"Jaexing, HyoJae noona, are you finished yet?" Zelo's voice passes through the door. I can pick up the slight impatience woven into the young Matoki's words. Jaexing must have caught it as well, for she lets out a gentle chuckle for only the three of us girls to hear.

 

"Not yet," Jaexing replies, smoothly applying the lipstick to my lips. I watch her eyes while her concentration is on my lips. Her determination to getting the red paste proper is only rivalled by my best friend.

 

HyoJae puts the finishing touches on my eye shadow before stepping away and examining me. She places her right hand on her chin and her left arm tucked underneath, her eyes darting to every corner of my figure. 

 

"My goodness..." Jaexing murmurs.

 

"I know," Hyo crosses her arms, an unfamiliar smug look appearing on her face. "I'm an artist." 

 

Honestly, she's not. When it comes to paints and pencils, pay a five year old for art that can compare to the 'art' HyoJae spends her time doing. When it comes to makeup, that's another view on her 'artistic ability'. I have taught her and Min in the past how to get the best results out of using a makeup brush and their creativity. I told them to view the body as an empty canvas, the face being an essential point. The hair frames visage, the eyeliner and mascara are the black outline to small details wished to be brought to focus and the blush, eyeshadow, lipstick and everything else falls as fillers, adding colour and vibrant life onto the canvas. It didn't help much, but I managed to show them painting techniques that could be used in the process.

 

"We should probably go," Jaexing nudges her. Hyo nods, fixes her dress and leaves my room, along with our younger companion.

 

I turn on the swivel chair, stand up and walk to my tall mirror. I absolutely hate make up. It's a cloak of lies. I hate it, so I've never bought any or put any on. I don't like dresses, because I'm not confident in the way I look so I believe I'm not pretty in one. I don't style my hair, because I can never do it right and I look stupid. I don't stare at myself in the mirror for hours on end, admiring every aspect of myself. Mirrors aren't kind to me either because every time I pass their reflective surfaces, I'm reminded that I'm a simple person. I'm not naturally pretty. I'm just a boring square. A boring square with no colour and no beauty.

 

I'll paint a large picture for you this time. What I see through my eyes.

 

Beautiful and delicate curls tumble gently over the shoulders, keeping in it's spiral until the very end. Lipstick applied professionally over the lips, a shade darker to enhance them. Deep brown eyes framed by black eyeliner with large and full eyelashes, drawing your attention into their confusing and unsolved maze of wonder, and punctuated with a mild coating of light blue eyeshadow. A faint blush covers the cheeks and a pair of Caribbean white and pink pearls dangle loosely from the ears, reflecting any light to brighten it's shine. The purple dress, sky blue at the edges and a green centre piece at the base of the V neck, cascades down over the body, slightly showing of it's curves. A brilliant silver chain clings to the neck and a navy blue pair of heels surround the feet. The person in the reflection looks amazing, a perfect fit for the set as if they're used to it. But the person who owns the reflection is a different story altogether. The person is awkward and unused to their reflection in a dress. The more common straight and seemingly lifeless hair bounces like jet black springs. The person who owns the reflection owns nothing more than someone entirely different. The person who owns the reflection is none other than me, and I'm staring at a complete stranger.

 

"That's not me," I mumble under my breath. Yes, I was taken aback by how I looked, but the more I viewed, the more I saw it wasn't me but a girl getting ready for the last night in her school. The moment her father had wanted to share. The night a man had been waiting for, secretly, but surely.

 

"Yes, it is." I flinch after a warm hand silently rests itself on my shoulder. The rest of the body follows the hand and stands behind me, or at least the girl in the mirror. "It is most definitely you. No one I know is that gorgeous."

 

Faint blush or not, my face is red and Yongguk simply laughs, letting go of his grip on my shoulders. 

 

"How do I look?" He asks, playfully pushing me aside and taking up the whole mirror.

 

"You look quite dashing, Mr. Leader of the Matokis." I smirk and push him back, a laugh rising up in my throat and eventually leaving my mouth. Dashing, really? Hot, is more like it. Amazing, gorgeous, y, incredible.

