Ong Seongwoo was lost. Utterly and completely lost. It was difficult not knowing his way around, but what made it more hard for him was that today he was starting his new life in a strange kingdom. This was shaping out to be a great day. The boy with black hair exhaled with a peeved look on his face. His breath showed up in the winter air. He didn't know anyone at all. How was he supposed to know whom to trust? 

It seemed that today was a festival of some sort. Flags waved crisply in the cool air, and dozens of people were roaming about chattering excitedly. The decorations were spared no expense. Strings of lights were hung on every corner, the aroma of holly branches was in the air, and many stores displayed potential presents. Seongwoo didn't know why they were so eager to have a celebration, and frankly, he didn't care. He just wanted to find his new apartment he was renting and settle in as quickly as he possibly could.

The clusters of people didn't look his way. Maybe it wasn't unusual to see a person with luggages and a rosy red nose in the town square. Seongwoo examined the map on his phone. His location was far away from his destination. An icon stated that the castle where the royals lived was only a seven minute walk. Seongwoo's logic was that the guards outside the palace would maybe be helpful. He turned towards the faint outline of the royal's home and started his walk.

The chilly weather wasn't assisting Seongwoo at all. Snow was falling quickly and transporting his baggages became harder. He spotted a shop a short distance away and headed in that direction. When he struggled through the door, Seongwoo discovered that the shop was a bookstore. With all the technology in the world already, Seongwoo wondered how in the world this cozy bookstore was still operating. 

"May I help you with that?" A voice that didn't seem to have broken from puberty asked.

Seongwoo looked up, but saw no one. Was he imagining it?

"Down here!"

He looked down and found a cute, short boy crossing his arms.

"I don't think you'd be of any help because of your size," Seongwoo said cooly. He hoisted the luggages up and into the store. He couldn't help but be blunt to people, it was his nature.

The boy frowned. He spun around and walked away without another word. 
  
Seongwoo didn't pay much heed to the kid. It didn't matter to him anyway. The person who offered to help wasn't going to even get the manager or something. 

"Excuse me." The speaker's voice was deeper than the kid who was offering to help a few seconds ago.

Seongwoo looked down, but saw no one. Was he imagining this too?

He glanced up and caught his breath. An older boy than the first was glaring at him. He seemed to be around Seongwoo's age, though he looked younger than Seongwoo. His honey colored hair seemed to be styled perfectly, his body was muscular, and he had a very unamused expression on his face. Seongwoo wondered what this boy would look like when he smiled.

"I heard you were being rude to my employee." The second boy jerked his thumb towards the first, a few feet behind the second boy.

Seongwoo started to become warm, even though the door was propped open a bit. He shook his head, trying to deny what he did.

"I wasn't that rude…" he mumbled.

"Well, you were rude enough for Woojin to become hurt at your careless words." 

"I only meant that he might not be as helpful as he thought he would be." Seongwoo tried to defend himself. He cringed inside at how the words could be taken the wrong way.

The employee was not swayed. This excuse seemed to make him even more ticked off.

"He was just trying to assist you since it looked like you needed help!" 

"I don't like accepting help!" Seongwoo was shocked at his sudden confession. He never told that to anyone, not even the people closest to him.

The employee's face softened. "Oh." His eyes looked like he pitied Seongwoo.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll leave now." Seongwoo faced the door and waited. When he didn't hear anything he asked, "Aren't you going to ask me to stay? The snow is going to get deep."

The employee shook his head. "Nope. You deserve to suffer in the weather conditions," he said more cheerfully than Seongwoo liked. 

Seongwoo was disappointed, but not surprised. "Alright, I'll see you never, because I won't be coming back here anytime soon." 

Woojin was watching the whole exchange with a triumphant look in his eyes. Seongwoo saw that and he made sure to slam the door when he left.

After the failed attempt to get the guards to help him, Seongwoo was still not where he needed to be. The battery on his phone practically dead, the baggages were getting heavier by the second, his stomach was growling, and Seongwoo's patience was running extremely thin. Why did he have to move in the winter time? Eventually, he gave up and just roamed around the town. Unfortunately, at this moment, Seongwoo bumped someone. 

