a rainy day and began talking. They found out a lot of new things about each other and fell in love. And the rest was history. It was a cute story.

"We will be serving the food now," the emcee announced. "Enjoy!"

More cheers and applause.

Mr Kim walked over to the kids table. "Everything going alright, kids?"

"Mr Kim!" Jimin smiled, walking over and shaking his hand. "The story of how you guys met was so adorable I actually teared up!"

He really did. Yoojung had a hard time keeping a straight face as she saw tears pouring down Jimin's cheeks as Ms Ahn narrated her story.

"You did?" Mr Kim laughed out loud. "That's adorable. Enjoy, kids. I specially prepared a bottle of sparkling wine for you guys! Alcohol-free." Mr Kim placed a bottle of sparkling wine on the table. "I know most of you are not legal yet, so no drinking!"

"Eh..." All of them let out a collective groan.

"Don't tell me you guys have already begun drinking alcohol?" Mr Kim exclaimed.

"No, sir. Not at all, Mr Kim," Jimin smiled sheepishly. "Definitely not. Enjoy your wedding reception, and thank you for the sparkling wine."

Jimin returned to the table and took a seat. The atmosphere at the table was tense, especially since they were now all facing each other. It was almost as tense as earlier in the limousine, just not so due to the noise around them.

"So!" Jimin stood up with a grin. "Who wants some sparkling wine?"

"I'll pass," Yoojung announced, standing up from her seat. "I need a breather."

Jimin raised his eyebrows.

Yoojung glanced at Jieun, signalling for her to follow.

"Ah, me too," Jieun stood up abruptly, startling Taehyung and Jungkook.

The rest of them watched on in silence as Yoojung and Jieun left the table and walked away.

"Ah, it's left with six of us then!" Jimin exclaimed cheerily. "Taehyung, sparkling wine?"

"Okay," Taehyung pushed his glass over.

Jimin popped open the cork and cheered, expecting a response in return but there wasn't any. "Can I have a res-" Jimin stopped short upon seeing his friends faces. "Never mind. Tae, could you pass me the glasses please?"

He poured the sparkling wine into the glasses, passing them around the table.

"Here, Byulyi-" Jisoo said with a smile, offering a glass to Byulyi.

"Oh, it's okay-" Byulyi refused politely. "I'll take my own-"

"Just take it, it's fine-" Jisoo said with a smile, holding the wine glass precariously.

"Well, alright-" Byulyi reached out to grab the glass from Jisoo.

But due to miscommunication or some reason, Jisoo let go of the glass before Byulyi could grab on to it. Byulyi gasped as the glass of sparkling wine to fell on her lap, splashing the sweet drink all over her.

"Oh my god!" Jisoo stood up and exclaimed as Byulyi jumped to her feet, with sparkling wine dripping from her dress. "Byulyi, I'm so sorry-"

Everyone in the hall was watching.

"Ya!" Jisoo felt a shove from behind her, as Seokjin pushed her out of the way, holding Byulyi by the wrist. He looked angry, but no one knew why. "Why are you so careless?"

"Jin-ah," Jisoo tried to interrupt. "It's my mistake, I accidentally let go of the glass before she could take it from me, it's my fau-"

"Why didn't you hold the glass quickly?" Seokjin shouted at the top of his voice, looking down at her ruined dress. "Look at you-"

"I-" Byulyi stuttered, completely startled by what was going on. "I-"

"Why are you yelling at her?!" Taehyung pulled Byulyi out of Seokjin's grip. "She didn't do anything wrong and her dress is ruined. Your girlfriend caused this, how dare you-"

"Who are you to interfere?" Seokjin yelled back, grabbing hold of Byulyi's wrist. "Come on, Byulyi, let's go get you cleaned up."

Jimin watched on, baffled. Jungkook was unfazed, as he continued eating his steak.

"I'm Byulyi's friend," Taehyung challenged, tightening his grip on Byulyi's wrist. "Who are you to interfere?"

"I-" Seokjin turned around to look at Jisoo and loosened his grip slightly. "I'm-"

"Mind your own business," Taehyung threatened, leaning closer towards Seokjin and whispering into his ear. "And stop making a fool of yourself."

Then he pulled Byulyi out of Seokjin's grip and walked out of the hall, with Byulyi following him behind him closely, still shaken by what had just happened.

Seokjin sat down, staring blankly into space.