“Hello? Mikki? Are you listening to me?” Hwansuk asked his daughter for the nth time now.  He was trying to talk to her and see how she was doing but clearly, his daughter doesn’t have interest in that matter. He is this close to losing his temper, plus, the time difference between Seoul and Los Angeles didn’t help for the busy and tiring schedule for the actor.

The said girl only rolled her eyes. She removed her shoes with her free hand since she was holding her cellphone using the other one. “Appa, can you call again later? My head hurts,” she said tiredly as she laid down on her bed.

“Mikki, sweetie,” she heard him sigh, “you’re not the only one who’s tired. I only slept for an hour today because of my movie, and you’re aware of the time difference right? I’m calling you now since this is the only free time I have so can you please just let me talk to you?”

“It’s not like we don’t talk to each other, Appa,” she mumbles quietly, “you call me every other day though,” she murmurs, fighting the urge to drift off to sleep.

“Don’t you want that?” He asks her, feeling hurt for her boldness.

Mikki covered her eyes with her forearm. “Appa, if you’re tired too, then you can always call me next time, I don’t mind. I don’t want to be a burden to you every time you call me and—“

“You do know the reason why I am calling you right now, right?” He says with a tone that woke her up. Mikki sat up and furrowed her brows. She did not want to hear this lecture again. “You know I wouldn’t call you just to talk to you when I’m this busy.”

 “Then you can stop calling me.”

“Jung Mikki,” he said sternly, making her even more nervous. “I thought I told you— no, we told you to stop staying out all night, partying and going home the next day all wasted—“

“I am not wasted, Appa,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t interrupt me when I am talking—“

“No, Appa. I am sick and tired of you and Dad nagging at me all day, every day about my life! My life, Appa. It’s mine! I don’t need you, Sooman Appa and Dad ruining it for me. So what if I party all night? So what if I get wasted? At least I’m happy and enjoying life—“

“Enjoying life? Is that what you call life? Is that the kind of life you’d want to live forever? No, Mikki. That’s not the kind of life you’d want. You won’t get anything from that. You should stop doing all those and start focusing on your studies! I heard from your dad that he got called by your just because you were starting to fail two of your classe?! You are in high school, Mikki! No one gets their parents called—“

“Geez, Appa! Stop shouting! You’re making my head feel worse!”

“I just want to let you know that you’re feeling like that because of all that partying you’re doing—“

“God, will you stop judging me?!”

“Jung Mikki! This has finally got to stop. You’re being so disrespectful and you don’t know how angry I am at you right now,” he says and takes a pause to give her a break and also to calm himself down. But that one incident of her that happened three years ago when she was staying in Seoul popped in his mind. It worried him that maybe that was the cause of her acting that way. “You’re not taking drugs, are you?”

Mikki felt like her breathing just stopped. She knew what his question meant and it broke her heart. “How can you even say that?” she chokes on a sob. “I told you that it was all just a set up! That person who sold me drugs wanted me out of that school that’s why I had it and—“ she abruptly stops talking and starts to choke on breath.

“Mikki?” Hwansuk sounded frantic when he heard her start coughing and wheezing. “Mikki, honey, are you alright? I’m sorry—“

Taking a deep breath, Mikki shakes her head as she lets her tears stream down her face. “A lot of people who I thought who were my friends, no, my family judged me.. I can’t believe you would too, Appa.”

“What? No, Mikki.. No. I would never judge you. I’m just so worried about you, sweetie and—“

“No. You know what, Appa? Just leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Just stop calling and leave me alone.”

.Princess of SMTown.

Chapter One

.treasure.

♔

"Breaking news..

Today, veteran actor, Hong Hwansuk, age 60, has been recently reported of death due to a heart attack while filming his supposedly new movie for the celebration on reaching his 30th year in the acting industry. The hospital which he was rushed to announced that he was already dead on arrival. Hong Hwansuk’s heart problem isn’t a secret to anyone. He already suffered from a heart attack 10 years ago but unfortunately, he didn’t survive this one. We extend our deepest condolences to his family. May Hong Hwansuk-sii, rest in peace…"

Lee Sooman who was in his office drinking his morning coffee, felt like having a heart attack of his own after hearing the morning news. He just spoke to his best friend three hours ago at four in the morning through a phone call. Hwansuk told him about their daughter’s little argument from the phone call and of course, he wasn’t happy about it. Sooman even promised him that he would talk to her too sometime today. He put down his cup of coffee on his work table with shaky hands and took out his cellphone to call his other best friend.

