Sehun popped by to find Yeonhee in a shell-shocked state later that evening, a little after she’d returned to university.  He hovered in her doorway for a few moments, looking a little concerned, before finally saying, “I hope this isn’t insensitive to ask, but has anything happened to your grandmother?  You look really out of it.”

Yeonhee jumped and looked up at him.

“Also,” he added, “Juan’s going to drown.”

Yeonhee almost made the mistake of dropping the kettle she was watering Juan with onto the floor.  She stopped herself just in the nick of time, though splashes of water ended up on the desk.

“Gran’s fine,” she told him.

“Then have the media found out about you?”

Yeonhee shook her head.

Sehun came in, finally shutting the door behind him, and cocked his head on one side.

“Why do you look traumatised?” he asked.  “Has something happened to the prince?”

It was odd, really, that he was being much more respectful of Yixing in general than he had been before knowing they were dating: she couldn’t remember the last time he’d referred to him as “the princeling”.

“Not really,” she said.  “I mean, he came round to Minhee’s with me for lunch—”

“Wouldn’t that be traumatic for him rather than you?”

“Minhee thinks he’s considering marrying me,” Yeonhee blurted out.

She had expected shock, disbelief, empathy, or possibly even disapproval, but all Sehun did was shrug and move to sit on the end of her bed.

“Yeah, I can see that,” he said.  “From a practical perspective you’re not a very sensible person for him to be dating, and I don’t think the palace would be so enthusiastic about supporting you unless they thought it was something that was likely to last.  I think the prince is flirting with danger by teasing the public with you and going out in public places with you, but he’s either head over heels and being very stupid or he’s serious about you and has every intention of seeing this through to the end.  From what you’ve said, I think it’s more likely to be the latter.”  He sighed.  “I mean, I still think he’s being an idiot because he’s not being cautious enough about making sure you aren’t caught together, but you did say that when he asked you out he’d wanted to wait longer and he told you that he was worried about how the media might affect you and more or less hinted that he considered it a major reason not to view him as a romantic partner.  That doesn’t speak of somebody so blinkered by infatuation that they’re not thinking long-term.  I think he’s actually thinking so much more about the bigger picture that he’s overlooking some of the smaller things.”  He shrugged.  “Part of it could possibly be due to lack of experience, though.  He needs to be more aware of potentially getting caught while he’s out and about with you.  It’s already happened once with the media there and if he’s seen on campus, the paparazzi will stake the place out.”

“But Sehun!” Yeonhee wailed, barely taking in any of his speech.  “How can you possibly be sure about marrying somebody when you’ve only known them a few months?”

“Have you spoken to him about it?” Sehun asked.

Yeonhee pouted miserably.  “No.  How can I even bring it up without it being really awkward?  It’ll be really embarrassing if Minhee’s wrong.  What if it’s never even crossed his mind?”

Laughing, Sehun leaned back on his elbows.  “Trust me, he’s definitely thought about it,” he said.  “The country knows he has a girlfriend and everybody’s trying to figure out who this potential princess is.  The country’s also got some serious internal tensions and he’s the only heir, with the potential for being assassinated, since that happened to the prime minister, and if he dies, there’ll be huge instability.  He’s also, what, twenty-three?  And you’re his first girlfriend.  With the number of scandals he’s got himself into, and the fact that he’s the most eligible young man in the country and probably has girls queueing up for him, dating is evidently something he takes very seriously, otherwise he probably would have had a string of girlfriends right now.  I am one hundred percent sure that if he wasn’t serious about you, he would have broken up with you rather than taking you to the ball.”

“He could have not taken me,” Yeonhee pointed out.

“Not really.”  Sehun hummed to himself.  “His manners are pretty good.  You don’t just leave your girlfriend out of a ball like that, especially if the country’s watching.  It would have been a huge scandal if he had.  He probably sat down and had a think before he invited you, and decided that yes, you are totally worth standing by and somebody he wants to spend much, much, much more time with.”

Yeonhee faceplanted on her desk.  “But how can he be so sure so soon?”

“Sometimes people just click.”  Sehun hummed again.  “You can’t just wait for Mr Right to fall into your lap.  You have to go out there and find him, and make yourself into Miss Right in the process.  He has to do the same but the other way around.  A relationship’s a partnership – you have to forge it together.  You can’t just put your feet up and expect the other person to perfectly be everything you want them to be one hundred percent of the time.  That’s called being a spoilt brat.  At some point, you have to make the decision that yes, this person is somebody you think you could make it work with for the rest of your life.  There could be multiple people out there who you could do that with, but there comes a point where to move effectively through life you have to choose one door and start closing the others.”

Yeonhee hated it when Sehun was right.

“You know,” her friend mused, “in some respects you’d actually be a really great choice for him.”

She lifted her head, unsure whether that was a compliment or an insult.  “What do you mean?”

Sehun started counting it off on his fingers.  “You’re intelligent, well educated, from a decent family, you’re bilingual, you’re quite pretty, you’re very likable, and you’re Hanmi.  From the point of view of the country, marrying somebody Hanmi would set an amazing precedent for improving ethnic relations.  All the better if it’s a quasi-Cinderella story.”

Yeonhee chewed her lips nervously.  “Do you think he’s doing it as a PR stunt?”

“God no.”  Sehun waved a dismissive hand.  “He would have revealed you to the public ages ago were that the case.  He also would have chosen somebody much less controversial.  It’s fortunate happenstance.”

“I don’t know how to cope with this,” Yeonhee complained.  “My mind is melting.”

“Well, can you see yourself marrying him?” Sehun asked.

Yeonhee thought about it.  The prospect of spending the rest of her life with Yixing, prince or not, was more appealing than she’d expected.  His status was a huge bonus, but his quiet, g