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Anneyeonghashipnikka! I have another update for you guys!

Thank you for all your wonderful comments and suggestions! Reading them makes me want to write more and more!

I will do my best to update the story.

I hope you like it! =)

                                                                                                                                                                             Your author-nim,

                                                                                                                                                                            Pepperflakes

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CHAPTER NINE

SEEING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

The next morning, Sulli woke up. Thankfully her rashes were gone, but her head hurts and her eyes were sore and puffy from crying all night; but despite going through all those things, her head and heart had never been clearer. She realized that Minho will never fall in love with her. Her eyes were finally open to the fact that she was not his princess. She never was and she never will be. Even up to now, her realization kept hurting her. Tears began to fill her eyes again, but she brushed them off. She will fight the pain.

She has a new plan, and this plan would be for the better. She made a mental note of the steps.

#1: She will stop day dreaming about Minho.

#2: She will stop thinking of him as her prince.

#3: Focus on other things to keep her mind from thinking of him.

#4: Control her jealousy. He doesn’t care if she gets jealous. It even makes him happy. Don’t give him the contentment when he sees you getting jealous!

#5: She would honor their agreement that they will only be husband and wife on paper. This means that no one will meddle with each other’s affairs and that both would stay away from each other unless it is very necessary.

Sulli was tired. She’d been running after and wooing Minho since she was a little girl. She always tried her best because she wanted to know how it feels to have him hold her hand while walking, to know how it feels to have Minho look at her with all his love in his eyes, and to know how it feels to wake up every morning tucked safely in his arms. But through the years all she got from him were icy glares filled with scorn; and commands that she must always walk a few steps behind. She realized last night that those beautiful things would only remain as part of her imagination. She would never know how it would feel. Minho always reminds her at every turn that she doesn’t have the right to know how it feels.

 Even though she agreed that Minho and Krystal could keep seeing each other even after they were married, she had not expected that they would keep rubbing their blissful relationship on her face. That was exactly what they have been doing since after their wedding; and her heart and hopes sank everytime she sees them happy. She was a strong person and she was very determined to make their marriage work, but last night was her last straw.

She’d had enough.

Her new plan is what Minho always wanted. He will be absolutely happy when he would not be able to cross paths with her. She will make it sure that she would no longer meddle with his affairs by keeping herself away from him. She will be absolutely miserable, but she will fight the pain. It will be for his benefit and hers as well. It may hurt her right now, but someday, she will get used to it.

She took a deep breath.

Somehow she felt light and free from the reins that kept her by Minho’s side all these years. The Minho that she loved was only a figment of her imagination. The kind and caring Minho that she imagined will never come to existence. Well, at least for her. Minho was very kind and caring to other people; especially girls. He had a reputation of being a gentleman, but not to her. Like what he said many times before, it will never be her.

[Sulli’s POV]

 “I can do this. I gotta to do this. Fighting!” I said to myself.

Then suddenly..

Omo! I forgot! Today was the charity event at Little Hands Orphanage! I must get dressed!

Sulli got ready in no time. She missed doing charity work. Married life and college studies had taken too much of her time. It was a good thing that she’s finally giving up on her married life. She can now focus on other more important things. Most of all, she missed the children at Little Hands Orphanage.

Charity work at the orphanage was her bonding time with her mother. Sulli was an only child, and she loved having lots of children around her so she can pretend that they were her brothers and sisters. She’s been doing this for as long as she can remember. She felt giddy all of a sudden. A day full of games and children’s laughter was exactly what she needed to brighten up her day.

Sulli walked out of their apartment building and hailed for a cab. She did not wait for Minho to wake up since charity works were not his thing. He never went to the orphanage, so Sulli thought that this is one great escape for her so she would not see him. Although she has her new plan firmly established, she still feels the pain everytime she thought of or saw Minho. Just before living their unit, she passed by their wedding photo and tears began pooling in her eyes again. She has to move that photo away from her line of sight. Minho wouldn’t mind anyways.

Sulli stared out the cab’s window as it sped along the street. Starting from today, everything would be different.

