“Come on, Choyoung! What's taking you so long?”

Soonyoung stood outside her bedroom door while both their dads eagerly waited at the bottom of the stairs with their DSLRs at hand. There was an explosion of giggles and laughter from inside her room most likely from both their moms. He heard Choyoung complaining but he couldn't make out what she was saying. The door cracked open just a tiny bit revealing the grinning face of his mom, “Hey honey! Would you mind waiting downstairs? We're almost ready, don't worry!”

“You've been saying that for the past hour and a half already!”

“Be patient! Beauty takes careful timing,” Mrs. Kwon emphasized beautiful making Soonyoung wrinkle in nose in disgust. It's not like Choyoung would look any different. She wasn't the type to go all out. If anything, he believed it would be a miracle if their parents even got a dab of powder on her nose. Following his mom, he decided to head down the stairs and into the living room with their fathers at his heel. Mr. Kwon decided to give his son a prep talk before the girls came down, “Alright boy, I've been dreading this day for a long time now but I think you're old enough to hear the gentleman code,”

“There's a gentleman code? Since when?” Soonyoung believed that his dad was making this up. That, or it was something him and Choyoung's dad came up with as they were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He took a seat just in case something weird were to come up. Mr. Kwan started, “First thing's first, you do not go near my daughter in any suggestive ways. Don't look at me like that, you know exactly what I'm talking about. She's abstaining until marriage for any sort of physical love,”

“Sir, I did not need to hear that. The part about her wanting to abstain until marriage anyway,” This is exactly why he sat down. He thought it was nice of her dad to think about something like that but really, he was saving himself as well. But he wouldn't admit that to his friends. They would think he was wimpy and whatnot. Mr. Kwon belted out a hearty laugh and patted Mr. Kwan's back, “I'm sure he'll keep his treasures in place, don't worry,”

“Dad! God, stop being embarrassing! You better not say anything like that when Choyoung comes down, or so help me I will-”

“Not keep your treasures kept hidden?” Mr. Kwan joked, knowing that Soonyoung wasn't like that. Mr. Kwon had assured him the day before all about his son's morals, values and his dreams for the future. Concluding that he was a good kid, he knew that he had nothing to worry about. Choyoung wasn't the type to get attached easily and it took a long time for her to open up to someone. Mr. Kwan had the most experience in that. Soonyoung's mouth dropped, a blush forming across his face, “Mr. Kwan!”

Soonyoung was seriously the of all ual jokes right now. It was seriously ruining his mood. He bounced his knee, holding the corsage and boutonniere in his hands. Believe it or not, Soonyoung actually chose the corsage and boutonniere by himself. Every day after school, he would go and visit a florist, asking what each and every individual flower meant and what colors he should get. Obviously he was looking for a red one but it didn't hurt to check out other colors. Finally, after days of researching, Soonyoung settled with the red amaryllis. It wasn't completely red though. The florist had suggested red amaryllis' that would turn white at the tips. Amaryllis' mean fresh and sparkling but in Greek mythology, they were used as a present of love. The florist told him that red alone meant passionate love, white alone meant innocence, and together they were unity.

“Also, when you slow dance, you have to be magazine close,” Mr. Kwon instructed, showing the thickness of a magazine with his fingers. Soonyoung didn't know whether or not his dad was being serious. It wasn't until the two older men decided to demonstrate for him what they were talking about that he knew they were being serious. He did not need to see that.

Mrs. Kwon came flying down the steps towards the boys. Soonyoung immediately stood up knowing it was time. In that moment, his palms began to get clammy, nervous about messing something up. He didn't want to do something wrong in front of his parents and most certainly not Choyoung's. Mrs. Kwon squealed and kissed his forehead, “We're ready! We're finally ready! The wait is over!”

First came Mrs. Kwan who was happily princess waving as if it were her own prom. She didn't go to her prom when she was in high school because of a mathletes competition. The whole prom idea was all new to her. Taking her place next to Mr. Kwon, she pulled her own DSLR out of her purse and turned it on. The only thing left was for Choyoung to walk down the stairs. Upstairs, Choyoung was trembling. These were people she knew on a daily basis, but why only now did she feel scared? The image of Soonyoung all dressed up and dashing in his suit crawled into her mind, making her feel more nervous. She could already hear the cameras clicking in the near future.

