"You don't have to go, Junri. I mean, you could be stressed." Mrs Choi paced around as the make-up artists applied light make-up on her daughter. "You should just sit here and relax. Everyone would understand, I'm sure!"

"And waste a perfectly good dress? No way." Junri chuckled. "I'm fine, umma. I really am. And I don't intend to miss a single Choi ball." She promised. "Plus, I promised Youngjae a dance." She grinned at the mirror where her mother was looking at her from.

"Oh Junri... You've grown so mature already!" Mrs Choi bawled.

"You're ruining your make-up, Ma'am." Luna chuckled. "Hush. They're having a moment." Amber hushed her partner. Luna was the make-up artist while Amber was good with hair and accesories.

"You and Appa should go there early, you know." Junri reminded. "I'll go there with Zelo. Relax. I can handle it." She reassured and squeezed her mother’s hand that was resting on her bare shoulder. Mrs Choi nodded and left the room.

"You have a really nice mother, Junri ssi." Luna complimented. "And a nice brother too. In fact, your whole family is nice!"

Junri chuckled. "Thanks. You guys are nice too. So does that mean you're part of the family?"

Amber coughed awkwardly, feeling embarassed. "Thanks. Looks like your done. Your brother is done already, I think. Come on, let's help Victoria fix Mrs Choi's make-up."

"Thankyou." Junri smiled at them as they left her inside the room. This rooms sole purpose was for dressing up.

She stared at herself on her mirror again. She touched her cheek, as if to make sure she was the one on the reflection. *It's me...* She thought with a small smile.

"Woah! Are you-Are you Choi Junri?" Zelo faked confusion. "This is my sisters room, who are you?"

Junri chuckled. "Very funny."

"Really? I thought so too." Zelo grinned. "Our outfits match, look!" Zelo pulled her into the full-body mirror.

His suit was the same shade of blue of her gown.

"Cut from the same fabric..." Junri commented with a small smile.

"Though I'm still a lot taller than you. I don't think anyone will think we're related." Zelo commented, ruining the moment as she made a face. "Kidding!" He laughed. "But... are you sure you still want to go? I mean you could rest here."

"I did that yesterday." She pointed out. "Besides, I want to go to the ball! I won't ever miss one." She proudly announced.

"What..." Zelo hesitated. "What do you remember about the previous balls?"

She hummed and made a thoughtful expression. "Last year... you wore a full white suit with a black long sleeve, right?"

Zelo nodded at her reflection with a small smile. "Yes. I did. Now, let's go. We should only be a few minutes behind mom and dad." He looped her hand around his arm and led her out the room, and out of the mansion too.

*Please be okay, tonight.* Zelo watched his older sister from the corner of his eyes as they were driven to the event place.

"Hey! You look... good." Tao complimented their leader who sat down with a scowl. Kris was wearing a cream colored suit.

Like Tao.

"Did you guys... talk about this?" Chen raised an eyebrow at them.

Kris scoffed. "Of course not. It was a pure coincidence."

"Aw man. Now that I think about it, we dressed the same way!" Tao wildly gestured at his suit and Kris's.

"You only found out now?" Luhan rolled his eyes.

Xiumin looked around. "Isn't Lay coming?"

"Probably just late." Chen shrugged.

"You're very early." Daehyun grinned at Youngjae who was already sitting at B.A.P's reserved table. He sat down beside him.

"Yongguk hyung arrived before me. He's in the restroom." Youngjae informed. "And of course. Wouldn't want to miss the Choi siblings grand entrance." He grinned.

"Really? You mean Junri's grand entrance?" Daehyun teased. "But... did you hear what happened?"

Youngjae nodded.

"Doesn't that mean... she'll remember about... you know." *How she rejected you.* Daehyun couldn't say it out-loud. He was afraid he might hurt his friend even more.

Youngjae shrugged with a small smile. "It's fine. I didn't expect much anyway. I'll stay her bestfriend. I can move on."

Daehyun smiled at him. "Good. That's good."

"Besides," Youngjae continued, "With what's going on with her now... she doesn't need another problem."

Lay tapped his feet impatiently. *Where is she?!* He irritably sighed. *Maybe I can leave her... She wasn't invited anyway.* He thought.

Being forced to take Meylin to the ball was the worst kind of hell for him right now. No, his parents didn't force him. Meylin herself did. She warned him that if he didn't bring her along, she would go there by force.

He sighed again. "What are the possible scenarios if I just lock her inside the house, Mr Han?" He asked his butler slash driver for the night.

Mr Han looked at him through the mirror. "I think you would want your home to be in one piece when you get back, sir." The old man chuckled.

Lay frowned. *He's right. I can't trouble my parents by indirectly destroying the house...*

"MEYLIN HURRY UP OR WE'LL BE LATE!" He hollered. *It's useless! I hate my life!* He groaned.

"Finally! I thought you would never..." Luhan's eyes fell on the girl beside Lay, practically cutting off the circulation in the latter’s arm for clinging on to him. "...come." Luhan pointed at Meylin. "What's it doing here?"

"Luhan. That's rude." Xiumin shook his head. "But what is Meylin doing here?" He blinked at Lay.

"I'm right here." Meylin huffed.

"No one really cares, though." Tao shrugged, not minding her peircing glare. To intimidate her, he stood up and looked down on her. "You don't have power among us. You sure as hell don't scare me." He snorted.

