Chapter 9:

Jaehyun and Jisoo has spent about 15 minutes walking around a local Los Angeles shopping mall, called Century City Westfield. The outdoor mall had a trendy and modern design, and allowed the hot sun beam intensely onto the shoppers. Jaehyun walked side by side with Jisoo as he continued to suggest stores for her to shop in.

“Since money isn’t really a concern anymore, you can shop until we have no more limbs to hold your bags.” He joked with her.

She giggled and told him as she looked forward, “Don’t worry, I’ll only buy what I need.”

Jaehyun led Jisoo into Nordstrom, a store where everything was of good quality, good variety, and but not-so friendly prices.

“You’ve shopped before, right?” He asked her as they walked into the vast variety of women’s clothing.

“No.” She paused in her footsteps and looked straight at him.

“You don’t buy your own clothes? I thought Princesses get offered dresses from big-name designers.”

“I don’t really see that part of Princess-hood. The Korean media barely does any coverage on me. So, I don’t consider myself famous enough to have any designers make any clothes for me. I’m basically invisible to my country. That’s one small reason why my father wanted me to get married… to resurface myself into the media and regain media power.”

“Mmm… I see.” Jaehyun nodded in understanding, “Well, all you have to do is grab whatever you think you would look pretty in, then pay for it with your money.”

“Oh okay.” Jisoo began her search for new clothes following her question, “Can you help me find some?”

Jaehyun nodded and happily took her request, although he’s not very experienced in shopping for women’s clothing.

The two of them split up and met at the dressing room entrance 20 minutes later. Jisoo returned with a girly purse, wallet, and shoes. The purse was a small, light pink leather sling bag with little pastel-colored flowers decorating the half-inch sling. The wallet was wine-colored and designed by the big name of Michael Kors, while the shoes she chose were blush pink TOMS flats that had a matching-colored bow displayed on the center front of the shoe.

“Those suit you.” Jaehyun complimented her selection.

Jisoo, however, gasped as she laid eyes on the many pieces of clothing that Jaehyun held through hanger tops. He offered for her to see through all of the hangers that he held on his left index finger. “See anything you like out of all of these?”

Jisoo’s mouth remained open as she examined all of them in awe. “You found so much!” She exclaimed, causing him to giggle a little.

“I’m surprised you didn’t have more than me. Why didn’t you chose any clothes?”

“Because I don’t know what I’ll look pretty in. Plus, I needed shoes and a purse because the ones that Jisung gave me aren’t exactly my style.”

“Well at least you know your style.” Jaehyun shrugged. “Here, go inside the dressing room and try on your favorites from this pile. I’ll wait here in the waiting area.”

Jisoo agreed, taking about 15 hangers with her into the dressing room.

The dressing room was a little cramped for Jisoo’s liking, but she proceeded to try on everything that Jaehyun chose for her. He chose a variety of pretty dresses and blouses, either colorful, simple, elegant, or chic, it was all there. There were tight-fitted dresses and edgy blouses that Jisoo disqualified immediately, knowing that she wouldn’t be comfortable wearing those types of things. And her eyes gleamed at the sight of one very girly, off shoulder dress within the pile. Before trying it on, she seperated the hangers between which ones she would disqualify and which ones she would definitely buy. She then, threw on her favorite dress and admired it in the mirror.

The dress flirtily showed off her collarbone and shoulders as the fabric was designed to display tiny embroidered flowers as the ruffles waterfalled down to her knees. The dress wasn’t like the Princess dresses that she were used to, but she fell in love with the way she looked in this one. She stepped out of the empty dressing room and looked for Jaehyun in the waiting area, finding him reading the price tags of few pajama sets that he recently just picked up for Jisoo as he was waiting.

“Jaehyun!” She called for him with melodic voice that sent chills down his spine, as it was the first time that he heard the Princess call for him.

He slowly turned towards the direction of her voice and stood in awe of the sight. She stood under the “dressing rooms” arch, smiling brightly as her hair flowed down her chest, and the dress highlighting her shoulders and her curves like magic. His heart skipped many beats at a time. The man became speechless.

“Do I look pretty?” She asked him with an anticipating smile.

Jaehyun couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her and struggled to say the words to her, “You look…”

Jisoo waited patiently as she felt through her hair, trying to fix it in a way that she felt prettiest.

“You look…” Jaehyun’s insides burned as his heart felt like it was running 100mph. Finally, the answer came out of him naturally, with the gleam in his eyes that couldn’t leave her at that very moment. “You look gorgeous.”