[A few hours later, back at their apartment]

Minho woke up. He checked the time on his phone. Whoa! It was 11:00AM. Aigoo! He slept so late last night. He felt so guilty about what he did to Sulli and when he heard her sobs coming from her room, he felt even worse. He wanted to check on her, but he was embarrassed to look at her after what he did.

“Aish! You did not have to go that far Minho. You should not have told her those things. You should have listened to her when she said she can’t eat those oysters. Come to think of it, she looked rather uncomfortable the whole time you guys were at the theme park. You did not even bother to look for her when she was gone from the spot where you left her.” Minho scolded himself.

He got up and decided to check if Sulli’s rashes were gone.

When he opened her bedroom door, she was not there. So he looked for her in the kitchen and the living area. He even checked her bathroom. She was nowhere to be found. He got his phone and dialled her number.

*Ring.. Ring.. Ring.. Ring.. Ring..”

Her phone was ringing but she’s not answering.

Unknown to Minho, at that time, Sulli was already busy preparing for the charity event at Little Hands Orphanage.

He ate his breakfast and took a shower. He was going to look for Sulli today and he would apologize. She deserved an apology.

When Minho got out from the bathroom, he received a message from his appa.

To: Minho

From: Appa

Have you and Sulli arrived at Little Hands Orphanage? My meeting is not yet finished; please tell her that I’m going to be late. She’s not replying to my texts.

So... She’s at the Little Hands Orphanage. Minho thought as he sent a reply to his appa.

To: Appa

From: Minho

Ne, Appa. I’ll tell her.

He quickly typed the name of the orphanage on his phone so he can search for its location online.

Minho immediately got dressed. He put on dark blue long sleeves polo, and rolled up the sleeves to his elbows. He fixed his hair, went out of their apartment, got into his car and soon he was on his way to the Little Hands Orphanage.

He parked his car in front of an old house that serves as the orphanage. He was warmly welcomed by the staffs who were running the orphanage. He asked for Sulli, and he was informed that she was in the garden with the children.

While walking towards the garden, Minho pondered.

[Minho’s POV]

I never thought she has an interest in charity works. This activity doesn’t seem to be selfish at all. Come to think of it, she never nags, she never demands anything that would put more burdens on me, and she never complained about how I am making her life miserable. She’s just always smiling at me. Well, except for last night. I went overboard and now she's really mad.

Minho stopped in his tracks when a thought popped in his brain.

What if the spoiled brat Sulli was only a figment of my imagination?

He shook his head.

Ani! Krystal would never lie to me. It’s not in her nature to make up stories which aren’t true.

But what Minho saw after put more doubt as to the truth of Krystal’s stories. This made him more confused.

When he arrived at the garden, he saw Sulli with the children. He can’t believe his eyes! He was struck by Sulli’s radiance. She was laughing wholeheartedly with the children as she chased them around the grassy lawn. They were yelling her name and calling her as “Princess Sulli”.

But what made his heart melt was when a thin and scruffy little boy went to Sulli and she looked at him and took him in her arms, as if he is the cutest boy in the whole world; which the boy was not.

May be he will become cuter after a few baths and more than enough food. Minho thought.

“We are very thankful that we are blessed with Princess Sulli and her mother. They have done this at least once a month for a very long time.” One of the female orphanage staff told Minho as she caught him staring at her.

“You call her Princess Sulli?” Minho replied.

“Ah, yae. The first time that she went here with her mother, she asked us to call her Princess Sulli.” The staff reminisced with a wistful smile on her face.

The staff continued with her story. “Then when we asked her why she wanted to be called Princess, she told us that there was a prince who rescued her from a tree, and she wants to be a princess so that someday she would be fit for him. I hope you don’t mind me asking but are you the prince that she was talking about?”

Minho could not answer. He remembered that day. All he could do was look at her as she played with the children. He could not think clearly. His heart was beating faster and faster as he looked at her.

Was that her laugh? He'd never heard it before. Did she ever laugh while she was with him?

“C.. Cou.. Could it be that Sulli is beautiful inside and out? Why I haven’t noticed that before?” he said to himself.

Minho had a lot of things on his mind. Sulli had a lot of things to figure out. But one thing is for sure, they were seeing things differently.