Elsbeth Carrow was no stranger to any sort of celebration; in fact she quite enjoyed many of them, including the ones her eomma hosted. Her beaded dress had been decided upon by her mother (with her input, but Rosaline Carrow, as always, usually won out with her opinion), and sparkled in the dim light of the room. Crystal beads dripped from her neck in a long rope, twined thrice around her neck before cascading elegantly down her back, and matching silk opera gloves covered the worst of her sins. She stood straight, hands clasped in front of her as they awaited their guests; a rather large crowd judging by the guest list she’d seen when peering over her mother’s shoulder whilst perusing the menu for the evening.
(All of it was delicious, of course. Cook had been instructed to prepare a traditional meal complete with all of Elsie’s favorite banchan.)
It was with her mind on the food ahead of the night that Elsie managed to stay still, knowing that the smoother the introductions were, the sooner they would be able to sit down to eat and the sooner she would be able to go down and pay Cook a compliment and receive an extra one of the tasty deserts in exchange.
Only, her attention very much came to an abrupt and grinding halt when she caught the (likely inadvertent) gaze of the fourth Jeong brother as she rose from her deep bow. Her greeting, thankfully, had already been spoken for, if she hadn’t, she’d have likely trailed off mid-sentence and embarrassed her mother. She looked from Mr. Jeong to her mother and back. But her mother was too preoccupied with welcoming the rest of the party to notice her daughter’s pointed gaze.
But..this man was - Elsie couldn’t possibly do credit to his beauty by describing it in English. His appearance was the subject of poems written in ancient texts. He set her heart beating a rapid and furious rhythm in her chest, and it was as if the world was moving in slow motion. And, of course, he was now addressing her, and she felt as if she were a moth and he a light she must gravitate towards.
It was only a laugh from her mother that startled her out of her trance and back down to earth. What was the matter with her? She normally wasn’t so affected by men in this capacity? She stared up at him, blinking owlishly before employing the most rigorous of trainings she had in her arsenal to snap out of it.
“The pleasure is all ours,” Elsie replied with a demure smile (thank the Lord she’d practiced this ‘debutante’s smile’ enough that she was certain she didn’t look like a guppy waiting for food). “I certainly hope English society hasn’t been too harsh on you and your family.”
(All of it was delicious, of course. Cook had been instructed to prepare a traditional meal complete with all of Elsie’s favorite banchan.)
It was with her mind on the food ahead of the night that Elsie managed to stay still, knowing that the smoother the introductions were, the sooner they would be able to sit down to eat and the sooner she would be able to go down and pay Cook a compliment and receive an extra one of the tasty deserts in exchange.
Only, her attention very much came to an abrupt and grinding halt when she caught the (likely inadvertent) gaze of the fourth Jeong brother as she rose from her deep bow. Her greeting, thankfully, had already been spoken for, if she hadn’t, she’d have likely trailed off mid-sentence and embarrassed her mother. She looked from Mr. Jeong to her mother and back. But her mother was too preoccupied with welcoming the rest of the party to notice her daughter’s pointed gaze.
But..this man was - Elsie couldn’t possibly do credit to his beauty by describing it in English. His appearance was the subject of poems written in ancient texts. He set her heart beating a rapid and furious rhythm in her chest, and it was as if the world was moving in slow motion. And, of course, he was now addressing her, and she felt as if she were a moth and he a light she must gravitate towards.
It was only a laugh from her mother that startled her out of her trance and back down to earth. What was the matter with her? She normally wasn’t so affected by men in this capacity? She stared up at him, blinking owlishly before employing the most rigorous of trainings she had in her arsenal to snap out of it.
“The pleasure is all ours,” Elsie replied with a demure smile (thank the Lord she’d practiced this ‘debutante’s smile’ enough that she was certain she didn’t look like a guppy waiting for food). “I certainly hope English society hasn’t been too harsh on you and your family.”