Jiyong remembered waking up with a start that day. A dream. No, a memory. He shook his head as he continued to eat breakfast, slowly chewing on the sprouts in front of him. So he said it himself, offered to be her prince.  He couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the innocence he held back then. Ah, though he didn’t quite remember as much as he would like, he knew that a few months later, Seunghyun came and he imagined he adored his brother just as much as her. Would only be natural, right? At least, that was the Prince’s last thought before being interrupted by a snicker by his little brother.

"What's wrong with you?" Their father asked, looking up from his newspaper.

"Oh father, dear maker, I have found the love of my life. She is obsessed with corn.. Do you think we could buy a farm and grow it? Oh, that would be wonderful~"

"Shakespearean this time, huh?"

At the sound of her voice, Jiyong looked up unexpectedly. Without thinking, he stared at her as she sat down opposite him, beside Seunghyun. "Yah, you know my unnie is too good for you?"

"Now who is this woman that my SeungRi is pining for?" Jihyo asked as she scooped up rice onto Chae Rin's bowl.

"She's the noona of the guy who's in love with Chae Rin."

All eyes turned to him and then to her, making her blush. "Aniya!!! He's not. He was just born an idiot."

"An idiot, no man is born, Hunchae~" Seunghyun said with a playful smirk, earning him a jab from Chae and Jiyong. How dare his little brother use his pet name. The Prince and Princess looked at each other, eventually with her looking away first and starting to eat quietly. A faint blush on her cheeks - he noticed.

Their silence was filled with another voice, "Yeah. They turn into one. So be careful, Seunghyun. Once you find true love, it makes you a complete fool." The voice of his Imo resounded in Jiyong's ears.

"Thanks for the meal." Jiyong said, barely eating half of his food as he pushed his chair away and walked out of the Lee's house.

"Ya! Come back here, you barely ate-"

He didn't understand why the dream unnerved him. Maybe because it reminded him of a time when all three of them were the closest. Now, even though he was unwilling to admit it, he was an outsider to their friendship. For the most part, it didn't bother him. They were younger, but sometimes, just an if, every once in a while, he wondered what it would be like to understand their little jokes. He had his own friends, obviously, but to slowly drift off from your very first childhood friend was an odd feeling he never quite enjoyed thinking about.

 At first, there was just him and her, a dongsaeng and her oppa. There were bits of memories where he remember waking up so early to catch his Samchoon holding her in the sun. He didn't understand why she bathed in sunlight, but only that she did. And that it was done every day by whoever adult was home. And  then he would run around her crib while someone made her milk, and how he felt all grown up for being able to hold the bottle and feed her. He was no longer the baby . He got to do things and learn things.

Jiyong continued to walk to his high school, his eyes looking down the whole time, reminiscing. Now that he dreamed of his childhood, memories just kept pouring out of his mind. Bits and pieces, random images playing like a video.

There was her first real smile. The one she gave him when her cognitive skill finally kicked in. A few months old, she was able to recognize him and her parents. He came in even before her father, which, frankly, his uncle never quite got over with.

Then there was her first laugh, when he made silly faces towards her, her tiny little arms and legs waving in the air with delight.

Then when Seunghyun came into their lives, there were two babies. Two angels he adored and helped feed.

He remembered crawling with her, playfully racing with his princess while his little brother watched in the arms of his mother, still unable to do much for himself. Once she started standing up, he was already in preschool and Seunghyun began crawling.

"Jiyong-ah!" Junsu called over to him, wrapping an arm around him. Jiyong bolted out of his stupor as his best friend walked with him to their class. "Have you seen the new teacher's assistant? She is drop dead gorgeous, I am telling you! Half the class is already trying to get her number."

Ah, of course, Junsu was already on the poor girl. But teacher's assistant means more work and papers, because the teacher would obviously use it as an excuse to give her "practice" in teaching. Groaning, Jiyong went to his locker, changing his shoes for an indoor one before heading to the class. Junsu continued prattling about how he wondered what type of guys she liked and if younger men would appeal to her.

