Kai woke up one morning to see that Sooyeon wasn’t in her bed. He sat up and yawned, stretching his arms high above his head. He rubbed his eyes and threw his legs off the side of the bed. He looked at the empty bed on the other side of the room. *I wonder where she is.* He shrugged and got up from his bed. He groggily walked outside of the room and looked around.

 

It was completely dark, and there wasn’t a soul awake. 

 

Kai scratched the back of his head in confusion. *Huh, where is this girl?* From the corner of his eye, he could see a door that was uncharacteristically open. He tilted his head to the side. *Why is that door open? It’s usually locked.* He trudged over to the door and peeked through it. He looked up and saw that there were winding stairs leading up to somewhere. Unconsciously, he made his way up the stairs. 

 

It took some time, but he finally made it to the top. When he reached the top step, he saw a single door, light was escaping through the cracks. Without thinking much, he walked over and opened it, creaking loudly from not being open for a long time. He shoved his head through the crack and took a look inside.

 

He saw that the light was shining brightly throughout the whole room. He looked around and saw a figure hunched over on the floor. He slipped through the crack of the door and tiptoed quietly to the figure. 

 

Kai kneeled down and realized that the hunched figure was Sooyeon, who silently reading a book. He could see her starting to doze off, but she would always jump up and start reading again. Her glasses were dangerously close to falling off of her nose, so he reached out and pushed them up for her. She turned to see whose hand was that and jumped in fright when she saw Kai next to her. 

 

“Omo!” She clutched her beating heart. “How long have you been sitting there?” 

 

Kai shrugged. “Not that long. I just came in.” 

 

“Oh.” She turned her attention back to her book and started reading again. “So you found my special hiding place.” 

 

“Huh?” Kai looked around at the grungy, drafty room and scrunched his nose. “THIS is your special place?” 

 

Sooyeon’s eyes flickered over to him before returning back to her book. “I see the face you’re making. I know it’s not that best place ever, but what do you expect from an attic?” 

 

“An attic...” he repeated slowly. “Your special place is an attic.” 

 

She threw him a look. “I know you’re judging me, but no one comes up here. So really, it’s mine. All mine.” She smiled at the room with a twinkle in her eye. 

 

“Uh huh...” Letting the topic slide, he sat down next to her and peeked over her shoulder. “What are you reading?” 

 

“I’m reading how to design a ball gown,” she muttered. 

 

His eyebrows rose. “Ball gown?” 

 

She jumped onto her feet and skipped over to a nearby wardrobe. She opened the doors wide and took out a headless mannequin wearing a plain white dress with few intricate sewing patterns. She set it down in front of Kai and presented it with a wide smile. “Ta-da!” She clapped her hands together and looked at it lovingly. “It belonged to my mother, you know. The white dress.” 

 

Kai looked at it. “It’s...nice,” he lied, not wanting to hurt her feelings by saying it looked incredibly plain. 

 

“Don’t lie. I see that look in your eye. You don’t think it’s pretty,” she retorted. She grazed her fingers over the sewing patterns and smiled a bit. “That’s why I’m reading the book. I sewed in the patterns and everything, but I need a little help trying to figure out what else to do with it,” she mused, tapping her finger on her chin. 

 

Kai stared at Sooyeon with unreadable eyes. “You’re really excited for this ball, aren’t you?” 

 

She smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah, I am. I mean, balls are meant to be fun, right? I want to have fun too.” She pouted, causing Kai to poke her cheek. 

 

“You’re so cute.” She threw him a glare before looking back at the unfinished dress. “So Jessica is actually letting you go to the ball?” 

 

Sooyeon’s face fell as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. “Well... I haven’t asked her yet...” She looked at Kai and weakly laughed. “I don’t see why I have to! I mean, there’s no reason I can’t go! Right?” she asked Kai with an uncertain tone. 

 

Kai shrugged. “Well, she’s your legal guardian. She can tell you what to do. And plus, she’s a bit of a...uhh...” 

 

“?”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Sooyeon sighed. “There’s no way she’d let me if I asked.” Her shoulders slumped as she lowered herself down to the ground and sulked. 

 

Kai frowned. “That’s no way to think.” All of a sudden, he jumped up onto his feet and shot his fist into the air. “You can do it, Sooyeon-ah! Hwaiting!” 

