Aida hit Iseul‘s shoulder.

“What's up with you? You look pretty dumbfounded...”

Iseul looked at Aida, startled.

“Huh?” She said before looking back at the stage, the puzzled look she'd worn before returning to her face.

Aida shook her head.

'She'll tell me later, if not, I'll just drag it out of her,' she thought, chuckling.

That night Aida and Iseul cozied up in their shared bedroom. It was still early enough for them to be wide awake, and instead of reading or sewing like 'proper ladies' would have done, they took to their favourite pastime - chatting.

“I have to find a job soon,” Iseul sighed.

“Yeah, I know. It's so strange that we'll be 18 soon. It doesn't feel like 10 years since we played our princess games and dreamt that we were perhaps the lost Princess of the Rea Kingdom,” Aida said, reminiscing about the past.

“Yeah, or that we'd be lucky enough to marry on of the princes in our kingdom. Do you remember the day we found out that the princes are only allowed to marry other royals?” Iseul asked.

“Oh, how we cried!” Aida laughed, “we cried for days, until ma and pa threatened to send us to uncle Sooman. We were so afraid of him.”

Iseul laughed, “we were terrified that he'd make us sleep in the mud with the pigs! Things have really changed since then, huh?”

“They sure have,” Aida answered, looking devilishly at Iseul.

“What?” Iseul asked, getting a little bit nervous since Aida was now looking at her like she was about to eat her.

“Oh, nothing... I'm just a little bit curious about what you were thinking down at Market Square earlier. Staring at the Royals like that...”

Iseul almost choked on air. “Wha-, I-uh, I was just, uhm, wondering when Prince Kyuhyun grew up, yeah, that's it, when he grew up...” she rambled.

“Uh-huh, I really don't think so.” Aida retorted, looking very amused. “You'll tell me the truth when you stop looking like a blow-fish.”

***

Later that night when everyone was fast asleep someone began banging on the door like a madman. They all awoke with a start, Mr. Kim rushing to get the door. A very out-of-breath stableboy tumbled inside, trying to calm down enough to relay his message.

“Mrs. Kang... husband... pregnant... baby... ready...” he panted, not making any sense at all.

“Pray, do get your words together into an understandable mess please, instead of unintelligible gibberish,” Mrs. Kim gently told the boy as she got him some water.

“Mrs. Kang... is... having her... baby... now,” the stableboy managed in a second attempt at speaking understandably.

“Well then, we must hurry mustn't we? Iseul, get some apples and a basket and come to Mrs. Kang's house when you're ready. New mothers must always have fresh apples for the traditional apple pie to celebrate child's birth, as you already know,” Mrs. Kim instructed as she gathered her things and took off with the stableboy.

Iseul hastily dressed and filled the basket with apples. She put her thick long black cloak on and donned the big hood that hid her head and face and set off. She walked briskly for it was chilly outside in the middle of the night and she didn't like the idea of those bandits either. She heard a group of men talking somewhere in the distance but wasn't really listening because she was caught up in her own thoughts about Hyunjae, and the fact that he'd been nowhere close for two weeks. Thanks to her thoughtlessness, she walked right past someone tall and handsome, without noticing of course. That someone saw her and really liked the looks of her basket, so he followed. He grabbed her shoulder, twisting her around and grabbed her basket. Iseul snapped to attention and jerked the basket towards her with an indignant and displeased “hey!” The stranger yanked the basket back so they engaged in a small tug-a-war of sorts, leading Iseul's hood to move further back on her head till it fell completely, letting her long blond hair down, which was nearly all loose apart from a tiny braid to hold some hair out of her face. The stranger was taken aback by her beauty, now that he could see her clearly, and let go of the basket in his surprise.

“You shouldn't take what isn't yours you know. Now leave me be, I'm in a hurry.” Iseul scolded and marched off to Mrs. Kang's, leaving the man startled and dumbfounded.

'Who was that and WHY did I let go of the basket?' the man thought to himself, 'you're such an idiot sometimes Siwon... aish...' He continued scolding himself mentally until he was dragged away by one of his friends.

***

A couple of days later Iseul and Aida took the twins out for a walk and some fresh air. They walked all the way to their favourite place for picnics, which was right outside the palace walls. It was, however, unusually crowded there. The girls didn't recognize anybody, well, until someone accidentally elbowed Iseuls back, making her whirl around to face the person.

