~Chapter 8~

Once upon a time, people would play, harvest, and be happy in the day but when night fell no one would come out to play. Nobody cared much about the evening except a young prince. He loved staying up at night rather than being awake in the day. Sometimes he felt like something was missing whenever he stayed up at night. Then he thought maybe there was something that could accompany the dark and then everyone could enjoy the night just as much as he loved it. So he made a promise that he wouldn't stop searching for a bright source to be paired with the night sky. So he ventured across the earth and searched every mountain, traveled the seven seas, scoured through every forest, and every cave but his search came up empty. At the end of his journey he felt sad and disappointed with himself. He had failed to keep his promise and this made him weep and wail. Then suddenly a streak of light appeared and fell onto his lap. The prince take a closer look upon inspection wondering what it was and where it came from? Then another one appeared followed by another until he realized it was his own tears. The young prince's tears were filled with so much hope and purity that it was bright enough to light up the sky. So it made him happy that he had kept his promise and produced so many of his bright tears that he threw all of them high up into the night sky. Finally looking at what he had done, he saw a beautiful view of a million twinkling lights painting the night sky almost looking similar to tiny diamonds. However, when he looked up at the sky he still felt like something was amiss. Then he realizes one of his eyes beginning to glow almost angelic. It was like taking a gem out of a crown when he grabbed for his glowing eye and knew this was the last piece to finish the night. Centuries later, the prince’s tears were later called stars. The eye he had gifted to the night was also called the moon instead. It was thanks to the young prince, everyone could enjoy the nighttime just like he did and that is the story of how the moon and stars came to be. 

“So what do you think? The story is great, right?”

Prince Luhan reaction was a mixture between confusion and pure horror after hearing that story but he still needed to answer his best friend. “Uh haha sure I guess? I mean it’s an interesting story Lay but I don’t really get the main idea. All I learned is that a prince's tears created stars and who gives away their eye to make it into the moon? First I can't even imagine pulling out my eye like that. Plus he must have really big eyes to make one of them the moon.”

Lay sighs expecting that kind of reaction from Luhan but he was already used to that type of reaction from telling this story to the other princes. He hides his disappointment with a soft smile before putting the book back onto the shelf next to the rest of the fairy tale stories that sat along the shelf in the royal library. 

“Sorry Lay if I didn’t sound as interested in your favorite story like you hoped. I mean don’t get me wrong. I liked the tale but I just don't really believe in all that mythical stuff you know about stars being made from someone’s tears and the moon coming from someone’s eye. It actually kind of seems a bit of a daunting tale if you ask me.” 

Lay chuckles looking at Luhan's grossed out face rethinking about the gruesome tale. “Well at least you can now tell this tale towards others who aren't as familiar to where the stars and the moon come from.”

“Ah that would be a very weird topic to hop on if it's coming from me. So why did you want to read this story to me of all times? It feels a bit random for you to read me a children's tale.”

“That’s because tonight is a special occassion where trillions of stars will shoot across the sky and it happens only every hundred years. I’ve never seen it in person but from what my professors have witnessed, they describe it as something remarkable.”

“Sounds fun but is that all there is? You just watch a couple of stars fly by?”

“Well legend says that when you witness these falling stars, you're allowed to make a wish and it'll come true but it’s never been proven.” he suddenly feels flustered remembering a time when he was little he truly believed that if he made a wish it would come true. It was possibly why he was so excited for this night in particular.  

Prince Luhan heartily laughs making Lay's smile widen. “In that case I should join you and make a wish too to get out of this damn mess. I would wish for this stupid engagement to have never happened.” 

Lay's smile faltered after hearing Luhan's bitter tone and felt sad for Luhan who was forlornly looked at the beautiful view beyond the castle. This wasn't the first time he has noticed his friend acting this way and it wasn’t just Luhan who was acting odd lately. For the past couple of days Lay had observed a couple of his friends acting weird but none of them had admitted it or talked about their strange behavior. He was never one to pry into their business until they were ready to talk about it but he was their brother; they all were. He would do anything to make them happy again. 

