If there was anything Mirae hated in the world, it would have been formal events next to brussel spots and Hongbin. She had no idea how she had to behave at formal events. Hell, she didn't even know what to do with her hair, either.... She was so screwed.

Aya had called her early on and asked if she was going to the anniversary ball and foolishly, Mirae said yes. Also, her mom was still serious about the food ban and had kept a keen eye of Mirae the entire day. She could finally rest for the second week before school starts.The school scenes from the music video were all done and now the rest was left to the company editors, publishers, advertisers, the whole bit. Mirae was nervous, more than she would like to admit. I mean, being in a music video and that with Hallyu stars was a pressure all on its own nevermind the thing she had to do with Hongbin...

Mirae shook her head and erased the thought out of head. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she started to prepare her outfit. She glanced at the clock to see the time was 4:00. A company official had sent her an e-mail to be ready by 8:00 since she was to be chauffered there. She still had plenty of time but no expert help. Hani was still on her trip so she couldn't help her get ready with hair and makeup....

"Ottoke.." Mirae muttered, glancing at her slim figure in the mirror. The diet seemed to drastically drop pounds like crazy. She wasn't sure how she felt about the diet, but she definitely felt more confident in her appearance. 

Her phone rang.

"Yobeo-"

"Ah! Mirae-ya! It's me Aya again. I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house and get ready together? I thought it would be fun to do!" 

"Ah. Arraseo.When should I come over?"

"Like, now."

"Oh...ah..let me see if my mom says-"

Her mother suddenly poked her head out of no where into the room and said "I said it's fine."

Oh.

Her mother could hear their conversation?

Aya chuckled, seeming to have heard Mirae's mother.

"So it's settled. I'll give you my addrress."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Wow! Your room is so big!" Mirae gaped at every corner of Aya's room. It was probably the size of Mirae's house, at least.

"Huh? Oh thanks!" Aya smiled her eye smile. 

Ayane's parents, to Mirae's surprise, were both surgeons and barely around at home but had left a huge house for Aya's pleasure and maids to fill it in. 

"So did you get a dress from the company to wear?" Mirae pulled hers out from her bag and laid it down on a chair. Aya shook her head, walking into her closet and bringing out a black and white halter dress with red heels. 

"Oh." Mirae peered at hers. 

"I love the colour of your dress!" Aya touched it admiringly, "You should definitely let me borrow it sometime!"

"Yeah, but even though it would fit, it would be too short on you since you're tall." Mirae cocked her head to the side. Aya really was something her literature teacher would refer to as a "Mary Sue" character. She was tall, smart, beautiful, had curves in all the right places, and the whole doll-like look going on.

And then there was Mirae. Who sounded like a horse everytime she would laugh and would accidentally spit in other people's drinks.

"So do you know what you are doing with your hair?" Aya sat down and played with Mirae's now-jet-black hair. Mirae had to admit, she missed her half blonde, half brown hair. 

"No idea. Maybe just keep it down and hope for the best." Mirae shrugged.

"No, no,that won't do." Aya shook her head before dragging Mirae to her dresser and started playing with Mirae's hair.

"How about we curl it?" Aya pondered.

"Yeah, if you want my hair to look like a tangled bird's nest by the end of the party."

"Hold up, I got something." Aya ran into her closet, leaving Mirae stranded in the vanity chair.

Aya came back with a curler thingy Mirae has never seen anything like before. 

"We have exactly two hours to get ready, let's get started."

Two hours? Last time I checked it was four hours.

I guess time does fly by.

*     *     *

"Looks pretty freaking awesome." Aya nodded in approval at her masterpiece. Mirae's hair had now fallen into waves around her petite face. Her eyes were much larger due to the fake eyelashes and the faint smokey eyes. Her small lips were a bright red.

"What about you?" Mirae looked at Aya's hair which was in rollers. 

"What about me?" Aya asked.

"Aren't you going to get ready? It's 7:00 now."

