I’m in for a far more difficult time than I originally thought.

But my goal and intention remains the same.

Park Chanyeol will fall for me.

He will covet me.

And need me.

Love me.

You’ll see. Not even the mighty underdog Park Sun Young can stop him.

The penthouse was quiet, shrouded in darkness and silence.

The only sound that seemed to exist was the ticking of the wall clock; one would assume that, past the late hours, its room occupants would have been asleep after the long day.

But as it always had been with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, neither seemed ready to succumb to the night.

The first person fidgeted, shifting so his body was facing the other. “Bro,” Baekhyun whispered, “You awake?”

The person in question, whose back was facing his friend’s, slowly turned his head. “Not really.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Way to state the obvious, Baek.”

Baekhyun poked his friend’s back. “I mean, I really can’t sleep,” he insisted, “My mind feels like a steam train, it won’t stop thinking.”

Chanyeol shut his eyes. As if I don’t feel the same, he thought, turning around so that they were face to face. “What’s up with you?” he asked.

Baekhyun’s eyes gleamed brightly in the dark, a stupidly sweet grin on his face. “I think I like someone.”

Immediately, Chanyeol drew back, frowning. “It’s not Sun Young, is it?” he asked, “Because I saw you dancing with her so many times I lost count.”

Baekhyun shook his head vehemently. “No, no!” he denied, “I mean, someone else. Didn’t you see who I was looking at the whole time?”

Chanyeol thought back to the dance. “I’m positive you danced three dances with Sun Young, more than you did any other girl,” he said irritably, “Statistically, that could only mean that-”

“Don’t you think the PD is pretty?” Baekhyun cut in.

“What?”

“The PD. Taeyeon. Kim Taeyeon. Omo, I feel butterflies already just saying her name!” he gushed, burying his face into a pillow.

Chanyeol stared at his friend judgementally. “You have got to be joking,” he hissed, pulling said pillow away, “You and the PD? That horrible woman?”

“Hey, be careful who you’re calling horrible!”

“She’s irritating!”

“She’s just doing her job!”

“Yeah, but she pushes everyone around and gets so anxious if we don’t stick to schedule!”

“She’s supposed to do that-”

“She’s a nightmare! Honestly, Baekhyun, what the hell were you thinking?” Chanyeol asked in shock, “You know what? That’s messed up. No wonder you can’t sleep.”

He started to turn away, ignoring Baekhyun’s weak protests, when his friend suddenly clung onto him.

“Wait a minute,” Baekhyun said, “Why are you unable to sleep?”

“What?”

“You can’t sleep either. So, what’s your reason?”

Chanyeol gave him a good long look. “I always can’t sleep, what are you on about?” he huffed, “Do you think I have time to fall head over heels like you?”

“I thought you seemed to be doing quite well,” Baekhyun said, inching closer, “Anyway, since you mentioned Sun Young, let’s talk about the first dance, hmm?”

“Are you implying that I like Sun Young?”

His friend grinned in the dark. “Why else would you pick her?”

“Because I wanted her to slip and fall and make an embarrassment out of herself.”

Baekhyun reached out and punched him.

“What the heck was that for?!”

“You’re being a jerk to my Sun Young!”

“Your Sun Young?” Chanyeol gasped, holding onto his side as his friend attacked him again, “ing hell, Baekhyun, that hurts!”

“I’ll hit harder if you keep bullying her.”

“I didn’t bully her, did I?” he protested, “She did fine!”

“She better be,” Baekhyun said, “She’s too precious, Chan. I mean it. They’re all really nice and all, but maybe I’m biased that I’d wish for her to just be the winner.”

Chanyeol stared at his friend. “You want her to be the winner?” he repeated.

“Don’t you think you could learn to get along well with her? I mean, at least we know for sure that she’s got a great personality, as evident from her taking down my snatch thief-”

“You won’t stop going on about that, will you?”

“And did you even see the way she looked during the dance?” Baek continued, making his friend pause.