“You! You were the one that was going to st-” she was stopped with a hand over , one that she was perfectly fit to bite.

“Ow! No need to bite!” the man exclaimed while inspecting his hand.

“Well, no need to go around st-” again she was cut off, by his other hand this time. She thought she might as well bite again, but as soon as he jerked his hand back he used his other one to replace the one gone to cover . They kept going like that for a couple of minutes, all the while glaring menacingly, obviously fighting with their eyes. When Siwon gave up on using his hands to silence her- he couldn't really feel them anymore due to the many bites he'd received- he did the first thing he could think of and used his mouth. Now that only made Iseul more angry, for one; because she'd never been kissed before and second, because she did not like this particular man at all. So when she got over the initial shock of being kissed, she used all her might to stomp on his feet. When he stumbled back she slapped him, very forcefully, and that made him yelp like a little puppy. Iseul glared at him for two seconds before marching off into the woods surrounding the castle walls, with Aida trailing behind with the youngsters in tow.

***

Kyuhyun had been standing by his open window looking at the group of people staring, fascinated, through the castle gate and at the courtyard and palace. He didn't notice the familiar girl walking along at the very back of the group until he heard her shout something – he was too far away to make any sense of the words. He did figure out that she was fighting with someone and he could see that someone repeatedly cover with his hands. For some reason it made him angry and he wanted to protect her. That was nothing compared to what he felt when that man kissed Iseul. He was about to run outside himself when he saw that Iseul stomped on the man's feet and hit him. Kyuhyun smiled to himself and couldn't help thinking 'that's my girl.' Wait a minute, she wasn't his girl... 'Do I have feelings for a peasant? No way... But, how can I explain anything otherwise? Oh man... mom and dad won't like this...'

***

Iseul spent the rest of that day moping and Aida tried her best to cheer her up. It didn't seem to work very well though, but when Dara, the clumsier twin, accidentally tripped over the sitting Bom, Iseul chuckled. The twins noticed and came rushing over to tickle their big foster-sister. Aida soon joined in and they laughed and enjoyed themselves on their way home.

***

By the time Iseul woke up the morning after, she'd long forgotten the kiss the thief had planted on her lips. She completed her chores and went to Market Square to look for gift ideas for Aida's birthday as well as to find a job. She'd been there for about two minutes when someone called her name. She looked up and into the face of Hyunjae, whom she hadn't seen for a while now.

“Oh, hi, how are you? Long time no see,” Iseul said with a wide grin.

“I'm good, you?” Hyunjae answered.

“I'm fine, I've had a few crazy days since we met last time, but I'm fine.”

“Aah, that reminds me, I saw you yesterday by the palace wall. You were, uh, kissing some guy?” Iseul turned beet red at the mention of the kiss and, frankly, a little irritated.

“I most certainly was not kissing anyone, that man tried to steal my apples!” Kyuhyun had absolutely no idea how apples connected with being kissed.

“I'm sorry, what?” he asked.

“I was walking with a basket full of apples when that man grabbed me and tried to take my apples but then he let go when my hood fell- I have no idea why, I'm not very scary looking- and I got away with my apples and then I saw him outside the palace and I was going to scold him but he put a hand over my mouth so I bit him and he kept covering my mouth, so I kept biting him and then all of a sudden he, uh, h-he, he-”

“Kissed you,” Kyuhyun concluded while Iseul blushed madly.

“Yeah... that was what happened,” she said, staring at him with big blue eyes. He couldn't help but feel a wee bit irritated that he wasn't around to protect Iseul and he was still somewhat jealous that the thief had stolen a kiss from her, conscientious or not.

“You should be more careful, you never know whom you can trust and who is lying to you,” Kyuhyun warned, in a very motherly way.

“Yeah, I guess you're right. I can trust you, can't I?” Iseul asked, giving him a teasing smile with a hint of hope in it.

“Definitely,” Kyuhyun smiled back, ignoring the little voice in his head that was fiercely yelling at him that he, himself, was lying to the girl, identity-wise anyway.

The two walked around Market Square for a couple of hours, chatting away about anything and everything. It was starting to get dark outside when Kyuhyun told Iseul that it was time for him to go. Iseul thanked him for the lovely time she had that afternoon and stood for a little while watching him walk away. As she was about to turn to leave someone grabbed her from behind. She managed a small scream before her nose and mouth were covered with some damp cloth and she felt herself slipping away into blackness.