April 2012 – 16 years old

The third year of high school was when you could start going to the annual ball that the school held. It had been a tradition since the school was founded. Everyone dressed up in fancy dresses of sleek tuxedos for an evening of eating and dancing. The main event of the night would be the king and queen of the ball, the students would vote for their favorite pair of people and they’d be crowned at the ball.

Dances weren’t really my thing but all of my friends were going so I guessed that meant I was going to have to go as well. Three weeks before the dance Taeyong came to school with a bouquet of flowers that he handed to me. Everyone in school knew he was going to ask me but the real question was what he would do to ask me to the dance.

“These are for you,” Taeyong said smiling at me. By now a crowd had sort of formed in the hallway to see what Taeyong was going to do. I took the bouquet of flowers as Taeil took out his phone and an instrumental started to play through the speakers it was connected to.

Taeyong took a deep breath before looking at me beginning to perform the song that he had created for me. I stood there with Jaehyun clutching my arms as I listened to the sweet lyrics Taeyong had created.

            This is to Daewon the love of my life. D is for the way you leave me in a daze every time we kiss. A is amazing every time your arms are around me. E is for the excitement I feel when I am with you. W for wonderful cause that’s just what you are. O is observant the way you always know how I’m feeling. And N is for never let me go cause I want to be with you forever and ever.

            I’m asking you today with this bouquet and song. The dance is coming up in a few weeks and I want to be your prince. Will you accept my hand and be my date to the ball?

When the song was over he looked at me with hopeful eyes. I smiled at him before hugging him tightly as the whole hallway erupted into loud cheers. He kissed me on the lips and I kissed him back.

“Of course I’ll go to the dance with you,” I said looking at him. “As if there was anyone else I’d want to go with.”

Over the weekend Taeyong and I went to go tuxedo shopping. I picked him up and we drove to the mall where the closest tuxedo shop was. Taeyong wanted to have an all black tuxedo where I wanted there to be purple accents for the bowtie and pocket square.

“Can’t we just get purple for those?” I asked as we stood in the mirror in the tuxedos. “It looks nice with a little bit of color.” I turned to look at him pointing to the purple bowtie. “I like it. Please?”

Taeyong looked me over looking at the bowtie and the pocket square. He turned to look in the mirror one last time. I waited as he pondered over the color in his head. Finally he turned to look at me before taking my hands.

“Okay,” Taeyong said smiling lightly. “We can get the purple to go with the tuxedos.” I smiled as the two of us hugged each other tightly. “This is going to be one of the best dances ever, I can’t wait to spend it with you Daewon.”

The day of the dance I spent the majority of the day getting ready for tonight. My mom sat me down in the kitchen as she tried styling my hair in different hairstyles. I was debating whether I wanted my hair down or spiked up.

“Both styles look great on you,” mom said as she looked at me running her hair through my bangs. “But it’s really up to you on what hair style you want. I’m sure Taeyong will like either one on you.” I nodded my head looking at myself in the mirror I was holding. With my hair down I looked younger with a sort of boyish charm. But with my hair up I looked more mature and had a bad boy image to me.

“I think I’ll go with my hair up,” I said finally deciding on what I wanted to do. “It looks different from how I usually have my hair. It’ll be a nice change.” My mom nodded her head as she ran a towel over my hair before getting the hair gel back out to style it up again. “How did you get so good at styling hair?”

“I spent a few years as a hair stylist,” mom answered as she rubbed the hair gel in her hands. “I was quite good at it but I found out it just wasn’t for me.” She ran her hands through her my hair styling it upwards. “And then I found my true passion, which was working at the library surrounded by books. That’s why you like reading so much it’s in your genes.”

After my hair was done being style I went upstairs to put in my contacts. My parents had gotten me contacts after years of me asking for them. During school I usually wore my glasses but today was special so I decided I would wear my contacts. Leaning down over the sink I slowly placed the contacts in my eyes blinking to set them in place.

“Perfect,” I said smiling at myself in the mirror. I didn’t think I was handsome but for some reason, maybe it was because of the dance but I thought I looked really nice. The spiked up hair style with the contacts made me look almost like a different person. I put my glasses in their case before leaving the bathroom.

I started putting on the tuxedo dancing around the room to some music. Once the tuxedo was on I did one last look at myself in the mirror. Any minute and Taeyong would be here. I smiled at my reflection before turning the music off to head downstairs to wait for him.

“Look at you handsome!” my dad exclaimed clapping me on the back. “Daewon you look so handsome!” My mom ran into the room with her phone snapping pictures of us. Dad wrapped his arm around me as we smiled for my mom. After that my mom took her picture with me.

“He’ll be here any minute,” I said looking at the door with anticipation. Soon the doorbell rung and my dad went to open it. Taeyong was in his tuxedo and he looked like a prince. I felt my breath get caught as he entered the house. He looked me over before widening his eyes. “Hello.”

“Daewon,” he said looking at me some more. “You look incredible. And your hair is different.” He pointed to my head smiling. “Wow, just here.” He handed me a plastic box with a purple flower in it. “To match with the rest of the purple.” He took it out before placing the flower in my tuxedo jacket pocket. “Perfect.”

