'The most fundamental constraint
is limited time'

- Gary Becker

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Y/N's POV:

I arrive at the palace, eager to enter and eat some good food, instead of whatever food I tried cooking up 12 hours ago.

You know, I love how they make fairytales so realistic, by putting like, oh the average a thousand steps JUST to get to the front door. Was this to prevent lazy soldiers at war from attacking closely or something? Because if I was a soldier, I'd give up by the 20th step, I'm out.

These places really need a new design and some freshness...

I've always wondered, I know these shoes are made of magic and all, but I feel like glass is not enough to hold my weight. Come on, please, back at home, I put on one kilogramme a day. And guess what? Theres 365 days in a year. And I've been living for over 18. Do the math.

If these glass shoes crack and my feet got ripped apart, I'm suing the fairy godmother. If that's even a thing.

Not gonna lie though, I really thought she was going to sing that song of hers. You know, the bibidi bobidi boo thing.

I wash those thoughts away like a tidal wave, as I realise I'm upon the front door. The door is tall and large, a lot bigger than it way about, hm, 200 steps ago. It reminded me of Rumplestiltskin, you know, the 3 foot man.

The details were pretty, each curve and line was perfectly made with full precision. It was carved so amazingly, really, it's a work of art.

I extended my arm to reach out to the handle, but slightly pulled it back.

I hesitated opening the door, because wouldn't they all stare at me for practically crashing the party?

Oh wait, nevermind, I'm making it better. They all need a little bit of Y/N tonight.

Okay, 1, 2, 3.

I burst into the room, partially shy and half confident too. For a moment, no one noticed, as I took a step into the palace. But a couple moments later, that's when the magnetic reaction was triggered and their eyes darted to look at my stunning dress... And to look at, well... Me. I know, I'm gorgeous.

Thank you fairy godmother, I guess I don't need to sue you now...

I look around for a second, as I greet the guards who were standing by the door. The music paused for a moment, but as I made my way down the stairs it resumed as some heads turned back, though, I could still see a few shocked and confused faces glued to me.

I made it to the bottom, spotting two little annoying step sisters eyeing me from their corner there... What? Scared I'll steal 'your' prince? Sweetheart... I roll my eyes, wishing I could really tell them that.

The next song plays, as I hear the violin play, the chords of the piano joining in. The music reminds me of a contemporary routine, the one of Jinsin actually.

I remember looking at him dance, his body flowing like water in a river to the music. I've never ever, actually seen a guy who could dance so beautifully, so gracefully. I've seen hip hop dancers on the streets, tap dancers on stage, but never that, and till this day, it never fails to amaze me.

I don't know why I never took much interest in him. I never took my time to think about it, to think about him. I never paid attention to him enough to remember his name either. As if memories of him weren't there in the first place.

My head swirls around, the aura and the overall feeling of this place was, nice, welcoming. Although they stared, and some still are, it's because most of them see me in a good way, I can feel it in the way they all looked at me.

The music was still playing, as I noticed people moving apart to make room for someone. I assume that somebody important will pass by so my feet shifted backwards as I turned around, but I felt a soft hand placed on my wrist, slightly tugging me back...

It's him...

"Princess, care for a dance?"

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Jimin's POV:

I lend her my hand, as she takes it, her eyes lingering around the palace as if she was kind of... Avoiding my eyes?

"Hey Y/N, I know you miss me and I'm gorgeous, so you don't need to flatter me like that and avoid my face," I tell her, trying to lighten up her mood.

Right, I'm the so-called prince charming kind of person here, though we aren't the characters, I guess we may as well kind of act like it right?

Luckily I read that book back at home to give me more tips.

"Y/N-ah," I call, her eyes finally coming to meet mine. "...Yes?" She answers, with a soft voice, as if her voice is made of pure expensive luxury silk.

"Come on, the next songs playing, let's dance..." I suggest. "And also, you look beautiful tonight..." I compliment, causing her cheeks to change into a dusty pink, matching the colour of her lips.

As the next song plays, the piano plays a chord in F# Minor chord, along with a melody in a high octave, the soft delicate notes filling our ears, as our bodies move to every beat and sound, flowing gracefully like swans.

We dance the Varsovienne Waltz, the same one used in the actual Cinderella fairytale, as I'm really surprised she knows it.

