𝙀𝙉𝙃𝙔𝙋𝙀𝙉 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 シ

38. heeseung - enchanted

- hbd to me <3 -

by the power vested in me, let hee be Taylor. now enjoy.

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he arrived at the party looking more miserable than ever. he was used to the show already but he could never bring himself to enjoy it one bit. he hated it more than the champagne they were serving as he searched for a place to stand, preferably away from the crowd in the center. but with his generational wealth and not commonplace appearance, he never made it far. he was already surrounded by some royals from foreign kingdoms in hopes of getting him to meet their daughters. all the while interrogating him to pick the perfect suitor, completely ignoring his uncomfortable chuckles and attempts to slip away. 

"how old are you dear?" a woman grabbed his arm, expecting the perfect answer from him so that she could pull him away and present him to her daughter who he guessed wasn't far off. he could already see her, poised by the pillar at the end of the stairs that led down to this crazy big ballroom. and in all honesty, he was stunned. for the first time all night, he actually felt something other than complete annoyance at the situation he was stuck in. the woman's daughter was beautiful. ravishing even. she wore a long, off-the-shoulder ball gown in a shade slightly lighter than the color of the rosé they were serving to the guests. he almost forgot about the woman who was still awaiting his response when their eyes locked between the swarm of royal.

"Well, dear?" the woman patted his hand. he could sense the slight urgency in her voice. but, to be fair, he did just completely ignore the woman for his daughter.

"twenty ma'am. I am, however, nearing twenty-one." the woman's face instantly brightened up and she began to pull him away. he stumbled forward a bit at first and finally followed the woman, mumbling under his breath at the situation he just got himself in and thanking the quintet for playing over his pathetic prayer before looking back up to meet eyes with the daughter once more only to make a hard left and avoid her entirely all thanks to the woman who was pushing him forward to her real daughter. the girl he mistook for the woman's daughter smiled ever so slightly as she saw him be dragged away, the space between them now growing larger. 

"you're gonna love my daughter." the woman made a quick stop and started ushering for another girl to come closer. "her name is-" a waiter in a white suit stopped between the woman and heeseung. "champagne?" he lowered the tray to offer. the woman took two and offered one to him. he smiled awkwardly and took it, the tiny voice in the back of his head knowing he isn't very keen on champagne. "ma'am I'm not interested in-"

"Hello, I'm Daphnie." she gave a small courtesy and a smile to him. He returned the gesture before introducing himself absentmindedly. He looked over his shoulder to see that the girl from earlier had disappeared from where she stood before. 

"My sincere apologies but I'm not looking to be wed currently. It was nice meeting you though.." He gave an awkward bow and slipped away into the crowd, still holding that tall glass of champagne from the woman. he stood as far away from the scene as possible, preferring to sit outside on the terrace he found was right next to the ballroom. he slipped past the tall doors and was about to sit on one of the few seats when someone spoke from behind him.

"Are you following me?" his heart began racing as he stood up just as quickly, looking back to see the same girl from the stairs. confirming that it was no one he should be scared of his heart relaxed. from panic at least. the embarrassment from earlier still very much there.

"Um no? I was just... frankly, I don't know why I'm here. Not much room in there I guess?" He motioned to the doors leading back into the ballroom. here he was. not 20 minutes before he was talking about not impressing people but here he was, worrying his head off about what to say to the girl in front of him to not appear like a total lunatic.

"hmm. It could be worse. I just don't get why they'd rather be in there when it's so beautiful out here." She saw that he had stepped away from the bench and took a seat. The night had completely worn her out. But the perfect display of stars and the few constellations she could make out was far better than whatever they were doing indoors.

He, however, was fired into his fight or flight since the conversation between the two had begun. His whole body tensed up and he couldn't find the right words. What he wouldn't give to come back to his senses right about now. "uh yeah. it is.... very pretty." that sounded horrible in his head and even worse aloud yet he still blurted it out to fill the silence. he must sound pretty stupid to her. but he really did mean it. he never stared at the stars a lot but one thing was for sure: they looked exceptionally beautiful tonight of all nights.  

"you seem sick." he was dying at this point. but he wasn't going to let her know. Definitely not.

"who? me? sick? of course not, that's ridiculous." he cleared his throat and hoped that his 5 seconds of acting was enough to convince her that he wasn't close to running back inside and not coming back. coward. the cherry on top of this already embarrassing scenario was hearing her quiet laugh. that was it. he totally blew it.

"well then. the party's over so I'm guessing we should go back inside and bid our farewells, hmm?" 

"yes of course." he walked a little too fast to the door than he would have liked but decided to wait around and hold the door open for the girl to walk past. and at that moment he realized he never caught her name. had she mentioned it to him already? knowing himself well, it would have completely slipped his mind.

"y/n. my name is y/n. you are?" he was unsure of how she read his mind. assuming the look he gets when he tries to remember something was plastered on his face and she saw it. how embarrassing.

"heeseung.." he shut the door behind the two of them after they had both stepped back inside.

"it was a pleasure speaking with you, heeseung." she smiled to him, nearly forgetting her short bow.

"enchanted to meet you, y/n." his brain ran through all the farewells he had ever learned in his entire life and stupidly blurted a random one before she left. if he hadn't ruined things before, he certainly did right now. again, she laughed only this time a bit more relaxed than before. "and the rosé? you haven't let it go since the woman gave it to you." so she was watching his struggle all along. and here he was stressing when she had already seen the worst of it.

he stared down at the wine glass, "I really do hate champagne" he said before downing the whole drink in one go. his face came away in slight disgust but even that couldn't stop him from returning the laughter she emitted at the sight of his face. bidding their final farewells, she shut the doors behind him and he finally left, ultimately leaving the palace a little happier than when he came.

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I started writing this listening to enchanted and ended it listening to polaroid love. followed by the first seconds of boom. i mean hey, it was well timed. anyways have a nice day. imma go now <3 

written: 8.22.22

word count: 1373