CHAPTER 8: THE BALL

After the confusing rendezvous with Wonwoo the evening before, I had returned home exhausted, falling into my bed and drifting off right away. I didn’t dream and slept restlessly, just like every other night. I also had a lot to think about. Against the fact that Dr Choi had stated, I had revealed my secret, my identity, to someone – and to Wonwoo, at that. But for some reason I knew I could trust Wonwoo. We did not have the same relationship we did in my dream world, but he was the same person. And he hadn’t shut me out of his life after getting to know. He had tried to control his emotions and gave me the permission to stay near him, even if he couldn’t fully understand. He had even given me his phone number. Just in case, if something happened and I had to see him or something. Our relationship had gone from complicated to awkward, but I somewhat liked it. It was progress.

The next morning arrived quickly. The sun was shining brightly into our shared room. The first thought I had was that I had once again woken up before the alarm. Then another thought slipped into my mind. The ball would be today. My eyes widened and I sat up in the bed quickly. I stared at Sunhwa who was still sleeping in her bed.

“Sunhwa?” I called her name carefully.

The girl’s eyes opened immediately and she eyed at me, looking sleepy. “Huh?”

“Do you know what day it is today?” I asked.

“A work day”, she sighed and sat up.

“No, I didn’t mean that”, I said. “The ball is today.”

The girl’s face brightened up and she flashed me a wide smile. “A princess day for you, miss Dami.”

I sighed. The girl never learned. “Just Dami. I’m not your supervisor anymore.”

The girl chuckled as she stretched on the bed before getting up and walking to the window, pushing the curtains aside. Bright sunlight flooded into the room and for a second I couldn’t see anything. A good start for today – today would be a good day.

After breakfast and a quick washup, we worked as hard as always. Breakfast for Seungcheol and Dr Choi, putting away the dishes, cleaning, changing the bedsheets for them. I worked very enthusiastically and even managed to save some time to cook lunch for the men of the house. I glanced at the men proudly as they were eating and nodding at each other, agreeing that the food was tasty. I noticed Seungcheol eyeing me and his father, looking a bit nervous. I couldn’t help but to frown a little bit. What was the problem?

“Actually, dad”, the boy started.

“What is it?” Dr Choi asked.

“I asked Dami to attend the ball with me”, the boy stated. “I hope it’s alright.”

Oh, so the boy hadn’t told his father about the fact I was going with him. I glanced at the man who stopped eating as he comprehended the words he heard. He glanced at me, looking surprised, and then looked at his son. I could see Seungcheol eyeing away, clearly nervous. The expression on Dr Choi’s face went from surprised to slightly… disappointed? No, it must’ve been just my imagination. He was such a nice man.

“I see”, the man said, and the tone in his voice didn’t reveal anything. “I guess it’s alright.”

Seungcheol let out a silent, relieved sigh and glanced at me, flashing me a little smile. I nodded my head slightly and continued to do my job – this time putting away the men’s dishes.

After an 9-hour work day I got off duty a couple of hours early, at 4pm, to get ready for the ball. Sunhwa had promised to help me get ready, so what she did was that she sneaked off work and followed me to our room. Despite her young age – I had found out that she was 16, so she was four years younger than me – she was skilful with makeup. I had always done a very simple, natural makeup look for myself since I didn’t have the time or energy to put on more. But now that there was someone else doing my makeup, I actually felt beautiful when I looked at my reflection. Bright pink lipstick drew my attention first – I didn’t really use too bright colours, but to be honest… it fit me quite well. The only minus I could find was my complexion. I had always been pale, but now that I had been working like a dog and barely not sleeping… I literally looked like a ghost. I was as white as a sheet.

“Look how pretty you are, miss – “, Sunhwa was about to blurt out but quickly corrected herself. “I mean, Dami.”

I smiled at the girl. “You’re quite skilful with makeup. Thank you, Sunhwa.”

The girl let out a quiet chuckle. “No, thank you. I don’t get to do this kind of makeup often.”

