A/N grab your popcorn everyone, it's a long one lol
Your friends always insisted on you going to the school's annual Winter Ball, but you were too embarrassed to tell them that you just couldn't afford it...
To be successful, you need to be rich or good-looking. That's just the society we live in now. Everything revolves around how many likes your photo gets, or who has the most followers, or those that can afford the highest brands.
You couldn't even afford the clothes, let alone the bag, shoes, jewellery and makeup that join on to it. Therefore, much to your friends' disappointment, your final conclusion was that you would save yourself the embarrassment by not going to the dance.
"Please come Y/N, I'm begging you! I'll help you find an outfit, and I promise to stay by your side the whole night."
You smiled to your best friend, "Thanks for the offer, but you know how much I hate these things."
"Are you really making me go all by myself? Everyone else is going with dates." She pouted.
You bit your lip as you thought carefully. Why do her guilt trips always work?
Luckily for you though, the bell rang to signal the next class starting. "Oh look at that I've gotta go, I'll text you later." You waved as you quickly headed down the corridor.
The next lesson was Chemistry where you slouched down next to your lab partner Hyunjin. "You look terrible." He mumbled as he continued to perfectly line up his books and stationary on the table.
"I know." You replied simply.
"Just thought I would remind you." He said seriously, before passing you a piece of chewing gum.
Hyunjin was an odd kid - he didn't really fit in anywhere. Remember the rich, good-looking kids? Well he definitely fit into this category. He was probably one of the most handsome guys in the school, and his family was known to be quite wealthy too. Except his quirky personality and slight social anxiety seemed to overcome all of that, and yet somehow he had also become one of your longest friends.
Besides you, he had a small friendship group consisting of gamers of various ages. They all went to different schools, but you still occasionally hung out with them on the weekends.
"So my friends keep trying to convince me to go to that stupid prom ball, or whatever it's called. I mean I feel bad for repeatedly turning them down, but it's just not my kind of thing, you understand right?" You rambled on as soon as the experiment started.
"No I don't understand." Hyunjin told you honestly. "Have you been to one of these 'prom balls' before?" He asked curiously.
You sighed, "No, I haven't."
"Then how do you know 'it's not your kind of thing' if you've never done it before?" He asked as he basically finished setting up the whole experiment by himself.
"Well, I just do... and can you please stop air-quoting everything I say?" You asked hastily, before you grabbed the test tube off of him and began pouring the liquid.
"Maybe you should try it once, you might have fun." He said as he glanced up.
"Oh not you as well, I thought you were on my side." You complained.
"It was just a suggestion. Anyway me and the guys are testing out a new game this weekend if you want to come and join us instead."
"Really? That's great, where shall I meet you?" You asked, happy to have any excuse to avoid the dance.
"My house, I'll give you the address." He said as he stopped writing his chemistry notes to scribble down his details on a scrap piece of paper.
"Thanks." You mumbled as you took the paper from him. You had never actually been to Hyunjin's house before, so you were quite interested to see what it was like.
So on Saturday afternoon, when everyone else was getting ready for the Winter Ball, you headed to Hyunjin's giant house with the rest of the guys. Once inside, his mum soon noticed you and grew the biggest smile on her face.
"Oh my goodness, it's so nice to meet you! You're the first girl Hyunjin's ever brought home before!" She exclaimed giving you a hug.
"Chill mum, we're just friends." He said, unable to hide his look of embarrassment.
"Oh right, well isn't there a school dance tonight?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah but they're not going so he invited us to hang out here. After all, your food is the best Mrs Hwang!" Jisung grinned as he walked out of the kitchen with a pizza slice making its way into his mouth.
"Thank you. Although it always seems to go missing when you're around Jisung." She smiled as she patted the boy on the back.
Once everyone arrived, you headed upstairs to discover that Hyunjin had his own gaming room. You looked around shocked as you saw a pool table, a ping pong table and a huge flat screen TV mounted on the wall. There were ten bean bags spaced out on the floor in front of the TV, each with a game controller set up ready to play.
Damn, so this is what being rich is like...
You knew Hyunjin was always generous when giving out expensive birthday gifts, but he never directly showed off his money. Unlike others at your school, he wasn't obsessed with designer brands and stayed very humble.
