Cinderella's Fate | 🤍 seongjoong 🤍

Chapter 27 part 3

Seonghwa's POV 

    The next two days were spent lazing around, too depressed to do anything productive. And the news was always the same, talking about the delay and the rumours that some insiders were able to provide to news outlets. Nothing about Hongjoong.

    I would spend my days reading through my mother's diary to make sense of the curse, anything that allowed me to continue to have feelings, to keep the feelings for the prince. I thought it over again, still stuck.

    Mingi forced me out of the room at one point so that I could get some fresh air. We went for a picnic at the park. The food was delivered to the park, and we ate in silence. Mingi was probably dying to ask me questions, but he was such a good friend that he didn't want to upset me further.

So I did the asking, keeping it as vague as possible.

"So, what you are asking is if someone you weren't supposed to fall for was worth chasing, even when it would do more harm than good?"

I nodded, adding that it would disappoint my family and create chaos in the future.

Mingi looked at me with gentle concern.

"You're going through a lot, Hyung!" he whispered, a sigh came right after before he answered the question, "Well, what matters to you the most: family or love? Depending on your answer, that should be your decision."

    Silence filled the air once again. I had been thinking about the same thing over and over, part of me wanting to be selfish and pursue whatever I had with Hongjoong, even if it had ended up in friendship. However, the logical side of my brain told me that I had worked too hard for this to just give it all up for one person with an uncertain future.

"Honestly, if the journey was the solution to helping out your family, then I think you should keep going with it. If the guy liked you enough, he should understand that your family comes first."

I looked at Mingi in wonder.

How did he get so wise?

"Hey! Don't look at me like that, Hyung. Even though I can't see your face, I know you're judging my mental intelligence," he said with a fake glare.

     I don't know what came over me, but I laughed. Hard. Rolling on the blanket, clutching my stomach as I tried to regain air into my lungs with how hard I was laughing.

"I'm happy to see that you're better, Hyung."

Mingi hugged me, and we stayed like that until we went home.

    The next day I was feeling better. Yunho and Mingi had prepared dinner since I wasn't feeling up to it.

   I had come to a decision, and I was going to go to the forest as a way to say goodbye before putting my whole being into successfully getting the curse out of my life.

   The next morning, I was at the forest. Arriving there was simple, since I had memorized the path and got used to the random bushes and branches that made me trip a few times. I got to my usual spot, hoping that I could stay on the large rock before preparing for a journey to find the witch. And I did, sitting down, looking at the water rushing down the riverbed in a calm, continuous movement of waves.

   Concentration broke when I heard my name being called out. I ignored it at first, but it got persistent. I looked around, and my eyes widened. It was Hongjoong. Panic soared through me, and I scrambled up from my seat, trying to get far away from him.

"So excited to see you," he said.

"Leave."

"What?"

"I SAID LEAVE."

"Why?"

"You lied to me. Why didn't you tell me you were a prince?"

"I thought you knew."

"I didn't. If I did, I wouldn't have kept hanging out with you."

"Why? Did our family do something to you? Give me names and they will repent."

"That's not the reason, and you know why."

"I don't," hand up in defence, "I wouldn't hold a huge secret."

"Well, you hid your identity."

"Funny you say that. You haven't told me anything about yourself."

"I thought you were okay with that? Were you also faking your personality too?"

"No, no, I just—"

"Enough! This is the last time I will be seeing you. Stay the hell away from me."

"Seonghwa, let me explain."

"There is nothing to explain, we're done."

    I walked away, part of me wanting to turn back to look at Hongjoong, but I resisted. I walked back to the station, thinking, "so much for peace and quiet," and made my way back with a pang of guilt and my heart heavy with sadness. Once I got off the stop, I  realized that I had a tear fall from my left eye. I wiped it away and made my way back home. I went straight upstairs. It's not like anyone could stop me since there was no one in the house.

I got food, went to bed, sighed thinking, and fell asleep.

    I was woken by knocking on my door announcing dinner. I got up, freshened up, and went downstairs. There was a huge meal waiting. Yunho had outdone himself. Mingi had helped and directed me to my seat, pulling the chair and all.

    Surprised, I looked at them confused, but did not question it. They always seemed to be happy around each other, and part of me hoped they were happy to have my company as well. We ate the big meal, Mingi talking about what he did today. A house husband with a large husband, so he spent his time with a few friends and shopping as well. Yunho talked about his job as a secretary and complained about his boss who was always leaving him with so much work to do, and his coworkers' funny antics.

   The night was great, so we decided that a film should follow up. We turned on the TV, and there was news.

Regional news, where they presented the current updates on the most recent news now at 10 o'clock. The page moved to show Hongjoong's face.

The prince had made a statement about the ball to a news team.

"WE ARE Cancelling THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE BALL, AND WE WILL CONTINUE AS SCHEDULED."

"So the ball will be held next week?"

"Yes, the ball will commence next week, just as originally proposed." A serious look on his face, he looked so empty.

The screen goes back to the news anchor, who goes into detail about the reputation of the ball and the speculation of the public regarding this new statement.

"It seems that the prince had already chosen his bride, so is this a ploy to make fun of the OUR daughters?"

"The prince seems to want to help his family out since his parents are at the age of retirement."

"The original postponement may be due to celebration decorations and not enough particulars, since the prince is not well known."

    I zoned out after that. With the new announcement and the events of today, I realized that I truly messed with the curse, and it was playing a joke on me. A cruel joke.