Something Peculiar

13

When I came out of my shower, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, I was surprised to find Wooseok sitting on my bed. He had my iPod, the one that had come with the room, and he was scrolling through it, I cleared my throat loudly, since he apparently hadn't heard me exit the bathroom.

"Oh, hey!" Wooseok set aside the iPod and got to his feet, grinning at me in a way that made his eyes sparkle. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just wanted to see how you were doing, how you liked it here." 

"I don't know." My hair had to be terrible mess, and I ran a finger through my wet tangles. "It's too soon to tell yet."

"You like the stuff?" Wooseok asked, gesturing around the room. "I picked out everything that I liked. Which I know sounds kind of vain. I asked some input from Jisoo, because she's a girl, but it's still so hard to pick out stuff for someone you've never met."

"No, it all looks really good, You did a good job." I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

"Oh sorry. You've probably exhausted." Wooseok stood up. "Sorry. I just got done with school and I didn't have a chance to talk to you earlier. But... yeah. I'll leave you be."

"Wait. You just got done with school?" I furrowed my brow, trying to understand. "Does that mean you're a tracker?"

"No." It was his turn to look confused. "I'm mänks." When he saw the perplexed look on my face, he corrected himself. "Sorry. Its just short for mänsklig."

"What the hell does that mean?" I demanded growing exasperated.

"They'll explain it to you later," Wooseok shrugged. "Anyway, I should let you wake up. If I'm not in my room, I'll be downstairs, getting some food."

"Are you happy here?" I blurted out before I could think about how rude that sounded. His eyes met mine, just for a second revealing something more than that, but then he quickly dropped them.

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" Wooseok asked wryly. He ran his fingers along my silk sheets, staring at the bedspread intently. "I have everything a kid could want. Video games, cars, toys, money, clothes, servants..." He trailed off, but then a slow smile returned to his face and he looked up at me. "And now I have a Princess living across the hall from me. I'm ecstatic."

"I'm not really a Princess," I shook head and tucked my hair behind my ears. "Not in the really sense of the word. I mean... I just got here."

"You look like a Princess to me." The way he smiled at me made me want to blush, so I looked down, unsure of what else to do.

"So what about you?" I kept my head down, but I raised my eyes up to meet his. The smile playing on my lips felt oddly flirtatious, but I didn't mind it. "Are you some kind of Prince?"

"Hardly," Wooseok laughed. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, looking rather sheepish. "I should probably let you finish getting dresses. The chef is off tonight, so supper is on me."

Wooseok turned and walked down the hall, whistling a song I didn't recognized. I shut my door, wishing I could understand this all better. I was a Trylle Princess to a grifter empire, and I had a mänsklig living across the hall from me, whatever the hell that meant.

I lived in this amazing stunning house with these cold, indifferent people, and the price of admission was stealing from the only people that cared about me. Sure. Lisa was here, but she had made it perfectly clear that her only interest in me was business.

I went through my closet, looking for something to wear. Most of the clothes seemed too fancy for me. Not that I had grown up wearing rags or anything. In fact, if my mother... er, Tae-yeon hadn't gone crazy and left, these would be exactly the kind of clothes  I'd be expected to wear now. All high class fashion pieces. Eventually, I managed to dig up a simple skirt and shirt that resembled something I'd actually wear.