There was a moment of silence as Chanyeol stared at him. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Baekhyun shrugged. “She looked at you like you were the only thing that existed, bro,” he murmured, “I got goosebumps when she touched your cheek, I thought I was going to die.”

Chanyeol’s heart skipped a beat, and he swallowed the fluttering sensation inside of him.

“It was so close, bro! How did you even not react when she did that?”

Even now, he could feel her fingers graze his cheek, dangerously close to his scars, almost but not quite revealing them from under his side-swept fringe.

How did he even remain still despite it all, he didn’t know.

All he remembered was looking at her, both his arms preoccupied as he tilted her body backwards.

She was looking at him in that way, her eyes filled with so much things he couldn’t comprehend.

Transported back to the present, he in a breath, calming himself down.

“It was nothing,” he ground out, “She was just doing it for the cameras. She hates me to the core, Baek. There’s a difference between her in front of the camera and her in front of me in real life.”

“Yeah, but-”

“I feel tired, Baek. Can we just continue this tomorrow? I swear, you’re going to make me have nightmares of her.”

Baekhyun slapped a pillow on his head. “I can’t believe you just said that, you bastard,” he scolded, “So rude.”

“It’s true,” Chanyeol muttered back, not quite meaning it as he turned to the other side, touching the part of his cheek where she had placed her hand earlier.

He shivered.

What spell has she cast over me?

It was chaotic that morning.

It started with the siren-like alarm that echoed throughout the whole suite, signalling that the production team had infiltrated the Lilium Suite.

Filming had begun, capturing everyone’s bare faces as they slept and sending some of the girls into a squealing ruckus as they tried to hide their visage from the ever-waiting camera crew.

“Everybody wake up!” PD Kim’s voice yelled shrilly, “You have a big day ahead of you, so I suggest you get started and run to the bathrooms before someone else does!”

As soon as she said that, there was a mad rush for the bathrooms, mostly by whoever who didn’t want their faces caught on camera.

In the midst of this was Sun Young. Unlike most of the other girls, she had anticipated this very thing to happen, and unlike them, had already dressed, throwing a loose navy blue blouse with floral motifs over a long black skirt. She had worn sneakers under the skirt, hoping it would help with whatever activities would happen today.

Tomorrow’s tasks will be both unpleasant and heavy-duty, Chanyeol had said yesterday.

She was half-expecting him to show up and order them to work around the hotel, but that would be a stretch. More likely there were games and missions for them to complete as a team, and if she were lucky, Hyoyeon wouldn’t be in her team.

Relax, Sun Young. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Worry later.

She was peacefully seated in the balcony, her legs dangling over the other side of a chair as she watched the morning unveil all around Seoul. The sun was halfway up, its warm rays reaching over the landscape and taking away the chill of the receding night. She could feel the heat on her skin as she leaned back in satisfaction, feeling the morning glow as it crept on her.

She took a deep breath, releasing it as she watched the gardening staff below, t the plants, raking the grass, and water the flowers. It reminded her of work, and her heart gave a little pang.

She wondered how Soojung and Sooyeon were doing; that morning, Sooyeon had mentioned that the infamous Mr. Son would drop by Bloom & Blossom, and was too anxious that the supplier would be a burly, intimidating man.

Sun Young chuckled to herself. She hardly doubted that; sure, Mr. Son had a deep voice, but he had the tendency to sneeze after ever few words, and that in itself easily made him less threatening in her eyes.

If he tries to do anything, I’m sure Sooyeon can just throw a bunch of dandelions at him and he’d scream and sneeze.

There was a little shriek from inside the suite, making her jump.

But then there was laughter, and everything seemed to be fine. Through the cacophony of voices inside, coupled with the producer barking orders here and there, Sun Young smiled to herself, knowing how she had avoided the morning rush.

Ah, the idleness you feel when you’ve prepared to seize the day.

Chanyeol should see me now; I’m the most punctual.

“I see someone’s ready to be on camera now,” a voice commented.

