"Oh Y/n, you look beautiful," said the elderly lady who was allegedly my great aunt. If I'm going to be honest, I have not even the slightest clue as to who this woman was—but she's at the wedding, so I assumed she's related to me somehow.
I must agree with her statement though — I do look quite beautiful. I wore an off-white coloured dress that hung down to my ankles, as well as a pair of white heels that are almost impossible to walk in because of their overbearing height.
The top half of the dress is fitted tight to my body, and all along the center front of the dress is designed with embroidering and jewels, illuminating my face. The waistline is very snug, making it hard for me to breathe properly—but you know what they say, "beauty is pain."
The bottom half of the dress is flowy, allowing for movement in my legs. It's made of satin, just like the top half—only the bottom is simple with no designs or gems.
My hair is simply styled in a low bun, and I wore light makeup as well as a pair of pearl earrings. I'll admit, I do look beautiful—but I prefer to wear pants and an oversized shirt.
"Thank you," I replied to her with a slight bow of my head. She smiled at me and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, causing me to flinch from surprise. She removed her hand from the side of my head and placed it on my cheek, causing her smile to grow even wider.
"You look just like your mother," she grinned, making my heart drop to my stomach.
Mother... I don't even remember what she looks like...
I don't say anything to her in response, I just bow again, trying to hide my emotions. I looked back up at the lady and met her eyes.
We stood there looking at each other for a few moments until she finally broke the awkward tension by lightly patting my shoulder.
"I should get to my seat, the ceremony is starting soon," she explained with another grin. I nod in agreement.
"I should too."
The lady turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the middle of the garden. I looked around at my surroundings. The garden, which is right beside where the ceremony is taking place, was filled with flowers of all kinds.
The ceremony itself took place in an open space outdoors, with a white gazebo where my father and Hyejin will stand. There were hundreds of chairs set up for the guests—most of them being people I don't even know.
"Ms. Y/n, your father is ordering for you to take your seat now," a voice instructed from behind me. I whipped my head around to see a tall man wearing a suit. I'm assuming he's one of my father's bodyguards, so I don't question his orders.
"Alright, I'll be there shortly." I respond with a bow, the man nodding back at me.
I let out a sigh as I began to walk towards the designated ceremony area, straightening my posture to try and look more proper.
I exited the garden and made my way towards my assigned seat, where I noticed I was placed beside two women who were no other than my cousins, Nayeon and Jeongyeon.
"Y/n! You made it to the wedding!" Nayeon teased with a smile—although it wasn't a warm kind of smile. It was a sarcastic, intimidating smile.
"We never thought you'd leave your room," joked Jeongyeon with a chuckle. "It's nice to see that you didn't cry yourself to death."
I winced internally as my chest began to ache from her harsh comment. It's true, I did spend a lot of my years crying alone in my room due to my abusive father.
I let out a light laugh, trying to give off the impression that I wasn't affected by her words.
"It's nice to see you too, I guess," I mumble, adding a bit of sarcasm to my last two words.
Nayeon scoffs. "Yeah, for sure."
"Well, are you going to sit down or just stand there?" Jeongyeon challenged as she pointed towards my chair.
"Yeah, sit down Y/n. Don't you want to see your father get married for the fifth time?"
Another stab at my chest. I could feel the anger building up inside of me, and my eyes start to get watery. I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, trying to stop myself from bursting out in tears.
"I'm..." I trailed off and gazed down at the ground. I took another deep breath and looked up at them again. "I'm going to go to the washroom, I'll be back."
I turned the other way before one of them could respond and walked out of the audience. My eyes started pooling up even more, causing my pace to quicken to running. I continued to run, not stopping to see if anyone was following me. At this point I could barely see anything due to the tears blurring my eyesight.
"Don't you want to see your father get married for the fifth time?"
The words rung through my head over and over again, until I began to feel the world spinning. I kept running despite that, trying to get as far away from the wedding as possible.
