Her mother finds her, in the east-wing bathroom. Sat in the bathtub and staring into air. 

“Wendy, darling.”

Seungwan perks up at her name. 

“C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up. Your papa has someone he’d like us to meet. I think it’s your betrothed.” She runs her hand through her hair, and gives a weary smile. 

Her mother wets a facecloth, bringing it over to the bathtub, and gently begins wiping off tear stains. 

It’s quiet.

“Mama,” Seungwan whispers. The methodical wiping stops. 

“Yes darling.”

“Is it bad that I don’t wanna meet them anymore?” 

Her mother sighs. She tosses the facecloth into a bin, and picks up a hairbrush in its stead. When she starts brushing through Seungwan’s hair, she speaks. 

“You know, when I first met your father, he was no different than he is now,” she says. “Always up to something diabolical. It drove your grandparents crazy. I didn’t want to marry him at first.” 

“But you did, in the end.” Wendy is resigned. A tired little being, half of a heart left to beat. 

“He won me over,” is all her mother says. “But what I’m trying to say, is that your father doesn’t really think before he acts.”

Seungwan snorts. “No, he doesn’t.” 

“Do not blame your father for wanting some fun in this dreary life.”

“Sorry.”

She gently pins loose bangs to the side. Holding the fluffy cheeks of her daughter, she says, “Anyway. I suspect the person who holds your heart, and the one you’re promised to, is one in the same.” 

The reaction she gets is priceless - her daughter’s eyes widening to comical extents, mouth falling apart in a silent ‘oh’, before it all falls and settles back into passiveness. 

“That actually would make sense,” Wendy mutters. 

“Your father has taken great lengths to hide vital information from the both of us. And normally I would let it go - seeing as all he wants is a little fun.” Her mother smirks at her. “But he did make my baby cry.” 

Seungwan stumbles slightly when she gets out of the bathtub. She straightens out, or attempts to, her clothes. “I’m not a baby anymore, mother,” she retorts. “I’m fifteen, and betrothed.” 

“Come along, darling.” Her mother is already in the hallway. “And you’re still fourteen.” 

-

Seungwan shies away, hiding partially behind her mother, when the library door opens. She’s still small enough to be hidden, and her mother’s warmth comforts her; even if she’s getting too old for that. 

When she peeks from behind her mother, she sees her father; gestures big and dramatic as he tells a story, and a man she vaguely remembers as Uncle Kang. He is as boisterous of a man as her father. 

And there she is. 

Seulgi. 

Seungwan doesn’t really know what else she is expecting, seeing as her mother has already tipped her off about her betrothed, but her heart still skips a beat. The cracks of glass in her chest piecing itself back together, piece by piece, bit by bit. 

Seulgi looks, different.

But she still looks pretty nonetheless, even with red-rimmed eyes and a pink nose.

And perched, on a loveseat in her library, Seulgi sits. Demure and quiet and quite a whole lot different from what Seungwan knows of her. Even her hair is tamed down, glossy and tucked behind her ears. 

“I believe introductions are in order, love.” Her mother speaks quietly. But it’s a command. Her father knows it. 

“Yes, yes, of course!” Her father gestures them in, and Seulgi’s father stands in greeting.

Her mother walks in, head high and a back full of elegance, to her father’s side - leaving her timidly toeing the carpet at the entrance of their library. Her mother eyes both men suspiciously, and they gulp; they’ve been close for years, and the firecracker of the woman they’ve grown to know and cherish is going to wreak hell upon them. 

“Wendy, you haven’t greeted the guests.”

Seungwan bows. Manners must be kept, even at an awkward time like this. “Good evening, Uncle Kang.”

“Kid! Oh Wendy, you’re still so small,” he comments. 

The atmosphere is tense, and Seungwan has no idea what to reply to that.

“Yes, uhm. Quick introductions before we be on our merry way!” Her father spits his words out, quick and hurried, before his wife kills him. “This is Wendy, my lovely, beloved, daughter.” He pulls her in, stopping her in front of a now standing Seulgi. 

Uncle Kang is quick to reply. “My Seulgi has been excited to meet you, yes. Brains and looks, the whole package...” 

Her mother shoots them another glare, and a small laughter bubbles in Seungwan chest at the sight of them withering and cowering. 

“We’re really sorry!” Her father shouts out. He nudges his friend, conspicuously dramatic, who also mumbles a ‘sorry’. 

“Wendy, be a dear and explain everything to young miss Seulgi, will you?” Her smile, warm with love, turns cold when she directs her gaze back at the two men. “I have something I’d like to settle.” 

They leave the library, the two men trailing after her mother with their tails between their legs. Her father turns around, right before the door closes, and mouths a final apology. 

“Hi.”

“Hello, Seulgi-ssi.” 

Seulgi looks up, finally, a watery smile on her face. Her eyes are shiny, but they’re curved in the way that Seungwan adores. “Why are you so formal, Wendy-ssi?” 

“I- I didn’t know if we’re, yknow, alright.”

“We’re good, Wannie,” she says. Simple. Content. Soft.

“Yea?”

“Yea.” 

-

Her heart gets returned to its rightful owner. It beats, in the space between them, pressed right against the tips of Seulgi’s fingers. They sit, back at the loveseat by the window. 

Seungwan doesn’t think she’s felt this calm in a long while.

There’s nothing more to fear, not anymore. 

“I’m really glad it’s you,” Seulgi whispers. The words bounce off the books, ricocheting back into her heart. 

“Me too.” She leans her head, tentative, against Seulgi’s left shoulder - it’ll become second nature soon, the way she slides ever so minutely backwards so Seulgi will be in front. It’s comforting. 

They sit, pressed against the other, staring out of the big library window. 

There’s no rush for anything, just the simple presence of the other as they take the information in. They’re engaged. Promised to the other. Since birth. 

Huh, Seungwan thinks, what a strange turn of events. 

She closes her eyes. This a new reality, and yet the dread she’s been feeling is gone. 

“So...” Seulgi’s voice brings her out of her thoughts. “Our fathers knew of this, of us.” 

She nods against Seulgi’s shoulder. It’s been a long day, and she’s tired. “Must be fun, playing with our feelings like that.”

“And we’re really, honestly, truly, sorry about that, princess.” It’s her father, and she notices how his right ear is red and raw. The adults have returned to the library - and Seulgi’s father looks almost gleeful, a strange blend of guilt and happiness on his face, as he watches at them. 

Seungwan doesn’t notice how she shifts to bury herself along Seulgi’s side. Neither does she notice the adults’ pleased expressions. 

“We have a lot to settle, now that the both of you are officially introduced,” Seungwan’s mother says. “The announcement. An official statement. Your wedding date - although that’s going to be in a few years. But we do need papers drawn up for prenuptials and the companies’ logistics-“

“Okay, babe. Hold up a moment, lemme just settle into a good chair before you begin.” 

———

ITS SHORT BUT ITS LIKE A FILLER CHAPTER BEFORE THE FLUFF OF THEM JUST BEING TOGETHER SJFKLG OKAY BYE SORRY ITS BORING AND SELF INDULGENT

nobody can stop me from writing this fic that literally only I adore shfkgkkg hehehehehehe

(I know everyone wants wenrene next so I may try starting the first chapter. It’s gonna be a boring first chapter tho - just to start us all off. And a short one too.)