Word Count ⋆ 2365
A/N ⋆ zuckihan ty for requesting and I really hope u will like it. sorry for late update. and let's just assume debutante balls exist in Korea and this is how it works.
𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘
This is your first debutante coming out party and you're more nervous as hell. You were never 'introduced' to the society and now you have to stand infront of people of your mom's age, who's gonna judge you in every way. You never realized looking presentable for old people was nerve wracking than impressing your peers.
The girls in the dressing room are finally lined up with their escorts and you were at the third. Most of them are with their boyfriends and unlike you, no one has a fake one who's only here because both of your parents forced you to.
The woman who emcees the show is saying something downstairs and after few minutes, she started calling names.
Downstairs was almost blinding as you peered through the door. You noticed moms— a lot of them, in a expensive, fancy dress. This stressing you out. Too many eyes and everyone is judging and you don't like it a bit.
You feel yourself sweating and the temperature was at its lowest. The night wind didn't even help: you're getting hot. And it's because of a goddamn debutante party that was pretty much forced on you.
As you finished dressing up, you walked outside where your fake boyfriend, Seongmin, waits for you.
His eyes widened and his mouth agape when he looks at you.
"Wow, Y/N," he says, obviously awestruck.
"What?" You say, clueless. Your white satin dress flows gently as you walk. The strapless part didn't feel comfortable for you but it kinda show off your collarbones and you can't complain. Even the satin gloves looked perfectly well with the dress even if you're sweating so much.
Seongmin shakes his head in appreciation. "Wow," he says again. "You look so beautiful."
"Thanks," you smile weakly at him, not because you're ungrateful but because you're nervous. You are tapping your feet unconsciously and then girls are looking at you now. You don't want a judgment from them too so you stopped and smile awkwardly.
"What's wrong?" Seongmin, taps your shoulder lightly.
You jerked your head towards him, startled. "Oh... I'm fine. I'm okay."
"Don't be nervous. This is nothing to be scared of." He looks at you, small smile on his lips.
You take a deep breath and gave yourself a pep talk internally.
"You're right. Let's just get it over with and leave," you say.
Seongmin encouragingly pats your back and stretched his elbow for you to hook around it.
"Ms. Y/N. Daughter of Mr.L/N and Mrs.L/N." The woman's voice boomed though the speaker and your heart jumped.
They're clapping now and you feel yourself wanting to throw up. You can't run away now, can you? So you collected yourself and hooked your arms around his and walked down the stairs in grimace.
The room was extravagantly huge. The decoration on every part of the wall are candles in great size. Renaissance paintings are on the walls. Gigantic chandeliers hanged low on the ceiling and you counted three of them while walking down the stairs, something to distract you from the eyes of the people. Vines are wrapping the colons and you stared in awe that you only noticed now that you've reached the bottom of the stair.
You did some curtsey you dont even understand for the people and finally meet everyone's eyes. You gulped down your nervousness and smiled artificially.
Soon you stood at the side along with the other girls as other girls keep coming down the stairs, relief washing over you.
A few girls walked down and now nervous is replaced with restlessness. It's good you're not feeling nervous anymore but standing on those heels for ten minutes hurts you and you don't like it a bit.
"Ms. Zhang Meng. Daughter of Mr. Zhang Qianzhe and Mrs. Zhang Xinyan," The woman announces and claps echoed through the room.
You recognized Meng from one of your classes. She looked beautiful with her satin and lacy dress as she walks down with a smile but the one that caught your eyes was the boy next to her.
You were in shock about how charming he looked. He was wearing black suit and his hair was slicked from the sides and his bangs are falling on his forhead. He has a boyish charm to him but looked handsome nevertheless.
As Meng did her curtsey, your eyes were still fixated on him and you wondered what the people would think if they saw you. Of course you're here to be introduced and openly admiring someone when you should be the one admired is gonna make you look bad, you thought.
Meng and her escort walks in and stand next to you.
She gives you a smile as you did the same but you can't take off your eyes on her tall and charismatic escort who looked confident and looked like this whole thing works for him.
Every now and then you find yourself stealing glances at him. He caught you looking ones and your face was flushed all over.
Why am I interested in someone else's possible date? You scolded yourself eternally as you try focusing on everywhere else but at him.
Even after all of you sat down and while you're dancing with Seongmin, you can't help but notice that he's watching you too.
𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘
You were exhausted after the whole ceremony and you went to the bar to get some drink. You ordered a Sprite and sip it slowly, the burning sensation cooling you down.
You gulped it down and put the glass down forcefully.
"Whatever she's having please," A calm voice speaks.
You turn your head towards the voice and to your surprise and total shock, it was Meng's escort. You feel yourself getting nervous all over again and he's not even looking at you.
"I'm guessing that was not alcohol since we're all under age and all," The guy speaks, possibly to you.
Startled, you pointed at yourself. "Are you talking to me?"
He nods his head, turning his whole body to you. That's when you noticed he was quiet tall.
"Yeah, I guess so." You take your glass and find it empty. That embarrassed you and you got it refilled as the guy stares at you.
"Have we met before?" He says after studying you for some minutes.
You hesitantly shake your head. "I'm... not sure."
He clicked his tongue as if something just came up to him. "You're from here, right? So there's a little chance we actually met." He takes his drink and sips while still looking at you.
"What do you mean?" I would never forget if we ever met, you thought.
"I'm from China," He says causally.
"Oh." You are looking at him now as if you'll soon realize if he does look like a Chinese. "How are you good at Korean?"
"I lived here for four years."