The progress I had made with the girl in just a few days was amazing. At first, she hardly talked, and when she did, her words were stiff and formal. She hardly smiled. I had broken the ice and the shy but bright, innocent girl had become my friend. I got up and patted the girl on her shoulder before walking out of the room to see a big mirror – I wanted to know how I looked as a whole, including the dress I was wearing.

My hair had been curled and the makeup fit well with the cute but still classy enough hairstyle, and as I looked at myself, wearing the black tulle hemmed dress, I could actually admit it for once. I looked good. I only noticed myself smiling when the smile withered away from my face as I felt a sharp headache. I frowned and put my hands over my temples, massaging them gently.

I started to feel dizzy. I let out a sigh and felt myself crouching down slowly. Why now? Dr Choi had told me I’d probably start showing some sort of symptoms soon since I hadn’t slept properly for a long time. But why did it have to be now, when I was about to leave the house to actually have some fun? I rushed upstairs to the kitchen and poured myself a big glass of water. I drank it quickly, hoping it would make me feel better. My wish came true as I slowly felt the feeling going away. I sighed and leaned against the kitchen’s counter.

“You look beautiful.”

Seungcheol’s voice almost got me startled and I was about to drop the glass from my hand. I put the glass down onto the counter and turned around to look at the boy who was standing at the room’s door, wearing an expensive looking suit. His expression was something between amazed and in awe and I couldn’t hold back a quiet chuckle.

“Thank you”, I said and tilted my head a little bit.

“I mean it, you look stunning”, the boy swore and nodded before flashing me a smile. “Are you ready? Dad is already waiting downstairs.”

I nodded and almost snorted as Seungcheol offered me his arm. Shaking my head, I linked my arm with his and we walked downstairs together. Outside the house, there was a car that reminded me of a limousine, of course a flying one at that. Dr Choi was standing at the door, dressed in a suit as well. He nodded at us as we walked out of the house.

“You’re both looking good”, he stated before opening the door for us. We slid at the back of the limousine and as we sat down I realized our arms were still linked. I tried to pull my arm off but suddenly the limousine got off the ground and flew forward, making me cling onto his arm even harder. The boy noticed that and he glanced at me, chuckling.

“Are you still afraid of flying?” he asked.

“No”, I denied quickly and awkwardly pulled my arm to myself. “I just got surprised.”

The boy laughed at me and shook his head as we flew forward towards the hospital and the ball.

The 20-minute drive already felt quite familiar and quick as we had visited the hospital a couple of times. As our ride arrived, we hopped out of the car in front of the hospital’s huge French doors. For some reason, I was reminded of the time I first visited this place – the day I first woke up in this era.

“We will introduce you as Seungcheol’s cousin, like we agreed earlier”, Dr Choi said before we walked in.

I nodded. It was probably the best solution. It would cause misunderstandings and discussion if Seungcheol would bring me to the ball as a servant of his family. He was a rich family’s heir and the future owner of this hospital, after all. A cousin would be easy to explain. I moved from outside Seoul and I had no other place to go to, so I stayed with the Choi family.

As we walked into the building, I almost gasped. I did remember the giant, oval shaped building was beautiful and very futuristic inside, but now that it had been decorated for the ball, it looked even more beautiful. There were glass ornaments everywhere and I could see some rose vines on the walls here and there. The amount of the people was almost overwhelming. I had never been to such a formal, fine ball before, but I had never expected to see so many people.

Pretty much everybody was eyeing at our trio – me, Seungcheol and Dr Choi – curiously. They were probably having a lot of thoughts. The most important person of the ball had arrived, and his son had a partner that nobody knew of.

I was sticking close to Seungcheol as Dr Choi was giving his brief opening speech, welcoming everybody to the ball and wishing them a nice evening. After the speech was over, Seungcheol asked me to follow him and lead me to the buffet – neither of us hadn’t had the time to eat dinner yet, so we could stuff our mouths as much as we wanted now.

As we were heading towards the area where we could eat, someone stopped us and greeted us with a wish for good evening. He was a middle aged man who was accompanied by a woman, presumably his wife. I noticed a patch on his suit and assumed he was a doctor as well, since I had seen an similar patch on Dr Choi’s suit.

“Good evening”, Seungcheol greeted the man. “How are you?”

