Suzy spent the next hour getting ready for Jieun's party. She decided on a plum colored wrap dress that was both casual and dressy and left her hair straight. She got her best friend's present out of her suitcase and headed over to her house.
Jieun inherited her grandmother's house a few years back, she and Sander moved in together. Now the house was teeming with people. Jieun's parents had come in from out of town, as well as a couple of cousins.
Suzy took a deep breath before knocking on her future sister-in-law's door. She hadn't been the best friend to Jieun these past two years. Her work consumed all her energy, and even if she had tried to call Jieun every week during her years in college, those once-a-week calls had gradually turned into once-a-month calls and once-a-year calls.
Her fears were quickly dispelled, though, when the door flew open and Jieun wrapped her up in a tight embrace. "'Doll! You're here!" Jieun was positively glowing. Her now purple locks framed her pretty face and her cute eyes shone bright. "You look amazing as always," she said, stepping back and looking Suzy over properly.
"So do you," Suzy said emphatically. "You look really happy, babe."
"I am," Jieun beamed. "Now, come on, there are some people I'd like you to meet."
××××××
"Here we are," Jack said and pushed open the door to Hopeland's bar and grill.
Vincent paused in the doorway to take in his surroundings. The Grillmates was a nice-looking restaurant with a generously sized bar, a small stage and dance floor, and pool tables.
"You comin', son?" Jack said over his shoulder when Vincent didn't make a move to enter.
"Uh... yes, of course," Vincent snapped out of his thoughts and followed Suzy's father over to a table where a group of guys with enormous pitchers of beers in front of them were seated, talking and laughing. Vincent could instantly tell which one of the four men was Suzy's brother, Sander. Aside from he was the only Asian in the group, he had the same milky white skin and big innocent eyes with Suzy, albeit set in a masculine face.
Vincent's suspicions were confirmed when the young man laughed out loud and mirrored Suzy's crescent eye smile. He then greeted Jack with "Dad!"
"Hello, son. I see you've already started the party."
"Well, if you moved a little bit faster, old man..." he joked.
"Watch it, son. I'm still young enough to beat you at football."
"No offense, sir," a dark-haired, muscular man said, "but that hardly counts. My grandma can beat Sander at football."
"Ouch," Sander laughed. Then his friendly eyes found Vincent, lingering behind Jack. "Oh, hey, you must be Vincent," he said and rose from his seat, extending his hand over the table. "Glad you could make it."
Vincent returned the handshake. "Thanks for inviting me. Here..." he said and handed over a gift box. "I wouldn't open it in here, though."
Sander peered inside the box. "Scotch? I like you already, man. Everyone, this is Vincent Lee. Suzy's boyfriend."
"Fiancé, actually," Vincent corrected him.
"Really? Dude, that's awesome!" Sander went over to Vincent to give him a hearty slap on the back.
Jaws dropped around the table at Vincent's announcement and he noticed how all eyes fell on a blonde, blue-eyed, young man. He was the first of the other three to speak, standing up and extending his hand. "Hey, I'm Mark. Welcome to Hopeland."
After he had sat back down, the others visibly relaxed and introductions were made all around. The dark-haired, muscular man was Derek Humpbert, and the bleached blonde surfer type next to him was his uncle Gregg, visiting from Florida.
"Pull up a chair," Sander said to Vincent, as Jack had already taken a seat at the table.
After a couple of hours, Vincent was confident that he now knew all there was to know about the young men at the table and had formed his opinion on them. He had also acquired a bit of a buzz. Vincent was no stranger to partying, but for the past five years he had been completely dedicated to his work and 'letting loose' hadn't really been an option. It came easily to him, though, and as he was buying the rounds, he was also becoming quite the popular guy.
When a group of girls, equally inebriated as the guys, came through the door to the Grillmates, Vincent's eyes were immediately drawn to the stunning brunette in the plum colored wrap dress that hugged her curves much like he wanted to. Then he caught himself. That was not allowed. They were only getting married to get him a green card, and she had only agreed because she wanted the promotion he'd been promising her for years. Lusting after his assistant was not okay. He briefly hoped that Suzy and her friends wouldn't see him, but that flicker of hope was quickly extinguished when Sander spotted his wife-to-be.
"Love!" Sander hollered. "Over here!"
Oh, great, Suzy thought. Couldn't she go one night without having to put on a charade for all her friends? She hated lying to them, to her family, but mostly she hated lying to herself. As Vincent insisted on telling everyone they were engaged, and acting accordingly, a part of her had started to believe it, too. She constantly had to remind her heart that this was nothing more than a business agreement. If they both fulfilled their promises, he would have a green card and she would have a promotion.
"Hi!" Jieun said, walking up to the table, dragging Suzy with her. "I didn't know you guys would be here," she said and kissed Sander's cheek.
"It's not exactly like there's a strip club within a five mile radius of here - and no-one volunteered to be the designated driver," Derek pointed out.
Suzy rolled her eyes. "I see nothing's changed... hi, Der," she smiled and they hugged.
"Good to see you again, Suj. How've you been?"
"Good. Thanks. You?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Rhian's pregnant, it's our third."
"Wow. Congratulations."
"And congrats to you. I hear you finally tricked some poor guy into proposing," he winked.
"Behave," she punched his arm. "Hi Gregg," she turned to the surfer. "How's Florida?"