Soonyoung tugged at his tie, hoping that it would loosen just a bit so he wouldn't suffocate if she was completely blown away by her appearance. Once he heard the click clacking of her heels along the hardwood staircase, he knew that he was going to be blown away to another dimension. In seconds, he saw the red material of her dress peeking from behind the wall. Already, their parents' cameras were flashing like mad. Like he had practiced with his mom two days before, he moved to the bottom of the staircase to her into the living room. Holding his hand out and looking up, Soonyoung's heart stopped beating when he saw Choyoung, his best opposite gender friend, his brace mate, and most importantly his date.

Her usually straight, flat hair was pulled into a sweet curly half-do with a gold floral hairpins holding them up. Her boring school fringe was now split, curled, and framed the sides of her face. It had been a while since he had seen her with her fringe down; she was always pinning it up hoping to outgrow them. They made nice side bangs now with proper t. Soonyoung was completely wrong about her not wearing makeup. Mrs. Kwan had lined her eyes heavily with dark eyeliner and a light dusting of black and red eye shadow. There was a light blush across her cheeks but Soonyoung couldn't tell whether they were real or if she really was red in the face. Her dress matched well with his. It was an organza cut gown with black, gold, and orange beading at the waist. It was a sweetheart neckline with a slightly modified hemline so that it dipped a little towards the middle. She had on ruby post earrings and a simple gold chain with a matching ruby stone at the end around her neck. Choyoung looked nothing like he ever would have imagined.

Choyoung flashed a nervous smile at him, showing her new colored bands. Lucky for them, their monthly tightening fell two weeks before prom and they decided that they would both get red bands to match their outfits. They had sporting the whole 'matching bands' thing for a while now and a lot of their classmates commented on how cute it was. Taking his hand, they walked into the living room hand in hand. Mrs. Kwon almost threw her camera out the window due to the explosion of feelings she was having. Turning her around, Soonyoung held her hand and slipped the corsage onto her wrist as he mouthed, “I picked this myself,” followed with a wink.

This cued a whole eruption of feels from the parents complete with squeals, hoots, and awws. Hoping that her blush wasn't so visible, Choyoung put her head down trying to hold ack her smile – but it just kept appearing no matter what. She felt so giggly, so...girly! It was something only Soonyoung could pry out of her. Grinning, Choyoung happily pinned his boutonniere onto his suit and mouthed back, “I love it,”

Mistaking it for 'I love you', both their moms had a mental breakdown and yelled out, “We're going to be grandparents!”

Outside, a limousine was pulling in front of Choyoung's driveway. Inside were their best friends who were bickering about how they wanted the night to go. One wanted to go around flirting with girls while the other wanted to dance and hang out with Soonyoung and Choyoung. Every time, a mention about their plan of giving their best friends a little 'push' would creep in only to have Jihoon complain again about why he couldn't get to socialize with other girls.

“Alright, you can stop here,” Jihoon instructed the limousine driver. Bee and him were showing off a purple color motif; him wearing a darker violet while hers was closer to a lavender. They had just finished getting ready at his mom's bridal salon after hours of her trying to pick out a nice gown. Jihoon had begged Bee to wear red, his favorite color, but she wanted blue. Instead, they had to compromise and meet in the middle – purple. He couldn't believe Soonyoung could easily give in to Choyoung's favorite color. If anything, he should have been the one taking Choyoung! Both her and him liked red while Soonyoung and Bee liked blue. Hitting his knee, Bee called out to him, “They're coming! I want to go out and take pictures!”

“No,” he sternly said, “No pictures,”

“We take pictures or I leave you to wear purple alone,”

“Fine, we'll take pictures,”

They climbed out of the limousine and greeted their best friends. Jihoon pulled Soonyoung into a bro hug, “Hyung, you look awesome!”

“Because I'm wearing red?” Soonyoung questioned. He knew about Jihoon's who deal with the purple thing. If anything, he felt bad for Jihoon. He never wanted to take Bee in the first place and now she was completely running the show. Girl will be girls, he figured. The two looked over at their dates who were busy complimenting each other on how pretty they looked. Jihoon wanted to gag while Soonyoung couldn't help but smile along with them. It was obvious that Jihoon wanted to go stag and not be held down by a girl, anyone with eyes could see that. The main reason why he wanted to go to prom was because of flirting with the girls, who supposedly had dates. That's what made it double the fun. Turning back to his senior, Jihoon patted Soonyoung's shoulder, “Are you ready to rock the dance floor, bro?”

