The pages on my book glow in the twilight of the setting sun through my window that I sit next to regularly. The words stick out against the beige pages and I lose track of time while reading. It’s a common occurrence causing the boys to interrupt my time to call me for dinner. If they didn’t I would skip the meal unintentionally.

“Your dress will get wrinkled like that.” A voice calls out from the other side of our decently sized library. He walks into the room with grace that calls attention to him even if he doesn’t want it.

“Will it now?” I jest, a smirk growing on my face as I close my book with just my finger holding its place. He continues walking towards me and I can do nothing but watch his elegance. I’ve learned much from him about etiquette, and how to hold oneself in a pleasing manner. If it weren’t for him I would be curled up on my windowsill and slouching in a very uncomfortable position.

He chuckles, “It will.” He moves to stand near where I sit allowing himself to see the beautiful landscape I find myself wanting to paint from memory many times.

“Did you come here for something?” I ask not out of annoyance, a feeling I never have towards him, but out of curiosity as he usually has something in mind for us to do when he does gain the courage to interrupt my time.

“I’m just enjoying the view.” He says softly looking out to the landscape and I look down smiling, opening my book once again. I know he has an idea but refuses to pull me away from my book when I am not at a perfect stopping point. He understands my love for words on pages and their stories better than any of the others.

“There are other windows, Seonghwa.” I say with a small laugh at his antics, but continue reading as to finish the chapter quickly.

“But none have this beautiful view.” He says simply, and without looking I can feel his eyes on me rather than the view outside causing a small smile to form on my face.

“It is quite nice isn’t it.” My pages turn as he ponders his next words. I can feel the way he wants to ask me a question but his morality refuses to let him ‘bother’ me. I always found it cute how he would wait for hours if he had to just to be sure he wasn’t intruding on my time alone. The way he would either grab a random book of his own to occupy his mind with or simply just sit on one of the couches and enjoy the ‘view’ before him.

“Indeed,” he breathes in for a moment obviously fighting his inner turmoil. “Uh… Do you have a book mark?” The way his voice shakes but also peaks in both curiosity and worry makes my smile grow once again and pull my eyes to him.

A chuckle escapes my lips, “nope.”

“Well then,” he clears his throat and steps closer to where I sit, “do you mind remembering the page you are on?” I see the way his Adams Apple bobs as his swallows down his stress. I never truly understood why he felt so scared or uncomfortable with gaining my attention. But I admire his consistency even if I do wish sometimes he would just give in to his desires and whisk me away without a question.

“May I ask why, Seonghwa?” I put emphasis on his name as I memorize my page number and close the book. Without missing a beat I hear a slight laugh blow through his nostrils as I haphazardly toss my book into my windowsill and turn my body to face him more. 

His hand reaches out in request for mine, “I would like to show you something.” The smile on his face never fails to make my heart stutter, he has one of those dazzling smiles that anyone would give their all to see again. Or just leave them wishing they could have the beautiful image painted in their mind just for them to see.

“Oh alright then.” I take his slightly larger hand in mine and let him pull me from my seat. He places my hand in the crook of his elbow as he leads me out of the room and to this mysterious place I can’t wait to see.

“What were you reading?” He questions breaking the silence and creating a comforting atmosphere, well more so adding to it as I have never found myself even slightly on edge in his presence. Over the years we have grown close, maybe it was because we saw each other often through our parents meeting or maybe just because for some reason we are just puzzle pieces who only fit comfortably with one another.

When our parents sat us down and told us we would be taking over the residence we both smiled to each other and silently agreed to celebrate later alone. This was before we found out about the others, but even then we still celebrated in the moonlight with our favorite wine. “ A beautiful romantic scene.”

“Will you tell me about it?” He smiles down at my encouraging me to tell him about the scene he so wishes he didn’t drag me away from but couldn’t wait much longer.

“Well, a charming prince took his beautiful princess to the gardens in the middle of light rain to dance… and then you showed up” I smile back up at him to show him that I didn’t mind and simply enjoy his presence no matter the time.

He slightly squeezes my hand against his arm, “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

A soft giggle escapes me and causes me to cover my mouth before responding, “I like your interruptions.”

“Is that so?” His smile grows more and we make our way out of the long hallways and into the larger rooms of the main area.

“Mmhmm.” I hum, “you always take me somewhere nice.” It’s common that he would whisk me away to a nighttime stroll through our garden, or even through our many halls just to let us get time alone and enjoy each other's presence. But other times he would take me out for a horseback ride and we would find ourselves in a beautiful landscape that would make me gasp and him laugh. I would spin around and dramatically fall into the grass laughing while he would slowly walk over and look down at me as if I hung the stars. He believes it to. Especially when we stargaze at night, he swears I placed each star just for him to look at, and I wish I did but I would do it so much better.

“Are there any interruptions you don’t like?” He asks.

“Wooyoung, Yunho, and Jongho sometimes.” I admit chuckling as he gasps when I say Yunho’s name. “Let me explain. Wooyoung always takes my books away when I’m at the best part then reads them himself, Jongho just sits there silently and stares I usually don’t mind but sometimes I can only feel his eyes and I can’t focus, and Yunho. Well, he makes the silliest jokes at the worst times. I will be reading a really intense or sad moment and all of the sudden he’s making a joke about one of our cats falling earlier in the day.” 

“And yet you never tell us to go away.” He shakes his head and pulls me towards our massive ballroom leaving a confused look on my face. 

“I could never… the ballroom?” I ask now pulling away from his arm and spinning a round the open space that has recently been cleaned. I can see decorations around the room along with the placement of large tables specifically for the food and drinks to come.

