Cinderella's Fate | 🤍 seongjoong 🤍

Chapter 25

Seonghwa's POV

    The sunlight was penetrating the windows, I had forgotten to close the blinds the day before, exhausted but content with the turn of events. The light shone right into my eyelids , causing me to groan and turn to the left. My least favourite side to sleep on. I kept my body still trying to fall back asleep, but my alarm went off, signalling the start of a new day.

    I rose from the bed slowly, rubbing my eyes in the process and then adjusting to the light of the room; sat on the bed, taking my time to refresh my bearings. Staring into space, memories of the previous evening flooded my mind and the trace of fingers and shared heat, made me look down at my left hand.

    I felt my lips lift up at the corners, a smile that came to me so naturally as I felt fondness and adoration for that man, an emotion that I still had to get used to. Years of hatred and abuse had left scars in my heart.

    I closed the palm of my hand before actually making the effort of getting out of bed: removing the covers, wearing the slippers and grabbing a few things that I needed, including the cloak, before disappearing into the bathroom.

    It didn't take long for me to get ready for another day of work. I was out of my room dressed and with the cloak on in less than an hour, heading downstairs to make a quick breakfast. The living room was empty , the couch decorated with the new stuffed animals that the couple won, creating next of soft items for them to settle once they wanted to watch a film.

    I headed to the kitchen right after , rolling my sleeves up , to not get them dirty, before pulling some ingredients that would have made a great breakfast , enough for the three of us. I had come to realise how much I had ground fond of Yunho and Mingi.

    They had quickly become part of my makeshift family, some evenings spent with jokes, games , and films getting to know them . I ended talking about myself a little too much, but mostly leaving out my current family situation.

   They had been supportive of my 'trip' since the beginning since I had honestly confessed that I had barely been anywhere since I was a homebody , and they immediately suggested places to go to . I had taken their suggestions and wrote them down, knowing that if I wasn't able to break the curse I would be back to my original life, or even worse.

    The food was done in no time, cooking was an autopilot task for me, and I set up my one plate to eat at the counter while the rest was stored in the microwave. I cleaned right after eating , making sure that every utensil was in the correct place.

    My bag, at one of the corners of the house, was hung up to a hanger, empty of a few items. I restocked it with some snacks and a water bottle to make sure that I wouldn't be hungry and thirsty throughout the journey to the library.

    I was following my notes and thought process and as the time for the ball approached I had to get a guideline on how to break the curse or find someone powerful enough to do so. Since I was able to find the major clue at the library, I was hoping that I would be able to get the next one there. If it didn't go according to plan, I would have been able to relax.

    My backpack was ready , meaning that I was already set off. With my shoes on and my backpack on my shoulders, I made my way out of the mansion, passing through the small front garden trail and getting out of its fence.

    Walking along the street; the street, and the pavement for pedestrians was the same thing in this rich neighbourhood, I was startled from a honk , clearly a sound made by a car. I turned to see from where it was coming, and a familiar car approached me.

"Hello, Mr. Long Cloak!"

A smile crept on my face. The car had stopped beside me.

"Good morning"

    It was Soobin and Kai, the neighbours that I had met about a month or so ago. They had offered to give me a lift at the time, and thus creating a sort of acquaintance towards each other. Following that day, I saw them every morning, exchanging a few greetings and a few conversations.

    They usually worked at their coffee shop that they opened on the other side of town, since it had been a dream from their childhood. They were childhood sweethearts, dating for 5 years, making a living by serving coffee and treats. They often talked about their roommates, about three guys in their house. They felt a bit lonely in their big house and wanted to do something good, so they had 3 university students. The source of all their chaotic stories.

    I waved them goodbye as they headed to their job, and I walked towards the train station, waiting along with the crowd; students, teachers, workers with faces resembling zombies.

    We were waiting for the train which, not even five minutes later, arrived. The passengers got off, allowing us to get in quickly.

    The train was packed but, funnily enough, I had so much space around me. I didn't mind, though, as I preferred the distance in this current situation.

    I arrived at the library, following the map instructions that I found at the train station, and headed in. The building from the outside resembled a sort of diplomatic house, but the inside was cosy and modern. The front desk was at the end of the room and by the sides there were escalators going up and down, a label at the bottom indicating the genres that you will be able to find.

    I went to the left, the part marked non-fiction, hoping that I would be able to find the history section and get some answers.

Strolling through the shelves, I ended up at the history section.

    The history section was decorated with brown and dark green colours , resembling the ancient ruins found by archaeologists . It seems that it was an attempt to lure people in the shelves to spark an interest into the old times of the world.

    I ventured in further, reading the book titles, with my head tilted to the side, for an efficient and quick trip.

    I heard a buzzing sound as I passed through a few books with the authors named "B", ignoring the sound, but the buzzing got louder , and so close to that I stopped to see if it was someone's phone.

No one was in the aisle.

    Taking a few steps forward, while continuing my search, triggered a weird event. A vibration against my thigh stopped me and I looked down at my cloak. My cloak had pockets but adding things to it would have made it heavier and more difficult to war around.

    With my hands, I reached into the pocket to find the small compass I had found at my mother home's library.

    The hands of the compass were moving like crazy, and then settled into direction. I followed my instincts, but led to a specific part of the history section of unnamed authors. Then, as I placed it close to the book title, it directed me to a book.

    The book in question was normal, no drawing, no names, just plain brown books and as if I liked the cover over, it was dedicated to whoever might find it . I decided to take it along with me, but that meant to register along with the library, which meant leaving traces of my presence here. It was time to do something drastic that I would have never thought of doing.

It was time to steal the book.

    Looking around to see cameras , there weren't any in this part, which meant it was easy to slip on the book into my backpack and cover it with the snacks and water and my journal.

    The compass had stopped vibrating, but I still went through the shelves to see if there was anything that might have helped me in the unknown author sections. Flicking through the pages of many books, none of them gave the information I needed.

    Declaring that I had seen enough, I made my way out , with my anxiety reaching my throat , praying not to get caught.

    Just as I was going to step out, someone called me out. I turned around to see a security guard approaching me.

His hand held to have my compass, I thanked him and headed out with a sigh of relief.