She opened her eyes, peering past her chair to see her cameraman walking towards her. “Oh, hey, Kris,” she said, seeing him hold the camera leisurely, “Are you here to film me?”

The two had reached some sort of conclusion following yesterday’s little drama. Sun Young realized that, upon exiting the maze, her cameraman was still waiting for her to show up, and she had instantly felt sorry, seeing him sit on one of the benches as he fanned himself from the mosquitoes that were attacking him left, right, and center.

He had scolded her for being so selfish, and she had scolded him back for even thinking he had the right to chase after her.

And then he had apologized, and so had she.

As they walked back to the Lilium Suite, Kris had told her that he didn’t like this Hyoyeon person, and they became friends.

Kris squinted in the sunlight, running his hand over his blond hair before giving her a gummy grin. “I already filmed you, from the balcony doors,” he said, “I was afraid if you knew, you might run away again.”

Sun Young gasped. “You’re bringing up yesterday?” she cried, “Come on, we talked about this…you can’t expect me to let you film me crying!”

“Hold up, sista. I’m just taking precautions,” he said, “So you’re okay with filming now?”

She sat up, hugging her legs to her chest. “I guess?”

“Great!” he exclaimed, hoisting his camera onto his shoulders as Sun Young rolled her eyes, “At least I won’t have to run with this heavy thing.”

Sun Young covered her face as she laughed. “You just had to take the opportunity, didn’t you?”

“Now, Miss Park, we all have to do our jobs,” he said, adjusting the lens, “Experienced cameramen know when to take an opportunity.”

“Experienced?” she scoffed, “You told me yesterday this was your first job.”

His eyes widened. “Did I?”

She chuckled. “You did,” she told him, “After you saw me and started complaining how life was unfair.”

He blinked, giving her a sheepish look. “Oh. Right.”

“All that running was getting to your head, huh?” she teased, “It was kind of funny to see you searching for me at the gardens.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Well, I didn’t know there would be some Running Man-level filming, give me a break,” he deadpanned. There was a click, and a red light appeared at the camera, “May I trouble you to tell me how you feel right now?”

Still smiling, she looked up at him. “What about?”

Kris pondered on this for a moment, pressing his lips together thoughtfully. “Tell the viewers something they won’t be able to know from watching you on TV,” he suggested, “Something they don’t know.”

Sun Young leaned back in her seat. “Something people don’t know?” she murmured, looking across the gardens, “Hmm.”

“My camera doesn’t have infinite storage, Miss Park,” Kris muttered playfully, “I know you look very au naturel, but I can’t film you all day while waiting for an answer.”

She burst out laughing. “You’re not helping!” she protested, shooting him a mock-glare, “Okay, one thing that no one knows about me is that I’m-”

“MY ROSE IS GOOOOONE!”

Both she and Kris turned towards the Lilium Suite, hearing someone wail inside.

“What’s going on?” Kris murmured, switching off his camera.

Sun Young got up. “I have no idea,” she replied, the smile vanishing from her face as she hurried towards the suite.

The ruckus began right at Sunny’s bed, where the girl was crying uncontrollably.

Sun Young approached Amber, who was combing her hair. “What happened?”

Her friend’s face was grim. “She lost her rose.”

Sun Young’s eyes widened, before glancing at Sunny, whose shoulders were violently shaking due to the dramatic turn of events, and saw how a few of the other girls were seated around her and offering their support.

“Did you check under your bed?” she asked, before she could stop herself, “Maybe it dropped?”

Sunny’s face emerged from her hands, revealing puffy cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and swollen lips. She hadn’t even dressed, and was still in her pajamas. “There was nothing there,” she hiccupped, “Wasn’t it, Hyo?”

Her fellow friend was next to her, nodding solemnly.

Seeing this chance to mend whatever that had happened between them, Sun Young came closer, leaning against the girl’s bedpost. “I’m sure it has to be somewhere, the bedside drawers, the trunk, the bathroom, or maybe even your bed?” she asked, looking up.

