Chapter 1: Meeting the Ice Princess

My god, this is boring.

I leaned against the wall and swirled the contents of my glass before taking a sip. The ice rattled against the glass. This kind of wine was pretty nice, but too much of it and I feel that you can throw me into the sea and I wouldn't sink. I would probably float all the way to Antarctica with no problem. Too much gas.

My right foot tapped to the beat. I couldn't help it; the song was too catchy. But on the other hand, the music was so loud that I didn't see how people were supposed to socialize. Well, maybe socialize in the way that you are forced to put your mouth so close to the other person's ear that you're tempted to chew them off, like what those couples were doing right in front of me. Tss.

I shifted my gaze over the bobbing human heads trying to catch a glimpse of my blonde friend.  Nope, she’s nowhere to be found.

I let out another sigh. I think I've done my duty as a friend well enough. In fact, Hyoyeon should feel bad about leaving her best friend to stand around and blend into the wallpaper.

Well, to be fair, there were a couple of brave souls who decided to sidle up to make conversation. Only to find out that yours truly did not understand a shred of what they were saying. I wasn't sure whether I should be amused or embarrassed at the way they tried to gesticulate and get their point across. In the end, they give up.

They always do.

You see, I'm half-Korean. My dad is American and my mom is Korean. I grew up in States.  Anyway, for reasons which I'm too lazy to go into, this was the first time I was visiting South Korea. And while I speak English, French, Japanese and even a matter of Chinese, I speak no Korean. Nope. Not a squeak. Unless you're referring to the Annyeonghaseyo thing. But I'm sure that that would have been part of the dictionary of words you should know unless you live on Mars.

It didn't help that I wasn't really comfortable with being stared at. I mean, to the Korean’s credit, they don't really look at you in a way like they are scrutinizing some other-world species.

Moving on…

Well that's it Hyoyeon. You're on your own tonight. I finally lifted my head as I adjusted my shirt. I'm going to go back to your apartment and eat every damn thing you have in your fridge as punishment.

I looked at the crowd for the last time.

But then…

My attention just caught something…

That's when I saw her.

She spun her head around quickly, making me wonder whether she had been looking at me earlier. In any case, the brief glance I had of her before the crowd closed together like the red sea was intriguing enough. Maybe because I was really bored, I actually tipped my toes and arched my neck to the side to see how she looked like over the dancing crowd.

And I nearly choked. She was... really, really hot.

A walking paradox. Her hair was long and the color of brown, but as it cascaded down her back it shone like a river. Her skin was pale yet luminous. Her features were delicate… yet sharp enough to break your heart. Plus, she was wearing this elegant black number that had a slit so high that it should come with a health warning (for the onlookers). Too bad the place was too dimly lit; I couldn't really see her eyes.

As I stood at the other side of the room gawking, she was approached by a man who was oozing swagger without actually moving. And I witnessed the glare she gave to said man. It was as if he was turned into an ice sculpture right away. He tried to swagger off, but with his frozen movements, it looked more like he had something stuck up his . It was quite funny, really.

She turned to face my direction.

I smiled a big one.

Only for her to shoot a glare at me as well.

What?! My charm-your-pants-off smile that I always use to get myself out of trouble has failed?!

Ouch, ego bruised. But no matter, my mother had trained me so well that an ogre can breathe in my face and I would just go "pfft". I just gave her an amused look and went to set my glass down on the side table. She looked confused for a moment, to my secret satisfaction. But three seconds later, she was accosted by another person.

I decided that I should make my exit.

Ah, okay. How to get out of this humongous mansion... I couldn't believe that the place was so big and packed that I couldn't find the door. Which reminds me, I wasn't actually invited to this party. Hyoyeon, who seemed to have been in Korea forever, had been invi