"We're probably kids in her eyes. Will you stop this early-morning- already?"

"Yah! What's wrong with you? I'm just saying. I got dibs. Unless she picks you, which is impossible, because, I mean, would you look at me? I'm beautiful."

Jiyong found himself snickering as he raised a hand to shut his friend up. He looked out of the window and saw his brother and Chae Rin walking towards their middle school next door.

"Is something wrong with your brother?" Chae Rin couldn't help but ask Ri as they walked to school.

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Nothing."

"You're worried, aren't you? Don't worry. I'm pretty sure I'll find out when he gets a girlfriend."

"Yah! But you're like the last one to know, aren't you? Don't you remember last year with that girl, Sohee? And the other one, Jae-ah?"

"Oh yeah. Her and her. Them." he chuckled nonchalantly and shrugged. Oh, how it frustrated Chae Rin. But then, she remembered what her mom had told her this morning.

A prince isn't someone you choose. A prince is someone who'll fight for you. Who'll choose you over and over again. You'll find your real one, princess. One day.

And perhaps, she was right. Sighing, Chae Rin looked towards the building, her eyes catching Jiyong's. Ah, there it was again, the skipping of her heart when she saw him looking at her. She smiled at him and waved before walking away, afraid to face the truth of the matter.

How could anyone fight for her when she looked that way?

Jiyong smiled back at her before turning his attention back to the board. Kim-ssaem finally arrived, and behind the balding man stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Annyeonghaseyo~ Park Sandara immida. I will be here starting spring for my practical. Please treat me well, ne?" Jiyong watched her eyes crinkle in delight and all of his worries of the previous morning disappeared from his mind.

"She's pretty, right? Right? Isn't she like a goddess?"

"With those s? Nuh-uh!"  JiO said, making a face.

"Shut up. Not everything is about s, alright?"

"You're just blinded by her face. Plus, she has no curves," Woobin said before crossing her arms. "And, aren't you the one who can tell sizes just by looking?"

"Shut up! I'm in love, okay? It's called Love at first sight! AT FIRST SIGHT," Junsu insisted while the whole group laughed from his overreaction. Frowning, Jiyong thought, was this why he was friends with Junsu? Because he reminded Jiyong of his younger brother? Both idiots.

Chuckling, Jiyong turned around and blanched when he saw the topic of their talk trailing behind them.

"Why, thank you so much, Student Kim Woobin, for being overly concerned about my mammaries. However I assure you, they are fine the way they are. As for you, err... hyperactive boy, please do not fall in love with me. And I repeat, please?" She let out a peel of laughter that sounded so beautiful in Jiyong's ears. "But thank you for calling me a goddess. That's a wonderful praise by itself. Anyway, if you would excuse me," She said before passing them and heading for the teacher's lounge.

" Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-" JiO let out a low curse before a stack of papers hit him over the head. And then Woobin, and then Junsu. Jiyong barely dodged the principal's hands and looked up to see Mrs. Park.

"You people better stay away from my daughter or I'll make you scrub the whole school with toothbrushes!" Their happy-go-lucky dictator wasn't usually a terror yet when she got serious, everyone knew to back off. They always loved comparing her to Maleficent - relatively tame until she turned into a dragonness.

"Did I say in love?  I meant totally not. Nope. Not in love anymore. I turned into a girl inside, principal-nim. I swear!" Junsu exclaimed as he brought his hands up.

"Anymore?"

"I meant at all! Was never in love to begin with,  I promise."

Yet somehow, it is the forbidden things that we so desire to have. For the forbidden and the wrong, humans often throw themselves to fire in hopes of turning them into right and good. Hence, that was her prince's first folly- laying his heart down on the lap of the beautiful maiden who came by chance. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

please give more love and support to my fics. I am slowly weaning myself back into writing. Any help would be greatly appreciated <3 ALSO COMPLIMENTS ;] or criticisms or really, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I also stopped writing fanfiction, mostly because I REALLY need to get the romcom out of my system before I focus on that. Thank you all for being very patient with me.

Lots of love <3

PS: if yall wanna rp with me, add me on LINE ;]