Time, Too Much

The press conference went swimmingly (Junmyeon's words, not Nayeon's), yet that didn't carry over to Nayeon's life. Not only was the boutique completely swamped with people by the time she arrived around nine to help Saerom out, but her parents were waiting for her with crossed arms, stern stares and tapping feet. Nayeon had forgotten about giving them a heads up about the news, but then she was barely thinking straight when she got into the car with Luhan that morning. Swallowing nervously Nayeon used the excuse of work to hold off the incoming speech from her parents.

After Nayeon's third customer she learned many of them there had seen the press conference and recognized the shop name the prince had said so they came by mostly to judge the boutique for themselves and try to get a glimpse of Nayeon. She was already an awkward person when it came to crowds of people, but now knowing there were all judging her made the girl ten times as self-conscious as she worked and with what she said which caused her to stammer far more than usual. By noon the flood of people had thinned enough that Saerom said that she could handle it and shooed Nayeon back to the office where her parents were waiting for her.

Before she left she looked to her soon-to-be sister-in-law and asked, “How come you haven't hounded me about the mark?” Nayeon hadn't changed after the conference and the crimson mark was in plain view for everyone to see, and everyone stared at it.

“I already knew,” Saerom hummed as she cashed out a customer.

“How?” Nayeon gaped.

“Jongdae, that and apparently the prince himself asked your friend to help him out with you, or something along those lines. Jongdae roped me in, now I won't be a housewife and I get to watch first hand a romance for the ages unfold,” she beamed at Nayeon, who blushed a deep red. “Now go before your mom blows a gasket or something,” she waved her off.

Nayeon dashed to Saerom's side and quickly crushed the girl into a hug. “Thank you.” Then she scurried off, still blushing, to the office where a long, loud scolding was waiting for her.

There was a lot of how could you's and why weren't we's yelled at Nayeon from her mother who was red faced only two minutes into the fifteen minute long speech. Nayeon could only hang her head and fidget as she waited for a long enough break to speak, but it didn't come. Her mother was extremely fired up and preaching she didn't have a daughter and that no child would keep such things from their parents. When she had finally gone hoarse from the shouting her mother coughed and grunted, but Nayeon was still not given the chance to explain. Now it was her father's turn to speak.

“Are you and the prince dating?” was all the fifty-seven year old man said. His voice deep and calm, by far the contrast to his wife's high shrill yelling.

Lifting her head Nayeon quickly answered, afraid her mom would start back up if given a stretch of silence. “No,” she shook her head. “No, sir, we're not dating.”

Her mother tutted with an eye roll. “This is just some elaborate ruse for attention. I don't know how you managed to get the prince to go along with this farce, but you need to end it now! Think about how this reflects on our family,” she hissed.

“Darling,” her father tried.

“No, I've heard enough,” her mom cut off briskly. Storming passed Nayeon she threw open the office door. “Fix this before you ruin the family name.” With that she left, door slamming shut behind her, Nayeon flinching at the finality of the noise.

Biting her lower lip Nayeon suppressed the tears that wanted to fall as she dared a glance at her father that was still seated at the office desk. He released a drawn out sigh as he heaved himself to his feet, his eyes not looking at Nayeon as he stepped around the desk. She felt her heart pumping sadly in as she waited for her dad to leave in disappointment wordlessly. She clenched her eyes shut trying to stay strong despite the ache of failure in her core.

“You should get a new dress,” her father suddenly said breaking the heavy atmosphere.

Nayeon's eyes flew open as she turned to her dad who was scratching the back of his neck. “Huh?”

“The queen's birthday celebration, the prince said you would be attending. Get a new dress,” he simply explained then he, too, left the office.

Too much had happened, too much to think about and it was barely noon on a Friday. Physically and more than emotionally exhausted Nayeon dropped onto the floor of the boutique's office and sobbed her eyes out. She cried because her mom clearly hated her, because Saerom was too nice, because Jongdae was the bestest friend she could ask for, because she wasn't fit to stand next to a prince and she knew it, because her simple life had gotten too complicated that Nayeon felt like she didn't know what to do anymore. Nayeon curled up into a tight ball just crying and crying until her sobs no longer held sound and she was a trembling mess.

Nayeon wasn't sure how long she was in the office alone, but it was long enough for Saerom to come looking for her and yelping in shock when she found the bawling girl on the floor. She was left alone again, Saerom couldn't leave the store unattended to console Nayeon, but sometime later someone else opened the door and they dropped down next to her on the floor.

“Hey,” Jongdae called gently. “You're gonna make yourself look puffy for tomorrow if you keep crying.”

Nayeon could only hiccup in response.

“Do you wanna go home?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I'll only take you if you promise to stop crying. People will only stare if I carry a sobbing girl down the street,” he said with a small smile.

“Oh,” she murmured in realization. Wiping at her eyes and tear streaked cheeks she shifted closer to her friend who wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a half hug. “I-I have to g-get a new dress,” she stammered with a sniffle.

Jongdae stared down at her in bemusement. “You want to go shopping right now? You, who buys everything online?”

“I need something for the queen's birthday tomorrow,” she explained.

“Oh, right. You're going to that,” Jongdae muttered more to himself than to Nayeon. A moment later he was hoppi