“You know it!”

Bee clung onto Choyoung's arm as they entered the hotel lobby. The prom committee rented the entire hotel out. Soonyoung believed that the hotel was for other reasons but remembered Mr. Kwan's most memorable, and scarring words about his treasures. Her father had nothing to worry about. He was going to keep them buried way, way down. To his right, Jihoon was rambling on about their dates completely ignoring them when in reality, Choyoung was trying her best to persuade Bee to go back and accompany Jihoon. Choyoung glanced over at Soonyoung who was walking with his hands in his pockets. As usual, he looked rather uninterested. The two would often smile and wave hi to their classmates, which made Choyoung a bit jealous. The other girls had on more expensive, shinier, more sparkly dresses that surely drew boys' eye no mater who they were. At times, she would glance over her shoulder and catch Soonyoung looking at another girl which made her biol up inside. There was no stopping Jihoon in his quest to find true love.

“Hey Baeji, what's up girl?” Jihoon casually walked over to his first year science partner who was wearing a bright orange prom dress. Her heels that she was wearing made her look like she was towering over him, “Are you a Pokemon? Because I just watch to pikachu!”

Soonyoung shook his head in disbelief, knowing that his junior was going to get a restraining order at one point in his life. Bee and Choyoung crumbled up inside. That pick up line was hurting them more than it was hurting him. They saw a freakishly large dude head over to Baeji and Jihoon and knew something was about to go own. Soonyoung sighed and pushed his sleeves up to his elbows, “Jihoon you idiot,”

It took a little bit of coaxing and sweet talking on Soonyoung's part to get Jihoon away from there safely without any harm done to him. On the way back, he nagged Jihoon about going up to random people, especially Baeji, and using terrible pick up lines on them. Soonyoung pointed out that if it didn't work on Bee, then it obviously wouldn't work on more popular people. The three finally entered the actually party hall and watched the strobe lights flash every possible color in ever direction. There were a few students there who had arrived about an hour early than the time specified and they were already all over the dance floor. The group took a table, and laid their things across it making sure people could tell it was occupied. Choyoung took her place next to Soonyoung, “So other than talking and dancing, is this really just a day for us to look fabulous?”

“Pretty much,” Soonyoung put an arm around her shoulder. There were many party-goers taking pictures. From the other side, Soonyoung caught sight of a few giant guys who were probably dates of the girls in his class. They didn't look familiar so maybe they were guys from another school. They were big, and scary but maybe that was because they were older and more built than the kids in his grade. Jihoon was already on his way approaching a small group of girls in his class with Bee running after him. What a hopeless love story it was.

“Kwan Choyoung? Is that you?”

The two peered over their shoulder and saw Seunggwan approaching them with Soonyoung's classmate Kim Heejin. He didn't know much about Kim Heejin except that she was super close friends with Baeji. They were sporting a light yellow motif; surely Jihoon's pikachu pickup line would have been appropriate at that time. Choyoung waved to Seunggwan who quickly ran up to her and pulled her into a hug, pushing the older boy away. Soonyoung slowly backed away pretending to be fixing his jacket as he watched Seunggwan shower his date with compliments, “Choyoung, you're so pretty! I didn't expect to see you here!”

“Neither did I,” Choyoung pulled away from Seunggwan who was a bit too close for her taste. From the corner of her eye, she saw Heejin place her hand on Soonyoung's shoulder flirtatiously. He didn't seem to mind. Choyoung's face pulled into a frown, unhappy that her date wasn't doing anything about it. She filtered out Seunggwan's chatter and walked over to Soonyoung, taking his hand in hers so that the older girl would get the message that he wasn't up for grabs. Taken aback, Soonyoung's heart fluttered when he realized that Choyoung was getting possessive. Was she finally starting to understand that maybe they weren't just “good friends”?

