Seoul, Shinhwa High School

November 2010

Sungmin curiously bounced around Hyukjae as they walked through the corridors of Shinhwa High School. It was just two weeks till Graduation Night, as seen from all the posters pasted around school, and the former was obviously very excited. Girls could be seen lurking around their lockers, trying to see if there were anyone slotting notes into their lockers; while guys were just standing around, thinking of ways to please their crushes that they had always been dreaming of.

“So, what are you going to wear?” Sungmin questioned as he unlocked the pin of his locker and pulled it open. He shoved all his unnecessary books back inside when he heard some weird giggling behind him. Turning to his right he noticed that Hyukjae was picking up pieces of small notes, along with some envelopes with little hearts on them. Sungmin couldn’t help but giggle at the fact that his best friend was so popular with the girls that his locker was filled with invitations every time they opened it.

“When will they ever stop?” Hyukjae groaned as he stood up and chuck them all in his haversack, along with his textbooks and files. It was irritating for him to receive notes every other time he unlocked his locker; he was actually starting to dread the fact that he had to open his locker and had even considered taking all his books to and from home; since in fourteen days he would be leaving Shinhwa, so he wouldn’t have to visit the door which led to the chunk of invitations falling on top of him.

“You know, you have to at least take a date to prom. These letters will probably be never ending till Graduation Night, unless you choose a lucky girl; or even a guy.” Sungmin wiggled his eye-brows while he whispered the last part.

It wasn’t as though the fact was a secret; it was known to every single person in Shinhwa. It was just that people refused to believe that Hyukjae was really gay, since he had technically been single since the day he was born and that had rejected every single guy and girl that had confessed to him. Everyone just came to a conclusion that he was just using that fact as a lie to cover up and chase away all the pestering girls.

“There’s no need to whisper. I don’t intend to take a date to prom, who says you have to take one anyways? If it was a must, wouldn’t it be so sad for all those singles out there? Prom is for everyone, not only those who are attached. News flash, Prom is our Graduation Night, not a Couple’s night.” Hyukjae shut his locker and walked past the disappointed girls, leaving his best friend stranded behind apologizing to them; again.

“Fine, go be the loner of the night. I don’t even know why you don’t want to take any partner along. Even Junsu is picking a girl! Don’t come complaining to me that you are lonely on the night, because I will be too busy with my own date.” Sungmin closed his own locker and they proceeded back home.

“Whatever. Just go have fun with your Kyuhyun and leave this loner anchovy alone, alright? I still can’t believe he actually asked you to be his date…  Lucky you.” Hyukjae nudged his best friend, who was obviously shy at whatever the former had mentioned.

“Hey! Who knew he had always liked me too? I still can’t believe he asked me to be his date for prom!” Sungmin squealed as he pulled his haversack’s strap and held his hands closer to his chest.

Obviously, Hyukjae had succeeded in changing the topic.

~~~

“I honestly can’t believe you really turned up at your own High School prom, alone. This is High School prom! Magic is supposed to happen! Where is your date?!” Junsu yelled as Hyukjae walked up towards them, alone. The three charming boys of the school has agreed to meet up at the bus stop near the Bleu Saphir, the five-star hotel where their prom was held, before doing their stupid grand entrance.

“Lee Hyukjae, are you wearing the same suit again?” Sungmin questioned as he took a closer look at Hyukjae’s jacket.

Hyukjae simply flattened his jacket and he gave his infamous gummy smile to the rest, basically Sungmin, Kyuhyun and Junsu, and gave a handshake to Junsu’s date, whom he had no idea who she was but he just simply introduced himself.

“Hi there, I’m Lee Hyukjae. Nice to meet you.” He knew there was no need to mention about his relationship with Junsu, since this girl was going to be a one night date. Ironically to what Junsu had argued; this man simply drew one note from the bunch of invitations that he received, and the lucky person would be his partner for the night. So much for the magic is supposed to happen.

It would be an understatement to say that this girl was lucky, she was after all the only person chosen out of the three hundred other girls that had given their invitation to three most popular boys of at Shinhwa, and especially when she was the girl that was chosen to be Junsu’s partner while Sungmin and Hyukjae didn’t even pick any.

“Hi Hyukjae Oppa, I know who you are! We used to be Biology classmates last year! And I know that you, Sungmin Oppa and Junsu Oppa have been neighbors since you three were born! I also know you three have been best friends since forever!” Sungmin threw a horrified look to Hyukjae, while the latter and Junsu tried to pretend nothing was wrong. This one-night date was a complete stalker.

“The party should have started already; we should go before all the good food gets wiped out.” Lucky for them, Kyuhyun was there to save the awkward silence!

