A/N: I know I said I'll post this when I'm finished with it, but I wanted to post something on my birthday so I decided to make it a chaptered one. Thank you for those who already subscribed even though I hadn't posted anything yet. So here goes the first part...

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"Sungjongie~!"

My stepmother called me in a sing-song voice.

"Yes, stepmother?" I ran to her to attend to her wishes. I had to be quick in answering to her needs if I don't want to sleep outside tonight.

There are times though, when even if I could comply to all of her orders, she would still mistreat me. Sometimes she would tell me to sleep in the stables or not let me eat dinner, with no particular reason at all, just because she 'feels like it'.

My father remarried when I was sixteen. He said he couldn't live with the loneliness brought upon him by my mother's death, and that he needed someone in his life to be with him.

I guess he really must have been very lonely since he was able to find a woman to marry just a week after my mother's funeral.

Then father also died.

He passed away a year after he married my stepmother. I became an orphan, left in the care of my stepmother. Which wouldn't have been so bad. . . if I don't count the fact that she is 'evil'.

I love my father. I really do. I love him as much as I love my mother, but I really couldn't understand why he married such woman who is completely opposite from my mother. My mother loves me, she cares for me, she would teach me the recipes to some of her delicious dishes, she taught me propper manners, she would read me books, tell me stories about true love and make me believe in happily ever afters. While my stepmother, well she's. . .the opposite of those.

Why do I have such an unfavorable sentiment towards my stepmother? Oh you'll know why soon enough.

"Give me my sewing kit." She said when  I came to her room.

"But it's just right there, on the bedside table beside you." I politely told her, even though I am already very annoyed. She called me all the way up to the second floor when I am mopping the floors downstairs just to get her sewing kit, which is obviously just beside her.

"I know. So?" She said raising one of her eyebrows to me.

A little staring contest began between us. It went on for a while before something got caught in my eye and I blinked. Damn. No one wins against her in a staring contest. I gave up and went to the bedside table to get her, her kit.

"Is that all you need, stepmother?" I asked even though I'm crossing my fingers that she won't give me any more orders.

"That's all. Oh and start preparing for dinner. I'm getting hungry." She told me before she shooed me away.

Like the kind and obedient stepdaughter that I am, I didn't complain. I left the room and went back to mopping the stairs before I started to prepare for dinner.

That by the way, is Nam Woohyun. My 'evil' stepmother. They say looks can be deceiving, well that pretty much applies to her. She looks as cute and charming as a doll on the outside, like she could throw hearts at you everyday and do other cute and cheesy stuff, but wait 'til you get on her bad side, and she'll let you know how hell feels like.

She is not the type of evil that would hurt you physically, no. She wouldn't even lay a finger on me. In fact, she wouldn't lay a finger on anything she doesn't have an interest with. But that doesn't make her any less evil. She is evil in her own special way.

Frankly, I would have preferred being an orphan than have a stepmother who treats me worse than a household helper. She would order me around and tell me to multitask so I would finish everything faster, like doing the laundry while taking a bath or brushing my teeth while washing the dishes. She orders me a lot that I sometimes forget to even comb my hair.

I mean, I'm pretty sure my father has left behind a hefty amount of money which is enough to sustain the both of us and can even afford to pay for at least one helper. But every time I bring this topic up to my stepmother, she would always tell me that money should not be wasted on hiring helpers and that I needed to start learning some household chores on my own.

It's for my own good, she would always say.

Actually, if there is anyone in this house who needed to learn how to do some household chores, it is definitely her. She doesn't even know how to fry an egg for breakfast. She is as spoiled as the food I am feeding the pigs with.

I cooked dinner enough for the two of us to  eat and I brought her portion upstairs (she likes to eat her meals in her room). Not only does she eat breakfast in bed, she eats lunch and dinner in bed as well. She says she's not lazy, though. She's just preserving her energy for the more important things. My stepmother likes to think of herself as a very important person.

My cooking may have been particularly delicious tonight since she asked for another serving after she finished her own portion (it happens often though). I couldn't cook anything else since we already ran out of food supplies and the local markets are already closed until early morning tomorrow, so I didn't have any other choice but to give her my share. Looks like I'll be on a diet tonight.

