Hana, Eunji, and I all woke up early the next morning. The ball would be in the early afternoon and continue until Kevin decided it would stop. We all took a quick shower and blow dried our hair. The maids came in and did our hair. When we were done, Hana’s hair was up in an elegant braided bun, Eunji’s hair was in a high ponytail and curled, while my hair was down and curled on the bottom parts of my hair only. The maids helped Hana and Eunji into their dresses as I waited for Kevin to bring mines, since he wanted to surprise me. A few minutes after, Hana and Eunji began to rummage around in my jewelry collection and Kevin came into my room with a black garment bag. I opened it and saw a light pink dress with a full skirt. I hugged him tightly and let the maids put me into my new dress as Hana gawked at me and Eunji stared at the sparkly skirt.

“How do I look girls?” I spun around once and the skirt spun around with me.

“Awesome!” Eunji squealed.

“How do I look?” Hana struck a pose like a model on a runway.

“Quite dashing, I must say,” Eunji said with a fake British accent.

I put on the pendant Kevin gave me with the Ayries symbol, the diamond bracelet he bought me in the private mall, and the ring Myungsoo had bought there as well. I glanced at my clock. 11:30am. Guests should be here by now. We rushed to put out shoes on. I walked out of my room, picking up my dress so I wouldn’t step on it, with the girls behind me and met up with Kevin in the hallway, who was wearing a black tuxedo with a cape flowing behind him.

“That cape though,” Hana joked.

“Those shoes though,” he joked back at her while looking at her strappy high heels that reached up to her knees.

“They were on sale,” she shrugged. We all walked into the ballroom, where Kevin and I stood at the top of the stairs to greet guests. Hana and Eunji walked down the stairs, where Minwoo was waiting for Eunji. He took her hand and they walked onto the dance floor, dancing along to the music. I laughed when I saw Hana pretending to throw up behind Minwoo’s back and Eunji stuck her tongue out at her. Hana joined EXO’s table and they led her up to the dance floor as well, spinning her around and changing members every minute. I curtsied to the guests as Kevin bowed and the butler announced their presence. When the ballroom began to become packed, Kevin signaled for the ball guards to close the gates outside so no one would be able to come in. He took my hand and we walked down the stairs together. Eunji came up to me, looking happy.

“Minwoo was shocked when I said I was from earth! He said I looked young for my age!”

“Considering we’re about a few hundred years older than you guys, we do look pretty young,” I flipped my hair and smacked Kevin in the face. “Sorry…”

Kevin shook his head. “No worries.”

I looked around and saw the leaders looking concerned about something. I went over to their table.

“Something the matter boys?” I asked worriedly.

“It’s nothing Jieun, it’s fine,” Jungkook said quickly.

“Care to dance Jieun?” Daehyun suddenly stood up and offered me his hand.

“Um, sure,” I took his hand and we went onto the dance floor. As I danced around with Daehyun, I looked over at the leader’s table. They were all staring at me and Daehyun as we danced.

“Something the matter Jieun?” Daehyun asked me the same words I had asked them a minute ago.

“It’s nothing…” he spun me around a few times and when I stopped, Jungkook was in his place.

“Great ball isn’t it?” he asked.

“Uh, yep. Totally.” I was surprised at how he had managed to sneak into Daehyun’s spot. When we spun around a few more times, I saw Jungkook spinning away from me and Xiumin spinning into his place. Ohh, that’s how they did it.

“Hey Jieun? Can I tell you something?” Xiumin asked as he put his hand on my waist and took up my hand.

“Sure, what is it?”

He spun me around and I saw him walk away as I spun around. What are they planning? Ren stopped my spinning and danced with me from behind.

“You like surprises right?” he asked.

“Depends on what kind of surprise you’re talking about,” I turned and danced along with him. He turned around and Myungsoo was in his place. Whoa. He took my hand and we danced towards the open garden door and stopped just a few meters away. Myungsoo bowed and then left. Mark came over to me.

“Hey Jieun, you look a bit tired. Wanna go for a walk?” he pointed outside towards the garden and held out his hand.

“Sure why not,” I took his hand and we left the ballroom, the music fading away as we walked deeper into the garden. We found a bench and sat on it, watching the sky change colors and it became darker and colder. I began to shiver. Mark saw me and draped his jacket around my shoulders. We looked up at the sky together. When my neck started to hurt, I looked down to see Mark holding his hands together and fidgeting around.

“Mark?”

“Yes?” he looked a bit shocked.

“Something you want to tell me?”

“Uh…” he looked down at his hands. I put his hands on his and he looked at me. We stared at each other until he finally gave in. “Yes there is.”

“You can tell me oppa,” I looked at his head, which was bowed down. After a few minutes of silence…

“I like you Jieun,” Mark muttered.

“What?” I didn’t expect this. Mark looked up at me and repeated louder.

“Jieun I like you.”

My mind flashed back to all the good times I had with him. Meeting him on the first day of volunteer work, how he let me take a nap while he worked alone in the small office, how he bought me the locket and put our photo in it, how he offered to let me stay at his place, how he took control and calmly told my friends about me staying at their place, how he bought me stuff and ignored my protesting, carefully explaining to me about Ayries, and how he watched over me in Kevin’s place as I began my new life as a princess. I snapped back into reality.

“Mark.. I…” I stopped, trying to sort out my feelings. “I like you too.”

“I mean I know you might be interested in someone like Myungsoo—wait what?” Mark stopped short of his rambling.

“I like you too!” my feelings for Mark became stronger as each second passed by. I realized I had liked him ever since we met, I was just oblivious to my own feelings. Mark looked down at the ring Myungsoo bought me and smiled. He gently took it off and took out a small ring box. Placing the ring inside, he stood up and bent down on one knee in front of me.

“Jieun, I know it’s kind of sudden, but will you marry me?”