"Pretend you like me," the person who just walked into Seongwoo commanded.

The straightforwardness made Seongwoo uneasy. What was with this odd request?

"I don't think so," stated Seongwoo. "I'm having a really bad day, so if you'll excuse me-." 

"I'll treat you to any restaurant." 

Seongwoo's stomach grumbled in agreement. "Deal."

Little did Seongwoo know that the crown prince was taking him out to eat.

…

"Who is HE?" King Jeonghan asked when he first saw Samuel in a carrier.

"He's Samuel," replied King Seungcheol. "I want to adopt him, but I know that you wouldn't be pleased if I adopted him without your consent and-"

At some point, Jeonghan had moved next to the sleeping child and started cooing at Samuel. Seungcheol was glad that Jeonghan had taken a liking to him.

"Wouldn't be pleased? He's perfect!" King Jeonghan declared. "We must make him apart of our family at once! We should give him a birthday. What's the date today?"

"It's the 16th of January."

"Tomorrow will be his birthday!"

"May I ask why?"

"The day is already almost over, we won't have enough time to prepare the party for his birthday," King Jeonghan said.

Seungcheol nodded. "That makes sense."

"When have I ever not made sense?"

The other king opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it. He instead opted to continue observing Jeonghan marveling at the child's miniature features.

…

Samuel knew he wasn't in any danger. Daehwi would just follow him and make sure that he was safe. It's what he did all the time. The tricky part was getting him to show himself in front of Samuel. From the past times Daehwi left Samuel by himself in the castle, he showed up because the prince had threatened to mess up Daehwi's room in the palace, Samuel had attempted to chop vegetables, and he had led on a servant girl. (Samuel later apologized to the girl claiming that his best friend made him do it. It was technically true because Samuel needed Daehwi by his side again.) It was either destroy a tidy room, wield sharp objects, or gain someone's affection. The first two options were out of the question. 

He decided that looking down and asking the first person he encountered by walked into them was a fair and random way of choosing. Samuel wasn't anticipating a boy, but it was fine. Daehwi would reveal himself soon enough. Samuel actually couldn't figure out why Daehwi showed up during the servant girl incident. He always assumed it was because Daehwi didn't want the girl's feelings to be hurt. Ah, well, it wouldn't matter to Samuel as long as Daehwi came back. 

The boy in front of him waved his hand in Samuel's face. 

"Aren't you going to eat that?" He pointed to the food Samuel's plate.

"No, you can have it. Consider it a gift for doing me a favor."

"Sweet! What's you name by the way?" He said between bites.

"Sammy." Samuel's belly churned, recalling how his best friend called him that occasionally. 

"My name is Ong Seongwoo." 

"Ok Seongwoo, here's the plan. I'm going to pretend to like you, and you have to pretend to like me back. I already bought you your feast, so please cooperate."

Seongwoo nodded. "Whatever you say boss! How do you know you like someone? How does it feel?"

Samuel was puzzled. "You've never liked anyone? So you don't know how this works?"

"Not a clue." Seongwoo smiled and put a hand under his chin. "Please educate me."

"Well…your heart starts racing, you can't see anyone but them, and you're sometimes nervous around them. Something like that. If you're brave enough, you'll confess your liking to that person."

"I see…what are you supposed to do after you confess?"

"Laugh with each other, make each other happy, comfort the other, and so on, I guess," explained Samuel. "I've never confessed, so I don't know either."

"That sounds too easy."

Samuel giggled. "It's how it sounds, but in reality it is very difficult."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Seongwoo. "Do you like someone?"

Before Samuel could answer, Daehwi showed up at the door of the restaurant, eyes blazing.

…

A/N: Just a heads up, soon I'll be leaving town for a while so I apologize in advance for the strange update schedule. Can you guess who's the second employee? D.O'S FOREHEAD IN KOKOBOP AHH! -Veil