 

He's wearing the same suit from HyoJae's prom, but something about him is very different. His hair is black and messy (he dyed it again) and a blue rose is pinned to his suit. Everything looks pristine. 

 

"Wow," Yongguk smirks and turns back to the mirror. "Those are a lot of adjectives that I like." 

 

DAMN! DID I JUST THINK OUT LOUD?!

 

The sound of small feet and the clanging of metal is heard by the two of us as we turn our heads to the door, watching as Casey enters casually into my room and trotting over to me. I crouch down to her level and smile as I pat her head. She looks at me and I can guess exactly what she would say if she could talk.

 

'Why aren't you downstairs? Everyone's waiting for you.'

 

"I don't want to go." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Yongguk close his eyes and turn his head. "I never wanted to go. I can't... I can't have so many people judging me..." I can feel Yongguk's gaze stop on me as a sigh escapes his lips. "I don't feel comfortable like this. I'm not," I take a deep breath and stand back up. "Pretty."

 

"I know you may not care if I tell you this," he grits his teeth, his hands and clenching his jaw. "But I think you are extremely beautiful. It's your annoying habit of berating yourself that is really starting to get on my nerves." He puts his hand on his face and looks at me through the space between his fingers. "I hate it when you seem like you hate yourself." He mutters almost inaudibly.

 

I take a deep breath, walk up to him and pull his hand away from his face, intertwining his fingers with mine.

 

"Thank you."

 

•  •  •

 

"Never thought I'd see the day," Hangeng laughs as he approaches our group. "He-Jin in a dress? Now this is a moment that I'll always remember." He pulls out an invisible camera, makes the clicking sound and then places it back in his pocket.

 

"Jeez..." I roll my eyes and look somewhere else, fiddling with my fingers out of anxiety.

 

"I didn't know you went to the same school as noona," Zelo says, inching closer to Jaexing.

 

"Yeah. We're in the same class." Inhyung adds, walking ahead to meet up with his date.

 

"This is so much nicer than my prom!" HyoJae exclaims, grabbing onto Youngjae's arm in excitement. "Come on, oppa. Let's go inside!" My best friend runs towards the doors, dragging her alien boyfriend behind her.

 

"Shall we go?" Yongguk asks, ushering me in the prom's direction.

 

"Do I have a choice?"

 

"Nope!" Yongguk effortlessly drags me inside and we sit at a table with our little group.

 

The table is meant to sit six, much to our delight. A soft white table cloth covers the round table, three candles set in an equilateral triangle around the centrepiece; a beautiful arrangement of night time flowers, consisting of Moon flowers, Night Gladiolus, Four O' Clocks and Dragon fruit flowers. The vase holding them is a transparent blue with an olpe shape.  

 

"You two must dance more tonight, arasso?" HyoJae points a finger at me. 

 

"Hyung even practiced." Youngjae snickers. Yongguk stands up in rage and prepares to attack the other matoki, but Zelo forces his leader to sit back down before anything bad happens.

 

The younger starts a conversation with his leader, audible only to the two. Youngjae whispers something to HyoJae, but she quickly replies, pushing him out of his seat and towards me.

 

"Wanna dance?" He asks, taking my hand.

 

"Um..." I glance over at HyoJae, but her intense glare scares me so much, I practically leap out of my seat and onto the dance floor. It,s not a glare of jealousy or ill-intent, but a glare of 'get yo on that dance floor before I kick it'.

 

Being a prom, the songs are pretty slow. Youngjae puts one hand around my waist and holds my hand up, leading me along the flow of the students around us. I try not to step on his feet, so I'm looking down at the floor.

 

"Don't worry about your feet," Youngjae says, lifting my chin up to look into his eyes.

 

"Which one do you want. Sore feet or not?" I ask with a smirk.

 

"I have a high pain tolerance." Youngjae let's me go and spins me once, pulling me back into his arms. "You are truly strange girl."

 

"How so?"

 

"Well, you somehow got hyung to calm down and develop feelings for someone."

 

"And that clarifies everything." I say sarcastically and my partner chuckles.

 

"Well, back on Mato planet, we were the six royal guards, Yongguk hyung being the leader and the most well known. He was assigned with guarding the princess. And the princess held a special place for him in his heart."

