Princess

At a gaming centre located in the central of country Z;

"Ha! I won again. Are you this bad, or am I just too good...I have to be just too good right?", Minjun said elbowing Zane.

Earlier that morning, Zane had surprised Minjun by inviting him to hang out with him at one of the most popular gaming centres in the capital. 

"You're just too good I believe", Zane replied and Minjun narrowed his eyes at him.

"Say, you're really trying to butter me up. I don't remember doing anything you particularly like". Zane had been pampering him from the moment they got there, and now he was blowing up his ego too?. He couldn't help but find it very suspicious now.

"Nah it's not like that. It's either I'm that bad or you're just too good. There's no way I can be that bad, so I decided the latter option was the most appropriate", Zane answered and Minjun nodded. That was more like Zane.

"Wait! You said you had something you wanted to tell me earlier. What was it?", Minjun asked scrutinizing him again.

Zane sighed and cleared his throat, before turning serious. "Look, I need you to do me a favor". "Which is?". 

"You know that dance competition we entered as kids, well you know that Sumi entered the contest and the competition is today", Zane spoke. "I need someone I can trust to go with her for you know...moral support. My parents were supposed to accompany her, instead they chose their work over us - no surprise there - but, Sumi was really upset about it. I couldn't even find a way to cover up for their sudden leave", Zane traced his hand over his face.

"Minjun, I don't mean to place you in this position, but you're the only one who's free today. I couldn't go with Sumi even if I wanted to. So....", Zane trailed off, observing Minjun who'd become so quiet now. 

"You're not giving me much of a choice here are you", Minjun asked after a while. Zane only placed his hand on Minjun's shoulder.

"I'm afraid not. That's why I decided to take you out today. I didn't want to feel too guilty or mean about forcing you into this", Zane shrugged and Minjun sighed.

"You know, I really thought that you wanted to spend some time with this charming little brother of yours. But instead, you just wanted to use me. Did our friendship mean nothing to you?", Minjun dramatically stated, his hands across his chest in betrayal.

It took everything for Zane not to roll his eyes. 

"So it's settled then. Make sure she arrives on time and gets back home early. If anything happens to her, you're dead. Understood?", Zane said smiling brightly at him. 'Creep'

"Understood", Minjun grumbled with a deep frown. 'Today is going to be a long day'.

...

"So after running away from me for so long, you end up surrendering yourself to me like this huh Minmin", Sumi cooed, a satisfied smile on her face as she clung to his arm.

They were in a limo headed to the venue for the competition. They were alone at the back while the driver and a few security stayed upfront. 

"Behave Sumi or else I won't hesitate to get off. Also, don't call me that", Minjun said firmly with a straight face. "Okay, as long as it'll keep you with me then I'll try", Sumi replied, releasing his arm and backing away to give him some space.

She was just way too excited now, that she found it a bit difficult to control herself. 'God I so owe Zane big time!', she thought with a wide smile on her face. Her brother really found the best way to cheer her up.

Once they arrived, they got off the limo and Sumi began to sort out her stuff in the car, along with the help of the extra hands they'd brought with them. Minjun, on the other hand, busied himself with the view and let familiarity of the place wash over him.

Zane, that big devil, had actually made him come back here again, even though he knew how much he'd avoided the place.

Sumi soon noticed Minjun's gloomy mood and instantly felt bad that he had to come back here because of her. "I'm going to go get ready now. Don't forget to give me your loudest cheer okay?", Sumi said with a smile and Minjun turned to answer with a small nod.

...

Sumi and Minjun had already split up. Minjun should have been seated in the audience by now, as she made her way to the waiting room. She began to warm up with her dance routine, when she noticed that her fellow dancers had either male or female partners practicing alongside them. 

'That's weird. Why practice like that with someone when it's just going to be a solo performance?'. She was still in deep thought about it, racking her brain to see if she'd missed something, when the doors suddenly flew open and Sumi snarled on seeing the group that had entered.

"Sumi, darling, I never thought that you'd make it this far. But then again, I'm sure that older brother of yours had something to do with it", Belle spoke, a sweet smile plastered on her face as she bat her lashes at her.

Belle was the same age as Sumi, and was also in the same grade with her. Sumi always felt irritated around her because for some weird reason, the girl always tried to compete with her. 