My hand lays on her waist as I momentarily take the other hand to touch her chin, tilting her head slightly up to look at me.

"Are you shy?" I ask, as she slightly nods in response. "To be honest, yeah, a bit, considering all these people are literal royalty and were literally in the middle of the ball room," She says.

"Don't be shy, you're... You look pretty tonight," I once again compliment, but immediately take it back.

"Not that you aren't pretty other times too..."

With that comment, she lights up a bit, the song finally ending, as I see two relatives with sour and salty faces... The sisters.

I immediately face the other way, and drag Cinder-- Y/N with me to the garden at the back of the palace. It's quiet and I think she'll really appreciate it.

We walk in silence as we slip pass the corridors, the high ceilings looking so far away yet so close. The moonlight shines through the crystal clear windows, making little spotlights here and there.

Stars twinkle upon us, the fairytale magic igniting again within us both like a spark of electricity vibrating through our body.

We finally both lay down onto the bench, as we can both finally calm down, without the light tension and pressure that could be felt in the previous room.

It's a clear night, the galaxy could be seen all the way, even from down here a metre off the ground. All the stars looked like white specs of paint and tiny rhinestones stuck onto a black sheet of paper that covers the Earth.

As if I'm not there, her eyes are fixated on the moon, forgetting the fact I'm not more than a few inches away from her, not even noticing my deep gaze upon her. She's a selenophile, truly a lover of the moon.

I've never seen the seen the sky like this, as the electronic lights of our cities act as a blanket, hiding the true beauty of our world.

Ever since those few years ago, I wanted time to race, I wanted time to speed up... But now that I'm here, a tiny part of me wants to finally slow down, because I know I've found her.

"...You can stop staring at me you creep..." She says out of nowhere...

Oh... She knew.

"...Sorry," I apologise and I hear a chuckle in response.

She turns back, as she stops staring at the sky and looks at me.

"You know, I think we should take this story slow... Get to know eachother a bit? Since we're going to be stuck here for a bit, and we don't really know when we're going to go into another story where we actually know what's going on in it..." She suggests as I agree to it.

She thinks for a moment, as she swings her head side to side then looks back at me...

"Where's Taehyung?"

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Y/N's POV:

"He... I haven't found him..." Jimin admits, looking sad.

"We have to find him-" I insist but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back.

"Sit down..." He tells me, as I obey and sit back. Why won't he let me go look for him? He wouldn't do that, he would probably not even be here right now and went to look for Taehyung earlier... So what's stopping him right now? What's wrong?

"In the last chapter, the last book, where you... Almost died," He starts, with a soft voice that fades out towards the end, when he mentions the part where I almost... Went to heaven, to put it nicely.

"He told me a few things and some theories, and what he said is... There may be chapters where... Where we could be separated. Since he was here before us, and since we came together, he said we could be split. So we'll never really know..." He explains to me, as I wrap my head around it like a glove around a pole.

I guess it does sort of make sense... We came here at least a few weeks after him so it would make sense for some stories that we'd be apart.

I think about it and ask, "Will he be okay?"

"He should be fine. He survived over 10 stories without our company... He'll be okay," He assures me, making me feel a bit better.

"Ah, you're right. If anything, we're the ones who should worry, although we're together, we still don't really understand this whole thing as much," I admitted.

I avoid eye contact for a bit, to look back at the sky. But I turn back to him, to realise he's looking at me.

As I did, he turned away, a bit shy with scarlet cheeks.

"I know, I'm beautiful and drop dead gorgeous," I say so he doesn't feel awkward or shy.

"Yeah, and so am I," He states confidently, and I mean, where's the lie?

"So, you said we should get to know eachother for the time being right?" He asks as I answer 'Yes'.

"Okay, start with uhm, our childhood stories...?"

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Jimin's POV:

She would obviously remember me, the old me... But does she remember now? Does she realise I am... That I'm me... Jimin.

I... I can't tell her yet... I know that's probably a bad move but, I'm not ready to tell her. She probably hates me, and I do have my reasons... Why I had to leave her. Why I had to break the promise...

She deserves to know, but I'll tell her when I'm ready.

I'm selfish aren't I? Fooling her... But I have to, just for now. She seems okay, happy, but I'm not ready to see her face when she finds out. Not yet. I need more time, to evaluate myself and find the right moment. A moment when I'm ready, when she isn't overjoyed where I'd ruin the moment, nor mad when I would make it even worse.

