It was the week after that Ailee found out Rude Dude’s existence in her long awaited General Psychology class. She ignored him then, focus solely on Dr. Yoo and his lecture. They were discussing on hypnosis. It was the usual: Dr. Yoo asking questions, with Ailee commenting and answering and Dr. Yoo’s praise. It was highly unlikely that anyone would go against her opinion, even if someone else were to comment on it, it would just be an input to support Ailee’s view.

 

But of course, the percentage of a highly unlikely opinion would be 0%, or maybe 0.00001%, and that day, someone dared to question what 99.99999% others wouldn’t.

 

“What about those who would lose control? You’re only answering it from the point of view that it’s someone who keeps an open mind and is able to control themselves.”

 

Oh, it’s Rude Dude.

 

“Well, that’s for someone who has no control over themselves, like staring at other people when they’re eating,” she snickered, “hypnosis is basically being in a relaxed and deep focused state. You practically are in a hypnotic-trance state in your daily life, like while you’re waking up and while you’re falling asleep.” Ailee gave him a smug look.

 

“So, you’re saying people actually fake being in a trance?” There it is again, he questioned her.

 

“That depends on an individual’s susceptibility to hypnosis. If you’re a creep and stalk people like it’s nobody’s business, then you would probably need to see a shrink, not a hypnotherapist.”

 

“Then how does hypnotherapy differ from affirmation?”

 

“Well, well,” Dr. Yoo stood, he looked at her fondly, “I see that you two have your very own opinions, so does the whole class. But this lovers’ quarrel won’t stop if I don’t. Right, moving on to the next slide.” 

 

“We’re not lovers, God damn it, Dr. Yoo,” she growled from her seat.

 

 

Jiyong laughed to himself when he got in the shower, when he was in the shower and when he got out of shower.

 

“Prince Jiyong, you’ve been laughing ever since you came back. What seems to be the matter that has caught your attention?” his guard asked from the shadows. It took Jiyong a decade to get over the shock of his personal guard hiding in the shadows and only appearing when need be.

 

“It’s not what, it’s wh – nothing. Something funny happened during this Psychology lecture.”

 

Jiyong almost slipped about the fact that the Sandwich Girl is that ‘matter’ that has caught his attention.

 

Royal Guard Park offered him a smile when he appeared, “it’s good that you’re smiling. You seemed tense these few days.”

 

“Have I?” Jiyong’s question answered with a nod. “Well, I’m just worried about Queen Mother’s health. Grandmother told me it was a mild fever, but the Royal Doctor said it was high fever with series of coughing fit. How can I not be worried?!”

 

“Truly, nothing less expected from the Prince who cares for the Queen Mother. I would make necessary calls to the Main Residence to acquire on the Queen Mother’s health. Do not worry, Sir, your Grandmother is in great hands. Dinner is going to be cold if you keep worrying.”

 

Dinner was exceptional, surprising for a Royal Guard who Jiyong has never seen step into the kitchen. His Royal Guard retreated to bed earlier than him, Jiyong having stayed back a little while longer, just to stare at nothing.

 

Well, ‘nothing’ isn’t going to resort to anything, but he kept staring at nothing. Jiyong got to his bedroom, having stripped everything off of himself and decided to meditate. He wasn’t much at ease after all, and in the end Jiyong jumped on his bed, staring again, at nothing. Nothing was working for him. He couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning every 10 seconds. Jiyong pushed the covers off, setting himself up for a few pushups on his bed.

 

That wasn’t working too. He rolled off his bed, grabbed for the nearest book he could find and flipped it open. Oh, hey, it’s a psychology book. Then, he was reminded of the Sandwich Girl. He thought he heard the lecturer call her Yejin. But her other friend called her something else, because it didn’t sound like any ‘Yejin’ at all. He scanned through a few pages, reading them, tracing the diagrams, trying to understand what those words were with the help of this online dictionary he found.

 

But it seemed like his attention is easily diverted after a few minutes into reading the book. He sighed and closed the book. He looked up to see that it was almost midnight. He left the book back where he found it and decided to head for the kitchen.

 

After much staring and consideration into the open fridge, he finally settled on that bottled water on the side compartment of the fridge. Gulping down a few times, he relished at the coldness that flow into his body. Placing it back, Jiyong closed the fridge and stretched a little bit before finally catching the drowsiness from the day’s activities. He looked over towards the sliding door.

 

Well, that was when he realized that someone had been staring at him for quite a while.

 

He didn’t have to squint his eyes hard enough, because he thought he has seen that hair length, curve and height somewhere.

 

Because that someone happened to be Sandwich Girl after all.

