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Two iridescent slippers.
They sparkled like jewels as if Hana had made them out of magic and rainbows - like something straight out of a fairy tale.
And now they were on my feet.
"You two look beautiful!" Inha gushed, rushing around to admire our dresses from every angle. I shifted nervously under her critical gaze. It didn't help that Hyemi, starting from the time it took to get ready up until now, was giving me this smug look that made me want to rip out all of her hair. I scoffed at her smirk and shifted my gaze over to the gardens where Seokmin was probably watering the plants or something.
I craned my neck to see if Seokmin was anywhere to be found. Frowning, I looked again but the gardens were deserted. My attention was brought back to the conversation when Hyemi stepped on my foot.
Admittedly, Hyemi did look stunning. Her dress was definitely much more expensive then mine. The blue fabric looked like it was woven from the night sky. Next to her, I felt like a lump of sparkly cream cheese.
"Mr. Jung is waiting in the car. The Invitational starts in twenty minutes, Miss!" Hana called from the entrance hall.
"Thank you!" Inha called back. "And here are your masks." Hyemi frowned at the mask Inha handed her. It was covered in small white feathers, almost as if someone had plucked a chicken and glued everything to the mask. I tried not to laugh.
"I think you have my mask." Hyemi said, eyeing my feather-free mask. At first, I had thought so too. Her dress would've matched perfectly with the silver glitter covering my mask. But Inha said otherwise.
"No this is yours." She said, handing Hyemi back the white one. "And don't switch masks. I'll ask Mr. Jung to keep an eye on you two." Hyemi's frown deepened.
"What's with the masks this year anyways? I don't remember the Invitational being a masquerade ball." She grumbled. Inha's eyes glossed over as she got that dreamy look she always got when someone mentioned the Invitational.
"The board has decided to bring back the Fate Dance this year." She sighed. "I remember at my Invitational, when everyone participated. I wore a mask similar to Shuri's...it was silver and my dress was white. Towards the middle of the dance, the lights dimmed and they told us to search for someone with a mask just like ours. You two are so lucky you were chosen to participate this year."
"Chosen?" I asked. Does this mean not everyone is wearing a mask?
"Yes. Only thirteen couples were chosen this year." She smiled as her eyes scanned the two of us. Clasping her hands together under her chin, Inha sighed in content. But then her eyes fixated on something - something she obviously didn't like.
"Shuri..." Her dreamy tone was replaced with coldness. Still jittery about tonight, I flinched, almost tripping in the shoes Hana insisted I wear.
"Yes?"
"What happened to the shoes I picked out for you? Did you not like them?" Her eyes were still fixated on the shoes. I tried dropping my skirt in an attempt to hide them. This forced Inha's gaze back on mine which I found extremely uncomfortable. Either she guilt trip me by staring at the shoes I chose to wear instead of hers or she scare me to death by staring straight into my soul. I didn't know which one I preferred.
"No, I did like them." I said quickly, prompting a raised eyebrow from Hyemi.
"If you liked them, why did you change them?" She asked. Thanks Hyemi, I thought as I mentally kicked myself for accepting the shoes from Hana. Again, how did she convince me to wear them?
"Miss!" Hana called out again but this time more urgently. Inha snapped her gaze away from my shoes.
"Right, right of course. Hurry girls, have a nice night." But before I can slip past her, Inha's manicured nails are digging into my arm as she pulls me back.
"I'm a bit disappointed in you, Minah." She said, her eyes darting down to my neck. I swallow as her eyes linger on the necklace. "I thought you would be better than this."
She shook her head sadly as she looked at me. Only she wasn't looking at me. It was as if she was looking past me.
"Be careful tonight." Inha said. The moment she let go, I hiked up my skirt and ran as fast as I could in my heels to get to the car. I was, in every sense of the word, terrified. Had I not been so eager in getting the heck out of that house, I would've noticed that behind me was a picture of Hyemi's real sister. In other words, Kim Minah - the girl who left an empty place in the Kim family that I had unintentionally filled. She was the number one student, the girl everyone thought would go places in the future. Well, she never went anywhere. Because six months ago, right after exams, Minah climbed to the top of Goora High School and jumped to her death.
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"Took you long enough." Hyemi snapped when I climbed into the car. "If we're late I'm blaming you." I'm not paying attention at all. Maybe it's the subtle threat from Inha earlier or just the fact that I was slowly losing my mind from all the preparation for tonight's ball, but I couldn't help but feel that something bad was going to happen. Call me crazy, but it felt like it was going to rain.
I took a deep breath and prayed that the clouds outside weren't storm clouds. Seokmin would've known if it were a storm. And if there was a storm, he would've told me this morning. So there wasn't. I was just letting my nerves get the best of me.
"Shoot, there are already people here." I heard Hyemi mutter as she glanced outside her window.