“Picture!” mom yelled. Taeyong and I stood next to each other smiling as she snapped a picture of us. “Okay be more romantic now, it’s not like you haven’t been dating for almost two years now.”

I rolled my eyes as I wrapped my arms around Taeyong hugging him. We turned to face the camera with huge smiles on our faces. Once the pictures were done we said goodbye to my parents heading outside where a car was parked in front of the house.

“Surprise,” Taeyong said waving his hands in the air. “I got my driver’s license and was waiting for the right moment to tell you.” I smiled planting a kiss on his lips before he escorted me down opening the door for me. “My prince.”

“Thank you,” I said getting into the car. He got in as we drove off to the building where the ball was going to be held. The whole way there we held hands occasionally stealing glances at each other.

I’d never seen Taeyong look more handsome in my life. Everyday he was stunning but tonight he was like a work of art. He looked so great in the tuxedo with his hair styled up and to the side. I got a closer look and saw the faintest bit of eyeliner around the corners of his eyes making them pop a little bit.

“You look amazing,” I said at a stoplight. “I keep getting reminded why I’m so lucky to have you.” He leaned over as we kissed. The car behind us honked as we pulled away at the green light. “I love you.” He looked over at me briefly kissing my hand.

The ball was being held in a fancy building downtown. The main floor was converted into the dance floor where a DJ was set up playing music the whole night. Over the side were two huge tables decked out with various foods; buffet style. We found a table with Mark, Johnny, Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun stuffing our faces with food.

“Who do you think will be crowned the king and queen of the ball?” Doyoung asked looking around at the other tables. “I already know who I voted for.” He smiled slyly at Jaehyun who nodded his head. Taeyong rolled his eyes throwing a piece of bread at the two of them.

Leading up the ball our friends had teased us constantly saying they were voting for us as the king and king of the ball. They were determined to make history and have our school crown the first same couple at the ball. It was a nice gesture from all of them showing how supportive and loving they were of our relationship.

The crowning of the best couple would occur after a few hours of dancing. I wasn’t a huge fan of dancing but Taeyong insisted on dancing so I followed him and the others to the dance floor. The DJ was playing some hard-hitting beat as rap music played. Everyone knew that at dances everyone liked dancing close to each other to rap music. The teachers didn’t like intimate dancing but after thirty minutes they’d given up and just let us dance however we wanted.

I watched as Mark and Johnny immediately got a circle surrounding them as they unleashed their dance moves. Both of them had been taking hip-hop dance classes and were pretty great at dancing. The way their bodies were able to move so smoothly to the music was amazing to watch.

“Go Taeyong!” Taeil yelled. “Go Taeyong!” Pretty soon everyone was chanting Taeyong’s name as Jaehyun pushed him into the circle. Taeyong immediately began to dance along to the music getting cheers. He too was a great dancer. I smiled proudly cheering for him the loudest.

“Daewon!” Doyoung yelled. Everyone began to yell my name urging me to go forward into the circle. I saw Mark nodding his head as Taeyong offered me his hand. I shook my head feeling embarrassed from all the eyes on me. Johnny pushed me lightly into the circle as everyone watched me.

I’d never taken dance classes in my life. The only thing I did as a kid was taekwondo, which I guess was kind of like dancing depending on what you did. I took a deep breath before remembering some moves as I moved to the music. I just did a few basic spins and kicks in the air but that impressed everyone.

Taeyong grinned at me before grabbing my hands as everyone resumed dancing. I wrapped my arms around him as we danced with our bodies together. When the rap music was over the DJ began to play some slow romantic song to change the pace a bit. Johnny, Doyoung, and Taeil left the dance floor as Taeyong and I rocked slowly back and forth to the music.

We looked over seeing Mark and Jaehyun laughing as they slow danced with each other. They shot us a playful look as they continued to have fun on the dance floor. Taeyong rested his head against my chest as we swayed lazily to the overly cheesy love song playing through the speakers.

Towards the end of the night the student council president took the stage holding the envelope with the names of the ball’s king and queen. Next to him stood the vice president holding the two crowns. The music was turned off as everyone turned their attention to the two of them.

“Thank you all for making this a fantastic dance,” the student council president Kim Taehyung said smiling. “I am honored to announce the king and queen of the dance.” He opened the envelope unfolding the letter. “So our king is Lee Taeyong!” Everyone screamed as the spotlight found him. He walked up onto the stage as Taehyung put one of the crowns on top of his head. Now he truly looked like a prince, no wait king.

“And,” the vice president Jeon Jungkook said stepping to the microphone. “To accompany the king, is not a queen, but indeed another king. By a huge landslide vote these two were voted by the majority of you all. Our other king of the ball is Jung Daewon!” He clapped his hands as the spotlight moved over before I was standing in it.

I felt Mark and Doyoung patting me on the back pushing me towards the stage. I made my way up the steps before Jungkook placed the other crown on top of my head. Taehyung and Jungkook stepped aside as another slow, romantic song began to play. The spotlight to the stage and it was like we were in our own world on stage.

“May I have this dance?” Taeyong asked giving me his hand. I nodded my head before taking his hand. We wrapped our arms around each other as we began to slow dance with each other. The room around us cheered and clapped for us. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said smiling at him. We continued to dance on stage looking into each other’s eyes basking in the spotlight as we danced in the only light in the dark room.

July