Meanwhile, Luhan was looking out the window and wasn't staring at the view but something that was beyond his reach and a place he knew he couldn't see her again. He noticed that he was spacing out again and realized he put down Lay's mood when he didn't meant to so he lightens up the mood by lightly punching Lay's arm. "Hey maybe you can use that story to gross your fiance or make her swoon for you even more.

Lay adamantely shakes his head at Luhan’s shameless teasing before looking at the time on the library's clock. “Shall we grab some breakfast?” 

“Great, I'm starving! I bet the others have been waiting for us.” Luhan slings his arm around Lay's shoulder and guides him out the library with food occupying his mind at the moment. Lay's daunting story not on his mind anymore.

When they arrived at the dining room, they were surrounded by the sounds of talking and tons of noise. Set on the elongated dining table there were assortments of fancy pastries, fresh fruit, crisp toasts, and different kinds of teas and milk for the prince's to enjoy. 

The new arrivals at the dining room had alerted all of them. “Morning Lay and Luhan! Where have you guys been all morning?” Prince Chen asks while getting distracted with trying to grab the last muffin from Xiumin.  

“We were at the library because Lay wanted to read me his favorite story.” 

“Oh! Was it about the story of the Prince and how he cried a bunch of stars?”

Lay looked sheepish as Luhan nodded as everyone around the table started laughing. Maybe he made it too obvious how much he loved that story.

“Ah, I remembered when Lay was reading about that story to me. I felt like it was a weird children's tale even though it was a fascinating story.” 

“It’s ok Junmyeon, I can understand why it’s not a favorable story to read.” 

“Speaking of something else that's not favorable, has anybody heard from any of the princesses? Or the King?”

Everyone’s silverware clanged harshly against their plates at the mention of their dreadful fiance’s being brought up. They weren't even here physically and they were all reacting so stiffly.  

“Ah, just thinking about them again made me lose my appetite.” Prince Sehun muttered lowly with disgust, pushing away his breakfast away from him. 

“You idiot. Why would you bring them up? If you think about them, they'll appear like a curse.” 

“Baekhyun, they're not like spirits.” Kris deadpans.

“You’re right, they're more like nightmares excuse me.”

“But I’m serious you guys. Don’t you feel it’s a bit strange that they leave in a rush and so suddenly just for some “royal matters”. They haven't even sent any messages back nagging us for an update on how much we miss them.” 

“Who could ever forget their constant squawking for us to write back to them?” no one missed the sarcastic remark oozing from Kai's tone knowing damn sure that he wasn’t going to write a love letter to a vile woman.  

“When is this stupid wedding again?” Chen directed his question to Suho who looked like he didn’t want to even talk about it. 

“Uh I’m not quite sure but I think our parents are going to discuss the matter later today.” 

Right after Prince Baekyun loudly groans with disgust painted on his face. “It’s bad enough we're going to be all married to them. What's worse is that sooner or later we might have to reproduce with them.”

Instantly Baekhyun gets smacked on the back of the head. “Baekhyun, don't joke about something horrific like that. I rather fight my way past an army of ogres than have my children be the spawn of satan.”

"Tch I know that. I was just saying it's going to be a nightmare spending all of eternity with them. By the way was it really necessary to hit me so hard? That really hurts." Prince Tao had the gull to roll his eyes causing Baekhyun to react like a little child and stick his tongue out. Tao does the same and they're both bantering each other while poor Prince Xiumin was in between them munching on his muffin. 

Suddenly Kyungsoo bangs his hands on the table, startling the others. “Great now my appetite is ruined. I thought my mind would be settled with them not being here constantly in my face but the constant reminder that I’m going to be married to someone unbearable is making me go crazy.” 

“Wait Kyungsoo, where are you going?” 

