Prompt: Cinderella, het!JongYu (Junghee)

There were times Junghee forgot her dream, her desire, being caught in pots and brooms, tidying up everything that hardly mattered and obeying words she could easily refute. It was how she had learnt to live, craving the warmth her family never gave.

But there were days like today, when she would have some time with nothing to do, and her unoccupied self will begin to remember pieces of what she had forgotten.

A gown hung in her small wardrobe, the only one she deemed worthy enough to hang. It was the one her mother had worn at the Royal Ball, where she had met her father, had danced with him and had realized that the strangeness that had been splashing over her for days, had finally engulfed her.

She had fallen in love.

Her mother had recited this evening every night till she could, and though Junghee did not remember every word of it right now...she remembered how exactly she had felt on hearing it.

She had wanted to live that moment herself.

But having been snatched of everything she had, she knew it was absurd to hold such a desire.

It pained her when she saw her mother’s gown; pained her because she would be reminded of how forlorn her life had become.

And Junghee concluded that she would sleep her free time off, instead of opening her wardrobe and letting a faint, yet painful desire seep back into heart.

She met Jinki one day, a day when the sun was shining too strong, a day she knew would bring anything but misfortune.

The way he smiled, the way he spoke, Junghee knew he saw beyond her disheveled appearance. He was kind and aberrantly witty, speaking jokes she would only understand after a long time, which would set her into fits of laughter later when she would be scrubbing pots.

It was strange how easily she smiled now, how she had begun to hum tunes, and how much more she wished to be given chores to be done out in the sunny afternoons.

He would always be waiting, having freed his own afternoon by late nights of tailoring, prepared with lines that he knew Junghee always looked forward to.

He would buy sweets and take her to the shade of a huge tree, his words sweeter than the confections he offered and fresher than the cool breeze that blew to her through the leaves.

Meeting him, brought out words she would have never uttered, words of her loss and words of her dreams.

And all he did was smile warmly, telling her to treasure her loss, but to treasure her dreams far more,  telling her that it were the dreams one dreamt that made a person strong and who they truly were.

He was there by her side when she heard of the Royal Ball, he was there when her mind was spinning, her dreams and desires getting brighter in her head with every twirl. He was there, urging her thoughts, urging her to grab the chance if it came by, urging her to live the moment she had forever dreamt of.

A bleakness spread within her despite his encouragement.

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