 

"Don't tell me he broke her heart!"

 

"There goes the rest of my story..." Youngjae pouts and slumps his shoulders.

 

He can't end it right there! Does he want to get slapped? My childish nature and curiosity pleads with my brain to form the sentence to tell him to continue. I clear my throat and say:

 

"N-no, please continue."

 

Youngjae takes a deep breath and takes another step. "Guarding the princess was the second highest honour as a guard and hyung took it extremely seriously. He thought nothing of affection, but he'd be by her side through thick and thin. He'd be there when she needed him and would protect her with his life. The princess, extremely beautiful and kind, I might add, fell in love with the red masked knight, much to his dismay." Youngjae twirls me around again. "He had to set her straight after her confession. Her smile wasn't as genuine after that because she had loved him for five years."

 

"Oh dear," I mumble, imagining the poor princess. 

 

"Hyung told us that he wouldn't fall for a girl that didn't know how to fight and protect, and frankly, Mato planet isn't that kind of place."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"The women on Mato planet believe they are goddesses, and that the men fight their battles for them. Not like there is any, but you get the point."

 

"That's stupid. Men and women are equal and neither of them are gods." I scoff.

 

"Well, such is life of a matoki." The song finishes and Youngjae let's me go with a smile. "I shall be returning to my princess." And with that, he disappears in the crowd.

 

I follow after him when someone grabs my wrist and turns me around.

 

"I thought I might find you here." Jiyong laughs and lets go of my hand. "And my, are you looking nice!" Jiyong has his hair dyed blond and flipped up. One wing earring attached to his right ear is white, just like his tuxedo. A red rose pinned to his suit and a smile plastered on his face.

 

"Thanks. You too." I turn around and try to escape, but he blocks my path and extends his hand.

 

"Please, just one dance." He asks, sincerity flowing along with his words. I open my mouth and a deep and hearty laugh escapes.

 

Of course, not my laugh.

 

"Oh how you make me laugh," says a familiar voice. A pair of arms wraps around my neck and rests on my shoulders. A calm breathing beside my ear and an unseen firmness in Yongguk's stance, as if claiming me as his permanent territory. "HAHAHAHAHA- no."

 

"Ah, y-your date." Jiyong's voice wavers between calm and terrified and he slowly takes a few steps back. "Well, it was nice seeing ya, He-Jin. Later!" Jiyong disappears into the crowd and I'm spun around to face the deep voiced matoki.

 

"The only reason Youngjae got to dance with you is because HyoJae had to speak with me in private," the man grumbles, placing one hand on my waist and the other holding mine up.

 

"What did she say?"

 

His annoyed expression quickly changes into that of his usual goofy and gummy smile, making my heart flutter and a smile to form on my lips as well. "That's for me to know and for you to eventually find out." I scoff at his stubbornness and his smile widens.

 

"You know what I haven't heard for a while?" Yongguk shakes his head. "An insult from you."

 

"Honestly, what is there to insult?" Yongguk's hand on my waist lets go and spins me once. 

 

"Really? Not even a 'hey dork, how's the lack of brains?'"

 

"That's a good one! I'll remember that." Yongguk snickers and I glare at him. He laughs at me and takes a few more steps. "I dunno, really. I mean, they usually just pop up and leave my mouth, but nothing for a while. I'm confused too."

 

I nod half-heartedly. "Yongguk... Tell me about your life as a Matoki." Confusion flashes across his face before he closes his eyes and smiles for the millionth time tonight.

 

"Why are you suddenly curious?"

 

"I had another question on the tip of my tongue, but this one seemed more..." I wrack my brain for the right word, fumbling through memories and my brain's automatic dictionary. "Compelling."

 

Yongguk doesn't say a word as he pulls me across the dance floor. His movements are gracious and smooth but firm and unwavering. I don't press the question as he has yet to answer, if he is going to at all. He opens his mouth to say something when the music is cut and someone takes the stage, microphone in hand and a professional expression.

