Chapter 1: The curse

It was already morning in Seoul and the sunlight passing through his windows woke him up. He stretched and yawned before getting up and heading to the bathroom to take a shower.  As expected, his shower took more than half an hour. When he finished, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stared at his reflection in blurry mirror.

“Good morning handsome” he said to himself while combing his hair. He was tall, had black hair and had a well built body. He was really handsome and he knew it. His name was Choi Siwon and he was filthy rich.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted him from what he was doing.

“Aish” he complained “Who is it?!”

“Mr. Choi, if you don’t hurry you are going to be late” a female voice said. It was his maid Kim Taeyeon.

“YAH! What did I told you and your husband?! MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!” he yelled mad and Taeyeon sighed. She was already accustomed to this kind of treatment so she just left him alone.

When he walked out of the bathroom, he looked at his cellphone and saw he had one voice mail. He pressed the button to listen to it and waited.

Hi oppa, it’s me Yoona. You promised to come and pick me up but we are running late so I decided to go on my own. Hope you don’t mind. See you at school, bye

 After the message finished, he threw his phone at his bed.

“Gosh I totally forgot about Yoona” he said feeling a little guilty but then removed all those thought from his mind. “Never mind, she is your girlfriend and she knows you have to look great to go to school”

He smiled at this thought and then stared at the mirror again. He picked up his outfit and got dressed.

He walked out of his room without minding the time and saw Taeyeon serving the breakfast for him.

“I’ll take that to school” he just said and she nodded

“Butler Park!” he called and he came as fast as he could. He was Park Leeteuk, his loyal butler who was married to Taeyeon.

“Yes sir?” he asked politely

“Did my father call?” he asked hiding the sadness in his voice. He hadn’t seen his father since he was like 12. He had lived alone with his maid and servants ever since he left.

“No he didn’t” he said shyly “But… your cousin Sooyoung said…”

“I don’t want to know anything from that witch” Siwon said cutting him off. When he said witch, he meant it literally. His cousin Sooyoung was some kind of a witch but she didn’t use her powers to do bad things, she just used them when it was strictly necessary but Siwon didn’t care. He didn’t want to be related to a witch.

 “I’ll leave now” he said without even touching his food

“Mr. Choi, your food…” Taeyeon said worried

“I’m not hungry anymore” he said coldly and left his mansion. His house was huge and only a few people lived in there. As it was mentioned before, only his maids, his servants and him lived there. His father called once in a while but never went home since he left.

 ……………………..

Yoona was running to school, scared that she would be late. She was a really beautiful and intelligent girl but she didn’t like to show off her beauty. She always wore glasses to school even though she didn’t need them.

“Wow slow down you are not late yet” someone said to her when she arrived running

“That’s good to hear” she said panting “Good morning Jaejoong”

“Good morning Yoona” he said smiling to her. He had always liked her but he knew she was dating Siwon, which pissed him off a lot. “Your boyfriend ditched you again?”

Yoona’s expression changed from a happy one to a sad one.

“Maybe he just fell asleep” she said “It doesn’t matter”

“Again?” he asked looking at her “He is jerk that only cares about himself! Why are you still with him?”

“I love him! That’s it” he yelled at Jaejoong and he looked hurt “And now if you excuse me… I don’t want to be late”

Yoona left to her class and Jaejoong stared at her with his fists clenched.

“You are not going to love him for too long Yoona”  he said smirking “You’ll be mine”

………………………………….

During break, Yoona walked out of her classroom with her friend Jessica. She was telling her friend about what happened in the morning.

 “Siwon was late again?” Jessica asked and Yoona nodded. Jessica sighed and looked at her.

“Don’t give me that look Jess” Yoona said “I know he has a lot on his mind right now”

“You shouldn’t take his side Yoong” Jessica said worried “I know you love him but he doesn’t seem to care”

“I don’t want to hear that speech again” she said tired of people saying bad things about Siwon. In that moment she saw Siwon approaching to her.

“I’ll go and look for Donghae” she said as she saw him coming. “Talk to you later, bye”

After she left, Siwon and Yoona were left alone. When she saw him, she almost forgot she was mad at him for not picking her up.

