A/N: Sorry for any IU fans. I love her don't get me wrong but I needed someone to do this mean sister role and she was the first to come to mind. You'll see what I mean as you read this chapter.
~
"Stop... it hurts," I groan as I try to regain my breath. As I hold on to the board of the bed, sweat rises at my temples.
"Quit complaining!" Chungha demands as she pulls the strings on my corset even tighter. At this moment her foot is planted on my back while she tugs on the strings to tighten my corset. I am in pain but i NeEd To HaVe A tInY wAiSt. I swear men these days be wanting toothpicks. Soon the pulling and tightening stops and, with much struggle, I am able to breathe. "Now we have to choose your dress!" Chungha squeals with delight as she pushes me into my closet. Although I myself had not walked in here, I knew it was big but really it was huge. There was an infinite number of dresses aligning all the white walls. "The ball begins in 2 hours and there is an infinite number of choices. Hurry try these on." Chungha rants as she passes me dress, upon dress, upon dress. I ignore her and look around when an idea hits me.
"Chungha, how about you let me choose my dress. If you do, I'll let you borrow one of mine," I suggest. She quickly stops what she's doing and stiffly turns to look at me with wide eyes.
"Really?" she asks befuddled.
"ONLY if you let me choose my dress, deal?" I say as I reach out to shake hers. Her face lightens up with joy as she throws her hands around me and squeezes the crap out of me. Great, more suffocation. Overall, which was 10 minutes of picking out a dress, she chooses a beautiful beige dress with pink and green flowers. It honestly looked amazing on her figure since it made her blonde hair stand out. She looked so elegant and attractive. I could never.
She looked so beautiful, I was starting to second guess my choice. I chose a navy-blue dress with little golden designs adorning it, making me look like the night sky. The dress was bare shoulders with little pearls decorating the top half. It hugged my slim waist making me look, well, Perfect.
When I walked out of the closet to show Chungha the dress I hear her chatting with two other people.
"Um, Chungha?" I call out as I walk into the room. She's currently sitting on the little bench in front of my vanity talking to Taehyung and Baekhyun. When I walk in, they all fall silent and gawk at me. "What? Do I have something on my face?" I ask a bit confused about their reactions.
"No, you--you look like a goddess!" Chungha expresses jumping out of her chair. Her white curls fall around her tiny frame in perfect ringlets bouncing as she moves over to me. The whole time Taehyung stares at me with such passion and intensity. Once Chungha fixes my hair, she moves me to look at my reflection in the mirror. My natural waves look flawless as they fall around my frame hugging my waist perfectly. I look like a doll. I study my reflection a bit longer when Taehyung comes up to give me a hug from behind. He wraps his arms securely around my hips, pressing me into his chest as he rests his chin on my shoulder. He looks handsome as ever, dressed in a finely tailored white suit with some black here and there. His brown curls rest neatly on his head, freshly combed.
"Satisfied?" I ask as I continue to study my reflection.
"I always am with you." He says giving me a warm smile that doesn't quite reach up to his eyes. I turn to look at him when the moment is cut short.
"Sun-Mi? There's something Taehyung and I wanted to discuss with you, but we are waiting for some others to join us." Baehkyun speaks up looking at me seriously.
"What about?" I ask curiously. At the same moment I ask that, a knock on the door is heard. Chungha opens the door to let in Ten, Irene, and Mark. "What is all this?" I ask a bit panicked now. I hear Taehyung sigh as he moves over to sit at the bench in front of my vanity and pats his thigh for me to come to sit on. I move over to sit on his thigh as Baekhyun begins to speak.
"Where's Jooheon and Donghyuck?"
"They had to greet some guests along with Ji-Eun. Since Sun-Mi and I are younger we are exempted, but I already went over the plan with them." Mark responds.
"Wait what plan?" I ask still misinformed as to what is going on.
"The plan to get you out of here." Ten fills me in cheerily bouncing up and down. His light green hair bouncing up and down with him. I stare at him in disbelief. NO. FREAKING. WAY. I look over my shoulder to see Taehyung staring at me.
"Surprise!" he whispers as he boops my nose and I don't know how to react.
"W-Why? A-And when?" I hear myself ask.
"Tonight. After the ball." Mark starts and Baekhyun continues.
