Chapter 22 Promenade

I changed my clothes into pajamas and go to sleep immediately; I even forgot to brush my teeth.

I closed my eyes and wait for me to fall into a deep slumber.

I saw the same girl from my dreams, she’s crying. She looked fierce at my last dream but now she’s so vulnerable, she looks weak, lost even. She’s pretty like a doll. But like a doll, her eyes have no life. Looking at her eyes makes me wanna cry. I want to comfort her and ask what happened but she started fading and my eyes slowly opened.

 I woke up with a heavy feeling and when I saw myself in the mirror, there were traces of dried tears in my face. Oh, did I really cry last night?

I washed my face and started fixing my things.

knock knock

Must be dad “Come in” I said while brushing my hair in front of the mirror beside my bed.

“Is it okay if your step mom will do your hair and makeup?” he said while looking at me in the mirror, his expression wary.

I just nodded at him because I can’t find my voice and I fell so weak to speak.

“She’ll be here in 15 minutes so you better wear your dress now” he smiled then closed the door.

I continued brushing my hair for 3 minutes then started stripping of my pajamas and wear my red dress. It really is dazzling.

I slowly step into the dress and pull it up and zip it.

I finally wore the dress and I look like years older, maybe because of the slit. It really makes me more sophisticated, more matured, and ier even.

The door once again opened and I saw my step mom looking at me waiting for my permission for her to come in.

I nodded and make my way to seat in front of the mirror. She put down the makeup kit in front of me and started setting it up. There were brushes, sponges, and so many colors of make up for lips and for face. I can’t help but ask myself if she uses these every day.

It sure is big for one person, maybe her job; I just shrugged then let her do the magic.

She started putting moisturizer, which she said for skin protection against the dryness brought by the make-up.

She picks up one of the sponge and started putting bb cream on my face. She’s gentle in putting the bb cream. After the cream, she puts on some foundation on me to make it long lasting. After that, she picks up one of the small brush then started drawing some lines in my nose which I think is called nose line. She focuses on my eyes putting some eye shadow and some eyeliner to make my eyes a little bit bigger than usual. Oh, the power of make-up.

She puts on some pink blush on and lip balm on me to make the look more natural.

After with the make-up, she started heating the hair curler. She parted some of my hair into large groups and started curling one by one. After curling, she puts some hair spray on my hair to make it last longer

After it’s done, I saw that it was just lose curls that what she’s done and it looks amazing. I stood up and go to the full sized mirror downstairs.

Oh is this really me? I was shocked staring at myself and I didn’t even recognize that it was me at first.

I hugged my step mom for the first time and smiled at her.

“thanks……….umma” I said shyly

“Anything for you” she replied then returned a smile to me.

My dad came out from the kitchen then looked at me from head to foot; I can see his eyes getting watery.

“Appa, please don’t cry” I said preventing him to cry.

“I’m just proud of you, you’re now finally a girl, and you’re not boyish at all now” he said wiping off the tears in his eyes.

I make my way to hug him and he hugged me back lightly, cautious that he might ruin my hair and make-up.

“let’s go” my father said.

I nodded at him and fetched my heels upstairs. It really is killer; a five inches heels.

Once outside, dad opened the car’s door for me. I smiled at him and waved at my step mom before going inside.

We arrived at the hotel in just 20 minutes. There are so many people. Oh no my heartbeat started accelerating.

I watched appa go down and open the door for me. I step down with my left foot first and I saw some people look at us, and then I pushed my weight towards my left feet allowing me to stand on both of my feet, revealing myself. People started murmuring around like I’m a stranger which made me more nervous and have cold feet.

I make my way through the hotel’s lobby and walked on the red carpet. I stop where I’m supposed to and the photographer took a photo of me; I gave him a sweet smile then continued walking and reach the venue. It was like a fairy tale, heart lanterns lit up with light pink color which is comfortable to look at, pink fabric covering the roof and some sparkling things to decorate the whole place. It’s lovely. There are also large crystal chandeliers and 3 sculpted ice making the place stay sophisticated despite of the romantic theme.

“you look gorgeous” a familiar voice spoke, a little bit husky which made my heart skip a beat.

I turned to face him but I was disappointed to see it was Hyunwoo. I really thought it was L.

“You look handsome” I replied then give him a warm smile making him blush.

He’s wearing a silver coat and a silver pants to match his coat and a black tie to finish the outfit.

He looks like my knight in shining armor, or should I say coat? Haha

I looked around realizing L isn’t with him.

“what is it” he asked

“uhmmm… nothing” I frowned

“Let’s go?” he said offering his hands to me.

I nodded and took his hands. He led me to a table, when we arrive in there, my heart stopped beating and I think I’m pale right now.

L is seated comfortably in the table, he looks handsome but he stiffened when he see me. Oh no, she’s with a girl. , it was Eunhye.

“hi” Eunhye said giving me a bitter smile.

I just nodded at her and saw L staring at me but his expression is unreadable and his eyes still cold. He’s still mad at me. I sighed at that thought.

The party started with the emcee briefing us on what to do and not to do.

Our table is filled with silence and suddenly L stood up and walked away. Eunye immediately followed.

I just ignored them and smiled at Hyunwoo who looks uncomfortable.

We ate silently for about 15 minutes and I am hoping that L and Eunhye would come back, but they didn’t.

I felt something on my stomach and I felt like going to the bathroom so I stood up.

“where are you going?” Hyunwoo immediately asked and he looks like puzzled.