After about an hour or two of playing, your phone lit up as you received a few notifications.
You opened up Instagram to find your friends posting pictures after getting their hair and make up done. "Wow, they all look so beautiful." You said, kind of wishing that you were with your girl friends. You spent so much time worrying about what other people think of you, when in reality, you forgot that having fun with your friends should come first.
"Woah, can you introduce her to me?" Minho asked as he peered over your shoulder to look at the photo.
"She has a boyfriend already." You told him bluntly.
"Ok but you know, for future reference, I want her to know that I'm always an option." He said smirking.
"Please don't look at me like that." You muttered jokingly, sending him an appalled look.
Hyunjin also looked over at your phone curiously, "She's not even that pretty. I think Y/N's way better even without all that makeup."
"Ew can you all stop flirting and focus on the game please?" Jeongin whined.
You sighed as you purposely let your character die, "I'll sit out of this round; I'm going to the bathroom." You mumbled before leaving the room.
Hyunjin watched you confused, "Did I say something wrong? I thought I gave her a compliment..." he asked the other guys.
"Girls are just confusing, that's why I like to stay solo." Changbin said coolly.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that's not the reason why you're single." Seungmin sniggered, causing the older boy to send him a death glare.
"How come you didn't ask Y/N to the dance?" Chan asked Hyunjin.
He furrowed his eyebrows, "Because she told me that she doesn't like going to them."
"Really? Because it kinda sounds like she secretly wants to go." Woojin pointed out.
Next moment, you walked back in and everyone turned to look at you. "Why don't you want to go to the Winter Ball?" Felix suddenly quizzed you.
"I don't know... I just can't- I mean I- why do you guys even care?" You asked flustered as you sat back down. Nine pairs of eyes simply stared back at you waiting for an answer, "Ok fine. The truth is that my family is in a bad financial situation at the moment, so I would feel too guilty to my parents if I spent money unnecessarily."
"What, why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped you." Hyunjin said sympathetically.
"I was too ashamed." You told him honestly.
Jisung suddenly gasped, "I know the perfect plan! Since Hyunjin's mum is a fashion designer, you could just borrow one of the dresses that she made and she could also do your make up and hair too. That way you won't have to feel guilty."
"Wait, your mum's a fashion designer? How come you never told me?" You asked surprised. I mean at least that would explain why he looked like a model everyday and was so rich...
Hyunjin just shrugged, "I didn't think it was necessary information. But if you want to go, then I'm sure she'll help you get ready."
You paused before saying, "No it's ok, it'll be too awkward if I just show up late and alone anyway."
"I'm going with you." Hyunjin said, as if it was completely obvious.
"You are?" You asked, not being able to hide the small blush creeping up on your face. Despite him being your best friend, you had to admit that you would probably fall for his good looks in an instance. So when he confidently stated that he was going with you,
your heart fluttered uncontrollably.
"Well it's not like anyone else can go, we don't even go to your school". Chan reminded you.
"Ah right..." you mumbled flustered. Of course, that's the only reason why Hyunjin offered...
"And he goes to fashion shows all the time, so he always has a suit ready to wear." Woojin pointed out.
Fashion shows?! This was definitely not the Hyunjin you knew...
The boy coughed awkwardly, personally embarrassed that his mum dragged him to all of those boring shows, and had put in a lot of effort to hide this secret life of his.
"Umm so are we going to this dance thing?" He asked confused.
All of the guys looked at you so expectantly, that you had no other choice but to say yes.
Hyunjin's mum had excitedly taken you into her glamorous studio for the next hour, where you just quietly sat and let her do her thing. She had already picked out outfits, where Hyunjin's tie matched the colour of your dress, as if she knew this moment was coming the whole time.
Once you were ready, you walked back into the gaming room where Hyunjin was waiting for you. Now, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that every single one of the guys turned to gape at you as you entered. And it was even more impressive considering that they were in the middle of a game as well.
"Who cares if I go to a different school, I'll be your date." Minho spoke up suddenly, a smirk on his face.
You rolled your eyes, "You guys are so shallow, you only like me when I put makeup and a fancy dress on."
Hyunjin stood next to you, "Hey that's not true, I've always liked you regardless." He said seriously. And there it is again. Your heart racing, even though he only meant it in a friendly way.
