Summary: You're a princess and just turned 18. Your parents had arranged a marriage to bring your dad's friends kingdom and yours closer. You first met him before your coming of age ball. He was very handsome and was also shocked about the news of your marriage. He was avoiding you and being cold, until he wasn't. And he asked you to dance.
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(Seonghwa really came for my bias list in the red suit version of Hala Hala. But I love him anyway)
(Also, their will be a part 2 so look forward to it)
"Good morning! Happy birthday! My baby is growing up!" Your mom cried as she entered your chambers. You groggily rolled over and placed your head under a pillow.
"Thanks mom, but can't I sleep in? It IS my birthday."
"Oh, nonsense. You need to get ready for the ball tonight. And we already let you sleep in! It's almost noon!" You sighed as you peaked at your mom. Slowly sitting up, you accepted her hug and thanked her again. She left soon after, reminding you that you needed to be ready a little early so you could meet someone. Your maid, and best friend, Suli came in when your mom left and got you out of bed. The dress that Suli'd picked out was a beautiful red, that complimented your complexion.
Once your makeup was done with a perfect smokey eye, with a little bit of red glitter on your inner corners, you began to put on your dress. After the struggle of getting the dress on, you sat down to have your hair curled slightly, choosing not to put it up. It was 3 when you finally were done with everything, putting on the heels that your mother insist you wear. You were pretty small, standing at 5'2, and with the heels you were a glorious 5'5. Suli came in and said that your parents wanted to talk to you in the throne room before the ball. You made your way down the halls, greeting all the staff that passed. They all wished you a happy birthday and said that you looked beautiful. You walked into the throne room, seeing 3 unfamiliar people standing before your parents.
"Oh there she is! Oh, you look so beautiful Y/N." You mom said as she rushed towards you to grab you by your shoulders.
"Mom, don't cry." You said as you dabbed some tears off her cheeks.
"If you two are done, I do have someone here I want you to meet Y/N." Your father said as he shifted on his feet. He looked almost nervous in a way. Looking at the 3 people in front of you, two people that looked around your parents age, and a younger man. He was definitely the most beautiful person you've ever seen. He had platinum blonde hair, with a tall but filled out frame. He had this aura of elegance that you'd never saw anyone as young as him have.
"Y/N this is my best friend, John, and his wife, Yuna. Their son, Seonghwa, is to be your husband." Your eyes shot over to your father, surprised at what he just said. Husband?
"What?" Was all you could say. You knew that you'd likely marry soon after your 18th birthday, but you didn't know that they'd already picked him out.
Your parents had been very strict on you being around people. They only let older men work in the castle, and the only young men that were in the castle were guards. When you went to study it was at an all girls school. Your only male friend was the son of a bookstore owner, Mark. You'd met him when you were trying to find a specific book, that you heard the local bookstore had. Being brought back into what was happening, you heard your question mirrored from Seonghwa. All you heard was your father explaining that both kings wanted to bring their kingdoms closer, and what better way than marriage.
"But I was planning on marrying-" He was cut of by his father saying that those plans would've never went through because he'd told her, who you don't know who they're talking about, about the arranged marriage they'd already planned.
"We wanted to wait until both of you were old enough. But now that you are, we can start planning your wedding!" Queen Yuna said as she grabbed your mother's hands. Both of them obviously excited about the marriage. Both you and Seonghwa were quiet for the rest of the time you were in the throne room. Thankfully Suli said that she needed you. You got out of there as quickly as you could with your heels. She was speaking to you, but you couldn't hear her, thinking of everything that'd just happened. You were gonna be marrying Seonghwa, who was so beautiful but didn't want you.
When the ball started everyone was dancing around and chatting. You were watching it all from the balcony above the crowd. You were hidden up there so that you could be announced. You saw Seonghwa talking to a group of ladies, obviously flirting. They kept waving their fans, blushing, and laughing. You could tell that one of them was the girl he was talking about before. When it was time for be announced, everything got quiet. As you were walking down the steps, your crown being placed on your head before you began your decent, you were focused on not tripping or having your crown fall off. You were always nervous at these sorts of events, hating being the center of attention. When you reached the floor, you could see him standing to your right with the girl from before attached to his arm.
As the ball went on, you would see glances of him while you were dancing. Each time it was with a different lady, and not once has he approached you. You could tell he didn't want to marry you at all. You met his eyes twice, and each time they were so cold. You would look away with an ache in your heart, wishing that tonight could have went a different way.
When you sat down at a table, your feet hurting from standing all night, your friend, June, walked over. You talked for a while, telling her about your marriage. She wasn't surprised since he was already 20 and hadn't been interested in many girls. Sighing, you looked up to see him walking your way. You briefly wondered why he would be walking over to you, but then you noticed his mother watching him closely.
"Princess, hello." He said politely, bowing. He also nodded a hello to June.
"Hello Prince Seonghwa. What can I help you with?" You asked nicely, wanting to know why both of your mothers were staring at the two of you so intently.
"Would you like to dance with me?" He asked, holding his hand out. You looked at him, and if you hadn't known better, you'd think he'd actually want to dance with you. You agreed, saying a silent apology to your feet, and put your hand in his. You walked to the middle of the dance floor and put your hand on his shoulder while he continued to hold your hand.
"I'm sorry that our parents ruined your plans to marry someone else." You said quietly. You didn't really care about marrying early, but he'd already had someone he wanted to marry.
"I knew it was coming. My parents hadn't been pushing me to find a wife like all my friends parents were. I was just hoping that they were gonna let me choose my own wife at my own pace." You looked down, feeling slightly guilty.
"I didn't mean to be so cold earlier. I knew I had to tell her, but I was angry with you."
"It's understandable. We both weren't expecting it, so it was a shock to the both of us. And I think it's a little worse for you since you'd found someone. I haven't even been able to be courted yet. My family always kept me from boys my age." You blushed, not expecting to expose so much of yourself to him.
"But that's not an excuse to be cold to you. She told me that my mother had found her before the party started and told her about the news. All night she's been pushing me to come talk to you. When my mother saw me with her she pushed me to go ask you to dance. And every 5 minutes she would walk by to push me to go talk to you." "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to. We can just try and be friends first." He smiled a little and looked down at you.