 “Hello?”

“Kijoo-ah..” Sooman’s breathing hitches when his best friend finally answers his phone after seven rings.

“Sooman? Hey, what’s up? I’m kind of in a meeting right now.”

“…”

“Is something.. is something wrong?”

“It’s.. it’s—“ he stutters, not knowing how to tell him the tragic news.

“Yah, speak up. I can’t understand you.”

“Hwansuk.. he’s dead,” he said, a tear slipping from his eye.

“What?”

“He had another heart attack and.. and..”

“What?! When.. H-how..?”

“I don’t know.. It was on the news this morn—“

“Wait. No. How the hell did this happen… Does she know?”

Sooman gulped nervously. He forgot about her for a second there but nowthat his best friend reminded him, he repeated the question in his mind: How were they supposed to tell her?

“No, I don’t think so. I heard from Hwansuk earlier that when he spoke to her, she was begging for him to let her sleep. So she’s probably still asleep by now. And I’m pretty sure she doesn’t check up on what’s going on here in South Korea,” he explains and they were silent for a while. Both knew that they were thinking of what they should do and Sooman was first to voice out his idea. “We’re not telling her. She’d freak out,” he tells him as if it was an order. “When can you fly here?”

“This business trip can’t be cancelled, Sooman.”

“Kijoo, it’s Hwansuk we’re talking about. He’s our best friend. He’s like a brother to us. Can’t you at least give him some of your precious time?” he sneers.

“Don’t talk to me as if I don’t care about him,” Kijoo shoots back with the same tone his best friend gave him.

Sooman sighs and shakes his head. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just still in shock about everything. I’m sorry. But can’t you really take some time off for him?”

“I can, but.. I’ll only have about four days to let go. I’ll be there in two days.”

“Then we should send her here the same day you arrive.”

Looks like Sooman would have to break his promise to Hwansuk to call her later.

.p.o.s.t.♔

“Miss, wake up. We’re here.”

Mikki fluttered her eyelids open as she felt her body being shook softly. She let out a small yawn and stretched her body from the long hours of flight from LA. She looked up and saw a flight attendant smiling warmly at her. Mikki blinked a couple more times before packing up her phone and iPod inside her bag. She paused and looked up slowly just to see that the flight attendant was still looking or rather, smiling at her.

Mikki raised a somewhat annoyed brow, “Yes?”

“I hope you enjoy your stay in Seoul, Miss.” And with that, she bowed politely at her and left.

“Yeah, right. I don’t even know why I am here in here in the first place,” she muttered under her breath and got out of the plane.

‘What the hell am I even doing here?’ She asked herself when she got her luggage from the conveyer belt. Mikki huffed in annoyance. She hated travelling alone and she hated it when airports were crowded. She hated being in a crowded place in general.

She scoffed when she saw the mass of screaming fangirls holding up their cameras, posters, light sticks and other merchandise filled the airport.

“OH MY GOD IT’S EXO-K!”

“OPPAS! LOOK HERE PLEASE!”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE MY EYES!”

“MARRY ME!!!”

“EXOOOOO!”

‘The last time I was here it wasn’t this crazy when K-Pop artists are here in the airport. But I haven’t heard of this ‘EXO-K’ group before, though. Heck I haven’t been updated with K-Pop since last year and it’s already July.’ Mikki looked to her side to get a better look of the passing artists out of curiosity. She was only able to see their backs since most of them walked ahead already but one of them stood out since he was so tall and his hair was colored bright orange with a shade of blonde. A shorter boy, trailing behind the tall one, caught her gaze even though she was wearing dark tinted sunglasses.

Mikki felt her heart skip a beat and time went in slow motion when the stranger, who now looked like a little puppy, gave her a greasy smile. The boy soon broke the eye contact for him to see where he was walking at.

"Minwoo Ahjussi?"

"Miss Mikki? Is that you?" Mikki widened her eyes at the familiar voice. She removed her sunglasses to get a clearer view of the person who she hadn’t seen in years.

The man whose eyes wrinkled whenever he smiled still gave a very warm, happy feeling every time he did made Mikki finally smile for the first time today. Mikki nodded, her smile widening as she approached the old man and gave him a big hug.

