Conditionally Unconditional

Intro: Reality Check pt.2

Changmin placed a hand on the carriage wall next to Sunwoo's head, leaning down slowly as he cornered Sunwoo. The annoyed look on Changmin's face had morphed into one of suppressed emotion. Which emotion to be exact was unclear, but it was enough to make Sunwoo sweat as the distance between himself and Changmin decreased by the second. Sunwoo's eye widened when he noticed Changmin's eyes flicker from his eyes down to his lips. Was Changmin about to...? It was as if Changmin's closeness and sole attention on Sunwoo was like a drug. Sunwoo was completely intoxicated by it all. The spell Changmin had put Sunwoo under was so overwhelming that Sunwoo didn't notice Changmin's other hand was on top of his own. Changmin's now half-lidded eyes did not leave Sunwoo's lips for a second as Sunwoo's eyes continued to widen, mouth slightly agape. "How about..." Changmin breathed out, his breath ghosting Sunwoo's lips. "no." That word seemed to snap Sunwoo out of his trance. Only then did he realize what Changmin had done. Changmin had distracted Sunwoo enough to take Sunwoo's hand off of the door lock, unlock the door, and jump out of the carriage. Sunwoo continued to sit in his seat, dumbfounded. Chanhee quickly stood up, taking the chance to leave the carriage. Chanhee gestured for Eric to follow. Eric quickly took his leave, passing Sunwoo's still shocked state.

"Sir," Sunwoo turned his head to look at Eric. "the flies..." Eric motioned towards Sunwoo's still agape mouth, causing Sunwoo to immediately shut it close. At this, Sunwoo cleared his throat, straightening out the collar of his coat.

"You can go home now, Sunwoo." Changmin called back once both Eric and Chanhee were by his side.

Sunwoo exited the carriage as well, shutting the door behind him. "Nice try, Changmin. I also have business to take care of here, so if you'll excuse me, I have places to be." Sunwoo began walking away. After taking a couple steps, he turned on his heel and walked back towards the three boys. "How long do you guys need to...shop for?"

"It depends. A few? I think four hours should do. Four hours is plenty. Too long of a wait for you, Sunwoo? That's okay, you don't have to wait for us, you can just head on home first." Changmin responded with a shrug.

"No it's okay, I'll come find you in four hours. I'll have another carriage come by to pick Chanhee and paper boy up, 'kay? I trust that you'll keep your word and not leave an hour earlier, Minnie~" Sunwoo listed off. Changmin was hoping Sunwoo would forget about the ride back. 

Once Sunwoo had walked off, Changmin sighed and began walking in the direction of the boutique. Chanhee cleared his throat to break the silence that had come over the three again. "Back in the carriage? Well played, sir." Eric nodded enthusiastically. "It was like I was witnessing a soap opera unfold in front of me. Did you see how shocked Mr. Sunwoo looked? What you pulled on Mr. Sunwoo was something else, sir." Eric spoke with the admiration of a child. 

Changmin chuckled at Eric's gushing. "That's only because I know him so well." Chanhee simply smiled and nodded.

There was a bit of silence before Eric spoke up again. "Sir, what you said about me being Mr. Chanhee's understudy..."

"Yeah, what was that about?" Chanhee also joined in on the conversation. The two looked at Changmin who continued to look ahead.

"I meant it."

Both Chanhee and Eric's eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT?!" The two shouted in unison. They both shouted the same thing, but it was two totally different reactions to the same statement. Eric was surprised in a good way. He didn't have to be a paper boy who made a minimum wage of too little, he has upgraded to Earl's butler's understudy. On the other hand, Chanhee didn't want an understudy, but who was he to say otherwise.

"That's why we're here, aren't we? To get you ready for your first day tomorrow?" Changmin replied as he walked into the boutique.

"Tomorrow?" Eric asked, still stunned.

"Yeah...why tomorrow?" Chanhee did not like the fact that he had literally no time to adjust.

"Chanhee~" Changmin whined, "you've known me for so long and you still can't figure it out? Sunwoo is probably going to come by tomorrow and if he doesn't see Eric helping around, he's gonna get suspicious and come by even more often than he already does." Changmin stated as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Chanhee let out an "ah..." then went silent. 

While the two were chatting, Eric was busy looking around the luxurious boutique. Never had he seen a place such as this. High ceilings, wine colored walls, velvet curtains, golden chandeliers, plenty of natural light to make everything seem like it was glowing. Even the people inside looked like they were glowing. As the three entered the boutique, they past by a beautiful light green sundress and all Eric could think about was how much he wanted to buy it for his sister. He wanted nothing more than to work hard to earn the money to be able to give his family what they deserved and more. He stared longingly at the dress. So long that Chanhee had to pull Eric along to catch up to Changmin who was already searching for suitable clothes for Eric. In no time, a considerable amount of clothing was draped over Changmin's arms. Changmin waited impatiently for Chanhee and Eric to catch up to him as he waited in front of the fitting rooms. Once the two had caught up, Changmin walked into the fitting room, the stylists and designers standing around the room waiting for Changmin's next orders. The clothes Changmin had picked out were hung on a rack. Seeing all the clothes neatly on the rack made Eric's eyes widen. That amount of clothing could last him for the rest of his life, he only owned three full sets of clothing. It would have been four sets but he had damaged one during a fight with the nightly ransacking raccoon. It was trying to take his undergarments.

"Essentials, at home work uniforms, outside casual for going out like this, formal for public occasions, formal formal for private occasions, classy for special occasions, classy classy for special occasions so special we mustn't speak about it, sleepwear, athletic wear, winter wear, summer wear, spring wear, autumn wear, in between seasons wear, extreme weather wear, comfortable travel wear, regular travel wear, formal travel wear, and going to see the royal family wear." Changmin listed, pointing at each set of clothing. Eric felt faint. Chanhee scoffed. Changmin pointed at the alter. "Stand there. The designers are going to start the fitting while I go look for more."

Eric felt even more faint watching Changmin exit the fitting room and back into the racks upon racks of luxurious clothing. Eric looked at Chanhee. "M-m-more??" 

Chanhee chuckled somewhat sadistically. "This is just part one, sweetie."

[...]

Eric's fitting finally ended, the poor boy completely winded from changing in and out of clothes he'd never imagine he would even get to touch in his lifetime. Chanhee patted him on the back, completely unfazed. Chanhee being the professional butler that he is, managed to stay standing for the whole three hours of the fitting. It went surprisingly faster than he'd thought. Eric had a lot of energy.

Changmin had now begun to look for clothes for himself. A small crowd of shoppers had begun to stand around Changmin's fitting room, applauding for him each time he stepped out wearing a different set of clothing. They all thought he looked pretty in everything he wore, but for some reason Changmin wasn't satisfied. As he was sifting through the back racks holding all the already worn pieces of clothing, Changmin came across a set of white pants and a blouse. Intrigued by how simple yet elegant the style of the clothes were, Changmin quickly raced back into his fitting room, changing into the clothes immediately. He looked at himself in the mirror. There was something indescribable about it. At first glance, the white cloth seemed like any white cloth, but once Changmin wore it, it looked like he was glowing. Kind of like the glow that an angel carries as it descends from the sky. Changmin liked it very much. Changmin peeked out behind the fitting room curtain before stepping out in his outfit. "So?" Changmin closed his eyes and raised his arms, the fabric billowed around him as he twirled himself around. Changmin then opened his eyes upon hearing absolute silence. When he opened his eyes, he was met with agape mouths and wide eyes staring at his figure. "What? Is it bad??" Changmin asked, worried.

"Where are you going looking that pretty?"