* / 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

        the glitz and glamor of events like the spring gala dinner tonight are always poignant reminders of just how easy it is to let everything seoyul has worked for all these years slip right through her fingers. the higher you rise, the harder you fall, and at this point, there’s nowhere else for her to go but to continue climbing higher and higher.

        so, like all other social events, that is exactly what she busies herself with all night━rubbing shoulders with the big names, mingling around to make herself known. there’s a shaky balance to the thin line she finds herself always treading on, and tonight the threat of it snapping manifests in the form of someone colliding into her, spilling their drink all over her.

        “are you━” fucking serious? the sentence echoes through her mind, but seoyul has the good sense to stop herself before she utters the final part of it into existence. “━okay? did you hurt yourself?” she’s keenly aware of the many eyes that are now fixated on this disturbance, and so faux concern wells up in her widened doe eyes, while a sympathetic hand reaches out to rest on the other’s arm, her guise of kindness turning out immaculate.

            rosalie couldn’t help but enough herself throughout the night, or at least tried to. she constantly desired to get away from all the drama at home as well from the overwhelming stress from school in hopes it would calm her nerves. she was already on her second glass of champagne, engaging herself into conversations, even if she didn’t know the person.

yet, who knew a big restaurant like this could happen to be so small. no matter where her head seemed to turn, there was always a group of wealthy socialites mingling in the corner. because of rosalie’s small figure, it can be quite easy to squeeze through the gaps amongst everyone. but sadly, it was easy for her to be tossed around. she immediately missteps as someone comes in front of her, only for the liquid of her glass to spill over the female.

at first, seojun’s curiosity had been a shallow thing; absent questionings of ‘do you know who the host is?’ and ‘who do you think it is?’ used to fill silences so that his parents couldn’t get a word in to ask him about how things were going with his ‘future wife’. but somewhere along the line—after his fourth glass of champagne, maybe—the curiosity had taken a very real turn. all of a sudden, he was having fantasies of being sherlock holmes, figuring out the mystery before anyone else could get a chance. he’d tried to stay present, but the harder he focused, the more he drifted away. finally, he’d come up with some dull excuse of having to use the restroom to break away from the group that he’d been stuck with since he’d arrived.

from there, it was a short-lived journey of walking too close to other peoples’ tables, keeping his pace slow enough to grab onto bits and pieces of conversations that he wasn’t invited into. watching to see if anyone was standing alone, looking a strange mix of suspicious and proud like a wannabe gatsby. unfortunately, there was nothing as dramatic as he hoped for, but he did manage to make eye contact with someone who wasn’t stuck in one of the many predictable conversations and seeing as it was the best opportunity he had, he took it. he raised a hand in a lazy wave as he approached.

             haneul restaurant was just as perfect as everyone mentioned it would be; this wasn’t a frequent place she’d have dinner at considering she was so busy from time to time. some aspects reminded her of france, such as the ambiance and the elegance of it all. sadly, the acquaintances that she’d came along with seemed to leave her out of their conversation, as her eyes glanced at her glass of champagne as she pretended to listen.

heels echo through the room as she walks away from the crowd in hopes she could spot her sister or her older brother to entertain her. yet, she shouldn’t bother them knowing they were in the own world — they didn’t need their little sister to annoy any of them even more than she already does. her path takes her alone outside, as the balcony of haneul overtakes the view of korea. it was beautiful; maybe even too beautiful, as the lights reflected her eyes in awe.