~~~

The two girls at the registration booth eye- the four men walking towards them. They were student councillors who were selected to be on duty for their senior’s Graduation Night. These two girls were in for a good treat – to be able to meet the three infamous Prince Charmings of Shinhwa.

“Erm, Hi! Can you please register your name before entering?” One of the two by the booth spoke, as she continued feasting on the four gorgeous boys that stood in front of her. The girl was a junior two years below, yet she knew who they were – shows so much about their popularity. Like all girls, she was swooning over the hunks in front of her; it was amazing how she had not stuttered when she spoke to them.

“Sorry, Oppa. Do you all have your mask?” The other girl asked Hyukjae, while Junsu and his date were registering. Sungmin looked over at Kyuhyun, who also shrugged his shoulders.

“Tonight’s theme is Masquerade Ball; it was stated on the ticket and all the posters around school. You have to wear a mask through the entire night. Its purpose is for everyone to drop off all their status that they were holding in Shinhwa and for everyone to be treated equally….” Before the girl could finish babbling, Junsu obviously got annoyed and just shut her off with his question.

“No, we don’t. So does this mean we can’t enter?” Hyukjae and Sungmin nudged their best friend in his tummy; Junsu obviously could never control his emotions when he was hungry.

“No, Oppa! We already knew students would forget about the masks, so we prepared some. You can just pick a colour…” She was so embarrassed that she nearly dropped the box of masks that she had picked up from the ground.

In the huge box, there were masks of different designs and colours. Junsu picked a blue mask lined with navy blue sequins to match his baby blue collared shirt; his partner chose a white mask with feathers and pearls to match her pink dress; Kyuhyun chose a golden mask with detailed black waves and orange glitter dust; and Sungmin took a golden mask with red glitter dust and detailed golden finishes.

Everyone was busy trying to fix their mask on, while Hyukjae stared into the same box.

“I can’t pick… There are too many choices!” Hyukjae whined as he picked up 2 two masks: a sliver mask with sliver glitter dust and detailed black wave finishes; and a black mask with a detailed gold and black wave finish.

“Just pick the silver one! It’s the safest colour and you wouldn’t have to worry about it clashing with your outfit!” Junsu took the black one and returned it back to the box, before dragging Hyukjae into the ballroom. Hyukjae mumbled a quick thank you, while trying to tie his mask properly as he was being pushed through the doors.

The ballroom wasn’t as empty as Hyukjae had expected. It seems as though the entire school was there, but then again, Hyukjae rarely had the time to mingle around in Shinhwa since he was always busy working in the dance studio.

Two years ago, when Hyukjae was nine months away from Middle School Graduation, Hyukjae found a job at a dance studio near his school to earn money for his Prom suit then. It was tough earning those three hundred dollars: working almost every night after school for months. He would head over to the dance studio to clean the area and make sure that everything was in place before he could head home to study and complete his homework. Some would say that he was crazy to work as a cleaner in a dance studio at the age of sixteen, but he knew that he did it for his own portfolio - to make it seem as though he had the experience of working in a dance studio before. It has always been his dream to open his own dance studio, and even if it meant that he had to start from the lowest level, by all means he would do it. It was almost half a year after Middle School graduation that the owner of the dance studio spotted Hyukjae dancing in the studio alone one night. Hyukjae was expecting to receive a scolding when he was caught, but it never came. Instead, he was offered a job as a part time dance teacher. Could there be a possibility that he would reject that offer?

I guess that explains why Hyukjae couldn’t recognize many people who had walked past him and welcomed him. It wasn’t possible to recognise anyone at all, especially with the fact that everyone’s face was hidden behind a mask. If only tonight’s theme wasn’t a stupid mask theme, he would at least be able to recognise a few familiar faces

“Oh, Sorry.” Hyukjae bowed slightly at the person he had just bumped into while trying to wiggle his way through the ballroom. Hyukjae mentally cursed at how clumsy he was, bumping into people who would have known who he was. Where could he put his pride now?

Hyukjae turned away from the person he had bumped into and tried to start a conversation with his own friends, only to notice that he was now left all alone; near the desert counter. If it wasn’t for the delicious looking strawberry desserts that were placed just in front of him, he would have just walked out of the ballroom. After all, he did attend his own graduation night and left.