People have always been asking me how I keep my body fit like this. This is it.

After she was done, I ate what little portion she had left for me in silence. When I was done eating, I cleaned up and went to my room in the attic.

Why is my room located in the attic when we have more than enough rooms in the house? Because it's what my stepmother wants.

She tells me I should thank her for giving me the best room in whole house. She says that the attic gives the best view of the whole town, the nearby castle, everything and that I should be grateful. I was excited of the idea at first. I thought that my stepmother was finally warming up to me, but I was wrong.

With great anticipation, I went to the attic carrying with me all of my precious stuff. It didn't take long for me to realize that it wasn't livable. For a human that is.

There were some rats roaming around and it was very, very dirty. I had told my stepmother I wanted to go back to my room but she told me there's no backing out anymore. I had no other choice.

That's when I befriended the rats. I was really scared of them at first, but the best way to beat your fear is to face them, right? Instead of freaking out with their presence, I made them my friends. Surprisingly, I was able to communicate with them (No, they don't speak. If they did, that would have totally freaked me out). I talked to them and they seem to understand what I was saying. I think we understood each other.

I asked them to clean the room for---I mean with--with me and I think they agreed, because they started cleaning after I asked them to.

The cleaning would not have been complete without the singing of course. While we were at our task, I started singing. I learned the 'cleaning song' from a friend I met at another town. I think her name was Snow and she had a fair complexion, but not as fair as mine, mind you. She said she sings that song a lot while cleaning the rooms of her seven little friends and it makes her more energized to work. I guess cleaning rooms and having little friends are the trend nowadays, huh?

So, thanks to her I did the chore with my little friends like I was in a musical. I pretended that the rats were my audience and that I was the main character singing a solo. I think I probably did more singing than actual cleaning that time.

So here I am, in my room in the attic, a bit cleaner than what it used to be. My little friends are already fast asleep at the little makeshift bed I made for them.

Even though I was completely tired from cleaning the house for the whole day, I didn't sleep yet.

I thought about what I heard from some passersby a while ago when I was hanging the clothes beside our house. I've heard there's going to be ball that's going to be held in the palace a few days from now. Everyone in town is invited, rich and commoners alike. They said the purpose of the ball is to celebrate the prince's coming of age day and for him to select, from all the maidens who will be attending the ball, his bride-to-be.

Now why does this sound awfully familiar?

Oh right! My other friend, Cindy (who is also from another town), had told me she attended a ball like this one. She also told me she met her one true love at a ball. One true love, eh?

Is it really possible to fall in love with someone you just met? How will you know if it's really true love?

Well, it might have really been true love in Cindy's case because she told me she was going to get married next week to her 'prince charming'. I'm really happy for her.

Hmm. A ball. The Prince's birthday. Party. Food. Dancing. Sounds like a great idea.

I've never personally met our prince before (I'm not talking about the one Cindy is going to marry, that one's not really a prince, just a son of a wealthy family, 'prince charming' is just Cindy's term) but those who had the pleasure of meeting him all said the same thing about him: that he was exceptionally good-looking. 

Now beauty is a matter of subjective taste. Some of them might have just seen him dress elegantly and expensively and concluded that he was handsome because of that. I won't easily believe what other people are saying though. I'll be the one to judge if the prince is truly that striking when I see his face myself.

Sighing, I went to sit by the window sill and looked out to the whole town (my stepmother really wasn't lying when she said the attic gives a good view of everything). I can see the king's castle not far from here. I really want to go to the ball. It's not because I wanted to meet the prince, okay? I just want to party that's all. I want to eat. I want to dance. Okay, who am I kidding? I also want to see him. I just want to confirm for myself if the rumours were actually true.

But how can I attend a ball when I don't even have something nice to wear? The last new dress I had was given by my father when he was still alive and even that is already worn out. I think I'll start digging my mother's closet tomorrow.

"Nope.  Too large.  Definitely no.  Too small.  Not this one.  Too bland.  Ugh. Too old-fashioned.." I kept on complaining as I rummaged through my mother's old clothes.

After I finished my chores and ate my lunch, I proceeded to my mother's room and started the search. I thought I would at least find something decent to wear from my mother's collection of clothes, however nothing really suits for the ball.