“Hi beautiful” he said and she smiled. He gave her a peck on the lips

“You were late again” she said

“Hum yeah” he said “I fell asleep”

“I thought so” she said and smiled again

“Yoong, why do you wear this hideous glasses to school?” he asked suddenly and pointed her glasses. Yoona felt offended when he said that.

“What’s wrong with my hideous glasses?!” she asked mad

“Don’t be mad, I’m just saying” he said “We are a pretty couple so we have to look pretty”

“Is that all you care about?!” she asked really mad now “I don’t want to believe that Jaejoong was right about you”

“Wait what?” he asked surprised and mad “You were talking to Jaejoong?!”

“What’s wrong with that?!” she asked

“I hate him! And he hates me!” Siwon said pissed off “You shouldn’t hang out with him!”

“The fact that you don’t like each other doesn’t mean that I can’t be friends with him!”

“Don’t listen to what he says about me” Siwon said “Everyone in this school likes me, except him”

“Maybe that’s not true” she mumbled but he could heard her

“What?” he asked shocked “Say that again”

“Siwon have you ever thought that your attitude towards other people ?” she asked him seriously “You are mean and selfish!”

“Is that what you think of me?!”

“Maybe I am the only one that can stand that side of you” she said sad and he was shocked

“If I’m like that, why are you still with me?” he questioned her and she looked down. She couldn’t tell him she loved him if he didn’t care

“It doesn’t matter anymore” she said as a tear ran down her cheeks “We are over”

“You are breaking up with me over a stupid comment about my personality?” he asked in disbelief

“No, I’m breaking up with you because I’m tired of the selfish and arrogant Siwon that only thinks about himself”

Yoona left wiping the tears that were falling from eyes and Siwon stood there shocked. He never thought that her words will hurt so much. When she left him, he left an empty space on his heart.

He punched the lockers and his side without caring about the pain. Tears were threatening to fall but he held them back.

“I’m not a weak person” he said to himself  “Nothing can bring you down, not even her”

………………………………..

Siwon returned home, more upset and grumpier than usual. He opened the door and threw the keys at the table.

“Why so mad cousin?” a voice said from the dark and jumped startled. When he saw Sooyoung coming out of the darkness he glared at her. She smiled at him.

“What are you doing here?” he said angry “I clearly uninvited you the last time you were here”

“Calm down” she said and sat on the couch “I’m here to do you a favor”

Siwon laughed when she said that.

“Do me a favor? Seriously?” he asked sarcastically

“Yes, I’m giving you the chance to change before I do something about it” she said

“Right” he said sarcastically again

“I heard people can’t stand you” she said and Siwon glared at her “I didn’t do anything at first but now that you’ve hurt Yoona, the only person who loved you despite that horrible personality of yours I have to teach you a lesson”

“Teach me a lesson?” he asked making fun of her words “And how are you going to do that?”

“Watch me” she said smiling widely. She stood up and held Siwon’s arm. Siwon frowned as he didn’t understand what she was doing. Moments later, he felt his body burning.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” he asked scared as he saw his skin was slowly changing

“Changing you into what you truly are” she said “You’ll look on your outside as you are on your inside”

When Sooyoung let go of his arm, he immediately looked at himself in the mirror and gasped surprised. He couldn’t recognize himself. That thing in front of him was not a person, it was monster.

“What have you done to me?!” he yelled

“You did this to yourself” she said “All this house and the people inside it will be enchanted until you break the curse”

“HOW?!” he asked in despair

“You have to find someone that loves you for who you are” she said handing him a rose “That person has to tell you she loves you and you only have one year. When that year passes and that person hadn’t tell you those words, you’ll remain like that forever”

“WHAT?!” he asked shocked “You cannot do that?!”

“I already did” she said smirking “That rose will die as time passes by. When the last petals falls you’ll now when your time is over”

“UNDO WHATEVER YOU DID TO ME!” he yelled at her

“I can’t” Sooyoung told him “I can’t break the spell. Just do as I told you. Find someone that loves you for who you truly are”

“How can someone ever love a monster like me?!” he asked looking at his reflection on the mirror