Chapter 2.

"Just because people do horrible things, doesn't mean they're always horrible people."

The next time she saw him, 2 years had passed.

She was 12 and he was 18 and in the span of those years, everything had changed.

The rapid knock on the door of the bakery startled Hanbyul.

Confusion settled in the furrow of her brows. It was late in the night, nearing 3 AM and in a small village like Dream, typically no one was out and about past midnight at the latest. Hanbyul put down the rolling pin next to the ball of dough she had been preparing as a dreadful though planted itself in the depths of her mind.

Wiping her hands on her apron, she approached the door with careful steps when the door burst open. Frozen in her tracks, dropped open as she saw Johnny stumble in with what looked like a dead body leaning against him.

“J-Johnny?!” Hanbyul whisper-screamed in fear of waking their mother. “What’re you doing here? And at this time? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Johnny ignored her onslaught of questions before throwing the body down into the nearest chair. When Hanbyul took a step closer, the smell hit her before she could get a good look at the stranger’s face.

He reeked of alcohol and when recognition filled Hanbyul’s eyes, taking in the ragged appearance of Prince Jaehyun, a gasp ripped from .

“Get him some water, Hanbyul,” Johnny told her in a tight voice, his eyes smoldering with frustration and anger. “And when he comes to, he knows where to find the rest of us. The other boys don't need to see this.”

“But—“

Before she could get another word out, he was gone. Hanbyul shifted her gaze to Jaehyun when he began to stir.

Quickly, she rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a cup, filling it to the brim with cold water. She placed it in front of him and he narrowed his eyes towards her as if he was trying to recall where he recognized her face.

Then it clicked and instead of the smile that had his dimples showing like he had shown her last time, his lips morphed into an ugly sneer.

“Well if it isn’t little Cupcake Princess.”

The nickname was said with scorn and Hanbyul’s heart clenched, trying to ignore the painful way it contracted at the sight of him now. “You’re drunk,” she said plainly.

“Wow, congrats. So astute and observant,” the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

At that, Hanbyul felt her frown deepening. He was purposefully treating her like a child and she didn’t like it one bit.

She had heard the news last year, of how the King and Queen had lost their lives in a shipwreck. It happened so suddenly and it had brought a deeply mournful period throughout t