 

 

You know that horrible, nasty feeling you get when you snorted water and your nose feels the burn? That was Ailee’s exact feeling when she saw a guy, -, drinking water from the other – posh – building across from hers. It wouldn’t be as bothering as it seem, until she found out it was that Rude Dude from her General Psychology class. She was frozen in her steps, unable to move from where she was standing as she capped her bottled water in a slow manner. She smirked to herself then, realizing what good black mailing this could be. For him to stop bothering her during their Psychology class discussions.

 

She closed the lid of the fridge, and strode off to the bedroom.

 

It caught her off guard that the sight off a guy didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would.

 

“Skinny ,” she snorted as she browsed through the horror films she has left in her laptop.

 

It just so happen that the very next day itself is her favourite lecture, and Ailee was early that day. She was early with a purpose as she watched each and every student who came into the lecture room. 10 minutes later, there he was. Rude Dude sauntered in, head high, without a single worry in the world.

 

She got up from her seat, and went over to him.

 

“Meet me outside,” she said and went off before he could even reply.

 

She felt him follow her from behind, while eyes followed them like it was a rare sight to see.

 

Once they reached the corner of the building, she turned to face him. She was expecting that he would at least start groveling by now, but hey, easy guys are boring to mess with.

 

“I have pictures of you,” she started.

 

“I’m Kwon Jiyong. What’s your name?”

 

“We could start negotiating on a price,” she went on.

 

“You’re the girl in the other building, aren’t you?”

 

“Or, I could just keep it,” she replied, inching her face closer to his, “and spread those pictures online.”

 

That for sure caught his attention. “Now, now, you’ve got to play nice.”

 

“Well, I could choose the ones with good angles,” Ailee continued.

 

“I didn’t know you have an obsession for my body,” he placed a hand on his chest.

 

“What the?! Ugh, no!” She took a step back, having their faces too close for her own comfort was making her sweat at odd places. “Talking to you is a waste of time. If you want the pictures to stay hidden, then stop being a nuisance in Psych lecture, and sit your skinny down.”

 

A funny grin came across Jiyong’s face, “hey, I didn’t realize you would notice how skinny they are, unless you had a good look at those pictures.”

 

Ailee was rendered speechless, but she was not going to back down. “Well for all I know, I had to sanitize and christen my eyes from the aftermath.”

 

Ailee was met with boisterous laughter and a wave when he turned his back to her as he walk away, “class is starting. Let’s go, peeping Tom.”

 

“I’m not peeping Tom, you creep!”

 

“Whatever you say.”

 

 

“You know, Royal Guard Park, there was this girl who threatened me in the morning.”

 

“Prince Jiyong that is a dire matter! What did she say to you? She should know her place.”

 

“It’s nothing dangerous, Royal Guard Park. It’s kind of funny, really. She said that she has pictures of me –”

 

“Prince Jiyong!”

 

“I’ve been the one who has gotten on her nerves lately. We’re in this one lecture together, and I’ve always questioned and debated on her answers. It’s only right that she’s angry at me for being such a jerk.”

 

“But, your royal body should never be exposed.”  

 

“I doubt she has them.”

 

“When did this happened?!”

 

“Last night, when I was unable to go to sleep. I want to enter the palace, but I have 3 quizzes to study for tomorrow.”

 

“I shall go in your place, Prince Jiyong. You should stay and study for your quizzes. I will extend your prayers and wishes to the Queen Mother.”

 

“Thank you, Royal Guard Park.”

 

Jiyong did get into studying, and he had been studying for 3 hours non-stop he felt like he was back in high school. He stretched from his seat, looked out towards the window overlooking the opposite of the building. The lights in the room from the other building never went on, even from three hours before.

 

Jinyoung didn’t want to admit that he was worried, but just slightly curious. His tummy growled then, reminding him that his brain was already at its current capacity and his stomach was doing all the talking now.

 

He made his way to the kitchen, wondering what he could find, or maybe what he could even do. He sighed, wondering how he was going to survive if he wasn’t the prince who had people do things for him since he was a child.

 

He stuck his head in the fridge, witnessing how it was filled to the brim with everything anyone would ever need. But those weren’t what he craved for. He wanted something unhealthy, he wanted... ramen.

 

His eyes gleamed with delight when he caught sight of the sinful packets of ramen on the top shelf of the kitchen. Jiyong figured it would be simple enough to make ramen without burning the whole place down.  

 

“Which side should I turn the heat to, eh, medium heat or maximum?”

 

He went with maximum, wishing that the food would cook faster. He took down pots and pans, searched for some bacon and eggs. He rewashed both the frying pan and pot.

 

With the water already filled to the brim – because he wanted more soup – and dumped everything inside. He poured a little oil – because bacon was already greasy – and dumped the greasy treat in. And that was when the frying pan caught on fire, oil started splattering everywhere and Jiyong tried to shield himself from the incoming threat.

 

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A/N: *sighs in relief* the admins for the comp I submitted this fic extended the deadline so I is the very happy thank you. That aside, uhm feedback pls?