“What?!” I woke up the next morning to the sound of my mother’s screech. I groaned, forcing myself to sit up from the hard floor.

Before I could stand, my mother burst into my bedroom. “Jaejoong!” She ran up to me with a vivid smile on her face. “You didn’t tell me that you’re going to the Winter Ball with Yunho?!”

“What?” I looked at her in confusion.

My eyes slowly widened as yesterday’s events came back to me. I looked to find Yunho leaning in the doorway. “Mom, no I-,” I looked back at her only to be met with the brightest smile I’ve seen from her yet.

I was stunned.

Her eyes twinkled as she waited for me to answer.

My shoulders dropped, “I guess. Yeah.” I finally said.

A joyous squeal escaped her lips. “This is wonderful!” She jumped back to her feet. “Jaejoong has never been to any of the season balls before.” She turned to Yunho.

I groaned; must she share every detail about me to him?

The fire prince raised a curious eyebrow at this.

“He doesn’t say why. He always refuses to go. But this’ll be a great experience for him. Everyone should attend at least one of the balls at least once in their lifetime. Thank you Yunho for getting him to go.” She thanked the prince graciously.

“Mom, it’s not that big of a deal.” I was beginning to grow embarrassed.

“Of course it is! Oh my! We don’t have much time to prepare. What are you going to wear? I have to get some threads.” She quickly left the room to begin her venture.

A sigh escaped my lips. “have you really never been to one of those ball things? It sounds like a big deal.” Yunho asked curiously.

I looked at him, a bit annoyed. “You know what those dances are like, it’s for nobles and royalty.”

He only shrugged, “They’re for everyone.”

“You don’t get it. You wouldn’t get it.” I frowned.

He scoffed and sat down on the ground next to me. “Try me.” He challenged.

I rolled my eyes. Everything is a game to him. “It’s expensive.” I finally said. “Too much goes into preparing and buying clothes and other unnecessary stuff. My parents don’t mind of course. But I don’t want to do that to them. I’m genuinely fine with not going. I prefer to celebrate the coming of the new season with my parents instead.”

“So, these ball things are for the seasons or whatever?” He questioned.

I nodded. I knew he knew nothing about them. “We have four major balls a year that’s open to everyone. They’re always held on the first day of the new season. Whenever the season changes, we have week-long celebrations to welcome the new season and hope for a successful fruitful season. We also celebrate the end of the past season and the good things that happened during that time.” I explained. “That’s why these balls are such a big deal. However, I enjoy the activities that I get to do with my friends and family.” A gentle smile graced my lips at the memory.

My smile slowly faded. “But now I have to go to this stupid dance.” I frowned at him.

“What?!” He looked at me in shock.

“This is your fault.” I accused.

“Yah! You were just being nice to me last night. What is this all of a sudden?” He was caught by surprise.

“Just because I was nice to you for a few hours doesn’t mean we’re friends. You still caused me a ton of problems.” I slipped out of my sleeping bag.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. “I have to get ready for my classes.” I didn’t have time to argue with him. Nor did I want to argue with him so early in the morning.

Thankfully the morning went in my favor. He didn’t bother me for the rest of the morning. It was a little strange that he was up so early, but I didn’t bother to ask.

“Umma, Appa! I’m leaving~!” I called when I finished getting ready. “Bye, travel safely!” My dad called from the back.

My mother ran to the front to hug me farewell. “do you have any specific colors you want to wear to the ball? I’m going to pick up some threads today.” She asked.

“It doesn’t matter to me. You can do whatever you want.” I told her.

This brought an enthusiastic smile to her lips. “I know just the colors to use. It’ll go well with your skin.” She beamed. “Umma, don’t work too hard.” I told her in all seriousness. “Don’t worry about me.” She brushed off. She gave me one last hug before allowing me out the house.

As soon as I stepped out the house, I was greeted by the jerk prince and his wagon, that was already set up to go. “You’re going back home?” I asked somewhat delighted.

“Nope. I’m taking you to the city in this.” He announced.

“I am not showing up to class in that.” I shut down.

“It’ll be easier bringing the wagon, so we can make deliveries faster and with less energy.” He argued.

“I am not going to class in that. It’ll bring too much attention. I’m fine walking.” I repeated, ignoring the fact that he said ‘we.’

We aren’t doing anything.

“Fine.” He grumbled. He unhinged the horse from the wagon and began to saddle the thoroughbred up.

“What are you doing?” I questioned. “We’ll just take the horse.” He said.

“Look, I appreciate yesterday’s ride, but I don’t need nor want a ride from you.” I clarified. Why was everything difficult with him?

A small grin grew on his lips. “Your parents wanted me to take you. Even your dad thinks it’s better than having you walk alone.” He said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t doubt his words but, “This was your doing.” I accused. I had no choice but to give in.

He shrugged.

“Fine, but I’m steering.” I walked up to him and the horse. I shoved my books in his hands and climbed onto the horse first. He climbed on behind me.

-

“We’re here.” I immediately climbed off the horse when we arrived. He did the same. “What are you doing?” I asked now worried.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to your class today.” He assured. “I have to go to the palace and see if Jiyong has any clothes that I can use for the next couple of weeks. He grumbled, clearly not excited about the trip.