“We have the ball tomorrow.” He reminds following me around the large space elegantly.

“Ah right, tomorrow. I almost forgot.” 

“You forgot. Do you have a dress?” He corrects, and asks me a question he knows the answer to. Seonghwa is always prepared, possibly even weeks in advance. Sometimes I worry if he even spends time just to himself and not worrying about what’s to come and how to help all of us to prepare.

I laugh at his question, “I know you have made me one already.” More often than not he spends most of his time creating clothes for us, but he enjoys making me dresses the most. I remember him saying that creating dresses gives him more room for creativity than a simple suit for the guys. And I can’t help but agree and have zero rebuttal.

“You know me well.” He pulls me to him softly be the arm and smiles down at me. I swear his smile if enough for me to die happy but I would be doing an injustice to all the other guys in this estate. All of them hold a piece of my heart whether they like it or not. 

“Always,” I whisper patting his chest before looking around the room and smiling to myself. “It’s beautiful in here.”

I see him shake his head slightly in the corner of my eye. “You light up the room more than you know.”

“Oh really?” A blush finds its way creeping up my face and I turn away from him pretending to look around the room again. I don’t know why but suddenly I feel nervous under his gaze. Maybe it’s the intimate moment we are sharing, but we have shared many before. So many that compliments are normal conversation topics for us, and even though I get flustered never once has my blush made me want to turn away.

“Yes.” He places a finger under my chin and turns me to look at him once again while giving me a small smile with a smirk mixed in. He clears his throat, “do you have someone accompanying you?”

“All of you usually accompany me throughout the night, you know, I never have just one.” I state smiling at the memory of what they all tend to do throughout the night of a ball. Hongjoong accompanies me during the toast and first dance. Yunho makes me laugh when I grow bored. Yeosang and I whisper amongst ourselves about the music. San helps me relax when I feel there are too many people. Mingi steals me for a dance when he feels I haven’t danced enough. Wooyoung tugs me to the balcony at just the right time to get fresh air and chat. And Jongho takes me to my room when he notices my fourth yawn. Finally, Seonghwa makes me feel like I belong yet stand out all at the same time.

“Would you mind if I whisked you away for a dance this time?” He asks knowing he rarely gets a chance to dance with me thanks to the others. And for some reason he now feels the need to do so, but I can’t help but think how cute his invitation is.

I smile and tuck a piece of hair behind his ear and whisper, “I would never mind, Seonghwa.”

He leans his head down to connect with me and close his eyes letting out a sigh of relief, “good.” 

In the moment I can’t help but think how perfect it would be to just give in to temptation. “How about a dance now?” I ask pulling away to look into his eyes that always remind me how pure he really is.

“There’s no music?” His eyebrows furrow causing me to let out a small laugh and shrug.

“We don’t need music.” I pull him into position and start a simple dance enjoying the moment of peace and serenity with the one person who gives me that feeling just with his presence. He leads me into the dance and we hold eye contact the whole time, fully embracing a moment we claim as ours.

“Is this like your book?” He questions with a little smile on his face.

“No this is our own moment not written on pages but in history. Everything that is done is history whether it was written down or not.” I explain fully believing my words and hoping he understands what I mean. I want us to make history together, our own history that maybe no one else will ever hear but it doesn’t matter to us.

His teeth shine through his smile, “you have a way with words.”

“Well I do read and write often.” I jest smirking at his smile. Our relationship will forever amaze me at how we can be serious yet challenging to each other in a joking way no matter the situation. Whether it’s alone in the middle of the night or in the dining hall with the others watching our interactions. Of course one would insert themselves and steal our thunder but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I could listen to you speak all day.” He admits leaning our heads together once again letting his vulnerable side show in this moment. He has shown it many times with me and every time I can’t help but do my best to memorize every single moment even if it’s only fleeting.

“My voice would grow hoarse.”

“And yet I would still listen and when you can’t speak I will still be near.” He replies swiftly throwing me for a loop, it usually takes him a moment to think of what to say and now he knew exactly how to respond. With words that left me stumped and flustered more than normal.

I pull away and look into his eyes with a furrow in my brows, “now it is you who has a way with words.”

He laughs at my response and continues our dance. There is nothing but our breath and footsteps creating the music around us. Music would do nothing but pull us away from our own thoughts that run wild in the intimate moment that I can’t quite understand is doing to my emotions. “Would you like to see your dress?”

“No,” I reply simply.

“Why not?” His brows furrow as his spins me around in front of him.

“I know it is beautiful because it is you who made it.” My words catch him off guard and I can only tell by the way he only slightly loses his footing. 

He again clears his throat before regaining his footing and meeting my eyes. “Why do you think that?”

I send a smile his way and grip onto him a little tighter hoping he can feel my emotions through my touch. The emotions I can’t quite understand fully myself. “I always follow you because I know that whatever you see fit for my eyes to lay upon must be beautiful in your eyes and I wish to appreciate all the things you find worthy.”

“Yourself?” He asks quickly looking into my eyes more seriously and pulling me slightly closer.

My head tilts slightly to the side quickly, “what about myself?”

Our movements slow as the dance reaches its end. “I find you beautiful.”

The blush I had just cleared my face of rises once again and I can’t help but lean into his chest to hide away. He chuckles at my response and rubs my back to soothe any embarrassment I might be feeling. “And I appreciate myself maybe not as much as I appreciate you and the others but enough.”

“Appreciate is not the word I would use.” Our dance ends and we just hold each other close as we finish our conversation.

“What word would you use then?” I ask and start to pull myself away but he refuses to let me go pulling me in closer.

“Admire, adore, treasure, the list goes on.” He admits.

“Then I do ado-“