Left Me Wondering 

The atmosphere was crisp and clear. It felt like a relaxing weekend, with nothing to scurry about.

"Ya, wake up." The sound waves of one familiar human rips the soothing silence.

"Wake up." Vexed by the noise, my eyebrows automatically furry and my lips hug together.

"Quit blinking and wake up."

"GOSH, WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Those last words smack my self-control away ruthlessly and I spring up while hitting the bed.

With my eyes wide open I realize I've slept diagonally across the bed all night long and...Yeonni is sitting like a puppy on one of the open end corners. Staring right at me. His deep mesmerizing hazel eyes..grabbing me.

My lips quiver and tremble as I take one heavy swallow.

Yeonnis face suddenly transforms into Kai's without warning and a smirk is implanted on his face.

He then continues to smile like a player and s me towards him with a simple pull on my waist.

Kai leans in closer, as if it were possible at this moment without our lips touching eachother and blinks once. His blink was welcoming like the boy next door but his gaze afterwards sent signals of those of a man.

Kai's stare drifts away and is replaced by Taemin's cotton like aura.

I don't feel the powerful and racing hand rested in my waist anymore, but a heart melting and warming touch.

The corners of Taemin's mouth curve upwards, revealing that sunny smile. He my head once and tucks the stray hairs behind my ears. 

He leans in closer and locks his sight on my quivering lips. I can feel Taemin's body heat at this point and start to do my part and lean in.

Just one more millimeter...

"My mother wants to see you." He bursts in my room, popping my vivid dream.

"Why are your lips puckered?" Kai asks, strolling inside.

I place my hand on my mouth and feel my lips curving out.

"I'll be right out." I let out a heavy cough and slide the sheets over.

"You wanted to see me..?" I sheepishly ask Mrs. Lee.

"Ah, yes. Come in." She replies softly and gestures at me to take a seat.

"Kim Jieun? Is that right?" Mrs. Lee looks over the basic application I handed in.

"Yes, that's right."

"How are your grades in school?" I become tense early and twiddle my thumbs.

"They're currently at a good stance. I have all As in my seven classes." Answering with a slight vibration in my response, Mrs. Lee lets out a small laugh.

"Don't be afraid. I don't bite, haha." She pours a cup of warm tea and hands me the cup.

"What does your mother do?"

"She runs a ddukbukki stand. .."

"Ah, I see....I love ddukbukki. Well it was nice meeting you, Jieun.” Mrs. Lee sophisticatedly greets me goodbye and I bow to leave.

“That girl looks so much like Mike.” Mrs. Lee utters under her breath as she watched me walk away. Who’s Mike?

I walk towards my bedroom and planned on making a list on what I have to do today.

Eunseol told me I had to clean the ‘masters’ bedrooms and accompany them shopping. Shopping? Am I their bodyguard or something?

I call Eunseol over for a second to ask her a question. “Am I allowed to go back home to get the rest of my things?”

“Sure, if they’d let you. If miraculously they do, then you can go when you guys leave to shop.”

Great. That means if they say no, I would have to beg.

“Jieun, we’re ready to leave.” The walkie talkie startles me.

“What! Even if you’re ready doesn’t mean I am! You are grown people I’m pretty much sure you can leave by yourselves!” I pick up the device and shriek into it, without the response button pressed.

“But we are paying you.” Kai walks in my room with the talkie in his right hand.

“Aish..” I look back to see him giving me a condescending look, and turn my head back around.

“Be right out.” I mutter repulsively.

The chauffeur drops us off in front of the most sophisticated mall I have ever seen; it’s revolving doors were gold, the floor tiles marble.

“Thank you.” I bow my head to the driver.

“Have you ever been here?” Taemin asks me while matching up his walking pace with mine.

“Not..really.” I voice hesitantly.

“What are we shopping for?” Someone who looks like they’re in high school opens the door for us. I guess he’s the doorboy?

“A new suit. There’s going to be an event in the nearby hotel hosted by my father. He’s introducing a new line of luxury products and we have to come. Since it’s an unveiling of a new item, my father decided to make the event a masquerade.” Taemin explains gently. The whole time he spoke I just stared at his lips, reminiscing about my vivid dream earlier.