Hyemi's school, the ever so prestigious Goora High School, was decorated extravagantly for tonight's dance. People were already gathered inside the multi-purpose room. Just as Inha had said, most of the people weren't wearing masks. Only a handful were.
"Ugh! I can't believe we're late!" I followed Hyemi out of the car half-heartedly which earned me another glare. I guess Hyemi had enough because suddenly, without warning, she grabbed my wrist and dragged me off to the side of the building.
"Okay, just what is your problem?" She snapped, seething with anger. "You just waltz into my life, take my room, my stuff, my mom, and you're still unhappy? What, is all of this not good enough for you or something?"
I felt a pang of guilt as she glared at me with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Being her favorite wasn't enough for Minah and it wasn't enough for you. Are you going to fling yourself off a building too?" She hissed. At that moment, I knew she didn't mean it. It was just her anger talking. And in an attempt to fix everything, to at least do something right for once, I took off the silver mask Inha gave me and handed it to Hyemi. She raised an eyebrow.
"Just take it. Hurry and give me yours." I said. So we switched masks. And in that moment, Hyemi looked at me not with disgust or pity...she looked at me like I was an actual human being.
"Don't tell Inha."
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As soon as we walked in, I found myself left all alone. Hyemi had disappeared into the crowd, most likely to find the heir of the Chwe Group. Feeling extremely awkward, I tried moving along the edge of the room and avoided the dance floor at all costs. My plan only worked for about five seconds.
"Hey there." I looked up to see two guys towering over me. One of them was smiling brightly, trying not to intimidate or scare me off while keeping a tight grip on the other guy's arm. The other guy looked extremely disgruntled. When his sharp eyes shot up and met mine, I unknowingly took a step back. He scoffed and went back to looking down at his shoes. It looked like he really didn't want to be here. You and me both, buddy.
"Sorry to disturb you, but would you be willing to dance with Wonwoo over here?" Mr. Smiles asked. The guy, Wonwoo, glared daggers at him.
"What? She's wearing a mask! No one will recognize her, especially Jessi-"
"Wonwoo~"
Both boys froze as a girlish voice continued calling out Wonwoo's name. It seemed like I didn't have a choice in the matter. Mr. Smiles shoved Wonwoo in my direction before running off in the direction of the girlish voice. And that's how I wound up waltzing with some disgruntled guy who obviously had a few loose marbles here and there.
"Sorry. Hoshi's a bit of an idiot. I didn't mean to drag you into this." He said after a long period of just muttering to himself. I peeked up at him through my mask. Besides the fact that he refused to look at me, he didn't seem to be that crazy. Weird? Yes. But crazy? No.
If it weren't for how scary his eyes were, he might've been a tad bit cute. Wonwoo's cheeks turned a bit red as he lifted his arm for me to twirl under. Okay never mind, Wonwoo is super cute. Thank god Hana coached me through ballroom dancing.
"I don't mind." I squeaked in response. My cheeks reddened at how high my voice sounded but Wonwoo laughed. Wow, even his laugh was cute. My cheeks reddened even more as Wonwoo's haze flickered down to meet mine.
"So you're participating in the Fate Dance tonight?"
"Huh?" Wonwoo laughed. Small talk was not my forte.
"The Fate Dance? You know, with the masks and stuff? It's a bit corny if you ask me, but I guess I wouldn't mind doing it if you were my partner." Oh and you say the dance is corny? He must've seen me wince because he laughed nervously.
"Yeah, sorry, that was pretty bad."
I smiled. "No, no. It wasn't that bad." Wonwoo laughed again. When the song ended, he seemed a bit reluctant to let go of my hand. There was an awkward moment where I hand taken my hand down from his shoulder, totally ready to go back to my wall at the back of the room, but he kept holding onto my hand.
"Hey..." Wonwoo started, his cheeks turning a bit red. "Um...would you like to-"
"Wonwoo~" A girl came out of nowhere and grabbed onto his arm. In utter shock, he let go of my hand as we both turned to gape at the brown-haired girl who had so rudely interrupted us.
"Oh my god! Wonwoo! I've been searching everywhere for you! Remember how you promised me a dance!" The girl gushed. Wonwoo's cheeks, red not just moments earlier, was now ghastly white as he struggled to force a smile onto his face.
"Jessica!" He said with forced enthusiasm. "Right, um, you see I was going to dance with this girl over here. I already told her I would dance with her and it would be horrible to just ditch her like this, you know?" Jessica's sunny smile faltered as she turned my way as if noticing me for the first time. Instantly, her smile deflated.
"Oh?" She said with a tilt of her head. Uh oh.
"Actually!" Wonwoo and Jessica both turned after my sudden burst. "Uh...I really have to pee! Yeah! You two have fun!" Not looking back, I quickly scampered off to the girl's restroom.
I have to pee? What was I thinking?