We can't have an unstable relationship, not when we're in the middle of a different world. Right now, were cooperating great, and I can't risk hindering it yet. Not until we fully understand what were doing.

I'll have to tell her half truths...

"I guess I'll start? I was born in 1995, from Korea, South of course. I was not born up North... No offence Kim Jong something but I would rather die than live in your country," We both laugh at that. Her smile shining through again, like the old times.

"I was always... Tall. You know, like look at me 6' 5"--"

"You're only a couple inches taller than me bro," She informs, rolling her eyes like a barrel of wine.

"Exactly! You're officially 6' 3"," I wink with a smile.

"Totally, I'm totally not roughly 5' 5" instead. You're so tall!" She jokes sarcastically, nudging me on the shoulder, her pearl teeth shining.

"Wah, you're so much taller than Namjoon too!" He says, as she looks a tiny bit confused but goes along with it.

"I sure am!"

"Okay but seriously, I'm tall okay? 174 cm. Not 173," I say, making sure she remembers the totally important information.

She grabs an imaginary pen and paper and says, "Noted."

"I met my first friend in first grade, about 5 or maybe roughly 6 years old. She was the best..." I say, looking away from her momentarily, but not long enough for her to notice.

"...Her?" She asks curiously.

"Yeah, it's a girl," I confirm and she squeals, once again nudging me.

"DID YOU DATE HER??? OH MY GOD, IS SHE PRETTY???" She asks loudly, that I swear a palace guard that's 300 metres away would be able to hear it... Is she a speaker or something? Please help me find the volume button.

"OHHHHHH. FRIENDS TO LOVERS YESS!!!" She screams excitedly like a little kid.

Volume button? I think I need the mute button ASAP.

She quiets down to let me continue.

"We were friends until... Until adolescence. Long story short, we had to move apart. I moved to another country for several years and came back," I told her as she just stared at me, her mouth slightly opened up.

"Wow... I have the same story basically. I too, had a best friend but he left me when we were around... I don't know, maybe 7th grade?" She recalls as she continues.

"We were so close... But one day, one rainy day I decided to go to his house... He wasn't there, a woman saw me and my brother and told us where he was... He left me basically," She bluntly ends the tale with a straight face, not fazed by anything she said.

She's used to it now... She's like this when she's hurt, pretends she's okay and puts the most fake 'I'm okay' face on, like a dark mask covering yourself.

"You good? Like after I- the guy left?" I stutter, but she doesn't notice as she's trapped in her own mind.

"I'm fine. The one thing that really hurt me is, he just didn't say goodbye and ignored me. But I'm passed that. The bad thing is, my parents... They uh, got hurt really badly to put it lightly," She sniffles, trying to cover it up by coughing.

"Ah, the cold air dried up my throat. Next topic? Hm..." She pauses to think, "Oh! Let's start with the basics! Favourites!" She says in delight, pointing her index finger up in the air as if she wasn't about to have a mental breakdown just a second ago.

I too smile and agree, "Sure! Food?" I ask, even though I know what it'll be.

"Kimchi. It goes well with anything and everything," She drools at the thought of eating it.

I just ate a whole meal 20 minutes ago but now she just made me hungry...

"I like it too! Especially stew kimchi jjigae! Ah, I miss it so much. Now I just want to return for the food," I say, daydreaming about getting the spoon and eating the dish.

"Food is food, food is life, what can we say?" She chuckles, but I see no lie in that statement.

"Favourite colour?" I ask, to see if it changed.

"Black... Pink... Purple...?" She pauses, as it seems she's going to add more colours. "Rose gold or peach too!" She adds to her list of favourite colours.

"Hey hey, can't you choose one?" I ask, puffing my cheeks.

"...Hm...

Yeah...no."

"Ah, fine. I like... Black, blue and yeah purple too," I tell her, as she nods. "Hey, we're similar! You know, short and-- I mean tall and similar favourites," She corrects herself.

As she should. I'm tall, what does she mean?

"Yeah, you could say that... Oh! How were those stepsisters of yours?" I ask, curious about how they treated her.

If they layed a finger on her they'll die, forget it even if they're girls- I will be a civil person and take it to court because of physical harassment.

