🔞 어둠 Tales I: The Fragile Princess (7-25)

V : Bloomer

Published on: March 19, 2021

Once we got off the car, Ms. Yhana's faint smile from earlier instantly became a whole ice- cold face again, as if she never smiled. I sighed and continued walking with her.

Anyway, where are we exactly? Like yeah I know this place's name and location but what are we doing here? I looked at Ms. Yhana and opened my mouth, about to ask the question, when she looked at me and raised a brow, letting out an "oh".

"Yeah, we're here because Dad asked me to, and he said to bring a partner so..... Great timing too though, I see you bought the suit already." She said looking at my suit, I smiled.

"Yeah, I didn't want to get fired after getting hired you know." I said and laughed, while she just stared at me making me feel awkward, facing the front right away.

"So.... before you ask, I actually don't know what our purpose is here. All I know is that, Dad wants me here with a partner. So just.... you know, play along with whatever he has in reserved." She added to her explanation while walking forward again. I nodded and just smiled, walking forward as well, following her.

As we were walking, I kept looking around since this place gives me so~ luxurious vibes but with nature, making it look way more beautiful. Suddenly, a group of expensive looking people joined in with..... us..... for some reason.

I ended up getting separated from Ms. Yhana since the crowd got between us, I tried looking for her but I couldn't find her. Someone pulled a bit on my coat making me look towards this person.

I saw a pretty lady looking up at me, it looks like she tripped... I guess.

"Hey miss, are you alright?" I asked, helping her up and guiding her out of the crowd.

"Yes. I'm alright, thank you." She said once we're out of the crowd, dusting her dress and bowing politely at me, making me bow as well as a sign of respect.

"If you're alright already miss, I have to go find someone, if you may excuse me." I politely said, excusing myself with a smile. I turned around, walking back into the crowd to look for Ms. Yhana.

"Wait! Uhh... c-can I know your n-name?" She said, making me stop on my tracks and look back. I smiled and said.

"Javier is the name, Miss." I once again turned around once I answered her question, proceeding to look for Ms. Yhana.

"There you are, where were you? I was looking for you since.... well since two minutes ago, but we can't be late. Let's go!" She said, dragging me.. again.

While she was dragging me, we had a few stops as some people blocked our way, to talk to Ms. Yhana.

And.... after a whole hour of people blocking our way, we finally saw Mr. Guevarra's face, smiling and waving at us, I returned his smile while Ms. Yhana just kept on dragging me towards Mr. Guevarra.

"I see, you brought Javier with you, just as I thought. Anyway, have a sit, Yhana and Javier." He offered us seats, as we sat across him, me beside Ms. Yhana.

"So why did you ask me to be here? And to bring a partner too?" Ms. Yhana asked right away, looking too seriously at her father, while Mr. Guevarra just chuckled and suddenly looked dead serious at Ms. Yhana.... what's going on?

"Well you see, my friend here wanted a bride for his son and I--" Mr. Guevarra started explaining when someone talked beside us and tapped me on my shoulder, making the three of us look at them.

"Excuse me, can I-- Hey Javier can I talk to you for a bit?" The lady said, as I frowned and tilted my head when it suddenly hit me that she was the girl I helped out earlier, I smiled and looked at Mr. Guevarra.

"May I excuse myself for a bit Mr. Guevarra? Yhana?" I said asking permission to leave, looking at Mr. Guevarra, then at Ms. Yhana, as Mr. Guevarra widened his eyes.

"W-what?" Mr. Guevarra said, so I again repeated my words, thinking he didn't understand.

"May I excuse myself for a ti~ny bit Mr. Guevarra?" I asked again, with a smile and looked at Ms. Yhana when Mr. Guevarra didn't respond. Ms. Yhana rolled her eyes and looked at Mr. Guevarra.

"Dad? Javier wants to excuse himself." She asked Mr. Guevarra, him snapping out and instantly nodding as a yes and smiled, I smiled back and looked at the lady.

"Can we? Now?" She asked, as I nodded as a yes.

She guided me to a table that had three people, A middle aged man and woman and a guy.

"Mom, Dad, I want to introduce to you, Javier." The lady said pointing at me, while looking at the people who I assumed are her family members.

I too looked at them, smiled and bowed politely, greeting them and eye contacting with each of them, when I saw familiar eyes. I frowned mentally but didn't show it on my face as I kept my smile.

"Welcome dear, Javier, nice to meet you, have a seat." The woman said, offering me a seat with a smile, as I returned her smile with a bigger one, while sitting down. The lady sat down beside me and smiled at me as she looked at her father.

"Dad, this is the guy I was talking about, I want him to be the guy that I'll--" The lady was excitedly telling her dad about me when she was cut off by someone speaking loudly through the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen I welcome you here at this party I arranged, and I thank you, for attending today even through your busy schedules." The man caught our attention as the lady looked at me and slowly diverted her eyes to the stage as I did the same, figuring out that it was actually Mr. Guevarra, on stage, speaking through the microphone.

"Now, I know you're wondering why we're all here today.... am I right?" He asked as almost everyone here screamed "yes" as an answer, making Mr. Guevarra chuckle.

"Alright you asked for it. We are all here to announce that my sweet, beautiful daughter, Yhana, is already engaged!" Mr. Guevarra announced, making everyone including me widen our eyes with a gasp.

"Oh my gosh, Yhana is engaged? Since when? Ooh.... I wonder who the lucky guy is..." The lady beside me commented as I smiled, still shocked.

"Who's the lucky guy! Say it!"
"Yeah say it!"
"Come on, I wanna know who the guy that captured Yhana's heart is!"

As the crowd got more wild and curious as to who the soon to be groom is, Mr. Guevarra's smile gets bigger as well, as I wondered.... if Ms. Yhana is engaged then why wasn't she smiling? Oh, I see, she wanted to prank me by keeping a poker face. I chuckled and looked at her and found her frowning, making me frown as well.

Shouldn't you be happy when you're engaged with someone you love? Don't tell me it's a forced marriage-- no way, Mr. Guevarra wouldn't, would he? I hesitantly looked back at the stage and found Mr. Guevarra looking straight at me with a smile.

"Alright folks, the groom is right there! Mr. Javier Tolentino!" Once he said that I smiled, while everyone in the hall looked at me shocked. Once I realized what he said, I looked at him shocked, and by that time, everyone around me were celebrating and congratulating us.

What just happened?