Tough Princess

After a few hours, and multiple empty bottles of soju, we stumble out of the room, BamBam having paid already. Youngjae and Jackson are the only ones not as drunk as everyone else and get us to some hotel rooms, pushing everyone into them and leaving us to do whatever. I don’t bother to look around to see who was in my room and kick off my shoes, climbing into the bed. Turning over, I fumble for the lights and turn off the lamp next to the bed as another weight presses down on the bed. “Who?” I ask, turning to face whoever it was. “Yi En,” He mumbles. “Who?” I ask again, not recognizing the name. “Mark.” He sighs and I scoot forward until I can actually see his face. “Wow,” He coughs, turning his head away. “You smell like soju.” Blinking, I sit up and go straight to the bathroom, taking a shower.

I wake up to the ringing of my phone and a pounding in my head. Forcing open my eyes, I grab my phone from the night stand and swipe across the screen, answering it. “Hello?” “Ya, Sanha, it’s a video call, not a phone call. I don’t want to see your ear.” Puling the phone back, I look at the screen, blinking my eyes so they focus. It was Hyungwon. His eyes are wide as he stares at me through the phone. “Where’s your shirt? And ya, is that an arm?” I look down and realize I’m only in my bra. Pulling the sheet to cover myself, I realize there is an arm draped over my back. Looking over at the other side of the bed, my eyes widen at the sight of Mark shirtless. “What, did a bastard take advantage of you? We’ll kill-“I quickly end the call, taking the battery out of my phone. Sitting up, I lean over and shake Mark awake. “Ya, ya, wake up!” He groans and opens his eyes before his cheeks start to turn pink. “Your shirt, your shirt!” He says but can’t seem to take his eyes off of me. “What happened last night? I only remember getting into the shower.” His eyes widen when he realizes that I can’t remember. “Uh,” He doesn’t answer me. Pulling back the sheets, I’m relieved to see he still has his boxers on. Getting up, I scavenge for my clothes and pull them on when I find them. I toss Mark his clothes and grab my bag and phone. “See you sometime.” I say quickly, leaving as soon as the words slip from my mouth. Taking the bus home, I find the boys getting ready to leave. The minute they see me, I’m mobbed. “Sanha, are you okay? Nothing bad happened, right?” Kihyun worries and I choke out a response as I’m being hugged. “I’m fine, my friend got drunk and we decided to sleep in a hotel. She was really tired.” I say she so they don’t think it’s a guy. “Aish, you should’ve told your dad that you were going to be out, he was worried.” Hyunwoo clicks his tongue and I follow them in. Dad is pacing back and forth in his study and looks over at us as soon as we enter the room. “Jung Sanha, what have you been doing?” He roars and I flinch. “I got drunk and had to stay at a hotel with my friend, she was also pretty drunk.” He softens a little when I say that and he sighs. “I just don’t want you to be kidnapped by another syndicate. It happens so often that I’m worried about you.” “Don’t worry about me. You made me take those lessons for a reason, right? So even if I do, it’s fine.” “I’m going to my room.” I sigh and start to push through the boys. “Sanha, I need to tell you something. Boys, go outside.” If he didn’t want the boys in here, it must be either something important, or something bad enough that I’ll get angry. They close the door as the leave and dad motions to a chair before sitting down in his behind his desk. “I figured I’d have to tell you sometime. But since The Assembly is tomorrow, and you’ll probably meet him, I’ll tell you now. You’re engaged.” It takes a few seconds for my brain to process it and suddenly, I understand. “Engaged? What the fuck do you mean by engaged?” I shout, springing to my feet. “You guys met when you were kids and you said you wanted to marry him, so I made a deal with his syndicate’s leader. Make him the heir and marry you, or lose money and territory.” “You based an engagement off of a childish whim?!” I screech, overturning his coffee table. “I won’t have time to point him out, so it might be anyone you meet. Try not to get on anyone’s bad side in the next two days too, neh?” I grab the lamp on the table, throwing it. It shatters on the wall and my hand tingles from coming in contact with the burning lightbulb. “We’ll see.” Stomping out, I don’t care if the boys are there or not. I scream. Walking to my room, I find a small box labeled Sanha. I knew what it was, and I didn’t care. “Uh, Sanha?” Hyungwon asks from the other side of my door. “He didn’t mean to make you mad. He just wanted to tell you in case someone else brought it up at The Assembly and you got mad at him for not telling you.” I sigh. I knew. Even though I hated him a lot, some of the time I could understand why he did what he did. “You need to pack your things up because we’re going to be staying at the place that The Assembly is being held.” “Yeah, I got.” I say and hear him walk away. Grabbing a duffel bag, I toss my things into it and am done in half an hour. The boys and dad are already situated in their cars and I get into Hyungwon’s car, not caring to sit with dad. “Calmed down?” He asks, pulling out of the garage. “I guess. It’s just stupid though.” He shrugs. “Your father told me that he’d have you meet a bunch of different heirs to the syndicates to see who a child would choose for a partner. You turned down the others for so many different reasons, that your father gave up and let you do as you wanted. You ended up meeting a boy that was the son of a member of a syndicate who was barely important.” I stare at Hyungwon. When had he ever spent hours to talk to dad about my childhood? “Where’s