*Continuation from Chapter 2*

Chen blinked blankly at this petite girl next to him. “What? Your name is Snow White?”

She gave him a small nod. “Mmhmm. Yeah. My name is Snow White.” She gave him a dazzling smile.

Chen looked at her skeptically. “Like....the Disney princess..?”

She tilted her head towards him. “What?” She blinked innocently. “Is there something wrong with my name or something?”

Chen pressed his lips together in a straight line and shook his head. “Never mind then.”

She spoke up. “Well, Snow White is only my nickname. My real name is,” she looked all around her, as if someone could be listening to them, and finally whispered into his ear, “Choi Yuri.”

Chen mocked her and whispered back, “Why are you whispering?”

She crept in closer to Chen’s ear. “You never know when the trees have ears.” She backed away, and he saw Yuri with a dead serious expression.

Chen found Yuri quite intriguing. He had never met anyone as mysteriously vague as her. He stared at her every feature. From her red hair to her pale skin to her bright smile that seemed to be etched on her face. With every step she took, she gracefully bounced towards wherever they were going. *She’s such a happy person. How does a person even be as happy as her?*

Yuri looked at him and smiled genuinely. She didn’t know why, but she felt very secure around Chen. She felt like she could trust him and had a good feeling about him. He seemed like the type of person, who wouldn’t betray her. [A/N he tried betraying Chanyeol to Rabid Bunnies though.. *cough*]. “You know, I don’t tell people my real name.”

Chen looked at her with his eyebrows raised. “Really? Why not?”

“Hmm..” Even if she DID trust him, she didn’t think he would understand if she told him her back story all at once, so she lied to him. “I just like reserving my real name for people I’m close to.”

He tilted his head to the side. “We’re close?”

She laughed. “Well, no. But I feel like I can trust you with my real name. And plus, it’s not like you can tell anyone because you’re not from here.”

Chen felt a little touched that she felt that she could trust him enough to let him know about her real name, which seemed to be a big deal to her.

“You wanna know MY real name?”

Her eyes widened as her expression looked surprised. Chen found it very cute. “Is it-is it okay? I mean, I don’t want you to feel obligated to tell me just because I told you.” She bit her lips and looked down timidly.

Chen chuckled. “No, it’s fine. Only close people call me by my real name also.” She opened with a little “Ahh~”. “My real name is actually Kim Jongdae.”

Yuri nodded. “That’s a very nice name,” she said politely and smiled widely.

Her smile was infectious, and Chen found himself smiling along with her. “Thank you,” he said bashfully.

“So is Chen your nickname..?”

“No, it’s actually my stage name for EXO.”

“Stage name...? Oh yeah, you’re in a boy band,” she said teasingly and giggled. She found it hilarious when he told her that he was in a boy band.

Chen playfully faked a shocked face. “What’s so funny?”

“Hehe, well to be honest, I really can’t imagine you as a singer. No offense.”

Chen pouted a little bit. Then to Yuri’s surprise, he just started belting out the Mandarin version of EXO’s “What is Love”.

As they continued to walk along, her head would sway back and forth. As they were approaching Yuri’s kingdom, she was dying from anxiousness, but Chen’s soothing singing started calming her. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself as much as she could. Finally, Chen finished off with belting out the last note. Yuri opened her eyes and saw that Chen was looking at her expectedly. She clapped and jumped up and down like a mad woman.

“That was AMAZING, uhm-err...” She trailed off. She didn’t know whether to call him Chen or Jongdae. Chen quickly caught on.

“Just call me Chen. I’m more used to it.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“You’re a really good singer, Chen. One of the best, if not THE best, I’ve ever heard.”

“Aww, thanks.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Do you sing also?”

Yuri busted out laughing. Her laugh reminded Chen of a baby’s laugh: pure and innocent. *Kyeopta!* He thought.

“Oh, goodness! No! I do not sing. I can’t sing.” She covered both of her cheeks and tried to calm herself from laughing.

“I’m sure you’re not THAT terrible.”