 

"Hello, my dear students." Starts the principal. "This is a wonderful night for all, I suppose. The last most of you will have in this gym. We've all been through thick and thin... Some through thicker and others through thinner. All of that doesn't matter when it comes down to the final moment. I will miss some of the gifts you students give me, especially those donuts," the principal rubs his gut and causes the students to laugh, "while others I can do without." He jokingly glares at the troublemaker group, who laughs and high-fives each other. "Either way, your presence has etched a memory in my aged mind that will never wash away." The students clap and our vice-principal takes the stage.

 

"We are now ready to announce the king and queen." She smiles as she opens the lavender coloured piece of paper. "As the king, voted by a lot of students, is KWON JIYONG!" The students applaud as Jiyong makes his way to the stage.

 

It was obvious he was long to be the king. The kingkas of the kingkas, the boy almost every girl wants to date and a complete class clown. He bows his head towards us as one of the teachers places a gold and silver feather boa around his neck and a plastic gold crown on his head. Jiyong sends a kiss to the crowd before sitting down in his throne. The queen has to be Sooyoung. She's kind and beautiful and an all rounded student.

 

"And now for the queen. Also voted by a large majority, is -----"

 

The words don't reach my ears properly so I can't hear the name. I see everybody clapping, so I clap along with them, searching the crowd for the queen. Youngjae, Zelo and Jaexing send me a dumb stare while HyoJae face palms and Yongguk stands up. He slings me over his shoulder and walks in a direction away from the table, the applause getting louder around us.

 

"Where are you going?" I ask, struggling slightly to get out of his grip.

 

"To your throne, your highness."

_______________________

 

Oh my freaking gosh. I didn't- that totally- why can't I have an invisible camera?! I could add to my collection. My invisible box, my invisible chair, my invisible boyfriend...

 

Wow...

 

I AM SO TIRED! Really, it's getting so hard to get out of bed on a morning.

 

I was watching a Chinese movie the other day called Ip Man 2, and his first disciple looked like Changmin and Minho had a kid. 

 

I'm not even joking.

 

I haven't done this in a while but COMMENTARIES!!:

Of HyoJae, you're so modest!

I honestly do not know how to put on makeup, so Minnie had to help me a bit.

Aww! He-Jin, you hate yourself as much as me! We're so much alike.

I had to sit in front of my mirror and use my imagination for the description part. It was annoying...

Of course it's not you, He-Jin. It's the cutout of a random person- OF COURSE IT'S YOU!

Um, I'm sorry Yongguk, but Tao is more gorgeous.

He-Jin's a tomato!

TALKING DOG! TALKING DOG!

I didn't even know Jaexing went to the same school... AND I'M THE AUTHOR!

The Four O' clocks are really pretty. 

Please excuse the language. It was kind of necessary...

SORE FEET, SORE FEET, SORE FEET!

Wow, Yongguk. Breakin' hearts where ever you go, eh?

Yeah, He-Jin. Why. So. Curious- I'M SO CURIOUS, YEAH~! SHINee's back...

OMO! OMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMO HE-JIN'S THE- OMO!!

 

Man... I feel like this story is losing the last of it's luster...

 

The fire alarm went off twice in my house today and the only thing I had that could blow the smoke away was my iPad.

 

Thank heavens my father wasn't there to see me.

 

I must apologize for constantly rambling on about my emotions. I know it gets annoying and it's starting to get in the way of the story. From here on out, this is strictly professional.

 

My kind of professional, of course.

 

I LOVE DUCKIES!! Who else?

 

SUPER RANDOM LEARN JAPANESE TIME!:

Sleep is Neru. The desire to sleep is (I think) Netai.

 

I don't have a riddle, so.....

 

Yeah.

 

AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR!

 

Pandas... Yep, pandas...

 

Thanks for reading and putting up with me and my co-worker. 

 

ARIGATOGOZAIMASU!

 

 

KpopLover8217: this is going to be so hard... I'm hating school the older I get...

 

Quenzie: fooled for the last time? THAT'S TOTALLY A CHALLENGE!

Yeah. Let's see how their relationship FALLS APART!... Nah. Let's just see how it progresses.

 

pretty_rania1: sweet, yes. Easy, no. Something I wanna do, maybe. 

I'm not a romantic...

Thanks! I always enjoy reading everyone's comments. It makes me feel nice inside.