"We know the queen has something up her sleeve for you and we didn't want the same thing to happen to you again. The faster you leave the better."
"Wow, I really feel wanted," I remark, but Irene speaks up shaking her head.
"No, it's not like that."
"Yeah, I know but how am I expected to just get up and leave? I literally just got here and I'm being told to go away." I argue standing up.
"Look, Sun-Mi, we all really care for you and if we could leave with you... we would," Chungha says timidly. I nod understandingly and purse my lips looking down at my hands. I guess, they really are looking out for the best for me.
"Okay... so what's the plan?" Looking back up at all of them, I notice Irene holding a black satchel along with a dark black cloak.
"Well, we were gonna sneak you and Taehyung out and--"
"Wait, me and Taehyung?" I interrupt but Baekhyun doesn't stop.
"At around 12 o'clock The guards that are placed to do the rounds will trade places. Since Taehyung and I are commanders of royal ships, and technically soldiers, they moved us to do the 12 o'clock to 7 o'clock rounds while we stay here. This means that if we're gonna let you slip, it would have to be when we do our rounds."
"Right but before that, I will be staying in your room helping you manage through the servants' passageways, along with Irene, to get you to the front gate," Ten adds in.
"Correct!" Baekhyun nods. I nod slowly as I take in all the information given to me. There's just one thing I'm still iffy about.
"And what do you plan on doing with the King, the Queen, and the visitors?" I ask. That's when Mark and Chungha turn to each other with sly smiles which makes me worried.
"Well..." Mark begins, "Your dear and beloved brothers were tasked with the arduous job of drugging our lovely parents."
"And I," Chungha cuts in, "was tasked with trading places with you and stalling your betrothed while you and Taehyung make your escape." She finishes with a wink. When they conclude I am left with a slack jaw. These people are actually willing to pull the riskiest job just to see me doing well. I can't believe it.
"There's no way you're actually doing this for me," I begin, "I understand I mean a lot to you but, you guys can... can lose your rankings," I motion to Taehyung, Baekhyun, and Mark, "or your jobs," I motion to Ten, Irene, and Chungha, "Or even your lives!"
"That doesn't matter," Taehyung speaks up in a determined tone, "What matters is seeing you safe." He takes my hand in his and proceeds to kiss our intertwined fingers. His soft lips brushing against my knuckles. I take a deep breath and look back at the others in my room with a dead set expression.
"Alright, I'll do it."
~
After the meeting, we had Chungha rush me out of my room to get to the ballroom, ranting about me having to make an entrance and whatnot. As Mark, Chungha, and Baekhyun make our way to the ballroom, Ten, Irene, and Taehyung had to go get some things ready for the escape. I'm currently in deep thought but I soon hear a light whisper against my ear.
"Hey, You think the cute men from earlier will be at the ball?" Chungha asks a bit too excitedly than necessary. I roll my eyes.
"I highly doubt it. They seemed to be on the run." I respond
"On the run? From what? Other women? I mean I can see why. After all, they ARE royals AND handsome. No, not handsome, charming, fine. Yes, they were Fiiiiiinnnnneeee!" She exclaims a bit too loudly, clasping her hands together in front of her heart.
"OH. My. God. They were extremely fine," Baekhyun agrees a bit overdramatically, getting into our conversation.
"Do you even have an idea who we're talking about?" I ask. He shrugs.
"No, but seeing Chungha swoon over men that way is amusing."
"How so?" Chungha inquires.
"Just seeing you hopelessly chase men after men is hilarious. You know this one time she asked Kim Nam--"
"Shhhh! We don't speak of that!" Chungha shushes him violently. Mark snickers behind us.
"I remember that. Your face to his rejection was priceless." Mark mocks. Chungha humphs indignantly and turns to me.
"I really do hope that Yeosang is there," she pouts. I pat her head.
"I really hope we can find you, someone, soon," I answer. We walk a couple more steps until we finally reach the edge of the stairs to the ballroom, and let me tell you, It was gorgeous. The marbled floor was freshly cleaned making it look beautifully shiny. The intricate stone designs and the plants that aligned the railings added a sort of dreamy touch to the place.
The only word to describe it was magical. What a shame that I wouldn't stay long enough to see it all again. I continue to admire the scenery around me when Mark comes up next to me.