“Is there something on my mouth?” He touches his lips, concerned and I told him there was nothing.

“Oh..I see. Do you usually bring dates to the events?” I blurt out unexpectedly, not being able to hold back my curiosity on his private life.

“My sister usually accompanies us and we just stick together as a group most of the time.” He articulates as we enter the first store.

All the female employees dust their uniforms and fix their hair buns in a hurry when they spotted us walking in. The workers lined up parallel to each other, leaving us to walk through. Shoppers whispered among themselves and huddled together in groups, chatting vigorously and taking photos on their camera phones.

I spotted some of the name tags on the uniforms and noticed that many head managers came out to greet the Lee brothers.

“Is it always like this?” I scurry over to Taemin and ask him.

“Yeah, probably because their paychecks are signed by my father.” He said it so nonchalantly like all he was saying was his name.

“He...owns this…mall?” My steps shorten and my eyes grew bigger. Taemin just shoots me a subtle smile and turns the corner, heading towards the elevators.

“You didn’t know?” Kai’s voice pops up suddenly when we all gathered in the elevator. He also gives me a soft smile, as if what I said was something everyone knew.

We landed on the fifth floor and walked straight towards a suit boutique. The workers there also did the same thing as the employees on the first floor.

“Can we pick up our suits?” Taemin walks up to the cashier, who looked like her soul was shaking from seeing him. She left with a glowing grin on her face and scurried over to the back.

Kai and Taemin left for the fitting rooms as soon as she left, and right when they entered and closed the curtain, the lady walks out with two boxes and inserts them in the holes next to the fitting rooms.

A moment later Taemin comes out first and Kai followed shortly behind him. Both were wearing obscure yet high class outfits. Kai rocked a simple black blazer with pleather collars and a deep black button down while Taemin used a soft beige suit with a white button down and a skinny, sleek black tie.

Both of them posed in front of the mirrors and ed their jackets, inserting their hands in their pockets while pushing the ends of the suit blazer back.

“Like it?” Taemin turns around and struts towards me, then spins to give me a full look at his outfit.

I was only able to nod shyly from my loss of words.

“Let’s go.” Kai announces and starts heading for the door. I guess when he’s finished, eeeevryone has to leave.

“Jieun, do you want to accompany us to the event?” The nicer brother alarms me with a strong invite.

“What? Me?” I point my sole finger towards my face, leaning my head forward out of disbelief.

Kai stops and slightly turns his head to listen in while Taemin nods positively, answering my baffled words.

“I...don’t look good in dresses and I can’t. Won’t it ruin your image or something?” I remember the Jieun who hated these two guys, but my doors opened for Taemin. Not for Kai, not ever. I hesitated to say yes because Taemin was the one who asked, and he is the one I gained interest in.

“Nah. Come on, it’ll be fun.” Taemin starts to take out his phone and texts someone. “Let’s go.”

We arrived at the hotel, surpassing the infinite line of luxury cars which came to the event and then rode the private elevator for elite hotel members to a suite. The hotel’s theme was the neighboring puzzle piece of the mall, with its themes and overall layout being distinctly similar. Gold, high class and just overall dazzling in modern wealth.

“We’re here. I got a surprise for you.” Taemin beams while Kai remains clueless.

I was escorted inside the colossal suite and notice a tiny group of ladies. They had stacks of boxes next to them and a rack of dresses. Did Taemin…?

“Was this the text you sent?” I eyed him with amazement. He simply nodded and pushed me towards them, who then saw me and stood up.

“Do your magic.” Taemin verbalized.

Next thing I know, the brothers sat down on the leather couches reading a magazine while I was being forced into the master bathroom while the ladies touched my hair, skin and stared at me.

“Cha, hope this is close enough to your style.” The makeup lady stated while the hairdresser scooted me out the door.

I was thoroughly made over. Everything was refreshed with a new style. Before I had long, straight jet black hair with a blunt fringe, wore no makeup and I would just clothe myself in whatever was in my closet.

