Jennie
"I couldn't be readier."
Ren side-eyes me suspiciously. "Taehyung is...?"
"Gone with the wind. It's over between us. I've closed that chapter. Done and dusted."
"Right." Ren does not sound convinced. "So no more boys?"
I hold up my palms. "No more boys."
"They make you insane, Jennie." he huffs. "You hunting for your precious Prince Charming is like bloody King Arthur looking for the Holy Grail, waving the damn Excalibur around like a lunatic."
"I don't go after them with a sword." I squint at him. "It doesn't matter anyway. This gal is flying sane and solo."
"That's my girl." Ren gives me a playful pat on the rear, which makes me squeak with surprise.
"Uh... Miss Ho?" We all hear the hesitant voice as it crackles in from the Jessi's handheld radio. "There's a... situation."
Jessi's tears stop instantly. She unhooks her radio from her belt and speaks into it. "What situation?"
"The birds won't uhh... release."
"They're birds, Nayeon. Poke them with a damn stick."
I squint over the gaudy hats and the too tall hairdos before I see her. Nayeon, all double French braids and Little-House-on-the-Prairie-chic, is crouched at the edge of the stage holding an open cage with two birds inside of it. She's trying to wave them out, but they just flutter and pace anxiously at the back of the cage.
"But they peck." Nayeon whines.
"They're about to step off the procession. Now or never, Nayeon!" Jessi barks into the radio.
"Let me help." I plead.
Jessi shoots me a glare that nearly turns me into one of the ice sculptures. "Don't you dare. Don't make me remind you that you're still benched. No one touches a single tassel until I tell them to, understood?"
Meanwhile, out of the corner of my eyes, I see Nayeon shake the cage roughly. The doves flutter around frantically and burst out. They don't quite make it to the beautiful arc through the sky, however; instead, they flop around, totally confused. One manages to get caught under a bridesmaid's umbrella dress, causing the woman to flail and shriek, while the second bird topples onto the pastor's bible and wing-slaps him before it rockets up into the sky.
Jessi swears and jumps into action immediately. "I want those birds quartered and shot and served up for dinner!" she snaps. "Ren! I need you now!"
"Pardon me." Ren says as he retreats with a wink. "I've got pigeons to kill."
"Make it painless!" I joke back, knowing full well that Ren couldn't even hurt a fruit fly. Before he dashes off, however, I grab his arm. "And Ren... get the band going." He knits his eyebrows. "They've already finished their set."
"Tell them to improvise."
The idea catches up with him, and his eyes light up. "You're a genius." His eyes crinkle with quiet amusement. "It's good to have you back. Welcome back to the madhouse, darling."
"You're not kidding." I watch as chaos erupts on stage as Jessi snaps at Nayeon, who chases the birds around while the bridesmaid cries.
It takes them less than a minute to scare away the pigeons and redirect everyone's attention to the brassy boom of the band. That's because Jessi and her Happily Ever After team are the best wedding planners in the business.
It takes a battalion to bring two people together. I'm part of that battalion. At least I was, until I took a mental health break for the better part of last year. But I'm back in the business, recently re-enlisted, so as to speak. That is, if Jessi will have me back.
"Jennie!" Nayeon pops in front of me, and I blink back to reality. She's short of breath, her arms covered in beak-marks, and she shoves a manila folder at me. "Jessi told me to give this to you before you go."
"Thanks, Na..." As soon as I take it, Nayeon dashes back into the fray. No doubt off to find the offending pigeons. Jessi has to eat, after all.
I turn the folder in my hands. It's thick with loose pages. The top tab reads: BHUWAKUL/MANOBAN.
It's a wedding assignment. The first since my hiatus.
My anxiety falls off me like snakeskin, and a grin bursts across my face. I've earned my wings back. I grip the folder as though it holds the cure for cancer in its pages. This is it. The most important wedding of my career.
Time to prove to them that I'm back in business. Look out, world. Here comes Jennie Kim, wedding planner extraordinaire.