You two went downstairs where his mum gasped proudly. "You know, I've worked with a lot of famous models before, but being able to do this for my own son's prom feels a lot more rewarding and memorable." She smiled as she pulled out a large camera and began taking various shots.
"Ok mum, no need to get emotional, we have to get going now." Hyunjin mumbled as he grabbed a coat and headed towards the door.
A limo was already waiting outside and took you to school within ten minutes. As you stepped out again, you thanked the driver. You always said that you would never take advantage of Hyunjin's wealth... but you had to admit, that was a pretty cool ride.
You grew nervous as you approached the doors of the school hall. You were only half an hour late, so it wasn't too bad, but you still knew that everyone was going to turn and look at you.
Either because they were surprised that you came with Hyunjin, or surprised at the outfit you had on. And you were right.
You heard whispers of "Hyunjin's so fit, but who's the girl?" And, "I bet she's only using him for the money. There's no way she can get a dress like that herself."
He gave you a reassuring smile as he led you towards your friends. On the inside, he also hated the attention, but he knew that you were in a worse situation, so he ignored his anxiety and tried to protect you instead.
Your friends gasped as they saw you, and immediately made extra room on their table. "You look stunning! What made you change your mind?" Someone asked.
You smiled before saying, "I missed you guys! I couldn't let you all have fun without me."
"And Hyunjin's your date too? How did that happen?" She whispered excitedly, so only you would hear it.
You shook your head, "We're just friends." You said as you looked over to the boy, who was quietly playing with the decorations on the table.
"Well I still ship it, and anyone who doesn't is just jealous." She grinned giving you a thumbs up.
Hyunjin didn't even know any of your other friends, yet he still sat with you and patiently waited as you chatted to them. You realised that it wasn't just his good looks that you fell for, but also his sweet personality that you often took for granted.
Towards the end, you checked your phone as you kept receiving notifications.
Hyunjin tagged you in a photo
Felix, Chan and 103 others liked a photo that you were tagged in
You looked at him confused since he hardly ever used social media. But he just shrugged, "It was a nice photo of us, I didn't want it to go to waste."
You simply nodded, but then put down your phone as you realised that you really didn't care about the number of likes, it was the memory that you had created with Hyunjin that was more important.
He looked over worriedly, "Did you not want me to share it? I can delete it if you want." He asked quickly grabbing his phone, but you stopped him, "No it's okay. I like it."
"Hmm I'll send this one to you then." He mumbled as he fiddled with his phone again.
You opened the new image, and grinned as it was the same photo of the two of you, but with the 8 other guys photobombing in the background. "Ok I definitely love this one." You laughed.
On the way back to Hyunjin's house, you also took the limo and were very grateful that you did, because you were absolutely stuffed after all that food, and just wanted to lie down.
He laughed at your slouched position. "Is it midnight already Cinderella?" He asked cockily, causing you to slap him on the arm.
"Just kidding. Like I said before, I like you regardless of what you look like." He murmured softly.
You suddenly sat up properly, not being able to hide your feelings any longer, "But what does that mean? That you're so used to seeing me being a slob that you don't care anymore?" You asked boldly.
He played with his jacket nervously, "No, it means that to me, you always look beautiful without even trying."
"Really?" You asked, not expecting that kind of response from Hyunjin.
"Yeah, I was actually planning on confessing by asking you to the Winter Ball, but you already told me that you didn't want to go, so I left it." He explained, feeling like this was the right time.
"Oh. Well umm... you probably already noticed but I like you a lot, and I'm really grateful that you came with me to the dance in the end." You told him becoming shy again.
"Me too, and- WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" He suddenly exclaimed as the driver parked outside his house.
You tried to hold your laughter in, "Looks like the guys threw their own party while we were gone."
"I'm- I knew I shouldn't have let them stay in the house on their own!" He said as he stepped outside.
"Looks like they got permission... your mum seems very happy dancing with Minho over there." You chuckled.
"Ew I refuse to go near that mess. Do you wanna get some ice cream with me?" He asked holding out his hand.
You took one last glance at Chan's 'sexy' dancing, "Definitely, let's go."
_
Was this too long guys? Did you get bored?! 😂
But anyways, please VOTE and COMMENT if you enjoyed reading! 😊
- Lucy 💕