JR heard the loud thud and went to see what happened. Who turned the lights off? He turned around the corner and there he found Ren flat on the floor.

"Ren?“

Ren flinched and a groan followed right after. My...everything. Oww... A faint 'hey what's up' was heard. JR squatted down next to the boy and put his hand on the other's back.

"You alright? What happened? What are you doing here?“

Ren didn't move.

"Why didn't you tell us. We're your friends. We promised we won't have secrets between us!“ Ren said still not looking up. About secrets though... Sorry, JR, I lied.

"Huh?“ JR asked, his mind not functioning at the moment.

This time Ren raised his voice: "I said – why didn't you tell us!“

"Hush, quiet down.“ JR whispered.

Ren rolled around onto his back and looked at JR.

"And what didn't I tell you?“ JR got confused.

Ren sat up. He really is a dumb dinosaur sometimes!

"You and Odelia... I overheard.“

JR plopped down on the floor and sighted. There's no point to hide this anymore anyway.

"The reason... I didn't tell you... was that Odelia didn't want me to tell anyone about us.“ JR said.

"I see why.“ Ren said smirking.

JR just gave him a questioning look.

Ren started stuttering:"I mean... the... uhm... the girls, you know, they like their privacy. Not-that-I-intentionally-listened-to-you... talking or anything.“ He said looking down in the end. No way I'm telling him who Odelia really is. Not now that I've finally found out why JR has been so happy lately... He has to find out about it himself....

Silence. Neither of the boys knew what to say next.

Ren found the words, not the best though: "So that means you're not going to marry HyunAe?“

JR chuckled as he heard Ren's childish question. "No, we're not going to marry. You can now confess to her.“ JR said, smiling.

"What?“ Ren couldn't believe his ears. „What do you mean?“

"Dude, I saw how you looked at her today.“

Ren blushed, lucky for him it was dark so JR couldn't have seen that. "You saw?“ Ren shyly asked.

"Yes, I saw. From the first moment on. But you're not the only one who has a girl in their head.“ JR answered.

But the boys didn't have more time for their little chat because Xiumin came running up the stairs.

"Hush, little baozi, you'll wake everyone.“ JR scolded the older boy.

"Ah! JR, just the man I need,“ Xiumin said noticing the prince, „Kris said that Tao sent a message.“

"Couldn't it wait 'til morning?“ JR asked a bit annoyed.

"No. Tao said that the order was given to attack the South.“

***

"Can't they just use some kind of excuse not to move.“ JR said being very irritated.

"Calm down, JR. Of course he'll try his best. Eli, Kevin and Soohyun have joined Tao as well. Tao has gained respect among the men so they'll listen to him more than those orders coming from 'above'.“ Kris said doing airquotes with the last word.

The ones 'above' were, as we know, The Rotten. Who else, right?

Ren had called Minhyun and Baekho to the room. This basement room was a place for the guys to have talk like this. Here nobody could hear them, well, except one. You'd think this was a dark and a dull room. Not really. Here were couches, a table always holding some kind of food – cookies, muffins.

They had sat up this room and gathered here a year ago. Last winter when first news about 'the war' came. JR's father never had a secret before his son so JR knew these kind of news were a lie.

And GD and TOP, who had come from the East, also confirmed the prince's hunch when they said that they knew nothing about the war though their King tells them everything. Why would the King of the East tell about his business to two cake makers? Easy – those cake makers are actually the best swordsmen in the entire East Kingdom. The King sent those two, undercover, to the North for help. Kris got the note about this first.

Since those times EXO and NU'EST, the last consisting of JR, Baekho, Minhyun, and Ren, first being the leader, have been coming together to discuss how to bring The Rotten Ones down. So far they have managed to prevent any bigger conflicts. The ones loyal to the King are smart enough to know whose order to follow. They know King can't send any orders to them because he's not even in the Kingdom but orders signed by JR are valid.

Ren hit Baekho's shoulder. The latter woke up.

"Wazza...blah. I'm up!“ The sleepyhead mumbled at first, but once he realized where he was he got himself together.

Everybody laughed.

"Okay, people. Time to hit the hay. Little summary for you Baekho. We're going to the South border to check on the army. We'll get on our way tomorrow noon.“ Suho said.

"Awesome! I'd like to see Tao again.“ Baekho got excited.

Others smiled – it was nice that atleast one of them found something good in this situation.

"But who's going to stay in the castle if we're gone? And who's staying with the... the girls?“ Baekho suddenly turned serious and with the second question he got a bit shy.

"We're not all going. Only you, JR, Minhyun, Ren, and Kris are going. The girls are coming, too. It's better if they are with you guys we can't look after them all the time.“ Chen explained, standing up. Others followed his lead and soon the room was, once again, empty waiting for the next reunion.

What did Chen mean by 'we can't look after them all the time'? You'd think The Rotten wouldn't use the chance to mess up the girls' minds? Here's news for you: they'll do anything and use anyone against the King. So it would really be better if we stayed close to NU'EST.

***

The one who had secretly heard every word from the meeting, thanks to Ren's listening-device Kris had told the boy to install into the room, smiled to himself. He was somewhere in his room in the middle of the great city.Though he was seen around the castle many times he was never seen to enter. He hated the Royal family. He swore to his father that he will take revenge for his family and for the people of North. 

"Hey, Sehun. Could you take my little present to Ren, please? I'd really like to thank him for his little gizmos.“ he said.

Sehun took the little package. "Are you going with them tomorrow?“ Sehun asked him.

"The prince will be there. I don't think it's a good idea. Besides Ren will keep me updated.“

"Right... See you around then.“ Sehun said, standing up.

"See ya.“  The Night Watchman replied. Good to know there still are some people I can trust. And for the guys to keep their mouth shut in front of their beloved prince isn't an easy task.