“Somewhere I can get a peace of mind. Anywhere but here.” 

“So where are you going to go?” 

He immediately thinks of the girl at the fountain that day and didn't need to think of any place to be. “I just need some time alone. I’ll be back before soon so don’t look for me.” He doesn’t spare a second for anybody to stop and ask him questions before he left rushing to leave the palace subconsciouslly hoping he could find his peace and that girl. 

Meanwhile, most of the princes were surprised with Kyungsoo's odd behavior. “Why is he always acting so mysterious? We just wanted to know in case anything bad happened to him.” 

“Go easy on him Kris. I can understand how he's feeling. We all can. So let him just cool down for a bit.” 

The sudden mood change did not make Lay happy at all. Like he said he would do anything for his friends to be happy and this marriage obviously is making them miserable. There must be something he could do to fix this. Then it struck him like lightning. The legend of making a wish when you see the stars pass by and in return your wish will come true. It was the perfect idea and the more reason for him to go out tonight and see them. Yes this will be the plan he concurred and nothing will stop him from wishing for his brothers happiness. 

It was still morning and Hanako carefully walks up the stairs while holding Mama's breakfast. Once she was in front of the door, she uses her foot to let herself in. She quietly comes over to the bed to see Mama was still asleep and her condition wasn’t getting any better. “Morning Mama. Did you sleep well last night?”

She throatily chuckles, slowly opens her eyes and looks over at Hanako setting down her breakfast on the side of her bed. “I’ve had worse nights but I feel like I’m finally getting some strength back in me. So what’s on the menu today?”

“A nice steaming bowl of my famous porridge with a complimentary side fresh picked fruits from the market.”

She hears her mother groan out loud but cuts herself off when she realized her daughter was looking at her with disbelief. So she wryly chuckles pretending that she was just teasing her. “Oh come on Hanako I just reacted this way because this was the exact same meal I had yesterday. If I keep getting fed the same bland food, I might go crazy.” 

“I'm sorry mama but the doctor said you’re not supposed to eat anything that might be extreme to your health. Besides I thought you liked my porridge? And the kids picked the best and ripest fruit for you to eat.”

She hopelessly sighs giving herself into eating the bland porridge. It was a losing battle knowing she would never win if her kids were working hard to get her to feel better. “Ok ok I’ll enjoy this meal like it’s my last.” it was only meant to be a joke but Hanako’s uncomfortable silence halted Mama from eating and worrying more about her child who was meticulously cleaning and rearranging her room when it was completely fine. Hanako only did this whenever she felt stressed or something was weighing on her mind and right now it was the horrible thought of her mother having this as her last meal. 

When she finishes reorganizing her mother's bedside table, she stops when a hand presses firmly over hers. She looks up and sees Mama looking at her with a forlorn smile. “I’m sorry. I won’t ever say something like that again. It just slipped out since that’s usually how I joke. I never thought it would affect you like that.”  

Hanako sighs and puts her hands over her mother's old and frail ones. “No I should be sorry. I’ve been feeling a little off lately. Ever since that night you fainted I've been managing the manor and making sure all the kids are being taken care of. So when you woke up, I couldn't stop thinking about all the worse possible things instead of thinking about the good.”

Immediately her mother coos and gently brushes the side of her cheek. “Look at you. You’re a strong, young, smart, and beautiful girl. A girl like yourself shouldn’t have so many burdens to carry. That should be the adult’s job.” 

“Technically I’m the adult in the house.” 

Her mother just shakes her head and continues soothing her. “You’re only eighteen Hanako. I wouldn't even consider that being an adult yet. My flower, you're still young. There’s a world beyond just Hiiro and I don’t want you to be tied down to this place because you have to take care of me or the others.” 

Hanako looked at her like she had said something horrible. “Why are you making it sound like you're a burden Mama? You’re my mother. Of course I would want to take care and worry about you. You're the one who took care of me from when I was just an infant. I treat everyone in this manor as if they were my family because they are all I've ever known. Isn’t one of the most important things in life is looking after your family?”