“Just fine”, the man replied, eyeing at me. “And who could this be?”

I was about to open my mouth and introduce myself as I felt Seungcheol’s grip on my arm getting tighter, and understood it as a sign to stay silent and let him do the speaking.

“Ah, this is Min Dami. She’s a cousin of mine, from my mother’s side of the family.”

The man nodded slowly. His wife, instead, chuckled at me. “There is no resemblance between you and your aunt. I wouldn’t believe you’re the late Mrs’s relative, you’re such a beauty.”

The tone in the woman’s voice was warm and friendly, but the words weren’t. I could feel Seungcheol getting tense and glanced at him before nodding at the woman. I didn’t feel good about her words but I couldn’t start arguing with her either. She was basically mocking Seungcheol’s mother in front of the boy.

“Excuse us for now”, Seungcheol managed to say from between his teeth, trying his best to not show his frustration to the older couple. Then he glanced at me pulled me away from the situation, heading out of the hospital. I barely managed to walk after him in my heels as his pace was quick, but didn’t want to complain.

The boy stopped as we got out of the building. He let my arm go and let out a few frustrated groans before squatting down and closing his eyes, trying to calm down.

I bit my lip a little bit, thinking hard whether I should do something or not. I took a step towards him.

“Are you alright?” I asked quietly.

“Just give me a second”, he sighed. “And I’ll be fine.”

I squatted down next to him, even though it was a bit challenging considering my clothes and shoes. I carefully patted the boy on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. His trembling slowly stopped, and he was just staring blankly in front of himself.

“I was 12 when my mother died”, he said quietly. “And I’ve been listening to people mocking her since then. She wasn’t from a rich family, and she wasn’t exactly the person who people expected to marry my father.”

I sighed. It was the year 2157 yet still there were things like this. Rich people and normal people had a deep canyon in between. So disappointing.

After a while, Seungcheol had calmed down and we got to stand up again. I eyed at him as he let out another sigh and pat the dust away from his clothes.                         

“Don’t listen to them”, I tried to comfort the boy. “My parents have always been someone to mock. My classmates always made fun of them. They drink a lot, they fight a lot, we’re not rich. But I still love them. I stopped listening to people mocking them. But I do understand you. It’s tiring and hard.”

The boy looked at me for a while. The long eye contact made me feel awkward, adding to the long silence, and I looked away, about to suggest returning inside. Suddenly Seungcheol rushed forward, pulling me into a tight hug, his arms wrapped around my back and waist tightly. My eyes spread wide open from the sudden intimacy and I couldn’t help but to let out a silent gasp from the surprise. I relaxed soon after, though, and hugged him back.

“I’m glad you understand me”, the boy murmured into my hair, his voice sounding lower than usually. “You seem to be the only one who does.”

I was about to reply to him as I heard footsteps and glanced right in front of me. The move only made me freeze in my place, eyes widened. I saw Wonwoo, dressed in a fancy suit, standing just a few metres away from us, staring at me and Seungcheol with a confused expression. Then the expression changed into clear disappointment. I backed away from the hug and opened my mouth, trying to say something, but couldn’t.
“Didn’t you say you were a servant?” Wonwoo asked, and his voice had a slightly accusing tone to it. “Yet here you are attending a ball dressed like this. Was any of your words true?”

After those words, that left me shocked and speechless, he turned around and rushed away, not entering the hospital like he had seemed to be about to. I stared after the boy who disappeared from my sight quickly. I took a hesitant step forward and felt Seungcheol placing his fingers around my wrist.

“You’re not going to follow him, right?”

I turned to look at the boy whose expression was curious yet concerned. I gently unwrapped his fingers from my wrist and started running. I wanted to catch up Wonwoo and explain the situation to him. I hadn’t lied, I had done nothing wrong. Well, maybe I had felt a bit guilty for hugging another boy. But that didn’t matter to Wonwoo, he didn’t have the same feelings he had in my dreams.

After a few hundred metres of running, I had to stop to take off my shoes – running in the heels was starting to get painful. I was panting and probably gained a lot of attention since I was running around dressed like this. I looked around me, but didn’t see even a hint of Wonwoo. The bookstore was probably closing right now, so Wonwoo couldn’t be there either. Then were in the world – oh.