“Oh, are you Soonyoung's date?” Heejin asked with a slightly irritated tone in her voice. Choyoung suddenly recognized who she was. She was one of those among the girls who was always at Soonyoung's soccer practices. Soonyoung felt Choyoungs grip tighten as she restrained herself from landing one right in her face. She hated to soccer fangirls. They once threw her books off the bleachers because it was in their foot space. It took her hours to complete her homework and they got soiled in the moist grass, making her pull an all-nighter trying to rewrite it again.

“She is,” Soonyoung answered for her, “I assume you're Seunggwan's?”

Choyoung rolled her eyes when Heejin giggled into her hand cutely, “I wouldn't say that! He asked me if I could take him, and being the nice person I am, I did. He's not really my date. I'm here alone,”

Nodding, Soonyoung slightly smiled, “Well that was nice of you. Anyways, I have to get going now. I wouldn't want to get in your way of hounding a guy,”

Leading Choyoung away from Heejin and Seunggwan, he decided to join a few of his soccer mates who were sitting at a table with their dates. His classmates Junhui and Mingming had gone as each others' dates since there weren't any girls in their class who spoke fluent or even conversational Chinese. If they actually brought female dates, they wouldn't even talk to them half the time. They decided it would be the best if they jokingly went as a couple. Seokmin had two girls on each arm, twins actually. Being the soccer captain, he was asked out by a lot of girls in his grade but he took the 2 for 1 package instead. Mingyu was engaged in a conversation with his girlfriend, while Wonwoo was eyeing a classmate from afar. Soonyoung offered Choyoung to sit in the last seat as he leaned against the back of the chair, “So, Wonwoo, how's the playoffs without me?”

“It's not the same, bro,” Wonwoo shook his head, “You need to come back soon, alright?”

Mingming, who was sitting next to Choyoung, decided to entertain her while Soonyoung was busy catching up with the rest of the team. He gestured to himself and Junhui, introducing himself in Korean like a native would, “Hello, my name is Yao Mingming. This is my best friend, Wen Junhui. We are Chinese. You are very pretty! Are you Soonyoung's girlfriend?” he just easily blurt out that question like it was nothing.

“No, I'm not,” Choyoung held her hands up defensively, surprised that someone would just openly ask her that. “I'm just a close friend,”

Upon hearing this, Soonyoung held a finger up to Wonwoo telling him to wait, and whispered to Mingming, “Not yet anyway. By the end of the night...” he wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively gaining a mortified look from Choyoung.

The entire night went by quickly with everyone dancing and laughing and talking. It was a lighthearted event and after two hours, Soonyoung was dripping with sweat. His tie now hung over his shoulders untied with the first four buttons of his shirt undone revealing a black undershirt underneath. Strands of hair clung to his face as he came off the dance floor with Jihoon. There was a freestyle session going on as a hard remix of Don't Stop the Rock beat through the speakers. As the two approached them drowning in their sweat, Bee dug two hand towels from her purse, knowing this would happen, “Ew, what did I tell you about dancing too much? Now look at you, you can barely even say one sentence!”

Out of breath, Jihoon bent over on his knees to catch his breath, “Yeah,”

The girls had their own share of sweat but we're to the point where they were panting like dogs. Choyoung was one of the few girls who still wore heels. She didn't like the idea of taking off her shoes. It didn't look nice. She would keep her shoes on no matter how much her feet hurt. She wrapped an arm around Soonyoung's waist to support him as he slung an arm over her shoulder to take a breather. Choyoung wiped his face as much as she could. Unlike them, Bee left Jihoon to fend for himself. She told him not to over-exert himself! Choyoung looked up at Soonyoung, “Should we go now?” It was nearing 11:00 already and they had promised their parents they would be back by 12:00.

“Yeah, I think that's a good idea,” Soonyoung barely breathed out, “So did you have fun?”

“I did, actually,” Choyoung chirped, letting go so that they could gather their stuff. Soonyoung quickly ran over to Junhui with hands stretched out, catching his keys. Junhui and Mingming had borrowed his car because they didn't want to rent out a limo just for the two of them. At the end of the night, the two boys were going to go home in the limo with Jihoon, Bee and the rest of the soccer team and their dates. Soonyoung and Choyoung were going to go back in his car. That's why it was important he didn't get spiked or anything. The seniors that they had seen earlier in the back, the scary ones, had sneaked in a few cases of alcohol.

