Hyukjae fastened his pace, ignoring Donghae’s voice calling his name from behind. He couldn’t believe this. After everything that they had gone through before, and saying that he loved him, now a beauty suddenly appeared, telling him that she was Donghae’s ‘soon-to-be’ lover. He wanted to believe it was just a sick joke Victoria played on him, but apparently, it was the truth. And he must be the stupidest human on earth to trust a devil’s words.

Well, of course, Donghae was a womanizer before, he must’ve enjoyed it more doing it with a woman, rather than a man, right? He really felt pulling his hair with all the thoughts coming into his mind. He was lucky enough that Donghae decided to leave the imperial palace soon after Victoria’s unexpected ‘confession,’ because he knew he wouldn’t be able to face her. That woman was emitting this cold, murderous aura that he was quite sure, was because of him.

“Hyukjae, wait,” Donghae, who was following closely behind him reached out to stop Hyukjae, but the blonde quickly slapped his hand away.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“I can explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“It’s not like what you think!”

“Liar.”

“Will you please at least listen to what I’m going to say?” 

Hyukjae finally turned around as he stopped in front of Donghae’s room. Taking in a breath, he crossed his hands over his chest and nodded. “Fine, let’s talk.”

“Alright,” Donghae breathed out deeply, before saying, “This is a misunderstanding. I don’t have anything to do with Victoria. She’s just being delusional, I don’t even like her.”

“And?”

“She likes me, so, well, yeah, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Nothing you can do?” Hyukjae frowned.

“No, I mean, I can’t really force her to leave me alone. That girl is just too stubborn. But believe me, we’re not together. What she said before is just her delusional mind playing with her.”

“Really?”

“Trust me.”

Hyukjae narrowed his eyes, trying to find the sincerity in those silver eyes that were staring at him. It didn’t seem like Donghae was lying, but just the thought of him being with Victoria, he couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. Though, he’d never want to say it out loud, even if he’d die.

“For the time being, you’re being forgiven,” Hyukjae said without looking at the latter, before stomping his feet into the room.

Donghae let out a sigh, relieved that Hyukjae was at least willing to listen to his crappy explanation. He nearly killed Victoria with his own hands earlier, if it wasn’t because of Kyuhyun who immediately stopped him from doing anything stupid. He had never expected to see Victoria, the stuck up ‘princess’ who had been sticking to him like a gum shamelessly.

He had made it clear that he didn’t love her, but even until now, Victoria was still the usual Victoria. A hardheaded noble lady who was so full of herself. It was bothersome, but she was too stubborn to be handled lightly.

“I’m tired, I’m going to sleep,” Hyukjae said, lying down on the bed without even changing his clothes.

Donghae knew he had to be careful not to anger the blonde, but seeing him with his oversized shirt that showed a little bit of his smooth shoulder and the tight jeans he was wearing, he somehow felt like having a ‘snack time’ right now. He slowly climbed onto the bed and hovered on top of the blonde, staring at his peaceful sleeping face. He was about to lean down and kiss him, when suddenly Hyukjae opened his eyes.

“What the hell are you planning to do?” Hyukjae asked, frowning.

“Umm…” Donghae grinned sheepishly, trying to think of the best answer he could give. But before he could even move, Hyukjae had already kicked him out of the bed mercilessly, without even bothering to take a look at his face.

“I’m still annoyed at you. So sleep somewhere else,” Hyukjae said, throwing down a pillow at the latter.

“But I can’t sleep if you’re not with me,” Donghae whined.

“You’re not a baby.”

“But I need you.”

“Be quiet, Donghae. I need to sleep.”

This is the worst day ever, Donghae thought. Sighing, he approached Hyukjae and pulled the comforter up to his chest, before leaning down to place a kiss on his forehead. “Sleep well then,” he whispered.

Taking the pillow that Hyukjae had ‘kindly’ given to him just now, he walked out of his room with heave steps, and closed the door tightly. He didn’t think he could sleep in his room without ‘molesting’ Hyukjae while he was sleeping, so it’d be better to stay outside. He sighed once again as he sat down, with his back leaning against the door.

“This will be a very long night,” he said, while looking out the huge window in front of him. If only Victoria didn’t show up at the palace, he’d be enjoying his time with Hyukjae right now, without a doubt.

“That woman,” Donghae gritted his teeth, “I’m gonna throw her into the Dark Abyss if I see her again.”

“Whoa, what’s this?”

Donghae looked up, getting even more annoyed when he saw Kyuhyun approaching him with a huge grin plastered on his stupid face. To think that the latter would be the one to see him like this, he really felt like his pride had been crushed to pieces.

“What happened to you?” Kyuhyun asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at the closed door.

“I got kicked out,” Donghae answered half-heartedly, which made Kyuhyun burst into laughter right away.

“Want me to lend you one of my rooms?”

“Shut up.”

“Well, you have to sort it out by yourself. But right now, you have another thing to focus on. It seems like you have a visitor, brother,” Kyuhyun said, pointing his thumb at a small figure behind him, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “The ‘information dealer’ Dion is here to see you.”

_______________________________

When Hyukjae opened his eyes, he was only greeted by the silence around him. Yawning, he lazily climbed off of the bed and walked towards the window, looking out at the dark sky. The strong wind outside seemed to have woken him up from his deep sleep, as if a storm was coming.

Now that he was alone inside this spac