Sumi and Belle were the two most popular girls in their grade. They were also one of the prettiest as well. Belle with her aubourn hair and blue eyes; Sumi with her ebony coloured hair and deep seated brown ones, both giving off different appeals. They often clashed a lot because of these reasons.

Belle had always had a deep seated hatred for Sumi. The bitch always got the best things and was always lucky. It was so unfair. Belle's jealousy only grew over time, and she ended up spreading scary rumors about Sumi's brother Zane, inorder to stop Sumi from making any friends. Zane had always been protective of Sumi and often looked intimidating, so her plan had worked for a while since people were to scared of Zane to approach her.

That was until Yujun Han - the second son of the Han empire - had started grade 7 of middle school with them. Yujun had always been homeschooled up until that point, so Belle was dumbfounded to see how close Sumi appeared to be with the fine prince.

Yujun was a freaking blue blooded royal, and for someone who'd been homeschooled for that long, it didn't take him time to charm everyone into liking him in under a week. Yujun's older brother was also really popular along with his clique - the crazy four - and that only made Yujun even more popular amongst other grades.

Yujun and Sumi stuck together from the first day, and when people saw how close and easy-going their friendship was, other people had started to approach Sumi as well. Belle found out later on that the two had known each other from childhood.

And as if that wasn't enough, a whole Yang had transferred to their school recently. Nicholas was family friends with Yujun and soon he became close friends with Sumi as well. Sumi's relationship with the guys only made her more loved and popular now. But what Belle hated the most, was the fact that Sumi got shipped with Han royalty.

While Belle took her time glaring the length of Sumi, Sumi took in the smug faces of Nadia and Funa standing at Belle's sides. 'Why today of all days?!'. She didn't have the time or energy to deal with these girls right now.

"Come now Belle, you're too harsh. Sumi isn't that bad with those two left feet of hers. It's a shame she's going to end up disqualified anyway", Nadia said giggling.

"What do you mean disqualified?", Sumi asked with a frown, but the three only laughed at her instead. "Well, darling, you should know that you're not the only one with an influential background. I can also get what I want too", Belle began.

"You see a week ago, I got this brilliant idea. I thought why not change things and make the finales a lot more exciting by making it a duo performance instead of a solo one", she paused enjoying the crumpled look on Sumi's face.

"So I went to my dad, you know, the manager of this entire dance project, and told him about it. Daddy thought it was such a good idea too. Come now, what's with the face? Don't tell me you didn't get the message I personally sent out to all the contestants?", Belle uttered in fake worry as a smirk made its way to her face.

Sumi just stood there shocked. She really wanted to win this, and now she wasn't even going to get a chance to compete. She had practiced hard for so long.

"No need to worry about me Belle, you know it won't be that easy to get rid of me", Sumi clapped back, before turning and walking away, their snickers and laughter escorting her out the door.

'Deep breaths, deep breaths, I need to calm down. Calm down Sumi, Calm. I am calm'. Sumi took in more lungfulls of air, and finally managed to cage in her anger. She needed to leave the room before she actually ripped Belle's hair from her scalp like she pictured in more ways than one as Belle gloated on about her wicked plans.

Right now, she needed to think, and she needed a calm mind to be able to do just that. She already had a dance idea in mind for a duo. It was the one Zane and Minjun came up with way back. She knew most of the moves since she had pushed Zane into teaching it to her for fun. 

However, the bigger problem was the fact that Zane wasn't here right now to perform it with her, and the only other person who knew the moves even better than she did would never agree and she wouldn't blame him. But right now, she was desperate. So, with a deep breath, Sumi made her way to where Minjun was seated in the audience.

And like she'd expected, Minjun had declined.

"I'm so sorry Sumi, I just can't", he said, and she only sighed. "It's okay. You've already done enough by coming here with me. I'll just go get my stuff so we can leave", she replied with a slight smile, trying her best not to sound too disappointed.

Minjun felt bad turning her down, and despite her words and shaky smile, he still couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "If you like we can go do something else together, you pick", Minjun said and watched as a true smile spread on Sumi's face this time around. 

"Mm, I'd like that".

Sumi then turned away from him to leave. She knew she couldn't blame Minjun for rejecting her, especially not after everything that happened with Haerin. Haerin was the first girl Minjun really liked. Haerin liked him too, and they quickly became childhood sweethearts, only for her to end up using and hurting him in the end.