Minwoo pulled away and grabbed Mikki by the shoulders. He examined at her up and down, "you've grown so much, Mikki! You're even taller than me now," he told her softly but his excitement was very evident.

"Ah, well, it has been 3 years, Ahjussi," she replied shyly.

"You've become more beautiful as well, little one," he said, giving her shoulders a light squeeze before getting her luggage for her and escorted her to the car. “Only one suitcase, Miss?”

Mikki, getting embarrassed by such compliments, shook her head politely. “Umm, I don’t even know why I’m here so I packed lightly,” she tells him honestly. “I mean, I don’t plan on staying here long either,” she said, quietly following the older man.

Minwoo was driving for quite a while now and Mikki hasn't uttered a single word since they left the airport.

“Hey Ahjussi,” Mikki called from the back. “You said my father is waiting for me?”

“Yes, Miss. I’m driving you to where he is right now,” he answered politely.

“By father, do you mean Hwansuk Appa or Sooman Appa?” she asked him carefully. Meeting either one of them made her nervous but excited at the same time. Her argument with Hwansuk was still fresh so she secretly wished that she was meeting Sooman instead.

Minwoo clutched the steering wheel hard and took a glance at her from the rear view mirror. He was concerned that she was going to ask questions like these. “So it’s true that she doesn’t know…”

“What was that, Ahjussi?” she asked since she didn’t get to hear what he said.

“It’s your Sooman Appa.” He said and she sighed in relief. “Where is he waiting for me? And why did he decide to send me here all of a sudden?”

Hwansuk was the first and last person she talked to that day and she was quite happy with it. A day or two passed and she didn’t receive any calls from one of them but she knew she would eventually get a call but didn’t expect it to be from Sooman since she knew he was the busiest out of all of them. Even though she didn’t want to talk to any one of them, she still answered the call. She expected another lecture from her father but she didn’t get any of that. Instead, he only told her to get on the next flight to Seoul ASAP.

Minwoo swallowed hard. He never liked keeping secrets from anyone. “Umm.. I’m not the right person to tell you why, Miss,” he bowed his head in apology.

Mikki’s brows frowned deeper. ‘The Appas are hiding something from me… I don’t even know why they want me to go here so suddenly… It must be because of the argument I had with Hwansuk Appa.. Good job, Mikki. Say hello to your death sentence in a short while… but even if that’s the reason, they wouldn’t really want me to fly here just so I could get a proper scolding. Ahh, I don’t know.’

“What are we doing here?” Mikki couldn’t believe to where Minwoo had taken her. She felt hot tears well up in her eyes as she stared at the building from inside the car. She was back to the place where she experienced her downfall. The place where she was betrayed by the people who she considered her family. It was where she was judged by many because of that one accident she made.

Through the heavy tinted windows of the car, she was staring at the S.M Entertainment headquarters.

“Ahjussi… I don’t want to be here..” She trembled as she looked away.

Minwoo frowned in guilt when he saw her about to break down and it hurt him. He was one of the people who witnessed Mikki in her early teen years when she lived in Seoul. He was one of the people who knew her well. “I’m sorry, Miss. I was supposed to drive you to a hotel where you’ll meet up with Mr. Lee and Mr. Jung but Mr. Jung’s flight got delayed and Mr. Lee got busy today and just told me to take you here at the headquarters.”

Sooman Appa and Dad are supposed to meet me? But I thought Dad was in London? “Can’t you just take me to that hotel? I’ll just wait for them there—”

“I’m sorry but I can’t. Lee Sooman-ssi said to take you here. You know I can’t object to his request,” he told her apologetically.

Mikki clutched her bag tightly, thinking of another way to get away from this place. She looked around, thinking of how she could get away from that place.

“You know we should really get going while the fans aren’t here yet,” Minwoo suggested when he saw right through her that she was already formulating a plan to escape. Plus, it was a great decision to go inside now so that no one would see her.

“But…”

“I know what you’re thinking, Mikki,” he smiled at her softly. “I’m sure they’ve already forgotten about it and more importantly forgave you for what you did. You have to stop thinking that way.”

“But I screwed up big time, Ahjussi.” She sighed recalling the bitter memory. “I left this country three years ago just because of that accident I did. If Hwansuk Appa talked to me about it two days ago, then I’m pretty sure everyone inside that building remembers it like it happened yesterday. Everyone inside there hates me.”

Minwoo frowned. “N