"Thank you." Nara said to the maid that had finished pinning her hair. The maid gave her a small smile before bowing, leaving her room. Nara stood up, moving to the mirror to look at her reflection.
She was wearing a long blue ball gown with a silver lace fabric around her waist. Flowers were embroidered onto the mesh material over the skirt of the gown. Her hair was similar to what she had earlier, this time with diamond buds pinned into it.
Satisfied, she exited her room, making her way to the ballroom where the rest of the guests already were. As she entered, she could feel the many eyes turning to the opened door, staring at her as she walked in.
"Darling, you look beautiful." Nara's mother, the Queen said as she approached her parents. Nara gave her a sweet smile.
"Thank you." Nara said with a small curtsy. The King nodded his head.
"You did a good job, I'm proud. Many of the boys are also socializing with the princes. It's a shame that many of them will be going home after this." The King said.
"Yes, but I think it would be easier to focus on six boys instead of fourteen." Nara said, making her parents laugh. The happiness was short lived as the King and Queen looked away from their daughter to someone behind her. Nara turned around to see Mark standing there.
"Well, we're going to refill our glasses." The King said, guiding the Queen away. Mark scratched the back of his neck.
"Sorry, was I interrupting?" He asked.
"No, it's fine Mark. Did you want something?" Nara said. Mark gave her a small smile before sticking his hand out.
"May I have this dance?"
"Of course." Nara replied, taking his hand as he led her to the dance floor.
...
After dancing with Mark, many of the other Selected had asked her to dance as well. She was surprised by how graceful Renjun was when he dance, while at the same time impressed by how smooth Haechan was with his movements.
While dancing, Nara also noticed how the boys were interacting with the Selected. Cai was obviously attached to Jaemin by the hip, but it seemed that he had gotten close with Jeno as well. Yangyang was another social butterfly, chatting with all of the other princes, but Nara noticed that he was with Prince Elias of Germany the most. After Mark had passed her to the next male, he had went to Prince James' side and stayed there for most of the night.
"Chenle, thank you for the dance, but I think I need a break now." Nara said as the song ended.
"That's alright, I wanted to go back to Jisung anyways." Chenle said, giving her a smile. Nara took her leave, making her way to a table on the side. As a waiter passed by, she took a glass of champagne from her tray.
As she took a sip, she noticed four boys approaching her.
"Tired?" Jaemin asked her. He was with Cai, Jeno, and Renjun. Nara bit her lip as she noticed Jeno up close. His brown hair was parted, revealing his forehead. Jeno's smile was wide as he joked with Renjun, eyes shinning like stars. Jeno was also wearing a blue suit, which matched Nara's dress perfectly. It was nice to see Jeno in the different colour, but Nara couldn't believe how their outfits just happened to be so perfectly coordinated.
Nara shook her head in response to Jaemin's question.
"I just wanted a break from dancing." Nara told them.
"Understandable, it's been a busy night." Cai said, still in his forced british accent. Nara looked at Renjun and Jeno, who both seemed like they were used to it.
"Still going at it?" Nara said with a chuckle.
"A bet is a bet." Cai said, giving her a wink.
"Oh yeah, before I forget, we actually wanted to ask you something." Jaemin said, a sparkle in his eye.
"Should I be concerned?" Nara asked, knowing that look Jaemin gave her always meant that he had something up his sleeve.
"I don't know, depends on how you feel about it." Jaemin told her with a shrug. Nara turned to face Jeno who had wide eyes, eager to hear what she had to say.
"Okay shoot." Nara told Jaemin.
"We were thinking of chilling in the Men's Room afterwards, since you know, it's not very often that Cai here gets to visit." Jaemin said, wrapping his arm around Cai's shoulders.
"So you're all going to stay up late and do what, exactly?" Nara asked, raising an eyebrow. Jaemin rolled his eyes.
"Just have fun and be normal young adults for once." Jaemin said.
"A few of the others wanted to join too." Renjun added.
"It'll be fun. Plus, you could use the time off to think about something other than being a princess." Jeno added with a wink.
"Okay, okay, I'll come." Nara said, waving her hand. The boys gave a small cheer before walking away. As Nara finished her glass of champagne, she noticed one of them had stayed behind.
"Nice suit." Nara said, motioning to Jeno's suit. Jeno gave her his eye smile before doing the same with her dress.
"I could say the same."
"Funny how we're matching." Nara said, placing her glass down. Jeno nodded in agreement.
"They stylists said this colour would look good on me. I'm don't exactly disagree thought." Jeno told her.
"I agree, I think it looks good on you." Nara said, the words coming out without her controlling them. She didn't even notice that she had complimented him until Jeno's ears began turning red.
"Thanks. You look really nice today too." Jeno said. The tension between them began to grow as they stood there silently, but Nara didn't want to walk away.
"This is the last song." Nara heard someone walking by say and Nara immediately grabbed Jeno's arm.
"Do you want to dance with me?" Nara asked him.
"Am I allowed to say no to the princess?" Jeno responded as he adjusted it so her hand was in his.
"I wouldn't advise it." Nara said as Jeno began leading her to the dance floor. She put her other hand on his shoulder as his hand placed itself on her waist. That's when she remembered that the last song to be played was a slow, romantic waltz, in honour of the Selection.
Jeno must have noticed as well as he had a look of fear in his eyes as the music played, the two of them slowly moving to the rhythm. Nara could feel how stiff he was from his muscles tensing under her touch.
"Jeno, relax, it's just me." Nara said, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze.
"I don't want to go against your words, but I do want to remind you that we are in the middle of the dance floor filled with men competing for your hand in marriage, dancing to a waltz." Jeno said. Nara held in the urge to laugh at his concerned voice.
"Keep your eyes on me and pretend no one else is here, okay?" Nara said, hoping it would calm him down. As Jeno closed his eyes to take a deep breath for a moment, Nara moved herself closer to him. Jeno opened his eyes, staring at hers as she blocked his view from others.
"Just me, okay?" Jeno nodded and Nara felt that he was starting to relax. They continued to dance, staring into each other's eyes as they moved around the floor as one. Before she knew it, the song was coming to an end, their motions coming to a halt with it.
Their faces were so close that they could feel each other breathing at the air escaped their lips. Jeno's eyes began to move down as he started to lean closer to her. Instinctively, Nara closed her eyes, but their moment was interrupted by the sound of Heeyoung's voice. Nara's eyes immediately fluttered open and Jeno had already taken a few steps back, looking at the woman speaking.
"Thank you all for being here tonight. Due to the late hours of this event, there will be no lessons tomorrow, meaning that the whole day will be yours. This concludes the ball and goodnight everyone." Heeyoung said, handing the microphone back to a servant.
"I'll see you in a bit, then?" Jeno asked her. Nara nodded.
"I'll meet you in the Men's Room once I'm done preparing for the night." Nara said. She curtsied to him as he bowed before wishing the Selected goodnight and heading upstairs to her room.
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My wifi sucks, im so sad :(