“Here we go again” Yujin thought to herself, as her mom handed over the dress she was supposed to wear. It was that time of year again when her mother forced her to go to her group’s summer charity ball, which Yujin had no interest in at all. Her mother was the head of a group of women who volunteers and helps out around the community, and every year there was a charity ball that Yujin hated going to. Yujin was happy that her mom was always helping the community but she didn’t like how stuck up the other women in the group were. They were all rich, fake women who only participated in these fundraisers just for the recognition and social events. And Yujin, being her mother’s daughter, had to put on fake smiles and try her hardest to impress these women and make her mom look good.

Yujin took off the plastic covering of her dress and laid it out on her bed. “Isn’t it beautiful?” asked her mother, with lots of hope in her voice. Yujin looked at the dress and thought that it looked like something a Disney princess would wear. “This dress was the #1 dress in the catalogue at the boutique. The lady even said that a lot of girls bought this dress for their proms this year.” Yujin’s mother added.

“Mom,” Yujin said “I…don’t know what to say…” Yujin could see that it really was a beautiful dress, but it definitely was not something she would wear. To be honest, her mom’s whole lifestyle doesn’t suit her very much. Yujin likes to just live a simple life of hanging out with friends after school, and playing soccer with her team. Her mom, on the other hand, is all about her organization, social events and dressing up in extravagant outfits even if it’s just for a luncheon with the other women of the group; safe to say that her mom isn’t very fond of Yujin’s preferences. She would prefer Yujin to dress and act like a lady that would someday join her mother in being head of the group.

“So you’ll wear it to the ball tonight?” Yujin’s mom asked her. Yujin did not want to wear it at all, but she does want to make her mom happy.

“Sure, mom” Yujin said, in the most enthusiastic voice she could say at the moment. Her mom squealed and hugged Yujin tight, and said something that was so high pitched, Yujin could not understand a word of it.

Her mother let go, and said “I’ll let you get ready then!” Squealed a bit more and hurriedly exited Yujin’s room. After her mom left the room, Yujin closed the door, plopped down onto her bed, and went over the plan she made in her head. Thankfully, this year’s theme for the charity ball was The Masquerade, which meant everyone had masks on and no one knew who was who. This worked in Yujin’s favor because once the ball started, her mom would be so busy with taking care of the charity ball, she wouldn’t have any time to look for Yujin and to make sure she was doing okay. And knowing that her mom would pick out some outrageous dress for her to wear, Yujin had sought out an outfit that she wanted wear, and hid it in the janitor’s closet when she was helping set up the ballroom for the event, a couple days earlier. The ball took place at the same ballroom, at the same hotel every year, so Yujin knew the place like the back of her hand. She even befriended some of the hotel staff there, who always helped her get out of sticky situations or just helped her get away from the whole ball.

This year’s ball will be better, thought Yujin. She wouldn’t have to wear uncomfortable dresses and socialize the people who were pretending to be nice to her, just because she was her mother’s daughter. This year, she would be hiding behind a mask like everybody else.

“Honey, are you ready? We’re going to be late!” her mom called from downstairs. Several hours have passed, and Yujin had managed to put on the dress her mom bought and did up her hair in a neat bun, just the way her mom liked it. She took one more glance at the mirror, thought to herself how much this isn’t like her, grabbed her clutch and made her way downstairs.

“You look beautiful, Yujin!” her mom gasped, as Yujin was putting on her heels.

“Thanks mom” said Yujin, as she got up and they made their way to car.

“Now remember honey, please try and act like a lady at this event. There will be a lot of charity heads here, who might be working with us in the future” said Yujin’s mom as the driver turned into the entrance of the hotel.

“Got it, mom” Yujin said, as she was putting on her mask. “It’s gonna be a good charity ball this year”

“It will, won’t it?” her mom agreed with her, even though they had two different ideas of a good charity ball. Her mom also put on her mask, the staff at the hotel opened the car door, and they made their way out. They walked to the ballroom area, and ballroom was already filled with people. Within seconds, the women from her mom’s group immediately recognized her and started to talk to her.

