I really want to do a crazy fanfic… but then again… I might not make any sense hahaha xD Please enjoy this chapter of Shining Brightly! :D

Chapter Two: Encounters

AHHHH!" Alice tripped fell to the floor, bringing the chair with her. Lorina was at the aisle while Alice's seat was right next to it. People murmured and stared at Alice who was struggling to get up without crying.

"Alice are you alright?" Lorina rushed to her sister. Mrs. Liddell walked out of the room, while Mr. Liddell silently shook his head.

"Alice?" Julius and Gray got out of their seats to help Alice, but she shrugged off all their help.

"Leave me alone," she whispered. And with that, she ran blindly out of the ballroom and into the darkness of the night.

Alice felt the hot tears running down her cheeks as she ran out of the hotel. She didn't care if she was blind. She felt that it didn't even matter if she was alive because her parents seemed so ashamed of her and always hid her away from the public.

A young man and his companion were walking down the street, both of them dressed sharp. "I don't want go this function," muttered the black haired man with an intricately detailed top hat.

"Then why did you even accept the invitation?" asked the orange haired man.

"I had nothing else better to do than to listen to my father's rants about dominating the tech industry of Heart Country," said the black-haired man.

The orange haired man sighed. "Sometimes you're too much…"

Just as they were conversing, Alice was running down the street. Alice could hear the cars whistling past her on her left side. Maybe it's best that I didn't really exist… Crying, she decided to step into the street. Just as she was about to be hit by a car, the black-haired man caught her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Alice fell on the man and both were on the ground.

"Blood are you okay?" asked the orange haired man.

"I'm fine Elliot, just a bit shocked at how stupid women can be," said Blood, distaste dripping in his words.

Alice pushed Blood off and retorted," I don't care if I'm a stupid woman! It would've been better if I were hit by that car!" cried Alice. She wiped her tears and tried getting up, but her bruised ankle prevented her from doing so. "Ow!" Before Alice could fall again to the ground, Blood caught her and held her closely.

"Hey let me go!" Alice tried to squirm out his embrace, but he refused to let go. "

"Now, now, don't be like that. I just saved you and now you're refusing my help?" Blood said seductively. Elliot did a facepalm.

'Already, Blood? Can't you just find someone else at that party?"

"But I need a date," said Blood. Alice managed to get out of Blood's grasp.

"I'm not a thing! And stop trying to hit on me, it's gross," said Alice. She started walking away.

"See, look at what you did?" Blood smiled dangerously. "Please don't go yet miss, I really need someone else to go with besides my friend here." Blood pointed to Elliot who scowled.

"No, just leave me alone!" Alice was wondering if anyone came looking for her. It's already been about fifteen minutes or so, but no one followed her. She felt tears slowly spill out from her eyes.

"Are okay?" Elliot approached her. Blood frowned and waved his hand in front of Elliot, who backed away.

"Don't cry," said Blood. He wiped Alice's tears away with his gloved hand and suddenly he stopped. She was beautiful, but something about her eyes made her peculiar to look at.

"Blood?" Elliot looked at realized what Blood was looking at.

"You're eyes," murmured Blood.

"I know… that's why, leave me alone," Alice pushed him once again and stormed away.

Back at the hotel area…

"Did you see her Gray?" asked Julius. He and Gray left the party immediately after seeing Alice cry like that. Her tears expressed her great sadness but portrayed this tragic beauty that attracted quite a few males.

"No, I think we took the wrong turn… she might've went right instead of left," said Gray. Both of them were shocked at how Alice was treated by her parents and relatives.

Mrs. Liddell was shaking her head, but told the announcer to continue on. Lorina just stood there like a doll and didn't say a word.

"Well, we should continue with our lovely bride and the groom!" said the announcer cheerfully. The announcer's liveliness brought the party back together and soon everyone forgot about Alice.

Gray nudged Julius and the both of them approached Mr. Liddell, who was seated at the back of the room, "Mr. Liddell, are you not going to go after your daughter?" asked Gray.

"Or at least send someone to find her?" asked Juluis.