Hyoyeon rolled her eyes. “Look, okay, don’t you think we checked everywhere?” she deadpanned, as a stylist passed by her to go to Sunny, “Nothing. Don’t aggravate her.”

“I was offering help-”

Sunny tsked, waving away the stylist, “I AM NOT IN A POSITION TO FEEL PRETTY RIGHT NOW!” she screamed at her, standing up abruptly and regarding everyone with a vicious expression as she stormed to the middle of the room.

Amber tugged Sun Young away in time, her lips pressed together as she shook her head warningly.

Sunny placed her hands on her hips. “I know you’re all listening,” she announced, “So I have something to say.”

Victoria appeared, looking doll-like in a pink babydoll blouse over long flowy pants, her hair in waves around her face while Sulli trailed after her in a matching pink sundress.

Victoria placed her toiletries on the bed. “What’s going on?” she asked them, looking at Sunny, who was pacing in the middle of the suite.

“I know someone took my rose,” she said, “And I’m demanding that you give it back by the end of today. Or you will face severe consequences.”

“That’s right!” Hyoyeon added, hurrying to the middle where the cameras were, “We’re asking you nicely, now. You don’t want to start something you can’t stop. Or control. We’re all friends here.”

The doors suddenly opened, and someone ran in.

It was Kyungri, panting as she slowed to a stop in front of her bed, “Chungha…” she huffed out, “Chungha’s gone, all her things…She’s gone!”

Victoria gasped, rushing over. “That can’t be, I saw her this morning…didn’t I?” she said, “No, wait, that was Hyuna.”

Sunny stomped her foot. “I was talking here, hello?”

Kyungri held up her phone. “She’s not picking my calls,” she said, as the other girls crowded around her, “Why would she leave without telling us?”

Sungah looked worried. “We should ask the PD or something,” she said, as the doors opened a second time.

They all turned as Producer Kim strode in, with Yoora by her side.

“Now, now, what’s all this fuss?” the producer asked, not in her usual annoyed tone. In fact, she seemed almost smug to see them looking so disoriented and confused. “Are we not ready for breakfast?”

Sunny hurried to her. “I lost my rose!” she whined, “There is foul play here!”

She pointed to the other girls. “Someone is to blame!”

PD Kim stared at her like she was a bug in her way. “So?”

The girl drew back slightly. “What do you mean, ‘so?’ I demand compensation! One of them has it, I’m sure!”

“Then you find that person. Why should I get involved? I’m the producer, I have nothing in common with the show other than the smooth running of it,” came the breezy reply.

Sunny scoffed. “Is that how you respond?” she gasped, “Do you know who I am, to talk to me in that way? My uncle is the CEO of SM Entertainment!”

PD Kim massaged her temples. “Any other riveting questions before we head for breakfast?” she said, clearly disgruntled with the conversation, “Mr. Park is expecting you to be seated in half an hour’s time.”

Sulli raised a hand. “Chungha’s gone,” she said, as Kyungri nodded anxiously.

PD Kim turned to them, her eyes narrowing. “Ah,” she said, “Well, that was a mistake. Miss Chungha will no longer be participating in the Princess Games.”

That shut them up.

“What are you talking about?” Kyungri cried, “She was sent home?”

Yoora nodded. “Unfortunately, she violated the rules, and we regret to inform all of you that she has, indeed, been asked to leave.”

Kyungri’s face fell. “Why?”

PD Kim sighed in exasperation. “Your dear Chungha was caught sneaking out to see her boyfriend last night,” she said, “And during the interview, we asked you if you were single, and all of you claimed that you were.”

Beside her, the heiress agreed. “We take a very serious view on this, and ask for your integrity and honesty, because we don’t want any sort of complications in the future,” she said.

“So if you have any secrets up your pretty sleeves, better watch out,” PD Kim finished, “Now, Miss Kim, I don’t think Mr Park will appreciate your pajamas, even if they cost more than a Louis Vuitton bag. And yes, I know you your family is, so please uphold the decency your family is so known for.”