"Oh them? They couldn't care less about me, all they were doing was pretty much pampering up for tonight's ball. Getting ready for the prince- Wait you're the prince right? Like, THE prince," She asks out of the blue.

"Yeah I am," I reply and she makes a 'Yes' sound.

"Good. Nice to know... Oh that's why they were shooting invisible daggers at me when we danced... It all makes sence... Sweet, sweet revenge..." She mutters to herself, forgetting that I'm next to her.

"Hey, what's your name?" She asks, as the silence shatters like a shard of glass.

I won't lie to her, but I won't tell her either...

"Hm? Oh, what do you think my name is?" I ask, actually curious on what she currently thinks it is.

"Uhm... Jin...sin?" She answers, unsure if it's correct or not.

"Hey, don't you pay attention to class? The teacher always calls on me when I lose focus," I say, realising I'm helping her figure out my name.

"Yeah, but thing is I don't exactly have such good memory like you, genius," She rolls her eyes again, as if it's her signature move now.

"But you're close to be honest," I admit, giving her a little clue, because a part of me wants her to find out, so I don't have to figure out when would be the perfect moment to tell her...

And honestly, that might've been the biggest mistake I've made yet...

"I'll ask Taehyung!" She says, as she cackles like an evil witch, her fingers tapping together in excitement.

"Hey! That's cheating! You have to find out yourself!" I insist.

"Why so mysterious bro?" She asks, leaning in, very closely, looking up at me, her hot breath could be felt on my chin.

"What? Don't like mysterious men, Ms. Min?" I counter, waiting for her response.

She clicks her tongue and glances away for a second, but her eyes linger back to me.

"Who said I don't, Mr. Mysterious?" She asks, returning my words.

I lean back with my hands up as I surrender, "...Nobody."

She doesn't move at all, as she's still stuck in her place, as she raises a hand and fixes a strand of my hair.

"...Pretty..." She mumbles, as she just examines me like a canvas.

Does she know what she's saying? I slightly flinch at her touch.

"... Sorry, did I make you feel uncomfortable? I was just admiring a work of art, I'm sorry," She apologises as she tucks her hair behind her ear.

Since when did she become a flirt? I thought that was my thing? Wah, who taught her while I was gone?

"No it's alright, I know that I'm just too fine for anyone to resist," I say confidently.

Her eyes trail down from my head to toe, "I see no lie there... Now, since you refuse to tell me your name, just give a nickname to call you by," She asks, waiting for a response.

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Y/N's POV:

Y/N WHY DID YOU SAY THAT? DON'T FLIRT, WE ARE FRIENDS HERE.

Okay but I have to admit he's cute though... BUT BESIDES THE POINT. THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO FLIRT Y/N.

I scold myself for doing that... I don't know what came over me. Maybe being single all my life just made me a flirt or something. I guess this is what Rosie taught me, to be a flirt. Ah, I shouldn't take lessons from her no more.

"Give me a name, that you think suits me, and you can temporarily use that until you figure out my name," He suggests, leaning on the back of the bench.

What am I, his mother? Naming him?

"Or you can call me Dooly," He adds, and that's when I laugh my heart out.

"AHAHAHA YOU MEAN THE CARTOON CHARACTER?" I ask, my eyes tearing up from laughing so much.

He starts to laugh too, "Yeah! Someone gave me the nickname once!" He says.

"Okay, well I'll use that, and Jinsin, and the name that suits you... Let me think..." I say, trying to think of a name that would suit him well.

And that's when I think of a perfect name...

"Haneul..." I tell him, looking back at his face.

"As in... The name that means heaven... Haneul?" He asks curiously.

I hum in response, "But why Haneul?" He then questions, wondering why I chose that name.

"Because if heaven was a person... It would look and at act like you...

And because whenever I see you, I regain the hope that I'll see the light again, and return home..."

And at that, the clock ticks and strikes 12 o'clock...

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Word Count:

➪ 3515 Words ☕︎

A/N: I wanted this fairytale to give them some bonding time with eachother, after the horrific story from last time. I thought they should get to know eachother a little bit, and get an insight on Jimin's thoughts.

Also currently this is an unedited chapter due to me almost forgetting
to update with all my distractions, so I apologise. Thanks to my bestie, I was able to keep my schedule, you know who you are.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one! Love you!

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