"Tao. Enough." Kris pulled him back down. "Lay, if you're coming with Meylin, you can't sit here. The table is reserved for only 6 people." He sighed. It's not that he wanted to do this, but with Meylin around, it would be sure trouble. Plus, she was annoying.

"Fine." Lay frowned. Once they turned around, he looked back at them and mouthed, "I'll ditch her."

The EXO M members smiled and nodded.

"So is the grand entrance of the siblings really that amazing?" Tao asked, wanting to ignore what happened earlier. The only members who had already come to the ball before was Xiumin and Chen. Since they weren't really Chinese and just grew up there, they came back together just to visit their birthplace. And on the way, they might was well attend the Choi Ball they've been invited to for the past years.

"Well, since Junri and Junhong have the looks and class, it is." Xiumin affirmed. "Last year, they came with a black and white theme or more specifically, Yin and Yang. Zelo was white while Junri was black."

"Cool." Kris said. "But what time are they arriving? I mean, they're already 15 minutes late for their own ball."

Luhan looked around and saw everyone standing up and clapping. "Now."

"We don't really need grand entrances, you know." Junri whispered, but keeping her smile on and waved a little. "I don't understand."

"Even if we came dressed in rags, I think they would still stand up and clap." Zelo chuckled. "Look. There's B.A.P." He nodded at the table.

Youngjae was grinning at them with a thumbs-up, while Daehyun was standing up with a plate of cheesecake, smiling with fat cheeks.

"I thought we don't eat until later?" Junri asked.

"We don't. But the staff knows Daehyun hyung here." Zelo shrugged. "The caterers don't mind him getting a first tast. After all, hyung is a food critique too. Whatever he says is law." Junri laughed.

"The Choi Siblings."

"Uncle Dong." They greeted together with a polite smile.

"Ah. You still remember me." Dong Siwoon, the Co-owner of the worlds largest tobacco farm, chuckled. "It's nice to see you again. And Junri ssi, are you okay now?"

Junri nodded. "I am. Thankyou for your concern." She smiled. "We hope you enjoy the night, Uncle."

Dong Siwoon nodded. "I will. As long as you save me a dance." He smiled at them. "Enjoy the night too." He said and left them.

Zelo nudged Junri as soon as the man was out of ear-shot.. "He was totally going on you."

Junri gave him a weird look. "It's called talking, Junhong."

"Yeah. But did you see where his eyes were roaming off-"

"Okaaaaay." Junri nudged him back. "That's enough. Let's just go."

"It's true." Zelo whispered with a frown.

"Hey. You guys look like you came off from a magazine." Youngjae complimented both of them and held out a chair for Junri.

"Thanks." Junri smiled up to him. "Where's Himchan and Jongup?" She asked, seeing there were vacant seats on the table.

"Late." Yongguk answered. "Himchan had an 'emergency' with his hair while Jongup accidentally fell asleep."

Junri chuckled. "But anyway, you guys look good too. I can already see a lot of heiresses pinning for you." To prove her point, she looked around the room. Even from across the large space at the center for dancing, they could see a lot of young females looking at their table.

"Well. I'll just have to spend the rest of the night in the bathroom then." Yongguk shrugged, making the table laugh.

Just when Junri was about to look around the room again just to see if a lot of people came, Youngjae stopped her by covering her vision.

"Don't look." He said, making Junri confused.

"What? Why?" She asked. Yongguk and Zelo gave him a confused look too. Youngjae nodded at the direction Junri was supposed to look, and leader and maknae's face dimmed.

Just there, dancing, was Lay and Feng Meylin.

"I don't want to dance, Mey." Lay said for the umpteenth time. He couldn't pull away from her strong grip. Her arms were around his neck, completely trapping him.

"But I want to." She frowned. "And I want-"

"You don't always get what you want!" Lay frustratedly sighed and pushed her away from him, causing some people to look in their direction. "You always act like this! What happened to the Mey when we were kids? The one who was sweet and nice? I don't want to even be friends with the Mey I'm looking at right now!"

Meylin flinched. She looked hurt. "B-but... you agreed to the engagement!" She argued.

"I called it off, Meylin." Lay reminded in a low tone. "I agreed to it because I thought you were the same Meylin from the past. What happened to you? All you ever do now is throw tantrums and whine about everything."

She looked away.

Lay stared at her. "I'm sorry, Mey. For the last time, you can't change my mind anymore." He tried to pull her to a table, but she retracted her hand from him. "I'm sorry..."

Meylin nodded. "I'm going back." She mumbled and left him.

Lay sighed and raked his fingers over his hair. *Was that a little too harsh...?* As if someone heard his thoughts, a pat on his back made him look up to no other than Kris.

"You did the right thing. Come on. Let's go to the table."

Lay nodded and followed after him. *That look she had... was the same one Junri had when I told her...* He hung his head low. *I'm such a fool...*

Kris glanced at him again. He felt absolutely proud of him. No, not because he finally ditched Meylin, but because he finally stood up for himself. Kris got tired of watching him always being passive and stepping down, so now that he finally got something about of his chest, maybe there was a chance for him after all.

*If you just learn to do what you want, you may even win Junri back...* Kris thought. He glanced at B.A.P's table and looked away immediately. *Or maybe not.* He swallowed when he felt Zelo's piercing glare.

I'm not boring you guys, am I? :L