Yujin stood on the side and waited for her chance to escape. The women and Yujin’s mom kept talking, when another woman ran up to them and said something in a hurry. Something probably happened and needs fixing, Yujin thought to herself. That means I can get away faster than I thought.

Her mom looked back at Yujin and said “Yujin, there’s a problem with the presentation, and I have to go sort it out. I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“Okay mom, see you later!” Yujin said, trying hard not to hide her joy. As soon as her mom was out of sight, Yujin quickly made her way through the crowds of people to one of the exits the staff had showed her a long time ago. On her way to the janitor’s closet, she bumped into some of the staff and caught up on the latest shenanigans going on at the ball this year. When Yujin got to the janitor’s closet, she made sure everything she hid was there, closed and locker the door, and began to make her transformation. When she came out of the janitor’s closet, she was wearing a one-shoulder dress that she wanted to buy for a long time, but never knew when she would wear it; she also took out the pins in her bun and let hair down as she made her way back into the ballroom. Much more comfortable, she thought to herself. The staff who saw her, complimented on her dress and congratulated her on finally wearing something she wanted. Yujin smiled back and thanked them, and for once she was happier about attending the ball. She put on her mask, and reentered the ballroom. No more pretending this time,Yujin thought, I can just be myself.

Unfortunately, the ball was no more interesting than it was the years before. As Yujin, walked through the ballroom, occasionally talking to the staff, people came up to her and tried to guess who she was, and some women started to gossip about others, even though they had no idea who Yujin was. Same old, same old, Yujin thought as she put on the smile that she had used for so many years.

One woman from her mom’s group even came up to Yujin and asked how old she was. “I’m eighteen” Yujin replied, not helping to wonder how strange she is for asking a random girl’s age.

“Ahh,” the woman replied “So does that mean you just graduated from high school?”

“Yes, I did just graduate from high school” Yujin said “How did you know?”

“My son,” the woman began, and Yujin why the woman asked for her age, the woman wanted to set her up with her son “is a year older than you, he graduated from high school last year, and is back from his first year of university. He should be here somewhere, but he didn’t even want to be here in the first place, so he’s probably off avoiding everyone..” That makes two of us, Yujin thought. “Will you be going off to university as well?”

“Yes I will be” Yujin said, thinking that the woman seems really nice, and pleasant to talk to.

“You must be very excited then! I know my son was extremely excited to get out of here and-“ the woman got cut off by another woman saying something into her ear before she could finish. “I’m really sorry hun, but I have to go. A couple of things I must do. It was very nice speaking with you, and good luck this year in school.”

“Thank you,” Yujin said “It was very nice speaking with you too” And two women left. Yujin, who now had nothing to do, leaned against the wall and watched as everyone socialized, holding up their drinks and laughing at jokes that weren’t very funny. As she was scanning through the crowd, she noticed across the ballroom a guy was leaning against the wall doing the same thing she was doing. He was also scanning through the crowd, when they both made eye contact. Even though Yujin knew for sure they had never met before, there was something about him that seemed very familiar to her. Without breaking eye contact, he made his way through the crowd towards Yujin. Flustered, Yujin looked down at her feet, and then took a glance back up to see if she was just imagining things, but he was still walking towards her. There was just something about him, it was almost as if she could see him without a mask on. No more pretending, the thought came into Yujin’s mind, but she tried to shake it off. The closer the guy got, the more nervous she became. Her heart started beating fast and she didn’t know what to do, this guy is still looking at her. As he came closer, she saw how tall he was, and how his brown hair was effortlessly swept to the side. Now completely flustered, Yujin looked down at her feet and bit her bottom lip, a habit she tended to do when stressed or put into situations.

Yujin refused to look up, but she saw his feet as he stopped in front of her for a few seconds and then he moved to the side and leaned against the wall beside her. She thought to herself, oh my gosh what do I do.

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First chappie! At first I was going to do a oneshot, but it's taking too long...so this will be maybe 2-3 chapters ^^ 

Anyways thank you for reading! I'll update soon, and for those who read my other fanfics: i'll try to update those too!