There was a moment of silence following this, and Sunny stared at the producer with barely concealed frustration, before she bowed slightly.

“Thank you, PD Kim.”

“You’re welcome. Please hurry to the bathrooms.”

Sunny’s jaw was tense as she her heel, stomping her way through the other girls and hurrying out of sight, although more out of embarrassment than obedience.

PD Kim shook her head to herself, walking towards the cameramen and barking orders like she always had, and Yoora glanced at Kyungri.

“Your friend didn’t want to dramatize the whole thing, that’s why she agreed to leave quietly.”

Before she could say more, Kyungri turned abruptly and walked back to her bed, and Yoora pressed her lips together at the sudden gesture, looking up as Sun Young approached her.

The heiress’ face broke into a little smile. “Hey,” she said, “You look pretty this morning.”

She looks a bit hurt.

“Thanks,” she said, patting Yoora’s back, “Don’t be too offended by Kyungri. She’s just upset Chungha left without saying anything.”

“I know, she looks really affected. But it’s the rules, Sun Young.”

“I understand,” she said, before lowering her voice, “But Sunny’s rose…is there a reason behind it?”

“Sunny’s rose?”

“You told me to keep my flowers somewhere safe.”

Something dawned in Yoora’s eyes and she nodded. “Ah, that. Well, that’s something PD Kim and I were just expecting for the fourth episode onwards, not now,” she said grimly, “That means she either lost her rose, or someone really did take it. And if it’s the latter, then, Sun Young, I urge you to tell your friends to keep an eye out too.”

“I don’t understand…this is just a competition. Nothing matters if we lose or win.”

Yoora looked at her with a little smile that seemed more wary than amicable. “To you, it may be. To others, maybe not,” she said.

Chanyeol sat at the head of the table, scrutinizing the long table of young women as he sipped his coffee.

Something felt off, he could tell.

Sure, there were conversations, but it seemed like there was something hanging over the participants as they went about their meal. He had assumed it was them being sleepy or something along that line, but as he watched them converse, he saw something similar in the manner they regarded with each other, especially between members not from their nuclear cliques.

Suspicion.

Baekhyun had left, returning to work that morning and promising to drop by whenever he could, and Chanyeol had felt the absence of his friend greatly now that he was with the girls, especially because he couldn’t make them laugh the way his best friend did.

To add to that, he couldn’t feel comfortable, especially because Ju Hyun was next to him, with her prim and proper table manners and lilting voice that he never seemed to feel at ease with.

“Do you not take sugar and milk with your coffee?” she asked, making conversation with him, and he internally groaned.

This is why I hate small talk.

“Not really,” he responded, frowning slightly as he fixed his serious gaze on her instead, “I like it as it is. If it’s too sweet, then it’s not supposed to be coffee.”

Ju Hyun pursed her lips. “True that,” she murmured, sipping her own drink, which coincidentally happened to be coffee with milk, “I can’t imagine how bitter it must be.”

“I’m used to it,” he said, and the chaebol was intuitive enough to realize that was the end of the conversation.

Chanyeol returned to his drink, more as an excuse to have something to do, and finished it just in time to see Sun Young get up from her seat at the end of the table.

How she managed to make him turn his head despite the dark colors of her clothes, he would never know. Her wavy hair cascaded behind her back as she walked, bouncing slightly as she did. She was holding her teacup and headed to the hot beverages table, and, unable to resist, Chanyeol got up as well, walking right towards her.

In all honesty, he had wanted Sun Young near him, especially he had found out how comfortable she had been with him last night, and he her. But now, even as he focused all his energy in the hopes of making her lock gazes with him, she wouldn’t even catch him looking at her when she normally would.

I’ll be right beside you, don’t you dare ignore my presence, he thought, seeing her pour some hot tea into her cup, humming softly to herself.

He towered over her from behind, to her oblivion, and he could smell the perfume on her as he leaned close.

Subtlety, Chanyeol, he told himself, don’t make it too obvious you’re messing with her