Mr. Liddell frowned. "Why are you boys so worried about her? Let her be, she's always been like, that." Mr. Liddell stood up from his seat and joined his wife at the main table. Julius was perplexed by Alice's parents.

"Gray, I think we should look for her… something seemed off when she came to our table," said Gray. It was just a hunch but Julius knew Alice was hiding something.

"…leave me alone!" cried Alice. Gray heard Alice's voice and saw Blood and Elliot behind her.

"Alice?" Alice turned around and tried to her best to look at the direction of the voice.

Ah she's using her sense of hearing to find the person… Being quite the sharp man, Blood could already tell how Alice used her sense. Although Alice heard Gray's voice, she wasn't looking in the right direction.

"Alice, I'm here. Remember me?" Gray asked.

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah, I remember you," said Alice. She suddenly felt embarrassed because Gray was right there when it happened. Not to mention Julius.

"You found her Gray?" Julius came up behind Gray and Gray nodded his head.

"Yeah, we should take her back to the hotel."

"Julius is that you?" Blood peered into the young man's face.

Julius went rigid and frowned.

"Dupre."

"Monrey."

The two exchanged frightening glances before Elliot cleared his throat. "Well, we must get going. We're already late for party at Heart Plaza Hotel."

"Heart Plaza Hotel?" Gray asked. "Were you both invited to Ms. Lorina's engagement party?"

"Why yes, we were," said Blood. "Let's get going Elliot."

Blood and Elliot exchanged their farewells. Before leaving the trio, Blood took Alice's hair and kissed it. "And I'll see you around miss." Alice pushed his away and turned away shyly.

When the two finally left, Gray approached Alice. "Hey, are you okay?"

Alice just muttered, "Yes."

"Well we should go back to the party," sighed Julius. He didn't really want to go back, but it was an engagement party and it would be rude to just leave abruptly.

So the three of them started walking, but Alice was unexpectedly clumsy. She ran into people unknowingly and almost tripped on every crack on the sidewalk.

"Do you need help Alice?" asked Gray. He was quite curious on why Alice was behaving this way.

"No, I'm fi—" Alice felt herself being pushed by a passerby and she started to fall.

"Ohh!" Right before she hit the ground Julius caught her. "I'm fine!" Alice immediately stood up, but she wasn't even facing them.

"Alice, not to be rude…. But…. Are you blind?" asked Julius. Alice's shoulders slumped a bit.

"Is it that noticeable?" asked Alice. She finally faced them properly and her clouded teal eyes were starting to water a bit. But she's really beautiful… more than Lorina… thought Gray.

"Ah, do-don't cry!" stammered Julius. He hated it when girl's cried. He didn't know what to do.

"Can you guys just take me home?" asked Alice. "I don't feel like going back there and it seems like you two were the only ones that cared to find me."

"But…"

"Let's take her home Julius," smiled Gray. He took Alice by the hand and he hailed a taxi. "Come on Julius, or do you want to go back to that party?" asked sighed, but he rather take Alice home.

"Fine, I'm coming."

Back at the hotel…

"Mother, father, did you find Alice?" asked Lorina. It was the social hour of the party and people were walking around as Lorina and her fiancé greeted the guests.

"Why should we?" said Mrs. Liddell. Her face was stern and did not look happy at all.

"But mother!" Lorina was sad and felt bad that she didn't do anything to help her younger sister.

"We're going to have a long talk with her tonight," said Mr. Liddell who seemed very disappointed, but more angry than disappointed.

"I'm not feeling well anymore. Lorina, Your father and I will be going home first. Your sister is probably there already. That girl needs to get it together," said Mrs. Liddell. She bid Lorina and Mr. Liddell farewell and the chauffeur drove her back to their home.

All the guys Alice has met so far have found out she is blind! what will happen after meeting the rest of the guys from HnKnA? :DDD I realized how much errors (story and grammar) I had in my other fanfic, 99 days with you xD I was laughing because I messed up all these small details (like her hair length, the place, etc.) But oh well, I will edit it later this week :) Feel free to read my other fanfics :DDDD I'm going to update Chasing Love and then go back to Forbidden Kiss/Tweenage Days ;)

Thanks for reading and please review! :D

~Seo Hyunee