A pauper meets her Knight and her Prince in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Patricia Zenith Collins works her butt off to sustain her family's needs and save up for college. When her mum's job at the Palace is on the line, she finds herself...
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Chelsie's thoughts drift away as she stares out the cab window. When she confessed to Jeno, she basically got rejected, but she's not even bothered by that. She's more troubled by what she just recently learned. After that fateful conversation with Jungwoo, she's been really distressed and torn between just straight up going to Mark and ask him herself or just wait until he confesses.
Thankfully, she hasn't seen Mark after that awkward lunch with him yesterday. It's the weekend and she's not even planning on going anywhere if not for her sister's invitation to go to the pub that night. "Lotus is playing there tonight," she hears her sister say beside her. It's not like she hasn't seen Lotus play. Maybe if it's a different band, she could've been more excited about it.
"Hey, cheer up, will you?" Traze nudges her on the side and she just forces a smile.
Few minutes later, they finally reach the front of the pub. Stepping inside, the first thing that Chelsie notices is the stench of cigarette and alcohol. She almost gags, but she holds it in as she clings onto her sister's arm. Anyone who sees her will probably realize that she rarely enjoys places like that.
The pub is almost empty though. She can likely count how many tables are filled right now. Oddly enough, most of them look like new adults, those who just turned eighteen like her, probably trying to get drunk for the first time in their lives.
"Traze!" A familiar voice calls out to her sister and when she turns to where the voice came from, she sees Taeyong waving at them. Now she knows why her sister wanted to go there tonight. "Chelsie!" He greets her as well as soon as they reach him.
She suddenly panics, looking around to see any trace of Taeyong's brother. But fortunately, Mark is not around. She exhales a sigh of relief, taking the seat next to her sister. "I didn't want to be a third wheel, you know," she whispers to Traze.
Traze laughs silently. "Sorry, Chelsie. I just figured you need to enjoy once in a while. I promise I won't make you feel like a third wheel."
"Right," she says, sighing and slumping her shoulders on her seat.
A static sound of the microphone suddenly breaks the commotion inside the room. "Alright folks! Everyone having a good time?" Izzy's voice echoes from the stage as she sees their friends already setting and tuning their instruments. The few people on the crowd yell and whistle at her. "Hey mate, no catcalling!" Izzy points at one of the guys in the crowd, silencing them. "Kidding!" She cackles at that and the crowd goes back to cheering.
"Our next song will be sang by a special guest tonight. Give it up for Mark!" Izzy announces so she quickly snaps her head towards the front again. There, she sees Mark already going up the stage and positioning himself infront of the mic stand. What is going on?
"Uh... hi everyone. I'm Mark. I'm actually not a singer so bear with me tonight," he says, letting out a tensed chuckle. "So uhm... for a while there's this girl I have been friends with and I haven't been really honest to her because well... I guess I was being a mouse. But tonight, I'm choosing to be a lion so here it goes." He looks over his shoulder to signal Izzy to start with the drums.