But in less than two hours, everything changed. My hair was now a dark, earth tone brown with puffy and clean bangs. The hairdresser also snipped some hair and made me layers. The old bare faced Jieun was thrown away in the trash and replaced with an Jieun that wore a tiny winged eyeliner, with sparkly eyeshadow and false lashes. Lips were a coral tone now that matched with the blush they applied.

The last thing after my French manicured nails was my wardrobe. A strapless, high-low dress hugged my body. The top was a glittery beige while my skirt flowed graciously in its light pink and off white color.

My shoes held a simple design. The thin platform was a gold color, with the rest of the stiletto heel being an eggshell color.

I tucked my hair behind my ear while I felt Taemin’s eyes monitoring my entire transformed body. I noticed my legs angled together when I looked down, not being able to match eyes with him.

“Is..this okay?” I muttered shyly.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah…” I never heard a Lee brother speak so shaky and…timidly. Without moving my head, I peek up and see Taemin’s jolt of awe stare but not seeing any signs of the other brother in the room.

We met eyes for one second and immediately diverted back to looking below.

After a long moment of silence, the hairdresser pushed me towards Taemin and told him to hand me my masquerade mask.

The mask had a long, slim pole attached to it for me to hold. The mask was pearly and feathery, matching my dress.

“And this…” Tonight’s prince had spoken broken words, but instead expressed himself with his actions. Taemin held up a dark velvet box that unveiled a thin golden necklace with a sole pearl hanging at the bottom. He started to walk towards me while putting the box down on the couch and rimmed his arms around my neck. He was putting the necklace…on me. I was completely oblivious as to what I should do with my arms. They stayed vertical the entire time. My heart on the other hand, was rebellious. The blinks progressed faster, and so did my gulping.

Not very experienced in this field, Taemin had trouble latching the necklace on. I could tell when I parted my hair back that some strands were jailed inside the loops of the accessory.

“Let’s go.” He gently held his arm out and I nervously linked it with mine.

The event was one I have never attended. Everything was new to me. All the guests were chatting, and not one of them was standing alone. In the blur of humans, I still couldn’t catch where Kai was. Taemin was nice enough to stay with me, even though his friend invited him to tag along with them. He just kept holding me with his shaky arm. All of his acquaintances questioned him on who I was. The entire time I would keep my mask on even though the majority of people had them down to converse. Whenever one of Taemin’s friends looked at me and asked Taemin of my identity, I would simply and gently lift the corners of my mouth and do a slight head bow. They couldn’t tell my nervous eyes looking at them through the mask.

BRRR-BRRR. My phone vibrated wildly in my clutch. My hands full, I looked at Taemin and then to our arms. He let out a small “Ah!” and let go. I was able to take the phone call from my mom in time.

“Hello?”

“Jieun-ya! I need help in the ddukbukki stand, a group of kids just arrived and more are coming!”

“Right…now?”

“Yes! Hurry! I don’t have four arms!”

Simply like that, my mom hung up. She expected me to help her, and I couldn’t deny.

“I’m sorry, I..I have to go.” I knew I was disappointing him and hesitated on saying I had to leave.

“Oh, it’s okay. Whatever reason it is must be important. Go on.” He smiled warmly at the end and was about to send me off when his first group of friends he declined showed up and dragged him in the sea of exquisite people.

I jogged to the door and bumped into a couple of people. There was just way too many guests in this party. Finally, I was able to arrive at the front door and exited out, tasting bitter regret.

Jieun held her clutch tightly and ran towards the door. Her presence was like the wind, noticeable yet ignored. But some people look up to see where the wind blows. Kai was one of them. He watched a beautiful girl leave a trail of silk and…a necklace. The jewelry slipped down the back of her neck and plopped on the carpet. About to try and catch up with her, he stopped and picked up the necklace. Kai remained seldom standing and rubbing the pearl of the necklace while the chain hung from his palm like a waterfall. Mesmerized by her whiff of sweet perfume, he locked the image of her running gracefully in his mind and then continued to wonder who the girl under the mask was. Yes, that one. The one who snagged his hungry curiosity in such a hurried and compressed encounter.