The abandoned library. The library the boy had talked about in my dreams. The building he lived in. If I could find it, I could probably find Wonwoo too. Where else would he have gone than home? I nodded by myself and looked around me, trying to find a train stop. I was pretty sure the library would be located in the same neighbourhood as the bookstore and the Choi family’s house. It was old, traditional. So, like Wonwoo.

The train ride was faster than the car ride we took earlier, and I was able to hop off the train quickly. Then I headed straight towards the bookstore. Even if Wonwoo wasn’t there, I’d probably be able to ask the store keeper if they knew where the library was located at.

As I arrived to the bookstore, the storekeeper was already locking the door, ready to leave for the day. I took a few running steps to reach the elderly woman. She looked surprised to see me there at this hour, especially dressed the way I was.

“Dear, you look absolutely gorgeous”, the woman complimented me with a warm smile.

“Thank you very much”, I thanked her with a smile. “Actually, do you happen to know an abandoned library in this neighbourhood?”

The woman seemed to think hard for a second, and then her face brightened. “I do happen to know one. But why in the world are you searching for such a place?”

“I have my reasons”, I simply stated and flashed the woman a little smile. “Could you tell me where it is?”

“Alright. The library is located north from here, that way”, the woman guided me by pointing her finger. “The building has been empty for decades but the spot around the building has become the most beautiful in this neighbourhood. There is actually some nature in there. You’ll know when you see it.”

I thanked the woman for the advice and bowed at her before I rushed towards north. After about a ten-minute walk I could see what the woman had meant by calling the part of the neighbourhood had become very beautiful. The buildings got older and older and the amount of the buildings lessened more and more. Grass started growing on the ground and there were some bushes here and there. Soon there were no other buildings at all, excluding the big, old and grand looking library that rose to the heights further away. I didn’t see any light in any of the windows but rushed towards the building anyway. It was 3-storied, built of stone and tiles, and there was a thick layer of vines growing all around the building. It looked like a castle of a prince in a fairytale.

The road disappeared completely and I felt grass under my bare feet. The feeling almost surprised me but it also made me feel comfortable. I could feel the nature. For the first time in a while. I walked to the doors of the huge building – big, dark wooden French doors. I knew it would be stupid to knock on the door; the building was so big there was no chance of Wonwoo hearing anything anyway – if he even was home.

I pulled the doors open and gasped at the sight. The first floor was empty of everything. There were no walls, the whole floor was just one big space with a lot of windows. It was dark outside now, but on a sunny day, the space would have probably been super bright and beautiful. I didn’t stay to admire the space and walked up the stairs. The second floor seemed to be in its’ original shape – full of dark, wooden bookshelves with books that looked centuries old. Such a Wonwoo-like place.

The whole floor seemed to be full of books so I walked the stairs up again, arriving at the third floor. The walls were mainly white, but the wallpaper had grumbled down a little bit here and there, showing a red tile surface beneath. One of the walls was completely showing the dark red tiles. The surfaces were grunge-y but the decorations and furniture was modern – with a sort of classy, romantic twist. The 3^rd floor was like a big loft apartment, were most of the space was open, expect for the bathroom and bedroom. After I admitted to myself that Wonwoo wasn’t home, I let out a sigh with a decision to wait for him.

We had just barely started to get along and now we were drifting apart again, just because he had misunderstood my identity. I did understand him – how many people brought their servants to a ball like that, as their partners, all dolled up? Nobody who attended the ball probably would have believed I was a servant. And so, Wonwoo didn’t either.

I let out yet another sigh and scratched my neck while walking around the space. I, of course, knew that privacy was an obvious fact, so I didn’t dig around, and just walked around, a little bit worried. After a while of walking back and forth, I stopped to stare at something I had seen earlier. On the boy’s desk, I could see very familiar reading glasses that I had seen earlier in my dreams. The big, round metallic glasses that Wonwoo sometimes had on if he was reading. I couldn’t help but to let a smile linger on my lips as I looked at the glasses on the desk. Maybe because of that, my eyes also set on something else.

