Chapter One

The Price of Innocence
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The sun was sitting high up in the sky, shining brightly and giving life to every living being its rays could hit. It was perfect weather to go out and Ariella didn’t waste a second.

  With her dark sun kissed skin and glowing gold locks, she slowly made her way through the crowded market as she was heading straight for the book store. For weeks now, she had waited for mr. Hwang to return from the capital with a new set of books she could buy from him. The thought brought a small smile to her pink lips and she bit her lip to hide her excitement inside of her, reading was one thing she wouldn't be able to live without and she was dying to get a hold of some new books.

  She hurried her pace the more excited she got, but the further into the market she would go, the more crowded it was and she struggled to brush past all the people who didn’t pay attention to her trying to get through. Everyone was just busy either conversing with others or looking for goods for themselves, not caring if they were standing in the way of someone else. But Arielle still tried to push through them as carefully as she could.

  She heaved a deep sigh in relief once she made it out of the people mass and into the corners of the market where the small and unpopular stores were placed. She pushed the door to the bookstore open and was immediately greeted by the amazing smell of books.

 

‘’Ah my darling Ariella,’’ mr.Hwang’s kind voice spoke as he sat by his desk, smiling at her. He put down the book he held in hand and slowly stood up. ‘’Your books are here.’’

 

Mr.Hwang placed a box on his desk and Ariella curiously hurried up to him to peek inside - and she was definitely pleased, and more excited than ever to get home to the farm and consume herself in the books. She quickly pulled out the little money she had in her pocket and handed it to mr.Hwang before she grabbed the box and did a quick curtsy to him.

 

‘’Come back soon beautiful.’’ Mr.Hwang chuckled from behind as Ariella happily skipped out of the store with her new books.

 

But she didn’t get very far on her way out of the building as she accidently walked into another person who didn’t seem happy about it.

  Ariella dropped the box in her hand and stood horrified as the tall man dressed in a clearly expensive suit slowly turned around.

‘’Are you blind?’’ He spat as he looked down at her who had her head lowered in fright. ‘’Yah I’m talking to you-’’

She bit her lip and hesitately looked up at him, and when her scared eyes met his, he stopped talking but kept his mouth open as if he still had a lot to say. But he only exhaled a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. ‘’I’m sorry. That’s wasn’t the right way to speak to a young lady, I didn’t mean to scare you.’’

  Ariella nodded and weakly smiled at him before she bent down to pick up her books, but he beat her to it. ‘’This is a lot of books.’’ He said as he neatly placed each book back in the box without letting her help him. And she sat there, stunned by the man’s sudden change in behaviour.

  When he noticed the way she was looking at him, he smiled and looked at her with a soft look on his face. ‘’Wow I must’ve really scared you huh,’’

She shyly looked down and gulped which left his small smile grow slightly bigger.

  ‘’I’m just really stressed you see,’’ he chuckled as he packed down the last book in the box. ‘’My family just moved here, and my parents are throwing this big ball in a couple of days, to get to know the entire village.’’

 

They both stood up again, and she quickly took the box from his hands without looking at him, and he stood trying to find her eyes again.

 

‘’I’m Sehun by the way. Oh Sehun.’’

 

She carefully looked at him again, with sad eyes that left him wondering why she held a small smile on her face, but she was just trying to be polite. And before he could open his mouth to talk again, she quickly did a curtsy before brushing past him to head back home.  

 

‘’Wait!’’ She heard him call from behind. ‘’Will I see you at the ball?’’

 

But she had already left without even once turning around.

 

 

 

 

‘’Ari! Ari!’’ Leona yelled as she happily ran out to the horse pen, to Ariella who sat leaning against an old oak reading one of her new books.

  Ariella put a finger over the sentence she was reading and looked up at her little sister in curiosity.

‘’Ari, papa says to get dressed for the grand ball on the Chatsworth tonight. The entire village is attending.’’ Happiness was practically pouring out Leona’s eyes, but Ariella could only nod at her and shoo her away. She wasn’t as excited for such social gathering, and the only thing reaching her mind was that man Oh Sehun. He had mentioned that his parents were holding a ball and she now realized that it was his family that had moved into the Chatsworth mansion that laid on the land next to her fathers.

  A sudden feeling of warmth reached her face and she puffed a raspberry at the thought of meeting him again, she felt shame for making him, an aristocrat, pick up her books for her.

  Ariella glanced over to her right and looked at the grand mansion Chatsworth, that was the biggest house in the village, and wondered how rich Oh Sehun really was - probably very rich. The size of her fathers land was minimal in comparison to the Chatsworth’s, but of course, her family were just plain farmers after all.

  From where she sat, she could see how maids and guards were decorating the mansion, and she swore her eyes caught the sight of Oh Sehun standing in the garden as well. But it could be her imagination playing tricks on her.

‘’Ariella get in her and get dressed now!’’ Her fathers voice suddenly reached her ears and quickly got up from the ground and jogged back to the house to get ready.

 

After an hour of fixing herself, Ariella sat in front of the mirror watching her reflection as Leona was braiding her long hair back.

‘’Wow.’’ Leona smiled and met eyes with Ariella though the mirror reflection, and Ariella gave her a confused look. ‘’If not all men end up falling for you tonight I have no judge of men or their just blind.’’ Leona chuckled and hugged her sister from behind.

  Ariella couldn’t help but to crack into a wide smile as she took her sister's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze before she kissed it. It wasn’t that Ariella was a shallow person, in fact she wasn’t very aware of her radiating beauty, but whenever her sister spoke to her, she would speak with love. And that love was more important to Ariella than anything else in the world, she loved her sister more than life.

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serenity2012 #1
Chapter 2: Hmmm I noticed there no comments. I like you story.and hopefully sehun will talk to her