You study his face without shame. His full lips and the way his hair falls gently on his face. He had high cheekbones but it made him look youthful. He was tall with a good proportion. He sure looked like a young prince and you are enchanted.
"What? You thought I was Korean?" He asks when you stare so much.
"Was there a sign that I wouldn't think that?"
He shrugs. "Lot of people can guess when they see me."
"You look different, actually. Not in a rascist way, of course, since I already told you I didn't think you were not Korean. It's just the way you are. I mean, you look different, " You babbled as you tap your foot anxiously. You hated the way that you're talking fast and him not taking his eyes off of you didn't help much.
"And how am I different?" He says with a hint of smile.
You thought of ways to say it non-flirtingly but nothing came to mind. "Well, you look charming."
Then you regret saying that immediately and added in quite voice, "Damn, I shouldn't say that to someone else's date."
"Meng is my cousin, though," He says.
You are embarrassed to admit but you're kinda relieved. You just nodded as if that didn't make you ecstatic.
"Oh, I didn't know, " You say, trying to sound nonchalant.
"I'm Hao, by the way," he says stretching his hand. You didn't know why but you assumed his hands would be the same as his face: delicate and smooth. But his hands were huge and veined that you took too much time staring at them before taking his hand.
"I'm Y/N," You say.
He must've noticed how you're staring into his hand because he says, "I play violin. That's why my hands look rugged."
"That's so nice. Wow," you say in awe. Charming and talented? You can't ask for much.
"That guy is your date, right? The one with the blue dressed woman," Hao says ponting at Seongmin who's walking to a table with his aunt.
"Oh, you mean Seongmin? Yeah, he's not my date."
"I thought everyone else had one well except Meng, of course, whose boyfriend is off to college already," He said to you as he props his hand on the table by the bar.
"No, I don't. I mean he is my date but it's like not a real date. We both agreed for a mutual benefit by taking each other out."
"Oh," he said while nodding. "So he's not your boyfriend?"
You shake your head. "Nope, he's not. Our parents set us up. They think by forcing us to get close, we will like each other. But no, we just decide to play along until it's time to break them the news that we are not as in love as they thought we are."
Hao nods again, thinking something carefully. "You both are not in love, you're telling me?"
You nodded your head.
"I can assure you he is. In love with you, I mean. Or has feelings for you of some sort," Hao says calmly and takes a sip from his drink.
You raised your eyebrows and chuckled. "No, he's not. We both agreed that this 'date' doesn't mean anything and it's because our parents pretty much forced us."
Hao looks at you, playful smile on his lips. You're not gonna lie, him looking at you in the corner of his eyes and smiling, made your stomach flutter.
"What?" You say.
"I'm pretty sure he forgot about the fake part about the dating because he's interested in you," Hao says. "Turn around and look for yourself."
You slowly turned around, not knowing where to look at. Your eyes finally landed on Seongmin and you find him staring at you. You didn't notice how he's clenching his jaw and gripping his glass hard.
"He's been eyeing me this whole time," Hao says.
"He was?" You ask, slyly smiling.
"The way he looks at you? Definitely liked you," he says, smirking as if he's teasing you.
You squint your eyes. "Not convinced."
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I wonder why." You pretended to think as you look up at the ceiling.
Hao inches closer. It was subtle but you noticed. You can smell his cologne and God, you wanted him closer.
"Oh, I'm sure you know." He says, gazing into your eyes. "It's hard not to get jealous of someone as pretty as you."
You dared to walk closer to him. You smelled his cologne and felt the urge to wrap yourself around him.
Hao's eyes are glistening in a way you can't explain. He couldn't take his eyes off of you as if he'll forget your face if he did and you stared back. There was just something about him and you want to know more.
"You think I'm pretty?"
He nods, his hands slightly brushing on your hands. A wave of warmth buzzes inside you and you feel your face heat up. Just by a hand touch.
Hao is towering over you and you didn't think he would be taller up close. He stood near you and you didn't mind the prying eyes at that time. You just wanted to be closer.
Someone cleared their throat and to your dismay, Seongmin is standing next to you, obvious annoyance on his face.
"Your mom is asking for you and it'd be ugly if she saw you flirting with the one who's not your boyfriend, " He snarls, emphasizing on the boyfriend. Hao raises his brows at you, as in to say "see?"
You stifled a laugh but when you see Seongmin's still pissed face, you collect yourself and nodded at him.
"Okay, I'll be right there."
"I told you, you're mom is waiting and she hates waiting and you know that, Y/N."
You sighed exasperated by his action. You still have no idea why he's being like that but you're debating with what Hao was saying.
"You should go, Y/N," Hao says, walking backwards but still close you can smell the cologne. "I'll see you around."
You looked up at him. "Yeah, I am really glad I met you."
Hao nods his head, smiling. "Me too. To be honest, I was wonderstruck by you." He then inches closer to your ears and whispers, "And I'll see you when you break up with your fake boyfriend."
With that, your crush for the night walks away, leaving you dazed and feeling warm and fuzzy inside. You were a blushing mess and you liked the feeling. He made you feel something and he didn't even say much.
Then you realized the chances of meeting him again was zero to none. He lives in China and Meng is going to college the next day.
Now you can't even see where he went.
The night shouldn't end like this but the ball has ended and you have the urge to go out and look for him. But Seongmin is rushing you, saying things about cheating and whatnot but you didn't hear him. You were busy looking for Zhanghao who was standing with his cousin few minutes ago.
Hoping you will see him again, you went outside the balm while Seongmin nagging you about something you can't remember.
𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘𔓘