heeseung groaned, his shoulder hitting another lady. "watch where you're going!" she yelled, making heeseung roll his eyes. everyone was dancing. he lost jungwon who wasn't standing near the food anymore. he lost you. he didn't even know where you wandered off to. he felt hopeless.
"no one to dance with, no one to walk around with. what happened to me?" he said, putting a slice of an apple into his mouth. he ate and ate in attempt to distract himself from that empty feeling. "lonely. that's what i am." he looked up, eyes landing on a boy standing close to him. oh?
heeseung wiggled his eyebrows, "back off from the apples." he said, pushing the stranger. the boy scoffed, what in tarnation? "why don't you go and feast on the mangos? i want the apples." the boy pushed heeseung, "stupid." heeseung wanted to scream at the boy, but no. he couldn't ruin the ball.
"why don't you go dance and leave the apples to me?" heeseung protested, hands shielding the bowl of apples. "well, i've got no one to dance with." the stranger said, straightening his figure. "neither do i, that is why i'm spending my time with the apples." heeseung crossed his arms, sharpening his glare. "then dance with me." the stranger smirked, amused at the sight of a flustered heeseung.
"w-what?" the boy stuttered, gulping. "i said, dance with me." heeseung looked at the stranger, confused. "i don't even know your name-" "my name is jaeyun, what about you, sir?" jaeyun said, cutting heeseung off. "i'm heeseung." with a skeptic look, heeseung answered jaeyun.
"now, heeseung," jaeyun leaned in. "would you like to dance with me?" he asked, holding out his hand as his eyes continued to stare at heeseung. hesitantly, the boy nodded. jaeyun took heeseung's hand in his and led him towards the dance floor. they danced messily. heeseung was clumsy and had stumbled a few times, but he had caught up with jaeyun's pace in no time.
while they danced, jungwon's sobs were heard by the night mist. he cried silently, sitting in the corner of a balcony. you were a planet and he was a star orbiting around you, but was he not your star? was he not the one you should've ended up with? was he not the one your heart liked?
his sobs filled up the empty night. the piercing feeling of happiness's absence, is this how painful it is to get rejected without getting.. rejected? jungwon's cries continued to louden. the spring mist smelled fresh, yet it was as if jungwon's nose was clogged. he cried miserably until an unbearable smell of strong cologne travelled towards his senses.
"boy, why are you crying?" a tall figure crouched down in front of jungwon, a cold hand caressed his wet cheek. jungwon looked up, widening his eyes at the sight of an exquisite man. the prince. it was park jongseong. "i-i'm sorry." jungwon apologised, walking towards the door as he wiped his tears with his sleeve. jongseong held his hand, smiling. "why are you sorry? you shouldn't apologise for letting your heart cry out." jungwon looked away from his eyes, holding back tears.
"look at me." jongseong commanded, not satisfied with how jungwon avoided his gaze. "i should go now." jungwon said, trying to get away from the man. "stay. you're weak, boy." jongseong said, pulling jungwon into his embrace. he enveloped the teary eyed boy in a hug, warming him up from the cold night of a rather warm season.
jungwon cried quietly, tears leaked out from the corners of his closed eyes, wetting jongseong's blazer. "what is your name?" the prince asked. "j-jungwon." the boy answered in between hiccups. jongseong comforted jungwon with his warm actions. meanwhile, sunoo smirked as he took a sip of the.. grape juice in his glass?
sunoo stood beside a pillar, observing the ballroom. his eyes had scanned every single person there, his stare had sent a shiver down every spine. "it's about time i scatter hints around every layer of skin her touch lies on." he whispered with a smirk, watching as you walked away from the dance floor.
"sunghoon." you called out, hissing at the excruciating pain caused by the tight heel. "oh dear." sunghoon let out as he turned back. his hand laid on your shoulder as your body rested against his. you squinted your eyes, "i can't dance any longer." you said. "why don't you dance barefoot?" sunghoon asked, causing you to gasp. "that's far too improper!" he laughed at your response, "i was just joking." you rolled your eyes knowing that he was in fact, not joking.
"shall i walk you home?" he asked, not feeling too good about the idea of you going home alone at midnight. you glanced at the doors bordering the both of you and the people in the ballroom, you wanted to stay. you wanted to dance. but you couldn't. the pain below was too much for you to endure. with evidence of hesitation, you nodded.
sunghoon walked you out of the castle, his cold yet warm touch had distracted you from the pain that was slowly fading. that quiet night was beautiful, excluding the absence of your best friend and older brother, of course. "i wonder where they've wandered off to." you thought, your eyes focusing on the road home.