"Wet and wild," he smirked.
"O...kay..."
"Hi, Suj," Mark said, walking over to her. "You look good."
"Hi, Mark," she replied, a hint of sadness to her voice, and hugged him.
"What? I don't get some love?" Sander said, feigning hurt.
"Hey Sands," Suzy broke out in a big smile and wrapped her arms around her baby brother. "I can't believe you're all grown up!"
"Yeah, you miss out on a lot when you're not looking," Sander mocked.
"Be nice," Jieun admonished him.
"Oh, come on, Suj knows I'm just messing with her. Don't you, sis?"
"I suppose I've earned it. I did drop him when he was a baby a couple of times," she stuck out her tongue at him.
"So doll, when are you going to properly introduce me to your fiancé?" Jieun said to Suzy, nodding towards the only man at the table she didn't recognize.
"Who? Oh... sorry... Vincent, this is Jieun, my soon-to-be sister-in-law."
"Pleasure," he said, taking Jieun's hand in his and planting a feather-light kiss on the back of her hand.
"Ooh, quite the gentleman," Jieun cooed at Suzy. "Lucky girl."
"Yeah, she is," Vincent winked and wrapped an arm around Suzy's shoulders.
"And there's the arrogance... care to revise your statement, babe?" Suzy said.
"I'll give it some thought," Jieun smiled. "So what are we drinking?"
"I see where this is headed," Jack cleared his throat and rose from his seat. "I'm gonna go home to my wife. You kids have fun. And son - remember you got an early day tomorrow."
"Yes, dad." Sander laughed.
"Goodnight, kids. I gave Vincent a key, so don't worry about waking your mom or me up, okay?" Jack said and kissed Suzy's forehead. "Welcome home, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, dad."
"Vincent," Jack turned to his future son-in-law, "take care of my little girl."
"Sure will," Vincent smiled in return. Jack patted his shoulder before leaving.
"Wow, you certainly won dad over," Sander commented. "I don't ever remember him being so easygoing when Suj was dat... uh... yeah, who's up for another round?" he looked around the table.
"I'm just gonna go to the ladies' room," Suzy excused herself. "Order me a vodka lime, will you?" she said to Vincent, who nodded and went with Sander to get their drinks.
When Suzy returned to the table, Derek and Gregg were off dancing with Jieun and her cousins, Anne and Trish while Vincent and Sander were still at the bar. Which left Mark alone.
Suzy took a seat. "So... how have you been?"
"I actually own this place now."
"The Grillmates? Wow. I didn't know that."
"No, I guess you wouldn't..."
"Mark..."
"What are you doing with that guy, Suj?"
"Vincent?"
"Yeah. Mr. Big Shot Boss Man. How long have you two even been dating?"
"It's pretty new..."
"And you're already engaged? You don't see anything wrong with that?"
"Mark..."
"I know his type, Suj. My mom's dated enough rich men for me to recognize someone who's just trying to own you. What do you even know about him?"
"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Mark, but my relationship is really none of your business."
"You've got some nerve coming back here with a fiancé, when your sole reason for breaking up with me was that you wanted to pursue your career. Now you're marrying into it?"
"Ever stop to think that that might not have been my only reason? We were great friends, Mark, but you know as well as I do that what we had... it wasn't..."
"Passionate. Is that what you were going to say? I wasn't passionate enough for you? I guess hooking up with your boss is a little more exhilarating for you."
"Don't do this, Mark."
"Do what?"
"You've obviously had a lot to drink tonight... this isn't you, Mark."
"How would you know? You left, Suj. You just left and never looked back."
"Mark..."
"Hey... everything okay here?" Vincent came up to them with their drinks.
"Just dandy," Mark said sarcastically. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go dance."
"What was that about?" Vincent said as he sat down beside Suzy.
"Leave it, Vincent. Listen, I'm getting really tired... do you wanna stay? I could leave the door open if..."
"No, of course I'm coming with you. Let's go," he said and rose from his seat.
"I'm just gonna go say goodnight to Jieun and Sander, okay?"
"I'll wait outside."
××××××
"So..." Vincent said as they were walking back to the Bae's, "I take it you and Mark have history?"
"You picked up on that, huh?"
"I'm perceptive that way," Vincent smiled.
"It's been a long time since I last saw him. He never drank. His mom and sister were kinda... out there, and Mark was always the responsible one. He had obviously been drinking tonight, and the things he said... I didn't know I hurt him that much by leaving."
"Well, I don't know what happened between you two, but I can imagine losing you would kinda suck."
"Uh... thanks, I guess."
"You're welcome."
"So, did you have a nice time tonight?"
"I did. It's been a long time since I've spent a night just hanging out."
"Yeah, me too..."
"So, are you looking forward to tomorrow?"
"I am. I can't believe my little brother is getting married."
"Speaking of... um... when do you wanna..."
"Right... forgot. Well, we should probably just go down to city hall when we get back to New York, get the paperwork over with," Suzy shrugged.
"I would think you'd want a proper wedding..." Vincent frowned, "considering the fact that you insisted on a real proposal."
"I only did that to mess with you."
"I see..."
Vincent and Suzy fell silent and it wasn't until they reached the Bae's porch that Suzy broke the silence.
"Honestly... I don't think I could stand to have a proper wedding for a sham marriage. It feels wrong."
"City hall it is, then..."
"Good."
"Good."