Thankfully, he didn’t though.

As Hyukjae placed his fingers on one of the many dessert cups placed on the tray, his fingers met two similar ones. Hyukjae looked at the small dessert cup, which was now held by four fingers; two of which weren’t his, and looked at its owner.

“You may have this, as a form of an apology for bumping into you just now.”

As Hyukjae lifted his head, his eyes met a pair of round eyes. The man’s voice was deep and his features were distinct even though it was hidden behind the mask. He realised how that black mask the man wore, was the mask that he had to forgo. Hyukjae was so engross in his thoughts about the man that he didn’t realise the latter was waving at him.

“Hey, are you alright? You didn’t receive some side-effect from the knock just now, did you?” The masked man questioned, as he grabbed Hyukjae’s left hand and placed the dessert cup onto Hyukjae’s palm; brushing his fingers against the latter’s palm as he opened them.

Hyukjae didn’t know why, but he felt his heart doing a little somersault when he felt the man’s fingers ghosting past his skin. Before he knew, that man walked off before he could react.

The feeling was foreign, and not only did it make his heart do such a stunt, he also felt sweat beating beneath his suit.

It’s just the heat; there are too many people in a small ballroom.

And that was what Hyukjae told himself whenever he saw that same black masked man walking past him, or just standing near him while talking to his friends.

Hyukjae couldn’t help but just stare at the person. He was amazed at how a man’s eyes could be so wet - almost making him seem like a lost puppy - or how the man had looked utterly y whenever he bites his lips unknowingly.

“There you are! We’ve been trying to find you! What are you doing in the middle of nowhere? Shouldn’t you be out there dancing, our dance president?” Hyukjae hated the fact that his friends had to intrude his thoughts. He hated the fact that he couldn’t seem to let that man out of his brain. He especially hated how this random man was able to make his mind run wild.

Hyukjae was, once again, pushed through the crowd. His body automatically moved to the music as he stood on the dance floor. As the DJs noticed Hyukjae, they changed the music to something more hyper, allowing the dancer to show his moves.

“And look who we have on the dance floor, our very own dance president!” Hyukjae glared at the MC who had to announce that he was dancing, to hell with the entire drop off all their status. He knew how all girls would react when they knew that their Prince Charming was dancing on the ground.

It was not long later that the dance floor became to look like a nightclub, with girls trying to grind onto him; as expected.

Within the midst of all the heads, a distinct movement could be seen within the crowd. A particular man had been moving from the far end of the dance floor to the middle – where the main dancer stood. With a slight smirk on the black masked man, he began to move towards his target, swaying his hips as he stood in front of the dancer and held Hyukjae’s shoulders.

He knew that Hyukjae had been spying on him the entire time - and there were so many times where he wanted to just walk up to the latter, slam him against a wall and just ravage him there and then. He knew that Hyukjae was drooling over the fact that his fingers gazed past the latter’s palm. He knew that Hyukjae was enjoying the fact that he was being treated like a pole, for the man to dance around. He also knew that Hyukjae didn’t know who he was.

This man that Hyukjae had been eyeing on the entire night was a person that had been crushing on him, ever since he had watched Hyukjae practice dance in the studio alone one night.

He was staying back in school, trying to complete his project. Just as he left the library, he heard distinct thumps from the dance studio opposite the library. He noticed the lights were still on, and couldn’t help but to let his curiosity get the better of him. There, he saw Hyukjae gliding through the dance floor, popping every joint of his, and following the tempo as though he owned the beats. From that day on, this man couldn’t help but to peep on his little crush every Wednesday and Friday night; of course he did his usual research of trying to find out who he was from his best friend.

Hyukjae swallowed the invisible lump in his throat as his body moved against the man’s automatically. The air in his lungs was getting a little thinner as he tried to breathe in more oxygen. The excitement drowning him like a bottle of hard liquor flowing through his veins as their bodies started to synchronize.

Just as the man slid his right hand down Hyukjae’s chest from his shoulder, their little party was crashed with the teacher yelling straight into the Microphone, stopping a couple from ing each other on one of the tables, followed by the lights being switched back on . After all this was only a High School prom and things weren’t supposed to be rated, yet.

Upon realising what had just happened, that man ran away before Hyukjae could ask for his name.

Damn

/insert Kyuhyun's smirk/

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ps, I'm looking for someone who can do a poster for me too. Anyone interested? I kinda need it by the 2nd Jan! ^^

~ Min♥