Looking in the mirror, I took off my mask and splashed some water on my face. Maybe I should take a break...and go find a nice wall to lean on. Dancing isn't really my thing anyways. I moved to walk out the bathroom when my foot slipped and I stumbled. My shoe had fallen off again!
Groaning, I hopped over to my shoe and slipped it back on. Sure these things were pretty, but they kept slipping off! With my shoe back on, I walked out of the bathroom only to have a girl fall at my feet.
"What did you just say!"
The girl quickly scampered to her feet as another girl in a red dress appeared with several girls behind her.
"I said I won't give you my mask." She said, dusting off her dress. The girl in red growled.
"Surely there must be some misunderstanding. I didn't ask for you to give it to me. I ordered you to." She hissed, lunging for the mask. The girl stepped to the side and red dress came running straight into me. I caught her and managed to help her stand straight before she turned, ready to claw the other girl's eyes out.
"Wait!" I called out, grabbing onto her wrist.
"Let go of me, you bitch!" She screamed, struggling to get out of my grasp. She snatched her arm back, spinning around to face me. "What the hell? Who are you!"
"That's against the rules." I said. Red dress looked confused.
"What the hell are you talking about? This bitch over here spilled punch all over my mask. It's only fair that she give me hers instead." The girl held up her "ruined" mask as proof. I only saw a red mask.
"It's against the rules to trade masks." I insisted. "Plus, your mask looks fine."
Red dress narrowed her eyes at me as if she didn't believe a word I had said. She opened her mouth to say something when a voice cut her off.
"She's right, Kyeong Ri." Oh bloody hell. Hyemi emerged from the back of the huddle of girls. With her silver mask (or my silver mask) she looked like some superhero. What, is she trying to save the day or something?
"Your mask is red, the punch blends in with it." Hyemi sighed. Kyeong Ri glanced back her mask.
"Oh...I guess you're right." Are you kidding me? My mouth fell open as Kyeong Ri happily put her mask on and skipped back over to the huddle of girls. All of that over a mask? Shaking my head, I turned to see Hyemi linger for a bit. She must've felt a bit guilty since I had traded masks with her. No wonder she stepped in.
"Stay away from me." She hissed, then left to go join Kyeong Ri and her gang of idiots. Okay, so maybe Hyemi hasn't changed at all. Oh god, I think my brain cells are starting to die just from standing around those girls.
"Hey," the other girl started. "Um, thanks for that. You didn't have to stick up for me." I gave her a sheepish smile.
"No problem...?"
"Nana." She said. "I like your shoes." I glance down and laugh. If you like them, you can have them! These shoes have caused me nothing but trouble.
"Thanks, I like your mask." We shifted awkwardly like that for a few seconds. Then the lights dimmed and we heard the MC tap his microphone.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Goora High School will start the Fate Dance! Those with masks please begin your search!"
Nana looked over at me and put on her mask. It was covered in small flowers. I was awed by how it matched her dress perfectly. She looked like spring itself!
"Do you have any idea how to find our partners?" I asked, adjusting my own mask over my eyes. Nana and I walked back to the dance floor where already, several masked couples were dancing. I looked closely at their masks to see if there was any sort of pattern.
"I think it's supposed to be like opposites attract." Nana whispered. "See over there is night and day, and there's water and fire." I followed her gaze to see that she was right. So that would mean that Nana had to find winter? Then who would I have to find?
"What even is my mask?" I asked. Nana shrugged.
"A swan? I don't know. Just try looking for someone with the same mask as yours. Oh! I see winter! Good luck!" Before I could say anything, Nana had disappeared. I turned around, searching for someone - anyone - with the same mask as mine. But everyone was already dancing.
Meanwhile, I was trapped in a maze of couples. It seemed like everyone had found their partner but me! I walked towards the center of the dance floor, still searching for my partner when I felt a hand grab mine. Spinning, I hoped to see a masked guy but instead I got Wonwoo.
"Hey!" He said, sounding like he was out of breath. Was he searching for me?
"I never got your name." He explained. I was too startled to comprehend what he was saying. Titling my head to the side, I asked for him to repeat it again.
"Your name." He said. "I never got your name."
"Oh." I said. "My name is-"
"Swan!" Wonwoo's expression changed into one of confusion.
"Your name is Swan?" But I wasn't paying attention. Next to Wonwoo was a guy. But not just any guy, it was the guy. My partner! Half of his face was covered with a black mask that was almost identical to mine! It was even covered in feathers!
"Um, what I mean is..." My partner suddenly bowed as he extended a hand out to me. "May I have this dance?" Wonwoo's eyes widened as I accepted the hand.
"Of course...?"
"Hansol...my name is Hansol." I smiled at my partner.
"Of course, Hansol."
Prince 2: Jeon Wonwoo
Prince 3: Chwe Hansol
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