“to the powder room” I said giving nothing away.

I fetch my clutch bag and took a quick glance at Hyunwoo, he looks worried. I gave him a weak smile to ease his worried feeling.

I make my way to the powder room but I heard some footsteps in the corridor. My curiosity attacked me and I carefully followed the sound where it is going and eavesdrop to their conversation. I heard familiar voice but I wasn’t sure who they are. I decided to take a peek and it took me by surprise when I saw L kissing Eunhye.

I immediately covered my mouth to prevent my voice to come out. Tears started falling like a waterfall, there’s too many falling out and I don’t think I can still stand to see them. But my feet betray me and I was like petrified, I can’t move. When they parted from each other, Eunhye saw me and she gave me a vengeful smile, she suddenly grabbed L in the face and kissed him torridly. Every seconds they’re kissing makes my heart more painful.

I finally gathered all my remaining strengths and walked away of the corridor towards the powder room and locked it. I cried in there blaming myself why I shouted at him, why I blamed him for the fake relationship. And now I’m like a fool crying for something that was never been mine, for something I let go of. Why didn’t I realize that I really love him? My knees gave up and I unconsciously seat on the floor, it was cold. I slapped and slapped my lap blaming myself for what I’ve done; crying harder and I think my make-up is really ruined right now.

My subconscious scowls at me saying that I shouldn’t blame myself, that I should blame L for making me hope that he’ll really love me, that he’ll return my love for him. Finally my subconscious convinces me that L is the one who is to be blamed. He let me fall for him and now I fell in the ground feeling the impact of what he’s done, the pain is now all over my body, my brain and in my heart. He broke me into pieces, he crumbled my world into pieces and now there’s nothing left with me. I can’t feel my tears flowing out of my eyes, my tears are now drained, and they won’t start flowing anymore. I slapped myself to wake up in the reality, but when my hand landed on my face, I can’t feel anything, I didn’t feel any pain. All of the pain that I feel is just concentrated in my heart.

I stood up cautiously that I might fall. I glanced at myself at the mirror and found myself ruined, lifeless, like a doll.

I started unlocking the door and walked slowly, I feel like I’m the only person in the world. I continued walking slowly and finally reached the hotel’s gate, Hyunwoo is waiting for me; I didn’t think that the party was already over. I stared at him but I can’t seem make any expression. I want to cry but there’s no tear coming out of my eyes, I want to smile at him but my lips are fixed, I want to nod but my neck felt stiff. Appa rushed towards me and hugged me hard.

“Where have you been?” his voice worried but I can’t speak instead I just looked at him with my expressionless face. I look like a doll, pretty but have no life, I feel like some puppet master is controlling me. Appa looked at me searching for any mark or wounds. He immediately grabbed my hand and opened the door for me, then I slowly sat and he closed the door for me. I looked outside, Hyunwoo is staring at me, and he is really worried.

Upon reaching our house, appa immediately opened the door for me and help me to stand up. My step mom suddenly hugged me then helped me make way to my room. She let me lie down and put the blanket on me, she left then I am alone again. Tears suddenly flowed out from my eyes without my permission. I thought they were already drained after I cried hardly at the powder room.

Thoughts about L and Eunhye bothered me and those thoughts didn’t let me sleep for the whole night. My eyes were just open waiting for the puppet master to close it.

Slowly, I closed my eyes hoping to get some sleep.

My eyes were heavy when I woke up in the morning. I didn’t thought I was able to sleep last night. I brushed my eyes and started stretching up then removed the dress and changed my clothes.

I freshened up and go down to grab my breakfast, good thing it’s Saturday and I don’t need to go to school.

Appa and my step mom smiled at me warming my cold heart a little bit. We ate in silence and my step mom suddenly spoke.

“You know what Chaemi, if you have a problem, don’t burden yourself with thoughts bothering you, loosen up, be pretty instead of stressing yourself, go shopping, spa, get a makeover” she said giving me an idea, I smiled at her which made appa comfortable.

After eating my breakfast, I go straight to my room and saw Hyunwoo in the other window. He smiled at me then I gave nothing away.

He wrote something then showed it to me “can we talk?”

First, I hesitated but I remembered what my step mom told me, I shouldn’t burden myself, I should loosen up. I nodded at him and make my way outside.

He’s standing outside their house and I make my way towards him. He smiled at me warily. I closed my eyes and gathered all the strength I need to speak.

“what are we talking about?” I said, still emotionless.

“about last night” he said hesitatingly.

I looked in different directions trying to find the right answer; I roamed my eyes around and in my surprise that I saw L staring at us in the window. I gave him nothing and suddenly, my hands moved and cupped Hyunwoo’s face, I faced him and suddenly kissed him hard, but that kiss means nothing to me.

I ended the kiss breathless.

“Can you come with me to the mall?” I asked.

He didn’t spoke at first, he’s just staring at me, he looks amazed.

“For what?” he said still recovering from our kiss

“Help me shop some clothes” I said

Before we take the cab, I took a quick glance at L and gave him a bitter smirk.

Author's Note:

Hi guys, this might be my longest update and I hope you like it :) Maybe I'll be long gone and not be able to update for quite a while but I hope you'll still support and wait for my next update. I promise that I will update as soon as I can maybe this weekend. I hope you're all excited :)

Please do comment, especially the silent readers so that I know what's in you mind :) thanks 

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P.S. The next chapter will be ecxiting, there would be turn of events, and there would be so much of drama, hope you'll not cry haha :)