As soon as Seungcheol realised what he had said, he stared in horror at his parents, and when his eyes landed on Jeonghan they were pleading and scared.

The atmosphere went from warm to cold in a matter of seconds after the word had rolled off Seungcheol’s tongue. The king and queen were openly staring at Jeonghan and the prince knew the boy would not dare to look up to meet their judging eyes. Instead he shot up, bowed and rushed out of the room as fast as he could without tripping over his long skirt.

Seungcheol was left in his seat, eyes glazed and pinned to the space Jeonghan had been present in seconds before. After a moment he also rose, and after muttering ‘I’m so sorry’ to his parents and giving a small bow, he followed to invisible glow of Jeonghan’s trail and was soon rushing after the beautiful boy.

He found him after 15 minutes, sat crossed legged under the old willow tree they had talked under the previous day. Jeonghan’s clothes were dusty and hair ruffled from the smooth hands that gripped and pulled at the roots whilst tears streamed down his soft cheeks, and small sobs left his pink lips.

The sky had darkened along with the mood and soon drizzles of rain started falling from the black clouds above. A raindrop fell on Seungcheol’s cheek, replicating a tear. The drop became two, then ten, then a hundred as the sky started flashing and roaring, as if it was angry at Seungcheol for just standing there, outside the safe canopy of leaves a few steps away from him, drenched to the bone and unsure of whether to comfort Jeonghan or leave him to his feelings.

His mind was made up after a few minutes, as when he looked upon Jeonghan’s weeping figure a few drops breached the canopy above him and started to splatter onto Jeonghan’s head and back. Seungcheol had immediately moved to wrap his arms around the smaller boy and stand over him to protect him from the cold drops, forgetting in the moment that he himself was soaked in water.

When Jeonghan pushed him back, he thought he was being rejected, but as Jeonghan pulled the prince down next to him onto the muddy ground, he realised he had left a few rain droplets in the places his arms had rested on Jeonghan’s shoulders, which he was quick to wipe away.

They sat for a while looking out at the splattering rain. Jeonghan’s     sniffs were still coming from Seungcheol’s side, so he turned to face him and attempted to wipe away his tear like he had wiped away the droplets of water, but Jeonghan had grabbed his hand before he could reach his face. Instead of letting it wipe away his remaining tears, he held the hand to his cheek and leaned in to Seungcheol’s open palm. His curved eyes blinked shut for a few seconds and opened again to gaze into the prince’s own teary eyes. A sad smile pulled his cheeks up unnaturally and Seungcheol couldn’t take it anymore.

He hesitantly moved forward placed his still wet lips onto Jeonghan’s warm ones. It was quick and over in a second, but the small action seemed to bring a new light to the world around them. The rain gave out and as they sat frozen, their lips just inches apart, birds could be heard calling out sweetly.

There eyes were drying and they were both glad of it as they heard footsteps coming up the path in front of them. The footsteps belonged to a tall, guard who the prince’s knew to be called Mingyu. He informed them that his parents had sent out a small search party for them, and that they were to go immediately back to the palace so they could speak with them.

They found themselves following 10 feet behind Mingyu, so they could talk without being overheard, as they had private matters to talk through before they saw the rulers again.

‘If you get rejected by my family,’ Seungcheol muttered, ‘just know that I have really grown to like you, deeply, and I will try my hardest to stay by your side.’ Jeonghan look towards him shyly and the sad smile was once again upon his lips.

‘You don’t have to do that.’ he whispered sorrily, ‘You don’t even know me that well, you shouldn’t have to give anything up for me or anything like that.’ Seungcheol’s eyes fixed themselves on Jeonghan’s and his large hand swung out to catch Jeonghan’s smaller one as they walked.

‘Hopefully, I won’t have to. And I do know you well, well enough that I feel a connection that would be hard to forget; that I don’t want to forget. Please understand that I won’t leave you, no matter what my parents say and there is no changing it.’

After the warm, firm words left Seungcheol’s mouth, Jeonghan’s smile became a little less dark and a little more light, just like the sky above them. Maybe, just maybe there could be hope laying on the path ahead of them. They would just have to wait and see.

A/N: Hi... Sorry I have been away for so long, but school started up again so I have a lot less time to write... Anyways here is the next chapter, I cannot promise anything about the next update, but it will be within the month. ALSO I HIT 2000 VIEWS AND I HAVE PAST 100 SUBS THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU ALL I TOTALLY APPRECIATE IT. I NEVER COULD HAVE DREAMED I COULD GET THIS MUCH LOVE, SO THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT! Okay, I will go now. Have a good day/night! <3