Being nervous was an understatement. Samuel was actually terrified of going into the world his parents protected him from. It's not because he's a scaredy cat, it's just that he's very uncomfortable about being treated as a citizen. There would be no one to do your bidding. Daehwi would never serve Samuel, he made that crystal clear. The crown prince would have to deal with his insecurities himself. He squared his shoulders and walked out the door that separated him from the outside world.

Beside him, Daehwi hissed, "I told you not to straighten your back!"

"Cool it, hyung!"

Daehwi was taken aback. No, it was not because of the disrespect, (though he took note to call the MNET manners class later) rather it was because of the honorific. Samuel only reverted back to his old habit of calling Daehwi a hyung when he was feeling an uncontrollable emotion or when he was teasing him. An example was when his pet died. Samuel cried for 3 days and had called him hyung for almost a week without realizing it.

"Yah, Sammy are you scared of going outside?" He tried to say this as if he didn't care. Hopefully Samuel thought he wasn't concerned.

Samuel looked him in the eyes and glared at his only friend. "Didn't I ask you to not call me Sammy?"

"Didn't I ask you 'Are you scared of going outside'? You changed the subject, Sammy." They were about the same height now that Daehwi had not been growing taller. It made Daehwi feel short. He was always a little bit taller than Samuel since they met. This made him feel proud and old at the same time.

The dongsaeng gritted his teeth and shook his head to answer the question.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not afraid of this! It's a piece of cake," insisted Samuel. He put on his brave face.

"Yeah right, don't lie to your best friend." Daehwi folded his arms.

"I'm not lying, hyung!"

There was the honorific again. The elder sighed. "Fine, let's say that you aren't afraid." Daehwi walked ahead of Samuel. "Don't worry too much, I'll protect you."

Samuel rushed after him, because for some reason, his hyung was walking faster than usual.

They were very lucky that no one else was exiting that way or else they could have seen everything. The duo probably would not have noticed someone was tailing them either.

…

Lai Guanlin was a novice guard. He still had no idea why the king himself had asked him to follow the two servants with funny clothes. One minute he was minding his own business, just standing guard in front of a door, and the next, he was sent on a wild goose chase. At least, that's what he thought.

"This is great. I get to watch these servants play around while I have to stay out of sight," he grumbled to himself. His duty was to the crown, not a duo of flirting servants.

Yes, he had seen everything they had done and concluded that they should get married. Guanlin was a fanboy at heart and there was nothing better than a real life drama for him. It was rare he got to witness ANY kind of drama because of his job. If it was his occupation to watch this young couple together, he'd accept it right away. He ducked behind objects more than once because one of them kept turning around towards the castle. His face looked familiar to Guanlin, but he couldn't figure out why. The falling snow didn't help to distinguish the servant's face either.

The pair finally stopped in front of a store that Guanlin wouldn't have noticed. He was glad because it was starting to get colder.It had some weird name like 101 Bakery or something. The guard was grateful he had changed out of his uniform. He followed them in. Taking a seat in a booth, he took a discarded newspaper from the table and started "reading" it.

"I have a message from King Seungcheol," Guanlin heard the servant with the paper say.

A message? What could King Seungcheol be up to?

"I see…" The pretty boy behind the counter said while tapping his cheek. His face wasn't scarred with acne which made Guanlin self conscious. Guanlin strained his neck to read the pretty boy's name tag. It said Jihoon.

"Jinyoung!" Jihoon called. "There's a customer waiting to be served!"

Guanlin looked around the bakery. There wasn't anyone else there except for him and the servants. Which meant-

"What would you like to order?" An equally pretty boy as Jihoon asked him. Guanlin assumed this was Jinyoung since Jihoon had called him that.

"Er, I would like a cup of hot chocolate," requested the novice. He spied the servants being led to the back room.

How was he supposed to follow them now?

Guanlin looked at the newspaper article and gasped. He now knew who the familiar one was.

…

"Hyung, did you see that person following us? What if he knows who I am?" Samuel was clearly upset.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we lose him," assured Daehwi. He started looking for emergency exits in the store. Daehwi didn't know the person who was stalking them was, but if he made Samuel upset, he'd make sure that the stalker never followed them again.

They were in the back room of the bakery because Jihoon had claimed the king had ordered. Jihoon disappeared to retrieve the item a couple of minutes ago.

"But he might just be here by coincidence," reasoned Samuel, trying to calm himself down.

Daehwi shook his head. "That's unlikely. He kept hiding from you when you kept looking back at the castle."

Samuel winced. "You noticed that?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't deserve the title of the future king's best friend if I didn't notice what you do."

"That's so cheesy, hyung! Ew!" Samuel pretended gag.

Daehwi rolled his eyes. "I'm serious."

"Hi Serious, I'm Samuel!" Samuel giggled to himself at his joke.

"Sammy!"

"What?" He feigned innocence.

"You need to stop."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

At this moment, Jihoon entered the room. "I found it!" he announced, very proud of himself. He carried a medium sized package into the room. "Be sure to deliver this to King Seungcheol. Do you promise?" Satisfied, Jihoon handed over the package.

The duo nodded in sync. "We promise," they said in unison.

Another waiter walked in. "Jihoon, we need a hot chocolate for our customer."

Jihoon turned and nodded. "Ok Jinyoung, I'll whip it up in a moment. Or you could prepare it with the Swiss Miss packets. He won't know the difference."

Jinyoung nodded. "Oh, who are these two?" He motioned to the silent pair.

"They're servants from the castle. I have no idea what their names are. What ARE your names?" Jihoon narrowed his eyes.

Neither responded immediately. Finally, Samuel spoke up.

"I'm Sam-."

Daehwi interrupted. "His name is Sammy."

Samuel glared at Daehwi. Again. Ignoring Samuel's death glare, he continued to speak. "I'm David."

"Well we are Jihoon," Jihoon gestured to himself, and pointed to the waiter, "and he's Jinyoung."

"Nice to meet you!" Jinyoung smiled brightly and made a piece sign.

"Hi," Samuel said weakly.

"Ditto," Daehwi commented. "Well, we'll be on our way then…A package to transport and all…" He and Samuel edged towards the door.

"Ok, be safe Sammy and David!" Jihoon called.

They slipped through an emergency exit, which didn't alarm for some reason. So it wasn't that good of an emergency exit. It was a great thing for Samuel and Daehwi, but an alarming thing for the next person who needed to sound an alarm.

Once they were safely away from the bakery, Samuel looked at Daehwi. "What kind of name is David? Really?"

"Yeah, I went by that name when I was living in-"

"Boring!" Samuel yawned.

It was Daehwi's turn to glare at Samuel.

"I was just going to say-"

"Whatever!"

Daehwi was starting to get angry. "I-"

"MOO!"

Daehwi stomped his foot. "Fine, find your way around town yourself!" He stormed off, still mad.

"Daehwi-!" Samuel started to try to coax him back into helping him navigate the town.

"Boring!" Daehwi put his hands over his ears.

"Hyung-"

"Whatever!"

"I was only teasi-"

"MOO!" The future king's best friend left him in the dust.

The crown prince was all alone in the town.

…