“Congratulations women it is now officially the end of the twelve months.” Eric clapped for them as they all seemed to reluctantly clap too, “see? Living in the palace is not that bad. Now as of next week the whole one date one chance with the king begins starting alphabetically.” Some of the women sounded annoyed which proved they were further down the list.

“Now it will be one date per woman one night and if the king doesn’t like you then expect to pack your bags.” Eric seemed pleased that these announcements were made, “ok otherwise I will just be seeing you for a prep talk before your big night. Thank you all for cooperating with me and I will see you later.” He gave them a bow and was on his way. The moment he left the women all turned to Eunsun.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

“Wasn’t it you who kissed Eric?”

“Talk about a bimbo; what’s trash like her doing in the palace?”

“Yeah and for a while I actually thought she was alright for a plain, boring person but I was wrong.”

“Maybe if she kept better care of herself I could actually stand to look at her.”

They all walked off making Eunsun feel small. She guessed that she would just have to ignore it or let her not bother her; if that was even possible.

***

The maids watched in confusion as Eunsun went through her clothes and chucked a large pile on her bed.

“Umm what are you doing unnie?” Nicole asked as a spaghetti strap shirt flew past their face.

“It’s about time I made some changes,” she stood up with her hands on her hips, “I’m twenty eight yet I dress like a conservative nun.”

“No you don’t.” Seungyeon held up the shirt for proof, “nuns are more modest and conservative.”

“And boring,” Hara said in a low voice but was heard.

“But why do you feel you have to change what you wear?” Jiyoung added going over to Eunsun, nearly being hit by a pair of baggy track pants, “you can still have clothes to lounge about in without having to get rid of anything.”

“She’s right,” Gyuri agreed, “keep things that you still like while making room for some more stylish clothes.” Eunsun stopped what she was doing turning to the girls again.

“Ok, could you please help me? I don’t know what to keep.”

“Sure,” Nicole and Hara went to the stuff on the bed and shuffled through them.

“What about us?” Jiyoung said looking at her unnies.

“I guess I need to go shopping,” Jiyoung and Seungyeon clapped happily.

“Cool let’s go.”

***

Eunsun was dragged by Gyuri and Hara with Seungyeon following to the tents sent up in one of the gardens that were designed like a small boutique market.

“Can I help you?” The lady asked as they entered the one for High Cut.

“She needs some new clothes,” Hara said while Seungyeon and Gyuri smiled. The lady nodded.

“I see,” she looked Eunsun up and down, “I don’t recall seeing you before. Come and I will pick some things out for you.” She lead the girls around the racks and shelves picking things off after holding them up against Eunsun and either placing them back or holding on to them. By the time she was finished Gyuris arms were full and Seungyeon was holding three items in her arms.

“Alright that will do us for now,” she showed Eunsun to the dressing rooms and closed the door behind her. It took about an hour for Eunsun to try on everything, show her friends, be assessed by the attendant and then repeat the process.

“So what do you want to keep?” The attendant asked Eunsun eagerly. Eunsun quickly went through the stuff again and made a pile of the things she wanted. These had a grey maxi dress with a black chord belt, a pair of blue skinny jeans, a white mini skirt and a black mini skirt. A denim shirt, two pairs of dress trousers, a blazer, a leather jacket, some black stiletto heels, beige wedges and some cream ballet flats with diamantes on the front. There was also a black and white long sleeved top with buttons on the chest and a purple shirt that sat off the shoulders with a frill.

“Wow,” they looked at her pile and then the large amount of stuff she didn’t want, “you sure you don’t like anything else?” Eunsun nodded.

“Nope I’m happy with what I have from here,” the attendant nodded and put them in bags for her.

“Thanks for coming she said as Eunsun left with her friends.

She ended up going to Ceci and two other designer stores and coming out with four bags from each place. Other things that were added to her wardrobe were pink pumps, brown boots that went to her knees, green slip on heels, a beige shawl, a figure fitting periwinkle dress, a light brown maxi dress and an orange scarf flecked with gold and bronze threads. She even got a large brown hand bag and a silver clutch purse.

“Wow you got a lot unnie,” Jiyoung commented as the four happily put the bags at Eunsun’s bed.

“Ok we aren’t done yet,” Eunsun pointed to the bags, “why don’t you guys pick out something each for yourselves?” They looked at her ludicrous.

“Are you serious?” Eunsun nodded.

“Sure,” the five went through all the clothes and managed to find one thing they liked. For Gyuri it was a white tunic dress, Hara took a brown barrette, Seungyeon and Eunsun had the same size feet so for her it was a pair of brown ballet flats. Jiyoung took a pink shirt that Eunsun was kind of relieved to give away. It was too frilly for her. Nicole just got a belt that she could wear with her jeans.

“Thank you Unnie,” they all said bowing to her. Eunsun took a jacket and went to the door.

“Where are you going?” Seungyeon asked her.

“I’m getting a haircut.” They all nodded as she left.

***

It felt weird for Eunsun watching the hairdresser cut off a lot of her hair. It was layered, cut so it hung just below her waist while it used to nearly touch her bottom. It was parted to the right and blow dried. Eunsun was surprised at how light it felt and how good she looked with it. They suggested she dye it a brown but she politely declined feeling she’d climbed enough hurdles today. They gave her a free straightner where they showed her how to also curl her ends and also gave her a special mousse and hair conditioner and shampoo.

“Thank you for coming,” the hairdresser added, “you have really nice hair.”

Eunsun came back to her place and the girls stopped in their tracks.

“Wow… Your hair…” Jiyoung breathed.

“You look…”

“Great,” Gyuri added and they all nodded.

“Yeah,” Jiyoung composed herself at the end.

“Thank you,” Eunsun ran a hair through it, “though I feel kind of sad, it feels so much shorter.”

“But it looks better,” Jiyoung added.

“And it will look nice even when it grows,” Hara told her with agreement from the others.

“Thank you,” Eunsun said smiled, “we should celebrate.” She went to the phone.

“Can I please order some sundaes please?” She turned to the girls.

“Does anyone have any allergies?”

“I can’t have nuts,” Hara said.

“One without nuts please, ah huh thank you.” Eunsun looked at her friends and they all smiled.
*************************************************************************************************************Yay another chapter done! Oh yeah anyone watching We Got Married? Leetuek is such a charmer. He wrote a song which he performed for his ‘wife.’ And I really like Sora she is so sweet and genuine. Happy reading everyone!