The Assembly being held this year?” I ask, looking out the window. He chuckles, “It’s going to be at the Loen Hotel, in the middle of Seoul. It’s less likely that there’ll be any accidents surrounded by cops.” He hints and I ignore it. I knew they were all worried that I’d be kidnapped, but what kind of person doesn’t trust someone to keep themselves alive? We get there and Hyungwon hands me my room key. I immediately go up to my room, not waiting for him and find it just as someone comes out of the room next to mine. “Mark?” I ask, staring at him. He had a disheveled look and it looked like he’d just woken up. “Why are you back here?” He asks, looking over at me. “Back? You mean that was the room I slept in last night?” I ask, staring at him. He nods. I hadn’t even noticed. “Sanha, don’t leave go qu-“I quickly slide my cardkey in the lock and go in, shutting the door behind me. Tossing my clothes in the dresser, I put my other stuff away and open the door to find Hyungwon standing there. “I was talking to you, wasn’t I?” He grins and reaches for my waist. “Touch me and I kick you in the worst place.” I threaten and he back up, smiling. “See, your mood is getting better.” “Not a chance.” I kick his shin and run down the hall, laughing. We race down the stairs to the first floor and I nearly slam into someone before Hyungwon grabs my wrist, pulling me back against him. Looking at the people I’d nearly run into, I see it’s the head and heir of the Obsidian syndicate. We quickly bow and I crinkle my nose at the feeling of Hyungwon bent over behind me. The two men half ass their bows and turn away. “Kaja, let’s go explore.” Hyungwon takes my hand and pulls me out of the lobby. We find the pool, a restaurant and a large garden in the back. Going around the garden, we see the rest of the boys lounging around the pool. They must’ve wanted to swim as soon as we got here. But they’d also made a bunch of new friends. Groups from other syndicates mingled and I couldn’t help but smile at Hyunwoo as he arm wrestles someone else. Someone familiar. “Noona, what are you doing b-“I immediately grab BamBam and cover his mouth. “Be right back.” I smile at Hyungwon, pulling BamBam to the side. “I was never here today, or last night. I and my friend, she and I stayed in a hotel because we were both too drunk to go home. You get where I’m going?” He quickly nods. “Tell the others.” He runs off and I sigh, rubbing the side of my head. And this is where my headache was going to start, huh. I go back over to Hyungwon, who’s talking with the boys. “New friends?” I ask, looking at whoever Hyunwoo was arm wrestling. It was Jackson. “Oh, Sanha, are-“BamBam appears and covers Jackson’s mouth. “Sorry, but I’m going to steal him for a bit.” He grins at Hyunwoo before dragging Jackson away. “The guys from Amber syndicate are cool, but they’re kinda weird.” Kihyun sighs from his lounge chair. Jackson reappears after a few minutes and bows his head a little to me. “Sanha, are you from the Emerald syndicate?” I slowly nod and feel guilt. I’d only got to see them yesterday, and now we were both in syndicates. “Wanna try wrestling me?” I shrug. “Sure, I’m probably going to lose anyways.” Hyunwoo moves and I sit down across from Jackson, gripping his hand. Almost immediately, my hand slams into the table. “Dammit.” I hiss, shaking my hand as it stings. “Sanha,” I look over at Chanwoo. “Your father wanted to know if you wanted to eat lunch with him, or eat it in your room.” Not even thinking, I say “In my room.” He nods, his face telling me he’d already guessed that was my answer. “Well, I’m going to go upstairs and eat, have fun.” I smile and glare at Hyungwon, telling him to stay put. Going back up to my room, I let myself in and find an array of foods covering the desk. I knew I couldn’t eat this much. Going out, I quietly knock on Mark’s door and it swings open. “Can you help me with something?” He looks at me, curious. I motion for him to follow me and I quickly open my door, pushing him in. His eyes land on the food as the door shuts and he starts to laugh. “It’s not funny! I can’t eat all of this! Whoever ordered this much either is stupid, or didn’t know what food I liked!” He finally stops laughing after a few minutes and goes over to the desk, starting to eat. Sighing, I start eating too, and after a while, we’re both sitting back against the bed, holding our stomachs. “I think I ate too much.” He groans. “Me too.” I giggle, making sure I don’t want throw up. “So, Amber syndicate, huh?” Mark turns to look at me, confusion on his face. “BamBam and the others are down at the pool, hanging out with everyone. I’m in the Emerald Syndicate.” Mark slowly nods, understanding what I’m saying. “Why aren’t you eating with the other members?” He asks finally. “I’m a bit of a special person in my syndicate. Like a princess, or something like that.” “A princess?” Mark tries to hide his laughter. “I hate it. I hate it so much.” I grumble, letting my bed fall back onto the bed. “Ya, stop complaining. At least you aren’t treated worse.” After a while of companionable silence, Mark gets up. “I have to go, but if you need anything, you know I’m right next door. Oh, and there’s an adjoining door that can be locked from both sides. I’ll keep mine unlocked if you have an actual emergency.” He smiles and leaves. Stretching, I get up and drop onto the hotel bed. I might as well take a nap before dinner. Dinner was going to be a tiring mess of the leaders talking, and the members dancing and talking to each other. Climbing under the sheets, darkness swallows me.

Notes

So here's The Assembly. I hope it's not too bad. I literally finished writing this story at five this morning. Sorry for any grammar mistakes or anything ^~^ Comments are welcome, enjoy!