I was kind of in a bad mood upon realizing that I might not be able to attend the ball for the only reason that I don't have any appropriate dress to wear. This .

"Sungjongie~!" my stepmother's sickeningly sweet voice called out to me. I can always tell an order is going to follow when she calls out my name like that.

"What?!" I blurted out before I could stop myself. I was in a bad mood after all.

However, I immediately regretted answering her like that. My stepmother don't take too kindly when I so much as raise my voice at her.

"How can you answer me like that? Where are you manners?!" she shouted at me.

"I'm sorry stepmother. I won't do it again. I promise." I said to pacify her quickly. Arguments would only arise if I try to fight back.

"You better not. You know what happens when I get angry." She told me. "Anyway, I want you to go to the dressmaker shop in town and take the two dresses I ordered."

Not following her order clearly, I asked, "May I ask what the dresses are for, stepmother?"

"For the upcoming ball in the palace, of course." she said as if that was already very obvious.

For the ball? Two dresses? One for her and the other one for. . .me?

Convinced that the other dress was for me and overwhelmed by the good news that I received, I said to her, "Oh stepmother, you didn't have to."

She stared at me with one of her eyebrows raised? "What do you mean I didn't have to? I need something to wear for the ball."

"I mean the other dress. You had it made for me, right?" I told her.

"Who said the other dress was for you?" It wasn't really a question, it was more like an accusation.

"B-but.."

"Those two dresses are mine. I had them made for me because I still can't choose between the two designs. Why would you be needing a dress when you aren't coming to the ball anyway?" she told me. She didn't slap me, but it felt like it.

"E-veryone is invited.." my voice was becoming smaller by the second. Tears are threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Ha. Who said I will allow you to go to that ball? Now leave and go to the dressmaker's shop." she ordered me coldheartedly.

I felt so weak that I wasn't able to defend my side anymore. Nam Woohyun is really an expert in hurting my feelings. I left our house to go to the dressmaker shop, crying.

The weather outside was gloomy, just like my current mood. I wiped my tears, ducking my head low, as I walked to the main road of the town not wanting anyone to see my (ugly) crying face.

As I made my way there, I suddenly bumped into someone. I muttered an apology and helped picked the things that fell on the ground.

I happened to look at the person's face after giving him the last fallen piece. He also looked at me. . .and then there was suddenly a 'spark'.

When our eyes met, I could swear the whole world brightened for a few milliseconds. Is this what they call love at first sight? Is this----*boom*

What was that? I looked around to see where the noise came from and I realized that it was thunder. The so-called 'spark' earlier was a actually just a flash of lightning.

I wasn't actually able to see much of his face because he was wearing a dark hooded coat and a mask, but his eyes--his eyes were devilishly handsome and it made me wonder, what more if I could see the rest of his face? He uttered a shy thanks and walked away. (Aww) I want to stare at those eyes a little longer.

I then remembered my purpose in coming to town and went to the shop quickly, forgetting the encounter I had earlier.

It was already dark when I arrived home. I delivered the dresses to my stepmother and proceeded to my room in the attic.

'I guess I'm not really going to the ball after all. Even if I found a lovely outfit, stepmother wouldn't let me go there.' I thought to myself.

I went towards the window sill again, but this time, instead of looking at the town and the nearby castle, I looked towards the sky.

"I miss you, mother. I wish you were still here with me." I muttered. "Wherever you are, I hope you are happy together with father."

I continued to watch the stars that lit up the dark, night sky for a while and just when I was about to leave, I saw a moving star. I know what it was. It was a wishing star! Legends and stories say that when you happen to look at the sky at night and witness a falling star, whatever you wish upon it will soon come true.

This is my chance. I could wish for something that I really want.

What do I want? I need to think fast before the star disappears. Uhm. A new stepmother? Lots of money? Freedom?  There was so much I wanted to wish for but I can only have one. I couldn't think fast. I wasn't prepared for this!

The star was slowly disappearing from the sky so I panicked. I instantly blurted out the thing that came to my mind next.

"I wish I could go to the ball!" I exclaimed before the star completely disappeared.

Great. Just great. I could have gone for a better wish than that.

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A/N: I hope I didn't disappoint you guys. Please tell me what you think of the first chapter. :)