I continued to run, getting faster by the second, when I felt myself fall down—except, I don't hit the ground.
I kept falling, forcing a scream to escape my mouth.
As I continued to decline, my vision suddenly became clear again, revealing my surroundings.
I looked around in fear as I proceeded to descend when I realized that I had fallen down a very spacious hole.
Although, the fact that I had fallen down such a large hole wasn't the strange part—it was the items surrounding me that left me puzzled.
As I gazed around me, I noticed objects floating in mid air. Objects such as pianos, chairs, tables and teapots all hovered within the depth of the abyss while I fell to my doom.
Impossible! This is absurd!
After what felt like hours of falling, I hit the ground, sending shock throughout my entire body. I felt lightheaded, like all the blood in my body had rushed to my head—just as if I was upside down.
The moment I thought that I felt myself fall down again, this time hitting the ground within a few seconds. I looked up from where I fell only to see the ceiling—there was no hole that I possibly could have fallen from.
"Odd... It's as if I fell onto the ceiling and then the room flipped!" I breathed aloud in dismay. I stood up on what I assumed was the floor, although everything was so bizarre here that it was impossible to tell what is what.
Here... Where is here?
I brushed off my dress, only to realize that I no longer was wearing the same off-white dress from the wedding. Instead, I wore an wide skirted A-line dress in a light pink color. The sleeves were puffy and a white apron was wrapped around me.
I also wore white stalkings and shiny black Mary Jane shoes, as well as a black headband on my head. My hair was down, nothing special done with it.
"Goodness, what happened to my dress?" I asked myself in half shock and half disappointment as I looked down at my outfit transformation.
I let out a loud sigh as I spun around, trying to see if somebody was here.
Nodody.
"This... this can't be real, right?" I audibly asked myself while placing my hands on my waist in confusion. "This must be a dream!"
"Oh but it's not," A soft female voice responded.
I whipped my head around, trying to find the source of the voice, but nobody was found.
"I'm sorry but..." I trailed off, spinning around once more. "Who said that?"
"Come towards the door Y/n, we're waiting for you."
"What do you mean by that?" I stammered while scrunching my nose. "And how do you know my name?"
"We've been anticipating your arrival, come towards the door."
I furrowed my eyebrows in bewilderment but did as the voice said, slowly making my way towards the large door in front of me.
Carefully, I placed my hand on the handle and rotated it, then pushing the door open. As I fully opened to door, I was blinded by a bright light. Soon, my vision came to focus, revealing the environment around me.
A gasp broke out of my mouth when I saw the bizarre beauty of the world I was in. Plants towered over me, standing at a height of at least ten feet. Odd animals ran beneath my feet, as well as above in the sky.
"Curiouser and curiouser..."
I took a step forward, looking up at the atmosphere above. I continued to walk onward when I stopped in my tracks due to a group of women standing in front of me.
"It's about time she showed up!" The first one said. She had a crunchy, mouse-like voice, and a nose that resembled a button. Just like a mouse, her eyes were round and full, and her hands were quite small as well.
"Well she's here now Chaewon, so calm yourself." Said another, scolding the mouse-like girl whose name was now revealed as Chaewon. This girl, the one who had just spoke, had features like a rabbit...
I gasped once again.
She looks like the girl in my drawing!
"Exactly what Heejin just said, she's here, that's all that matters!"
And her name is Heejin as well!
"Indeed, that's all that matters!"
"Hey, that's what I just said!"
"No, I do believe I said it first!"
"Kim's! That's enough arguing! You're startling her!"
I stared at the group of girls blankly. I was confused, shocked, and overwhelmed. The group looked back at me with the exact same expression.
Finally, I cleared my throat.
"Um... Hi there, might I ask who you all are?"
Their faces lit up, especially the two girls who wore matching striped dresses—one coloured red, the other a peachy colour.
"I'm Kim Jungeun and she's Kim Jiwoo!" The girl with the red striped dress said.