Walking out of the party hall, Soonyoung told Choyoung to stay outside the entrance because he had to run to the bathroom. While he went, she decided to call her parents to let them know she was okay. She was texting them several times throughout the party but this was her first time actually making verbal contact. Her parents picked up on the other side to her relief, “Mom, dad! Hey, guess what? I'm still alive! Yes, I'm not drunk or anything. Yeah, Soonyoung's here. Actually he's in the bathroom. We're about to go home now...no dad, we didn't do anything bad! You're terrible!”

The bathroom door slammed shut behind Soonyoung as he fixed his tie. He had freshened up just a bit so that he wasn't totally gross when he went home. He barely even got a step forward before he felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning around, he was greeted by Heejin. She had a weird smile on her face as she pulled him closer towards her. Soonyoung could smell the pungent odor of alcohol in her breath. Ugh, she must have been drinking. He couldn't believe that seniors would bring drinks to a party for underaged kids. Struggling to pull her off his arm, he got nowhere and was debating whether or not he should just knock her out. It's not like she would remember anyway. She was wasted at this point, long having passed drunk and tipsy. She could barely even walk, let alone think. The mind blowing part was that Heejin had only turned 17 last month.

“Soonyoung oppa, you're really cute,” she grinned, before lowering her head onto his shoulder. Soonyoung nudged her head but instead, she came back down in the same position laughing. He was irritated at this point. Choyoung was waiting for him and they had a curfew to make. He grew worried. What if Choyoung caught them like this? She would kill him!

“Alright, mom, dad. I'll talk to you when we get home, okay?” Choyoung proceeded to turn off her cellphone and headed towards the bathrooms. What was taking Soonyoung so long? Tucking her bangs behind her ear, she thought about all the things that went on in the few hours. The prom pictures with Jihoon and Bee were her favorite part. Jihoon had looked so awkward holding Bee's waist while Bee was more than happy in taking the pictures. This was her elementary school crush after all. But now, she wasn't as obsessed with him like she used to be. Bee realized that Jihoon just wasn't going to give into her so easily and he was still in that stage of flirting around with girls. She would much rather have a boyfriend who looked only at her; Jihoon was not this.

If there was one thing she didn't like about tonight, it was the older kids forcing her to slow dance with Seunggwan. They all knew that Belle and Beast were both there that night and they thought it would be funny to make them slow dance to 'Tale as Old as Time'. Choyoung wasn't so enthusiastic in doing so, and she didn't want to leave Soonyoung. When everyone started chanting their names, she could remember the look on Soonyoung's face; he looked like he was a little puppy that just had his tail stepped on. She had asked him if it was alright with him, and being the generous person he was, he smiled and told her, “It's alright, I'm just the understudy anyway,” In that moment, her heart literally shattered to a million pieces.

“Come on, please! Just one quick kiss and then I'll leave,”

Choyoung heard a girl's voice once she turned the corner into the bathroom hallways. She immediately retreated backwards, hiding behind a column. It was Heejin and she was clinging on to Soonyoung like a koala to a tree. Her blood began to boil, ears slowly turning pink. She watched Heejin force herself onto him, but she couldn't bring herself to intervene. On one hand, she wanted to push Heejin away, but another part of her held her back wanting to know what Soonyoung would do. Soonyoung continued to push her away but every time, she just came running back to him, desperate for his attention.

“Why don't you like me?” Heejin yelled angrily. The two then stopped pulling back and forth as Choyoung gasped; did she really just say that? Soonyoung stared at the deranged girl who was now starting to sob tearless sobs. It looked pathetic from far away. Throwing his head back, he apologized, shaking his arm so that she could get off. But she wasn't going to budge. Annoyed, Soonyoung sternly ordered her to let go of him which only got Heejin more riled up, “You're adorable when you're mad!”

In just a blink of an eye, before she knew it, Heejin grabbed his head, and dove in. Choyoung's eyes widened as her heart dropped to the floor. She couldn't believe that Soonyoung didn't pull away. He didn't even shove her off him. He just stood there, taking it all in. Choyoung had gotten her hopes up; Soonyoung was just like any other boy. And to think she was actually having second thoughts about him! Biting the inside of her lip, she could feel her eyes starting to water. A lump formed in but she couldn't force it down because had run dry. Suddenly someone's hand came from behind her, covered and pulled her away from the scene quietly before she could make any noise.