Mirrored Match // ATEEZ ✔

= 24 =

Danbi puts a hand over her stomach, having been fitting herself right in thanks to the help of food served to them. She's more relaxed after stuffing herself full of different dishes, and she chuckles when she sees her bodyguards racing to eat their food as if they won't be given a chance to eat again.

After Wonshik had joined her at the table with a few awkward lines of conversation, she had turned to her bodyguards, bid them to come closer and invited them to eat. Despite Wonshik looking uncomfortable that the VIP seats were now occupied with her bodyguards, even more so when his guests started to chatter around them, Danbi paid no heed to him and happily asked them to sit together with her.

Her bodyguards looked uncertain at first, pushed away by Wonshik's unwilling expression, but she had assured them that they could join her and eat all they want.

"What do you think you're doing?" Wonshik whispered to her, sharp eyes darting towards the bodyguards who were starting to pull their chairs to sit. "Do you have any idea how many people are watching?"

She pressed her lips together, feeling the texture of her matte lipstick before feigning innocence. She didn't whisper, but she said it slowly so that only her father can hear. "What do you mean? I'm only inviting my bodyguards who have been working so hard to eat; is that so bad? Basic human decency. Let them have a day off, it's a happy day." She smiled mockingly, "Don't tell me that in this society we don't do it because we have a hierarchy to keep."

"Bae Danbi," he gave a warning, but knew that he's in a bind. It's a give and take; if he wants to keep the front of having Danbi as his daughter, she would need to stay. People would start talking if the daughter he had shown to the world once he became prime minister turned up missing.

How ironic.

"I'm not forgetting my promise," she pressed on, "but let me do things my way once in a while too. Don't worry, I won't smear your picture with dirt for having an insolent daughter. I'll become the daughter you're proud of."

He grunted but said nothing more as he turned to his food, standing up not long after while putting on a show to tell her that he's going to talk with some of his acquaintances.

She had chirped with a fake tone of "no worries" before she was left at the table with her bodyguards. Right now, all four of them are, on average, on their third plate of food but they're not looking like they're about to slow down any time soon.

Jongho is stabbing the salad on his plate with his fork, picking the leaves up as much as he can before he shoves them into his mouth, while Yunho on his side is rushing to cut up the steak before he groans in satisfaction as his tastebuds register the taste of expensive meat. San and Seonghwa are sipping on their drinks calmly, but not long after they are already ladling more soup in their bowl while scooping up a mountain of rice. They say a silent "we will eat well" for what seems like the fourth time before diving into their meal.

Danbi rests her left elbow on the table before pushing her cheek against her palm, smiling as she sees them gobbling up the food. Her gaze travels to the environment in the ballroom, the air thick with the exuberance, but it's something that might take her a while to adapt to. So far, no one has approached to talk to her because she knows that they're still careful around her, an unknown person who happened to be the daughter of the prime minister.

Yeosang is nowhere to be seen, while Wooyoung is sitting at a table with what she assumes is his family, face obviously forced into a fake smile. She can sense it; it's not the same smile Wooyoung has when he's with the others his age. This smile lacks sincerity, someone made rigid by the status of himself and his parents. Even his younger brother looks to be bound by the chains their parents have set for him, trained from such a young age on how he's supposed to bring himself.