Haerin and Minjun had entered the same competition too, which was why being around the same environment brought back bad memories and made him feel uncomfortable. Sumi could tell just by looking at him that he didn't want to be here, let alone dance in the same competition. Yes, she was upset but she didn't want him to feel bad for turning her down.

Sumi had finished packing up now. She slung her duffel bag unto her shoulder and turned to leave, when Belle showed up again and began mocking her.

...

Minjun stood and made his way to the waiting room for the contestants. Sumi had taken a little longer to return, so he decided to go check on her. She was probably in need of help. He walked through the door, and spotted Sumi amidst a group of girls.

Minjun made his way past the throng of dancers, but stopped abruptly. He was close enough to the girls now to hear what they were talking about, and his blood started to boil as he listened to all the mean things they were saying to Sumi.

"What's wrong? Your brother couldn't do anything to help you? I thought you were a Lee", Belle mocked. "So what's your plan now, don't tell me you're going to go crying over to him and report me. Huh, you really are nothing without your brother", Belle said laughing, and Sumi just fisted her hands together by her side. She wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing her upset. 

Belle was really enjoying herself seeing how things ended up. It felt so good to finally put Sumi down. She wanted to enjoy every single bit of the moment.

"Poor Sumi, couldn't even get yourself a partner with all that status of yo_"

"Who says so?", a rich masculine voice interrupted. Everyone immediately turned towards the source.

Sumi eyes went wide watching as Minjun made his way to stand beside her. She was utterly speechless and before she could even think of what to say, he spoke first.

"I'm so sorry I got here late princess, I hope you're not too upset with me", Minjun said with an apologetic look. Sumi felt her face burn up, so she tore her gaze from him to look down at her feet instead.

"I-I'm not. I'm just glad you're here now", she replied. Belle, Nadia and Funa just stared in shock unable to react. Belle blinked multiple times at the scene before her. She couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. 'What on earth! How the hell is Han Minjun her partner!?'

She was a huge fan girl of the crazy four. She adored them a lot. 'Oh no, I hope he didn't hear what I said earlier', she thought in panic. She actually liked Zane, the only reason she spread those rumors was because she hated all the attention Sumi got for being a Lee. She wanted her to experience being normal like everyone else, Sumi was no one special.

'It's not fair. Why is it always her?, wasn't Yujun enough!'. 

Belle cleared her throat. "Wow Sumi, you really are awesome. I can't believe you landed such a really handsome partner", Belle spoke, giving the two her sweetest smile before turning her attention to Minjun alone.

"Hi, I'm Belle, Sumi's friend. It's really so nice to me_"

"Let's get going now princess. It'll be your turn soon and we need to warm up", Minjun said, completely ignoring Belle like she wasn't even there. He even helped tuck a few strands of Sumi's hair behind her ear.

Sumi, could only manage a nod in reply, feeling completely overwhelmed by Minjun's undivided attention on her. Minjun then gave her a warm smile, before gently taking her hand in his and leading her away.

Belle stood there unable to get past the lump in her throat as she watched them walk away. He blatantly ignored her. No, maybe he just didn't hear her, yes that was probably it. 

Minjun then turned to look directly at her, so Belle quickly gave him her widest smile. However, her smile instantly disappeared at the look Minjun was giving her. He gave her one last dirty glare, before facing forward and pulling Sumi closer to him. Belle couldn't take it anymore, she broke out in tears.

...

The competition ended with Sumi and Minjun emerging as the winners. They had already gone out to celebrate and were back in the limousine heading to the Lee mansion, and Sumi had fallen asleep on Minjun's shoulder. 

Minjun eyed her suspiciously for a while, but then he presumed she was just too exhausted from everything.

"Silly, how could let them say such horrible things to you", he muttered with an amused smile, flicking her forehead lightly. "Where's that untamed vixen that normally attacks me huh", he added playfully, before finally turning to look out the window.

Once Sumi was sure she couldn't feel his gaze on her anymore, she let slip a mischievous smile at her victory in getting to be so close to him like this. She'd resisted the urge to giggle happily earlier at his words. Not to mention that he'd also given her a nickname back at the competition venue. 

'Princess, I could really get used to that', she thought trying her best to contain her excitement. Minjun might literally fling her out the window if he found out just how sneaky she was being right now.