"Oh crap! You're right!" Aya scurried here and there putting on her makeup but managing it to look effortless and flawless. While she was busy with her makeup, Mirae suddenly remembered about the chauffeur that was supposed to arrive at he rhouse later that evening. 

"I should go now. I'm being picked up from my house."

"I already fixed that situation. We are going together." Aya said while applying the last bits of her eyeliner. 

"Have you've never done this before? Getting ready with friends?" Mirae asked, sitting down on Aya's bed, her dress in her arm.

"No, sadly I haven't. It's so much fun though!" Aya piped, clapping her hands together, "You should change into your dress now. I'll go change into mine and take out my rollers." Aya headed to her bathroom. Mirae went behind Aya's dressing screen and started to change. 

She went over to her bag and pulled out her jewellry, night purse and heels. She hastily put everything on. She glanced at a floor length mirror next to Aya's vanity and for the first time, actually felt pretty damn good about her self. She admired her eye makeup. While Aya's makeup had seemed to be more cat-eye and bold, Mirae's seemed to be a smokey eye with bright red lipstick.

She heard a beep on the bed. Thinking it to be her phone, she saw a text message on the screen:

Hongbin <3: Haha! So I guess I'll see you there. ;)

Mirae quickly averted her attention, as it suddenly dawned that that wasn't her phone, but Aya's. Whoops. She couldn't help feel a little pang in her heart. Hongbin was good friends with Aya and she didn't like that. Hongbin was a fart.

Aya came out of the bathroom, her hair now in a wavy french twist and wearing her halter dress that hugged her figure perfectly. She looked stunning and suddenly Mirae felt...downcasted. She didn't know why, exaclty either. 

"Ready?" Aya asked, smiling at Mirae.

Mirae nodded, looking at the picture of Park Hyoshin on her phone. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The entire car ride to the ball was filled with laughter as Aya and Mirae were joking about slipping and falling on their heels, which, let's be honest, was more likely to happen to Mirae. 

When they had finally arrived, Aya stepped out of the car confidently, her friend right behind her.

Mirae shivered at the cold, despite her wearing a black coat. 

They walked inside, escorted by a few company officials. 

The place was a large ballroom, with white tables set up every where. There was a huge floor in the middle, where a few people were waltzing. For some reason everyone looked in their mid thirties-early forties and not a single teenager or yound adult was there. Weird.

"Ah! Hyukkie!" Aya called out as Hyuk came to greet Mirae and Aya, suddenly, out of no where. 

"Aya Noona! Mirae noona!" Hyuk smiled and gestured for them to follow him.

Hyuk lead them to a seperate, and might Mirae add a huge chamber where instead of a formal corporate feel, there were teenagers here and there and a wild dance thing going on in the center. The room was lit with different coloured lights and drinks were settled here and there. There were two levels with glass balconies and couple booths. The place looked like a nightclub. Hyuk smiled at them. 

"Where are we?" Aya screamed to ask Hyuk.

"The company set up a place for the Vixx memebers. The people around are some of our friends." Hyuk screamed back.

"Oh. Okay." Mirae muttered to herself.

"Will you guys be fine alone?" Hyuk screamed.

"Yeah! Go ahead and enjoy yourself with your friends!" Aya shouted 

Hyuk smiled before dsiappearing into the crowd.

"So I guess it's just you and me right now." Aya smiled at Mirae who shrugged.

"It's really loud here, you want to check out upstairs?" Aya asked.

"upstairs?" Mirae was curious.

"Yeah, let's go!"

Mirae felt herself being dragged through a crowd of teenagers and up some glass stairs. When they reached the top, somebody called out for Aya. 

"Gaeun! It's so good to see you! How have you been?" Aya waved to the girl. They stood there talking while Mirae kinda awkwardly stood there. Finally, Mirae excused herself from their company, but both of them were so engrossed in talking about mundane things such as hair extensions. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aya was done talking to Gaeun but couldn't seem to find Mirae anywhere.

She was suddenly dragged by someone. Hongbin.

"Hey," He greeted her, smirking at her.

