Chapter 6 – White Rabbit

“It will work.”

“This is insane, Heejin. Absolute madness.”

Minjeong paces up and down the room frantically while throwing an occasional skeptical glance at the girl sitting nonchalantly on the chair with her arms crossed. The girl who was her only friend when she was a mere child. The last time she saw the girl was when they were ten and Heejin had just lost one of her front tooth. Now, her friend is all grown up, looking even more beautiful than before with her thick blonde hair and it took her a while to recognize the girl when they first meet.

Not only is this reunion sudden, but Heejin had the most unusual reason as well.

“First, you tell me you wanted to meet me after ten years of absolutely no contact and then, you suddenly drop this proposition.”

Heejin shrugs in response as if it was something so natural and this further agitates Minjeong, who then takes the seat in front of her.

“So, just to recap, for the last ten years you have been disguising yourself as a man.”

Heejin nods her head in response.

“And you have been assuming this identity of Jeon Jinhee for ten years now. Also, you have been fighting alongside with your father out on the battlefield and no one knows.”

“Yes. And you?”

Heejin interrupts quickly with a question.

“Same old hidden princess life. Nothing’s changed.”

Heejin shoots her a knowing glance before Minjeong continues.

“So last but not least, you were at the palace last week to deliver a message to your father when you passed by a hall where you saw this girl…”

“Goddess.”

Heejin interrupts her with a frown to which Minjeong just shakes her head and continues.

“Goddess tutoring a female official.”

“Yes, precisely.”

“And now you want to woo her by enrolling yourself as a male junior in her school this autumn?”

“Yes.”

“And you want me to do the same?”

Minjeong questions again with her eyebrows raised. She still cannot believe how crazy that sounds. Who in their right mind would go disguise themselves as a man just to go woo a girl they like? You must be really, really head over heels to do that, she thinks.

“Hey, you said it yourself. You had a some with your tutor and from what I know, she studies there too.”

“I kind of regret telling you about Jimin now. But wait, how did you know where she studies?”

“Come on, Princess, everyone knows Yu Ji Min. She stands out. It’s not like I need to go look for her. And have you forgotten who her father is? Minister Yu, the Minister of Economy.”

“I know that, but this is still crazy.”

“I mean, you must really, really like her if the first thing you say when you see me after a decade is I think I’m in love with a girl, Heejin and she likes me back but I am not entirely sure since she doesn’t reply my letters so I have no idea what to do therefore, please help me.”

Heejin imitates her tone earlier with a giant smirk on her face and Minjeong takes a deep breath, not saying anything, her face showing absolute defeat.

“Think about it, there is no way you are going to enroll there as a princess, or as a woman. What better way than to pretend to be a man? I mean, it is way easier to date a woman as a man too.”

Minjeong sighs, Heejin is right. Even if they did like each other, it is not like they could actually be together openly in public as women, especially in this era. Perhaps it was possible, in a different time, a different universe, that they could be open about it. But right now, things will definitely be much easier if she is a man or at least pretends to be one. The timing however, Minjeong thinks, is impeccable.

How is it that Heejin manages to appear in her life after a whole decade, almost like a fairy godmother, knowing just when to help her out with her hopeless love life? How is it that the timing was just right that she needed someone like Heejin who is bold and determined enough to convince her to do something so, so crazy with her?

Minjeong chuckles lightly, she doesn’t know and she probably never will but she figures, maybe this is just meant to be. Maybe they were meant do this together. After all, they were both head over heels for their respective crushes. Maybe, just maybe this is what love does to people. It drives them crazy.

At this point, she wholeheartedly thinks that they are both insane, Heejin for coming up with the idea and she for agreeing to do it but she finds comfort in knowing that she is doing this with Heejin. With that being said, she looks at her friend, whose arms are still crossed but eyes blinking repeatedly at her, undeniably waiting for her response. Minjeong casually leans back and crosses her arms.

“So what is her name again?”

“Who?”

“Your girl.”

“Goddess you mean? I didn’t get her name.”

“All this trouble over a girl whose name you don’t even know, Jeon Heejin?”

Minjeong says with a loud voice as she widens her eyes at how absurd her friend is being. She almost regrets her decision to go along with this insane idea.

“Hey, calm down. It’s not like I can just waltz into her life and ask her out now, can I?”

Heejin exclaims loudly with a tone of exasperation. Fine, that makes sense, Minjeong thinks. Surely, this isn’t as insane as it sounds.

“One thing’s for sure, she has a really nice smile and cute face. Exactly my type.”

Heejin says out loud as she breaks into a big smile, eyes full with adoration.

“Since when exactly did you have a type?”

Minjeong asks with a wide grin. What Minjeong really meant to ask was when did you know? And how?

But she’ll save that question for later.

“Since forever, Princess. I had a tiny crush on you back then too.”

“We were…ten.”

Minjeong exclaims, almost shocked. Heejin lets out a quick scoff as