I raised an eyebrow at this. “Okay then…well…I’ll see you later, I guess.” I said and quickly walked away first.

I was relieved that I won’t have to deal with him for the next few hours. However, I did wonder how he’d survive spending the day with Jiyong. He didn’t seem too pleased by the idea. And they didn’t seem like the likely pair to get along. I smirked at the thought, imagining how amusing it’d be.

“Hey you~…” Iseul greeted, sitting down in the desk next to mine. I returned the greeting. A grin was pinned on her lips. I was almost afraid to ask why she was smiling so hard. “What are you all smiley about?” I asked anyway.

“No reason.” She shifted comfortably in her seat. Before I could say anything else, our instructor entered the room. “Good Morning class.” She greeted. The rest of the us returned the greeting in unison. I pulled out my notes and prepared for the day’s lesson.

Class went on as usual. We reviewed the precious day’s lesson and finished up whatever left there was to cover. Class was always fun and intriguing for me. I enjoyed everything we learned. I enjoyed learning about new parts of our history and ability that we didn’t know and going into depth over things that we’ve known for years. Our instructor was strict, but she taught us so much and made the work interesting.

“Tomorrow we will be doing demonstrations. So, make sure you review everything we’ve learned, so that it’ll be easier for you to practice tomorrow. And make note of anything you want to learn to do, I’ll show you tomorrow.” She announced at the end of class.

An excited feeling overwhelmed me. This was always my favorite part of the class. We always spent a few days toward the end of the month, working on our skills based off everything we learned that month. And my instructor gave us the opportunity to ask her about things that we didn’t discuss or go in depth to in class.

“I have to go early.” Iseul stood up from her seat first. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.” She promised. I waved her goodbye as she hurried out the classroom first. I raised an eyebrow. For the past few days she’s been rushing out of class to get home early. However, I didn’t think much of it. I figured she’d tell us later on.

I stood up from my desk and gathered my belongings, preparing for the next half of my day. “Hey, Jaejoong.” Someone called my name.

I looked up to find Siwon standing in next to my desk. Embarrassment rose within me as the memories from yesterday came back to me. “I’m so sorry.” The words immediately slipped from my lips.

He looked at me a bit confused, but soon realized what I was talking about. He chuckled at this. “Please don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He assured me. But his words weren’t comforting. He was right, but I still felt terrible. “I just didn’t know you were acquainted with the prince from the Fire kingdom.” He said.

“I’m not!” I quickly denied.

He looked at me in surprise.

“I-It won’t make sense if I explain it. He’s just a jerk that likes to ruin everything.” I muttered the last part. He heard anyway and laughed.

“So, are you not going to the ball with him?” He finally asked.

My cheeks burned at his question. I knew what was coming next, depending on my response. “I guess I don’t really have a choice.” My shoulders dropped. Though he kept his gentle smile, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” I felt even worse than before.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad that you’ll be there. We’ll still see each other then.” He flashed a brighter smile.

I was taken aback by his response. Was he really that interested in me?

I was caught completely off guard when he asked me to the dance. He was from one of the wealthiest and powerful families in the nation. If not, the wealthiest family in the kingdom. He was the only son of the noble Choi family. He was known to be a gentleman. Everyone was basically in love with him, the way he carried himself, the way he spoke and interacted with others. Not to mention, he was also extremely handsome. People pretty much treated him like royalty. He was like the ideal, dream prince from the story books.

He was known to have never been in a relationship with anyone. He only had dates to balls or other special events, and most of the time it was because other people asked him out or his parents set up a date for him when they hosted events. He never asked anyone out before…until yesterday.

And it was ruined because of that jerk of a prince.

“I came because I wanted to apologize.” He spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Apologize?” That was the last thing I expected from him.

“I want to apologize for my Uncle’s behavior towards you yesterday afternoon, during your deliveries. I heard about what happened. His behavior was unacceptable.” He explained.

It took me a moment to process what he was saying. My eyes widened, “That was your uncle?”

He nodded reluctantly. “Unfortunately.” He sighed. “He has a really bad temper.”

“Oh.” Was all Ii could say.

“I would like to make it up to you.” He suddenly said.

“H-Huh? Oh no. you don’t have to do anything. Really, it was no trouble at all. It wasn’t your fault.” I quickly turned down.

“You deserve a proper apology. And I want to make it up to you.” He smiled.

I was stunned. “Um, okay.” Was all I could say, earning a chuckle from him. “You’re cute Jaejoong.” He commented.

A blush involuntarily burned my cheeks at the unexpected compliment.

“I bought a wagon for you to use to make your deliveries in, so you don’t have to carry them around and travel back and forth.” He finally said.

My eyes widened again at his words.

“It’s a small wagon, but I figured you didn’t want anything too big, so it would be easier to maneuver.” He continued.

I was lost for words. How did he know? Did he really put that much thought into it? How did he know I needed a wagon? I looked at him, only to be met with his assuring smile. “I-I can’t accept that. Yo