"Hey," Aya tried maintaining a cool composure, but in reality she felt her stomach churning. 

"When did you get here?" Hongbin asked her. Aya thought he looked handsome with his black casual blazer and navy blue v-neck t shirt and black pants and shoes. He looked even cuter now that he was blushing.

"Just about ten minutes ago. Why?"

"Ahhh. I was wondering where you were."

Aya could swear his beauty made her heart skip two beats. "Why were you looking for me?" She asked him. 

"Nah just curious. I wanted to..." Hongbin looked at his shoes blushing.

"You wanted to what?" Aya asked him, now curious.

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

Hongbin shook his head.

"Well don't leave me hanging! Tell me! At least a hint?" Aya laughed.

Hongbin ran his fingers through his hair before placing his hands on Aya's shoulder, kneeling down and pressing his lips against her's, leaving Aya dumbfounded. To Aya, time had stopped. completely.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mirae made her way through the people, until suddenly she bumped into someone's chest.

"Ouch." Mirae rubbed her temple. She hope it wouldn't bruise. She looked up to see a familiar smiling and beautiful face that made her eyes widen.

"Be careful, beautiful." Ken smiled at her.

"Oh, um...hi Ken Are you feeling better?" Mirae asked blushing hard, and her heart was pounding in her ears. 

"I'm fine. Hey, do you wanna go talk somewhere else?"

"Sure."

Ken took her hand gently and walked throug the crowds to a balcony where there were a few couples. 

"You look gorgeous, Heo Mi Rae." Ken smiled sincerely at her.

"Thank you. I..um...like your shirt..." Mirae tried to compliment him but she was so nervous and her heart was pounding in her ears. 

"So about that kiss...sorry I couldn't be your first but I was replaced by my dongsaeng." 

Mirae was taken a back, that was some way to jump into the conversation.

"It didn't count." Mirae told Ken. Why did she feel the way to reassure Ken? 

Ken chuckled. "I'm glad."

awkward silence ensued.

"How was it?" Ken asked Mirae breaking the silence.

"How was what?"

"The kiss." 

Mirae's face was sore from blushing really hard.

"Oh. It was nice."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Really, now?"

"Yes but we both agreed it wouldn't count since neither of us-"

Mirae was cut off by Ken's lips suddenly pressed against Mirae's. Mirae let out a little gasp of surprise as she wasn't expecting this. Mirae closed her eyes. Ken was gentle with the kiss at first, slowly kissing her lips. Mirae kissed back and she felt her knees buckle. She found her fingers entwinded in his hair, as he had pushed her into a wall, with his hands firmly on her waist. He started to deepen the kiss by givng more urgent but passionate kisses before he asked for entrance which Mirae willingly allowed. Her heart rate amped up and she felt a surge of euphoria overcome her. His tongue explore every corner of Mirae's mouth. He then started to ever so slightly bite Mirae's bottom lip. She smiled into the kiss and Ken couldn't put his feelings into words at how happy and aroused he felt. 

They finally let go of each other, Ken's forehead against Mirae's. Both were breathing heavily, before Ken then took Mirae into his embrace. She smelt the familiar smell of cologne or aftershave coming from him. 

She smiled stupidly in his embrace, as his head rested on Mirae's shoulder.

Ken had felt relieved and hugged her tighter to him. His heart was hammering against his chest. He had finally done it. 

Mirae bit her lip as she responded to Ken's tighter embrace by snuggling against his shoulder. 

Ken then whispered into her ear that made her heart stop.

"You're mine, now."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: SOooOOOOoooooooOOOOoOoO I've been really busy lately but I (tried) giving you guys a longer chapter. 

And omg, naughty hongbin ;)

Ah, I feel like I did Ken some justice, the poor guy <3

comment, and subscribe...if you'd ike, idk I'm a writer not a cop.

Also I think I haven't been thankful to my subscribers and commenters. Here, have a gif of Leo smiling:

Thank you and Saranghae!

Until next time!

Fair Winds!