“Pssssshhhh. You’ve never heard me sing.”

“Then why don’t you sing to me right now?”

Yuri realized that she walked into his trap, and she looked over to him giving her a sly look. She pouted. “But-but I’m terrible!”

“So? I don’t judge.” He smiled wholeheartedly.

Yuri looked at him hesitantly before sighing. “Okay... But don’t laugh, okay?”

“I won’t,” assured Chen.

Yuri’s hands started to get sweaty and took in a deep breath before singing “Some Day My Prince Will Come” [A/N from Snow White and the 7 Dwarves Disney movie]. Her voice was high and sweet, and it made Chen smile. He felt like she was the most innocent person he’s ever met, and it was refreshing. He personally thought that the world was too corrupted, and it’s nice to meet someone that was so pure. She finally finished her song and started to blush furiously afterwards. She started covering her face in embarrassment.

“Ahh! I’m so terrible at singing! I can’t believe you talked me into singing for you!”

“Aww, come on. You weren’t bad at all. You sounded like a little kid.”

She gave him a horrified look. “Oh, my gosh! That’s even WORSE!” She buried herself deeper in her hands and wouldn’t look at Chen.

Chen tried to console her by patting her head like a dog. “There, there. You weren’t bad at all. I liked it. It was very cute.”

She pouted angrily at Chen. “SURE,” she said sarcastically. Then she sighed and lowered her arms. “Well, at least you didn’t laugh at me.” She smiled brightly, and Chen smiled back.

They walked on for a few minutes without talking, and Yuri couldn’t take the silence that filled the air.

“What’s Disney...?” She asked, trying to restart the conversation.

Chen stared at her in disbelief. “You honestly don’t know what Disney is?” She shook her head in response. “Disneyland? Disney World? Walt Disney? Anything ring a bell?”

All she did was give a confused look and then shook her head again.

She looked at him and giggled. “You’re strange. Those things must be from where YOU live. I have no knowledge of any places or people outside where I live.”

“Really?” Chen furrowed his eyebrow together. “But you must have learned some culture and stuff from other places.”

“Well, yeah. We’ve been influenced a lot by other places and philosophers and stuff. But now my home is really isolated. We rarely have connections with the outside anymore.”

He thought about what she said. *Where are places where it is isolated? Maybe I can narrow down where I am.*

Yuri looked at his thinking face and giggled.

They eventually got to the end of the road into a busy town. Everything was made of stone. Stone walls, stone buildings, stone statues. There were many hills which held lots of little shops.

But on top of the highest hill laid a magnificent castle. It looked very old and royal.



Everything reminded Chen of Europe. *Am I in....Europe? How did I get to Europe?*

Chen continued to look around at the town, fascinated at how beautiful the sight was. Yuri, however, remained suspiciously quiet as she led him to her home. They continued to walk up the hill before stopping at the gate right in front of the castle.

Chen looked at the castle with glistening eyes. “Why are we here?”

She responded back timidly, “I-uh-live here.”

She took out a long necklace from around her neck that was hidden under her dress. It held this large rusty key, and she used it to unlock the gate. They both entered into the courtyard, and they walked past tall bushes shaped as animals and figures. There were lots of plants and flowers surrounding them as they walked through, and the birds all chirped at them, as if they were saying “Hello”.

Chen’s jaw dropped to the floor as he examined all the beauty. “You live HERE? Are you like a princess or something?”

Yuri gave a small, amused smile. “Yeah.” She laughed.

“You’re REALLY a princess?” He looked at Yuri. With her looks and grace, she could easily pass for a princess in fairytales. But not in real life. He felt skeptical about it. “Princess of where? Where are we right now?”

“We never had an official name... Because we’re the only kingdom in hundreds of miles, so we’ve never had to introduce ourselves with other kingdoms.”

“Well, you must have a name.”

Yuri shrugged. “Well, it’s extremely rare to have an outsider come into our kingdom because we’re surrounded by miles of forests. So we just refer to this place as my stepmother’s kingdom.”