"Shall we?" He speaks up stretching out his arm for me to take. I nod and slide my arm into his. Chungha takes Baekhyun's arm behind me and seeing them walk together like that sort of pulls a string in my heart. They fit each other pretty well. I hope they both find someone. Mark seems to notice how I feel because as we walk down the steps he tugs my arm. "Hey, don't cry."
"I don't cry. I only sweat from my eyes." I say wiping the small tears gathering at my eyes.
"That what the worst excuse I've ever heard," he laughs at me, helping me wipe my tears. "Just enjoy yourself tonight. It's your last night here, make it the best." I nod silently giving him a small smile as we join the rest of the crowd. While we make our way over to greet our guests I feel multiple pairs of eyes turn to look at me. I suddenly feel highly self-conscious, hearing whispers and compliments which only add to my anxiety. There's a weird feeling in the air like a bad omen. I feel something stir uncomfortably in the pit of my stomach but I ignore it. Through the loud chatter and music, I can hear a familiar voice calling my name.
"Sun-Mi!" Dong-hyuck yells over the noise. His silver hair bobbing up and down in the crowd with Jooheon, Ji-Eun, and another girl in tow. I soon notice that the unfamiliar girl following them was holding onto Donghyuck. When they finally get to where Mark and I are standing, I blurt out the question scratching at the back of my mind.
"Who's this?" I ask gesturing at the petite navy-blue haired girl clinging onto my brother's arm. She's wearing a light pink dress with cute gold laces stitched onto it. When asking my question, I think I came off a bit too strong because she seems to hide behind Donghyuck even more. Mark shoves his elbow into my rib muttering a 'Nice job'. I scowl at him as I tun back to Donhyuck and his... friend? "I'm sorry I didn't mean to come off as rude. Donghyuck here is just really lonely so I was surprised to see him with a friend. Especially a pretty girl like you." I compliment. She smiles shyly and Donghyuck introduces her.
"Sun-Mi, this is a friend of mine. Her name is Shin Ryu-jin."
"Just a friend?" Jooheon teases. Donghyuck rolls his eyes at him, telling him to shut up.
"You can call me Ryu," she speaks up timidly.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ryu," I respond sincerely which only gets me a snort from Ji-Eun.
"Honey, Don't waste your time talking to lowly scum like her. After all, she's just a reward set in place for the commanders who do well." Ji-Eun says to Ryu-jin. Ryu-jin looks at me with a confused expression as I try to hide my irritation and surprise at Ji-Eun's audacity.
"Nice to see you too, Ji-Eun," I comment dryly. She only scowls at me in disgust.
"I don't understand why they let you back. You're a murderer and a slut. I don't see what's so special about keeping you around." she spits in my face. I tighten my jaw and my arms, trying not to swing at her. It's taking everything in me not to hurt her right now.
"Um, Ryu-jin? How about we have a dance?" Donghyuck suggests pulling the girl away from the scene and giving Mark and Jooheon warning glances. I set my attention back on Ji-Eun.
"Give it up, Ji-Eun, I just wanna have fun right now. Don't you?" I ask. She rolls her eyes crossing her arms.
"Have fun? Oh, I will have fun alright! I will have fun when you leave for good. If it weren't for you I would be the center of attention at this ball, not you!" She begins to yell her voice rising to catch some people's attention.
"Ji-Eun, You're overreacting. Nobody--"
"Shut up! If it weren't for her everything would still be okay, Chanyeol would still be alive! If you would just freaking die already, everything would be better. Nobody even needs her! She's a useless piece of trash that should just cease to exist! She's not even FAMILY!" I reach out for her trying to calm her down but she slaps my hands away violently.
"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF CRAP! YOU'RE A CURSE TO THIS FAMILY! THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN, BUT FATHER HAS ALWAYS DECIDED TO TURN A BLIND EYE ON YOU!"
"What?" I ask still unsure of what I just heard. Not even family? A Curse? Before Ji-Eun can open her mouth another time, Jooheon is already dragging her away. Multiple people stare at the incident that just happened and I myself am still baffled by the events that unfolded. I turn sharply to Mark to ask him what she meant but I'm met with the eyes of the last person I need.