"In other words, I'm Kim Jiwoo and she's Kim Jungeun!" The peachy dressed girl piped up.
I nodded my head and gave a weak smile in response as I turned to face the other girls.
The bunny like girl who looked identical to my drawing stepped forward. "I'm Jeon Heejin," she said with a grin, "welcome to Underland."
"Underland?" I asked, "Is that the name of this place?"
A girl with shoulder length blonde hair stepped out of the group, "yes—well, I like to call it Wonderland."
"OhI see," I noted. "And... who are you?"
The blonde headed girl bowed her head, "I'm Im Yeojin—or Alice, whichever you prefer."
"Nice to meet you," I responded, bowing back.
Finally, I turned my head towards the mouse-like girl who I assumed was Chaewon. I smiled at her, gesturing for her to introduce herself. She took the gesture and stepped forward.
"I'm Park Chaewon," she said in her crunchy voice.
I smiled to myself at her soft way of speech.
Cute.
"We're beyond happy that you've finally arrived!" Jiwoo exclaimed brightly.
"Oh yes! I can't wait until you slay the Jaberwocky—seeing as Yeojin failed to do so the first time." Jungeun said, looking down at Yeojin with a dirty glare.
"Jungeun," Heejin snapped in a warning tone. "Please stop bringing that up, you know how Yeojin feels about that day."
Yeojin looked down at her feet and took a step back in shame.
I tilted my head to the side, "I'm sorry but a Jaber-what?"
"A Jaberwocky—like a dragon-person hybrid, but worse," gulped Chaewon.
A shiver went up my spine in fear.
A dragon? And they expect me to slay it?
"I'm terribly sorry, but I really don't think I can slay such a creature!" I apologized.
"Oh but you must," Jiwoo started in a pleading voice. "Underland will be in grave danger if you don't!"
"Yes, grave danger indeed," Jungeun trembled.
I shook my head in denial as I took a step away from the group. This was absurd. Absoulutly insane. There was no way I could kill the Jaberwocky, not even if I wanted to.
"Please Y/n," Heejin spoke in a worried tone, her rabbit-like nose scrunching. "Let us take you to the White Queen, she'll know what to do."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Who's the White Queen?"
"Wong Kahei," the Kim sisters said in unity. "The true Queen of Underland."
"The true Queen?" I asked, puzzled. "Well then who's the current Queen?"
Their expressions dropped as I asked the question. Clearly the current Queen wasn't one who the people loved.
"The Red Queen," Chaewon said in horror as she hugged her torso. "Also known as Son Hyejoo. The White Queen's adopted younger sister."
"She's done so much harm to Underland—but if you slay the Jaberwocky, the White Queen will be in power again!" Jiwoo explained.
"That does make sense," I began, now staring at the ground below me. "But this is still a lot for me to take in."
Heejin nodded her head, "I understand—Underland is a confusing place, but you'll get used to it."
"It took me a while to adapt to Wonderland, but now I call it home." Yeojin said with a soft smile.
"I see..." I trailed off. "Well, didn't you want to take me to The White Queen?" I asked, trying to get off of the topic of slaying a giant monster.
"Oh yes," Jungeun started.
"We must take you there right away!" Continued Jiwoo, motioning for me to join them in their small cluster. I did so, standing in between Jiwoo and Jungeun. I looked up at Jungeun, and she gave me a grin.
"Let's go! We don't have much time now!" Heejin proclaimed as she stepped to the front of the group and started to march forward.
With that, we began our journey to meet The White Queen who would presumably convince me to save Wonderland.
~~~
[WORD COUNT: 2391]
hello! i'm sorry for such a late update, i've been focused on school work seeing as school just started up for me. i hope you don't mind slow updates, but i'll try to write as much as possible :)
also, I'm sorry if there's any mistakes, i did a very quick editing process this time
thank you <3
IG: @//jxonhxxjin @//rchjin @//loonathethreadss
- c