Chen clucked his tongue. “I see.” He continued to gaze around as they talked.

They finally stopped in front of this cottage that sat right in the back of the castle. It was the size of a rundown, one story house. It looked broken and shabby even if it wasn’t next to the castle.

“Uhm... Why are going in here?” Chen asked. He didn’t want to be rude, but he really wanted to go explore in the castle.

“Oh, uh. I don’t live in the castle...” Yuri ducked her head from his sight and entered the cottage with Chen following her. He looked around inside. Even though it looked rundown on the outside, the inside looked incredibly new and modern. It was spotless to the point that he could see his reflection on the table. It was even nicer in here than the EXO members’ dorms.

“Why not? You’re a princess, and you don’t live in the castle?” Chen looked at her suspiciously. Her story seemed to make less and less sense as time passed by.

“Well... It’s kinda complicated. My stepmother... Doesn’t like me. So she made me stay here... As a maid.” She smiled sheepishly at him. She was hoping that she wouldn’t scare him away once he learns that she’s not as rich and powerful as she seemed to be.

He tilted his at her. “A Cinderella story... But your name is Snow White.” He laughed at the situation. “How ironic.”

Yuri blinked curiously at Chen. *Huh. Why does it seem like he knows something that I don’t?* But she shook those thoughts away. “Well, I’m kinda glad I don’t live in the castle. It’s made me a bit more humble. I would’ve been a spoiled princess if I lived in the castle my whole life. I‘ve learned to cook and clean for myself and be entirely independent.” She smiled brightly.

Chen was taken aback by how positive she looked at her situation. If this happened to any other girl, they would’ve been bitter about everything. “I guess that’s good.” He browsed around her living room while Yuri was searching for food for Chen. “So how long have you been taking care of yourself?”

Yuri yelled from the kitchen. “For about 11 years.”

Chen nodded before realizing what she said. “11 years... WHAT? Wait, how old are you, Yuri?”

“I’m turning 21 in a couple months.” She came out of the kitchen with a large woven basket and set it on the table.

Chen looked at her with a very shocked expression on his face. “YOU’VE BEEN TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF SINCE YOU’VE BEEN 10?!“

She jumped at the sudden volume change. She looked at him blankly and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I have?” She asked as if she thought this was a normal thing.

“T-that’s so YOUNG.” He started to worry about Yuri. It was no wonder to Chen why she was so innocent. She hasn’t had an adult figure to help her grow up.

She shook her head. “No, no, no, no, no! It’s fine! It’s totally fine!” She smiled, and quickly changed the subject before he could say anything else. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any food in my kitchen at the moment. Do you mind if we go to the market?”

Chen squinted his eyes at Yuri suspiciously but only let go the subject because he felt that she was uncomfortable talking about it. He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

They started to get ready when they both heard the front door open, and cold wind suddenly swept into the house, surrounding both of them in a thick blanket of eeriness. They both turned around, and Yuri dropped the basket in fright of the person in her doorway.

“S-stepmother.”

Chen was flabbergasted at the person in front of him. He could instantly recognize her face in a crowd. *H-H-Hyuna?!*

Hyuna laid her cold eyes onto Chen before moving them onto Yuri. Yuri stiffened in fright under her intimidating stare.

Hyuna flipped her hair off of her shoulder. “Didn’t I tell you before to call me Queen Hyuna?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, you guys! :D

So! Yuri's stepmother is actually HYUNA! *GASP* Yes I know, surprise surprise. But she's so ideal for evil characters xD

Sorry for the boring chapter. It's kinda necessary to tie everything together, you know? Haha.

BUT OMG! I GOT 4 MORE SUBSCRIBERS SINCE MY LAST UPDATE *O* .... I know that most of you came from my The Day I Slapped Suho's [Complete] story, but I'm so glad that you read it and gave it a chance <3

*bows down to you guys* I really do hope that you guys like the story. Even though I don't have many subscribers, it's nice to know that there are people who are reading it ^-^

Okay, well bye you guys! :D P.S. COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT <3