Song Eight: Enchanted

Natalie thought time healed all wounds. That's what they always said. Who they were she wasn't sure. But she was starting to think that they were wrong. Like very wrong.

Thanksgiving was one of those holidays that made her sad. It was about family and togetherness, but all she had was her dad and a distant aunt that lived in France who would never seem to make it for the holidays, which was totally okay because she always invited Natalie over for her Christmas break.

But with this year, and everything that happened, she had been anxious to invite Taejoon to Thanksgiving dinner. She had a sinking feeling that he would shoot her down.

Which he did.

He had said a swift and stern no, and refused to talk about it again. And Natalie knew that deep down it was her fault. It had to be. Any other time he would have accepted.

But something between them was now broken and she didn't know how to fix it. Could she even fix it? She didn't think so because she thought that she already had fixed it.

How could she fix something if she didn't know how she broke it?

Natalie considered herself smart. Hell, everyone knew she was smart. So why did she feel so stupid?

"Papa, what do I do?"

"About what?" He asked, his wire-framed glasses coming off as he faced away from the tv.

"About Taejoon. I feel like we are still broken."

"Honey, you're human. You aren't broken."

"You know what I mean."

He sighed at her. "If you mean your relationship, then what's wrong now? You just made up and apologized."

"But that isn't enough." She huffed. Making her way out of the kitchen where she had been making a bowl of cereal.

"Cereal for dinner Nat?"

Her eyebrow rose at him. Like he was any better. "I just don't feel like we actually settled anything. Shouldn't he be upset? Shouldn't he yell at me for being a bad friend? I was, you know I was."

"We've talked about it. That's not the kind of person he is."

"I'm just worried. I feel like he doesn't always think he has the right to be upset even when he does."

"Excuse me, we're what?" Taejoon dropped his fork in surprise.

"We are going to the winter formal. You can't say no. Papa is going to be one of those thingies."

"A chaperone." Alexander corrected.

Tae was stunned. Normal Friday night, boom plans to go to a dance. If he had known this was their plan, he would have refused Alex's invite. He thought that Natalie was going to be out with Renee, like she usually was, but she had greeted him at the door. Which immediately killed all of Taejoon's hopes and dreams of sex.

So he did the normal thing that he did on Fridays and cooked dinner. Nothing special, just spaghetti. And bam, they're making plans for him to go to something he knew he would hate.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"You're not getting out of this Taejoon Park." Natalie huffed.

"Look I don't even have a suit or anything. And dances so aren't for me. Go with Renee and have a good time. I'll stay home and study for the chemistry test I have on Tuesday."

"Papa!"

"I'll buy you a suit." Alex offered. Tae could have sworn he saw something evil spark in the older man's eye.

"I think the fuck not."

Tae knew that was a mistake before he even finished it, as he watched Alex's eyes narrow at him.

.

Something about arguing with both Natalie and Alex for a week just grew tiresome. So, that was to say, after a few days, and some rather fun promises, Taejoon gave in.

He hated the thought of going. He hated every second of tux shopping. Well, maybe not every second of it. But he hated having to get dressed. He hated having Alex drive them down in his shiny newer car. And he hated that he broke off from the older man upon arriving.

In short, he wasn't having the best time.

Taejoon's eyes fell on Alexander. He stood off in a corner, watching the dance floor with dark eyes. Tae wished he could understand what was going on through his head. At first, earlier, he had seemed upset about having to chaperone for the silly school dance. But he offered. So it didn't make any sense. And he didn't seem upset until they arrived.

"Tae, what are you thinking so hard about?" Natalie asked, having to scream over the music and the laughter of the other students.

And suddenly he was brought back. Down to earth in his own body which was uncomfortably sitting in a plastic chair on the far end of the gymnasium. Natalie had originally picked this table for them because she knew that Tae didn't really love to be in big crowds.

She didn't look like she was having fun. Her dress was far poofier than anything she would normally try, the blue only a few shades darker than her eyes, her painted nails drummed against the table while her other hand held up her chin. Her eyes watched the dance floor rather than him. Probably searching for Renee.

"Nothing much." He answered with a shrug.

Honestly he hated it. He hated dancing. He hated being surrounded by his peers. He hated being lumped in with most of Natalie's friend group even though a few members had yet to arrive. Well, they were technically at the dance but someone had come late and blah blah blah, Tae hadn't been paying full attention.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, slumping against the table.

"For what?"

"I don't know. Everything." Natalie sighed. "I know that I haven't been a very good friend lately. I thought that after that night… I thought we were okay. That I apologized and we would go back to the way we were before. But it feels like something's changed."

Tae looked at her. She looked miserable, upsey, unhappy. She never used to look this way around him. Yeah, she was right. Something had changed. And he wasn't sure what to tell her. But he watched her hand, holding her chin up, play with a loose curl. "We're fine." It wasn't convincing at all. He knew she would see right through it. But he hoped that giving her what she wanted to hear rather than the truth would lift her mood. At least for the rest of the dance.

"Are we?" Her blue eyes roamed over him, as if she was searching his every word for something- anything to make her believe it was true.

"Of course, Nat. Things seem weird right now because you're growing up and moving on."

He winced as he said it. He knew the moment it left his mouth that she would take it the wrong way.

"Tae! I'll never move on and leave you behind." Her hands slammed into the table. If anyone had been sitting around them, or the music weren't thumping overpoweringly, she might have caused a scene.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean? Explain it to me! Help me understand." She let her voice drop. "I feel like I'm betraying you. I feel like every step I take towards being happy with Renee you pull further and further away. Tae, you're my best friend. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't. I'm always here for you." He leaned against the table, placing his hand on one of hers.

"But I'm not always here for you." He watched her eyes water at the statement. For so long she had been the only one he could lean on.

"You don't need to worry Nat. I found someone to lean on and share things with. Just like you found Renee."

"You-" Her eyes widened. "You found someone? Will you tell me about them?"

"One day I'll tell you about him. One day I'll let you know how he changed everything. Just like she did for you."

"You have to promise!"

He gave her a half-hearted smile before noticing a certain black haired girl in a black tux. "I think Renee is back."

Natalie followed his eyes to see her. Her hand slowly slipped out from underneath Tae's. "I'll be right back."

"Actually, I'm going to go chill with Mr. Nox."

She didn't respond as she left him. He didn't expect her to.

.

"So Renee was a young lady all along." Alexander said. It wasn't really a question, Natalie must have gotten that from him.

"Yeah."

"And you knew."

"Yeah."

Alex hummed. His eyes on the dance floor, watching his daughter away to the music with the dark haired girl. "And you didn't tell me."

"It wasn't my place. I figured Nat would tell you eventually."

"No. She didn't." He sounded disappointed. "I've always told her I would love her. No matter who she grows up to be, no matter who she loves, I will always accept her with open arms. She's my little girl after all."

"If it makes you feel better I think she knew that deep down. I know I told her a million times." Tae leaned against the column so he was opposite of Alexander. If he closed his eyes and pretended it was almost as if they were standing back to back.

"Is she at least happy?"

"Obnoxiously so. They are inseparable."

"Like you two?"

"Yeah, like how we used to be." Tae once again winced at his own words. His filter had somehow completely disappeared as the night ran on.

"Is it us?"

"Our 'experiment'." Tae joked. "No, it's not that. Natalie is just so amazing and kind. It may have taken everyone a while to realize it, but Renee noticed. And I think it's wonderful."

"I always thought Natalie would fall for this twinky little asain boy across the street. You know they happen to be good friends and really close. Imagine my surprise when she came home telling me about this mystery person."

Taejoon smirked at the thought. "Oh really? What ever happened to that twink?"

"Seems like he has a thing for older men and maybe likes to be treated like dirt. Heard he's pretty happy though."

The music switched to something slower. Something too intimate.

Tae stood leaning against the column, his brown eyes flitted to each of the couple's on the dance floor. How they made their way, hand and hand, stars in their eyes. For them, and their stupidly obnoxious, young love, tonight was probably the best moment. The air was cold, which gave them a reason to hold their lovers tight.

"Do you ever regret letting me in that night?" Taejoon asked. It weighed heavy on his mind for so long that he couldn't help it. He wanted to know.

"I would do it differently if I had the chance."

"Oh." His heart sank a little.

"It wouldn't have been a game at first. I would have just hugged you, taken you in my arms and cuddled you."

"You can't mean that." Tae laughed. For a moment, he let himself slip into the darker thoughts. For a moment, he really believed Alexander regretted them.

His eyes watched as Natalie and Renee danced. Natalie looked at the older woman with such love in her eyes. Her face had always been so full of expression that he always knew what she was thinking.

It wasn't like he was jealous. Tae didn't do jealousy. Besides, it wasn't like Mr. Nox was dancing with anyone. No, he was just leaning against the other side of the column.

"I'm sorry Tae." He whispered, he must have been watching Natalie and Renee too. Even though it was quiet and hard to hear over the music Taejoon could still place the sadness in it.

"Why are you sorry, old man?" He chuckled.

Normally Alexander would have some witty remark. But the fact that he didn't worried Taejoon even more. "I wish I could be someone who could dance with you. Slowly swaying to the music. But I can't. We can't. And I feel like I've trapped you here with me."

"As if. I hate dancing." He could feel himself frown as the words escaped his mind. "My dad always said I wasn't handsome enough to make it as an idol or he would have taken me back to Korea. So since I wasn't good enough there was no reason to learn to dance."

"One day I'll break that man for you. I will hurt him so badly he won't be able to say another word to you with his filthy mouth. But until that day only listen to me." Alex said. "You are your own person, but if you need validation mine should be the only one that matters to you. Don't listen to anyone else. Because I love you."

"Yah." Tae said playfully. His hand felt something warm. His brown eyes glanced down to find Alexander's hand.

"I can't do much. But I promise to love you."

"Oh?" He said, smiling. He twisted his hand so his little pinkie would intertwine with Alex's. "I plan to make it hard on you."

"I'm always up for a challenge."