There was an open notebook next to the glasses. On the notebook’s page, there was my name, written in big letters. Under the text there were several lines written – even though I felt bad for reading something that he probably didn’t mean for anyone to read – and it was facts of me, listed on the paper. The facts that Wonwoo knew about me. Min Dami is a stalker. She’s weird. She follows me around. She tells me she knows me. She says she’s a time traveller. She says we’ve known for three years. She says she has abilities. She loves me.

I stopped to stare at the last words for a longer time than I looked at the others. I frowned a little bit and blew out some air. I glanced at the next page that was open and blinked my eyes. It was full of written questions. What does she want from me? Am I supposed to trust her? Why is she treating me so nicely? Is she really telling the truth? Can I really let her follow me?

In a way, I felt relieved. So Wonwoo was curious. He wanted to know more about me. But even if the thought comforted me, I still felt unsure and bad because of today’s happening.

“What are you doing here?”

A familiar, deep and low voice with a clearly upset tone got me out of my thoughts. My eyes widened and I raised my eyes from the notebook to look at Wonwoo, who was standing at the end of the stairs that led to the 3^rd floor. He had loosened his necktie and his hair had gotten messed up in the wind.

“I wanted to explain”, I replied, looking down at my bare feet.

“And you entered my house on your own?” he asked with a voice that reminded me of ice cold water. I glanced at the boy’s face and the expression on his face was just as cold. The boy walked up to me from the stairs. “First a stalker, now a burglar?”

“I’m sorry”, I apologized. “But I wanted to clear the misunderstanding.”

Wonwoo let out a sarcastic chuckle, crossing his arms against his chest and staring at me with a frustrated expression. “Just look at yourself. What misunderstanding? Your outfit explains enough. Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t lie!” I snapped at the boy. I started to feel angry too. “I never lied. I am a servant. I just accompanied my employer’s son to the ball because he asked me to.”

Wonwoo was silent for a second. His glare didn’t die, but he already seemed to slowly get over the worst anger. His eyes still narrowed as he continued. “Why did you look so shocked when you saw me, then?”

I blinked. Right. I wasn’t even completely sure myself. I was guilty of nothing. “I guess the part of me that loves the dream version of you got ashamed, as I was hugging another guy.”

“Even though I’m not the same person?” the boy asked with a voice that revealed he was still very suspicious.

“I… I believe you’re the same person”, I stated, tilting my head a little bit. “You just don’t remember. Why else would I know so much about you?”

“Well I don’t know”, the boy snorted, shrugging his shoulders and messing his hair up even more. He looked frustrated, like he wanted to yell at me, but he didn’t seem to find any reason to be angry anymore. A silence that felt like hours, fell upon us. After a while I started to feel stuffy. I felt the headache from the afternoon returning – like someone was hammering the back of my head. I had to blink a couple of times and felt slight dizziness but brushed it off by looking at Wonwoo, wanting to break the frustrating silence.

“Why were you at the ball, then?”

The boy turned to look at me, frowning. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?” I asked, having to close my eyes again as I got a wave of dizziness.

“That my parents owned the biggest bookstore chain in the whole country”, Wonwoo said while he loosened his tie even more and pulled it off completely, throwing it to the sofa behind him. “I’m the heir, even though the chain isn’t in my possession right now. Of course I’d be at the ball. But what is confusing is that you didn’t know this.”

His words were starting to get blurry in my ears and I seemed to lose the ability to focus with my eyes. Everything was so shadowy and foggy. I tried to open my eyes as wide as possible but still couldn’t focus or get a grip of myself.

“Are you alright?” the boy asked, the tone in his voice finally changing from cold to concerned.

“Yeah. I guess… there was something that…”, I slurred out, feeling like fainting, “… I didn’t know about.”

The last thing I could see was a blurry image of Wonwoo taking a step towards me and reaching his hands out for me as I started to fall. Then everything became black.

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Hello! My laptop actually decided to stop working so I had to buy a new one, and so I haven't been able to write before today. Well, now a new chapter is up so yay for that.

I'd appreaciate a comment! ^^ And as always, thank you for reading.