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Draw Me a DateThe king, Yeonhee thought, basically explained Yixing. That was the only way she could put it. In terms of personality, Yixing was a carbon copy of his father except about three decades younger and without the terrible dad jokes. Not only were their mannerisms identical, but they looked extremely similar too.
Unfortunately, the king also tired easily, and after lunch he dismissed them so that he could sleep. Yeonhee started gathering her things, preparing to go back to university to knuckle down on more revision before Monday’s exam, but Yixing stopped her with a confused look in his eye.
“Where are you going? It’s barely two.”
“I need to revise,” Yeonhee said anxiously. He sighed and held out his hand.
“Come with me.”
They ended up visiting Minseok, who was now able to walk unaided and looked absolutely thrilled to see them. He was even happier about the fact that the hospital was beginning to discuss discharging him. Apparently his recovery had been quicker than anticipated. Yeonhee forgot about revision as he produced a game of Risk and proceeded to pulverise the pair of them. Shortly after half past four, his wife and daughter appeared and Yixing considered it a good idea to give them some family time and move on.
He took her to St Gavin’s. Her grandmother didn’t recognise either of them, but she was thrilled about having guests and flirted outrageously with Yixing, which Yeonhee found extremely funny, especially since Yixing was quite obviously struggling to hold in his own laughter.
“Granddad went through that phase too,” Yixing chuckled as they walked back to the car as dusk was falling, having eaten dinner with Yeonhee’s grandmother.
“It’s so nice to see you like this,” Yeonhee suddenly blurted out as they came to a halt beside the Mercedes. Yixing paused with his fingers on the door handle and turned to look at her with a frown.
“Like what? Aren’t I normally like this?”
“So happy,” Yeonhee clarified.
Yixing looked very confused. “I wasn’t aware I was a depressed grump,” he said eventually, opening the door and gesturing for her to get in. “Pretty sure my behaviour’s been consistent over the time I’ve known you.”
“I’m not saying you were a depressed grump,” Yeonhee protested, refusing to get in until she had made herself clear. “I’m saying – well, you’ve just had such a different air about you since his majesty woke up. I mean, Sehun says you’re still working yourself into the ground, but it’s like your work isn’t a burden to you anymore. You had this vibe back when I only knew you as Lonelyblues on Easyl.”
Yixing blinked at her, and then looked away. “You know the reason behind that name, right?” he asked softly.
“It is pretty obvious,” Yeonhee admitted. “But hey, who knew the prince could get a bit emo?”
Smiling reluctantly, he gestured again for her to get in the car.
“Just for that, I’m not letting you go back for another thirty minutes.”
“What, are we going to sit in the car and make out?” Yeonhee didn’t even know where that had come from.
Yixing snorted. “No, you have to drink hot chocolate with me and make me feel good about myself. I’m not having a make-out session with the chauffeur there, thank you very much.”
Yeonhee had half thought he was joking, but he did indeed request the driver to stop at Tempe and turf her out to get hot chocolate with him. She noticed one of his bodyguards lurking as Yixing asked the waitress who came to greet them for the most private booth available, and to her surprise they were led up to the first floor, which apparently had been newly opened for private functions and parties. Yixing looked around him with interest as they sat down in the window, foliage all around them.
“This is nice. I need to remember this for next time,” he mused, shifting one of the candles on the table closer to Yeonhee. “They seem to be profiting off the fact that you’re known to be a regular customer here.”
Surprised, Yeonhee froze in the act of nudging the candle back. “How do you know that?”
“The blackboard downstairs as we walked in said Unofficial Favourite Haunt of Princess Yeonhee,” Yixing said offhandedly, now inspecting the tiny flower bouquets in their mini vases. “If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for you!”
“Are they allowed to do that?” Yeonhee wondered.
“You could sue them for intellectual image rights or something, but I don’t think it’s worth it. There are much worse things you could officially patronise than a very nice independent café-restaurant you’ve frequented your entire degree.”
The staff were evidently keen to please, because they showed up with an absolutely mouth-watering cupcake buffet and Yeonhee was drooling before her hot chocolate had even been set down in front of her. Yixing looked taken aback at the amount of food in front of them – which neither of them had ordered – but rather than complaining about it, he tried to discreetly ask how much it cost, and Yeonhee felt her heart squeeze.
“Oh no, it’s on the house,” the waitress said. “We know it’s finals season and we thought Im Yeonhee might appreciate some love from a place she comes to so often.”
“This is love in food form,” Yeonhee agreed, wondering if she could pick up one of the cakes now.
Yixing sighed. “How is my main romantic competition from a café?”
He lingered in her room for a good fifteen minutes once they’d actually got back to the university. Mary Jane was growing fast, which pleased him immensely, and he seemed extremely proud that all of his non-perishable gifts were in places of importance around the room.
“You have two weeks of exams, don’t you?” he checked, scrutinising the timetable that she’d pinned up beside her revision schedule. “That’s a quick mark
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