Her mother nods totally agreeing with her words. “But you also have forgotten that you’re not the only one in this family that is capable of looking out for each other. As for me, well I’ve been doing it for years!” she laughs heartily before stopping to breath realizing that was a fatal mistake. “All I’m saying is when my time is up you’ll-”

“No. Mama, we are not discussing that right now. Not after you just woke up and now we have to worry about this every happening again?"
 

“Hanako.” 

“I need to go back to the shop. There's something I need to do. So eat up and I'll be back ok?” 

She left so quick that she couldn't get another word out and this roubled her deeply. The old woman knew that Hanako wasn’t going to listen to anything she was going to say so she had to think of something. There wasn’t a lot of time left for her no matter how hard she had to admit it so the most important thing she needed to do was make sure all her children will be together and living well. They were her family and she needed to protect them till the day she dies. 

“WHAT?!” 

“Ssh can you three keep it down?! I think the whole manor can hear you at this rate.” Hanako frantically looks around wondering if anybody had heard the noises in the kitchen. Thankfully it seemed like no one did. 

Akira was the first to shoot out of her seat with an unreadable expression on her face. “Hanako how can you tell us to calm down after telling us something absolutely shocking and crazy?!” 

Usagi surpsingly was speechless in this scenario. “Hanako….Why would you suggest something like that? You plan to sell your own flower shop? Isn't that your whole life's work?! You love that shop as if it's like your own child so how can you tell us such a brazen decision?”

"It's not an idea I rushed into immediately but it's my decision."

“Does Mama know?” Fuuto further asks but judging how Hanako stayed silent they all knew she was doing something crazy. 

“Just listen to the reason why I'm doing this. When the doctor came and checked on Mama he told me her heart and body was getting weaker. He also said that there might be nothing to help her. Until he remembered that was one way she could be healed and that's obtaining special medicine all that way from Tamburan. The doctor was kind enough to even give us some when the next ship comes. However, with medicine like that it comes at a fairly high price and I'm the only one making money with my shop so it's enough for us to afford getting it for mama.” 

“But we don’t know for certain if any of the medicine from Tamburan will heal Mama.” 

Hanako shook her head disbeliving in that thought. “We have to at least try Fuuto. She would do the same thing for any one of us if we were in her position.” 

All three of them looked warily at each other but they knew that there was no way they could stop her. All they could do was hope the medicine from Tamburan could save their Mama in time. 

(At the capital)

“Wait did I take this path to get to the fountain? Hm no this doesn’t look right either. Damn all these streets look the same to me. Gah! Why is it so hard to find it?!”

The Prince was starting to get more frustrated walking around in circles. His plan was to find that fountain where he found peace and quiet but even trying to find the place started to make him aggravated. Kyungsoo may seem like a prince with the most common sense but when it came to his sense of direction, he could around in circles for hours still wondering why he wasn't making any process. 

“Ah I might as well just give up and head back to the castle.” so he mindlessly wanders left and right planning to head back to the castle. He felt sad that he couldn't find the place again nor could even see the one person that was on his mind for awhile. However, just as he turns another corner he looks up and gives a double take at the person a few meters from him. 

Was his eyes playing tricks on him or was that the girl he met at the fountain? This was the same girl who had bawled her eyes out and where he gave her his handkerchief. He wondered if maybe he was mistaking her with another girl but how common is it to see a lot of girls with pink hair? 

Even if he was sure it was her he still felt mesmerized by her gentle smile and the way she looked like a literal flower amongst the other flowers. “Was it fates ironic twist of my lack of direction that I somehow ended up finding you?” he muttered more to himself really amazed how he ended up finding what he was looking for all along. 

Before he could decipher his legs were moving on their own and were inching closer to the girl. Meanwhile, Hanako didn't seem to notice him and keeps tending to her plants wonderlessly thinking how this might be the