 

Sooyeon stared at him incredulously before breaking out into a laughing fit.

 

 

 

 

“Come on, go do it. Do it now,” Kai whispered. 

 

“Uhh... I change my mind. I’ll ask her later.” 

 

“No! We did NOT just walk up all those stair steps only for you to chicken out.” 

 

“Well, she’s busy with Sungmin and Sunny.” 

 

“Who cares? It’s not like they’re improving their piano skills. I mean, can you hear them right now?” They both stopped whispering to listen to the stepsisters practicing off-key songs on the piano. “You hear that? They .” 

 

Sooyeon stifled a giggle before clearing quietly. “That’s an awful thing to say.” 

 

“Whatever. Now just go!” 

 

“No, thank you. I should probably be tending the garden right now.” Sooyeon spun around and tried to walk down the stairs, but Kai grabbed her wrist. 

 

“Stop being a weenie!” 

 

“I’m not!” Kai gave her a look. “Maybe I am. B-but-” 

 

“No buts.” He pulled her back roughly before knocking on the door to the piano room. He let go of her wrist and sprinted down the stairs.

 

“KAI!” Sooyeon half-yelled, half-whispered after him, but he was already gone. 

 

The music stopped playing, and there was a deadly silence. “Who is it?” Jessica’s cold voice cut through the silence like a knife. 

 

“S-Sooyeon, stepmother.” Sooyeon turned the doorknob and peeked her head though the crack apprehensively. 

 

Jessica turned around and look at her with a raised eyebrow. “What is it?” 

 

Sooyeon shuffled into the room quietly. “U-uhm, I wanted to talk to you about something...” Jessica just looked at her with her arms crossed. Sooyeon took the silence as permission to continue. “A-a-about the b-ball at the castle...” Sooyeon didn’t dare look Jessica in the eye, so she kept her gaze onto the floor. She could see her own reflection on the floor that she had just scrubbed. 

 

“You want to go, don’t you?” 

 

Sooyeon looked at her stepmother with wide eyes. “Y-yes!” She cowered a little under such a cold look. “Does this mean I have your permission to attend it?” 

 

“Oh, mother! Please don’t let her come!” Sungmin and Sunny both whined as they pulled on Jessica’s dress. 

 

“Now, now. We can’t let poor Cinderella be sheltered forever. I mean, this is a once in a lifetime experience.” The corner of her lip twitched a little into a smirk. “But only with one condition.” 

 

Sooyeon looked at Jessica hopefully. “Yes? What is it?” 

 

“You can’t disobey any of my orders, understood? Or else I’ll forbid you to go.” The stepsisters behind their mother exchanged large smirks as a mischievous sparkle in their eye appeared. 

 

Sooyeon’s heart was filled with hope by her stepmother’s words. She knew that she had never disobeyed Jessica before, so her chances of going were high. “Yes! Thank you, stepmother!” She bowed down low for them a dozen times. 

 

Jessica rolled her eyes at her but tried to keep a pleasant face. “Now. Go to the market and buy meat and bread for dinner.” 

 

“Arasso, stepmother!” she said, still bowing, walking backwards towards the door and departed the room. 

 

Sooyeon could barely contain her excitement as she leapt into the air with joy. Kai, coming out from the kitchen, raised an eyebrow at her. “Good news?” 

 

She smiled widely at him and jumped into the air. “Yes, yes, yes! I’m going to a ball!” She clapped her hands together excitedly, and her eyes sparkled. 

 

She ran over to the closet and grabbed a thick, wool sweater and a bag. She put on the sweater, slightly mussing her hair up. “Where are you going?” 

 

“Jessica told me to go to the market and buy food for dinner.” 

 

“Can I come?” 

 

Sooyeon usually didn’t like being followed by Kai, and she liked going to the market alone, but she was too blinded by joy that she didn’t care. “Yeah, sure!” She threw him an old leather jacket from the closet. “Wear this. It might be cold.” Kai smiled at the small, caring gesture from her and chuckled at her happy face.

 

The two walked out of the house and left for the town. 

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Hello, DAWWWWLLINNNNGGSS <3 Hehe sorry for not updating in like forever. Well not really forever, it's been like 3-4 days? Haha well, it's 'cause I've been having really bad writers' block, and I had no idea why D: So this chapter's not that great, in my opinion. I apologize ;O; ...