L.Joe was standing by the door inside his father’s study. The King was stood in front of the fireplace facing away from his son.

‘…Dad?’ L.Joe said but was met with silence. He repeated himself. Again silence.

‘DAD! Would you say something already? What the hell just happened?! What on Earth is wrong with you?!’ L.Joe shouted, fuming, he was annoyed at his father for acting strangely and scaring Chunji but he was even more annoyed by the way Chunji had reacted to him.

Jiyong turned around and took long strides towards L.Joe till he was a foot away from him.

‘Do not raise your voice on your father boy, and do not ever, ever, speak to me in that way ever again. Do you understand?’ Jiyong asked in a dangerously low tone and looked at the younger boy with a heated gaze.

‘Yes, sir’ L.Joe stuttered taking half a step backwards.

His father diverted his eyes and nodded, turning away from L.Joe again and slowly making his way to the armchair by the fireplace and lowering himself into it.

Still curious, L.Joe gathered his courage and stepped towards his father.

‘Father…please…please tell me what’s wrong. Who is Kevin? And what is he to you?’ L.Joe pleaded with his father in a soft voice.

‘Byunghun!! Do not say his name!!! Do not ask about this anymore!!’ His father shouted at him, his voice shaking with anger.

Suddenly L.Joe was startled by a hand on his shoulder, he spun around to see Taeyang.

‘Byunghun, it is better to not talk about this anymore and forget about it.’ Taeyang said to him.

‘But…’

‘No more. Now you should leave and let your father rest, he is exhausted.’

L.Joe was about to protest again but the squeeze of his shoulder and the look in Taeyangs eyes told him not to and he gave up.

With slumped shoulders, L.Joe began to walk towards the door. As he turned to close the door he heard a choked sob-like sound and looked into the room one last time and saw Taeyang on his knees by the fireplace, with what looked like Jiyongs shaking figure in his arms.

As the door closed, L.Joe stared absently at the intricate wood designs, bewildered by the thought of his father, the King, crying. He had never, in his whole life, seen his father cry. Even when L.Joes mother had passed away, his father had only shed a single tear on the day of her burial.

*

‘Has he fallen asleep?’

‘…yes’

Niel sat it the bed with his legs stretched out and a sleeping Chunji laying in his arms as he his soft hair and tear-stained face. It had taken a while to bandage the boys wounds and to calm down the hysterical boy but he had finally fallen asleep and now all their friends who had worriedly waited outside the door of the room began quietly coming in.

‘Ahhh Chunnie-hyung~~’ Ricky cooed as he saw the fragile-looking boy

‘Shhhh! He’s asleep.’ C.A.P scolded him.

‘Poor baby.’ Key said as he went around the bed to stand by Chunjis side. Taemin followed him and placed a small carton of banana milk on the bedside table, ‘This is for Chunji hyung to get better’ he said.

‘Niel?’

‘Hmm?’

‘What happened? Why did Chunji react like that?’ Jonghyun asked

‘Is it something to do with this Kevin person?’ Kai asked

Niel looked up at his friends with weary eyes. Should he tell them? Could he trust them? Yes, but was it even his place to tell. What if someone else found out? What would happen then?

Taking a deep breath Niel decided he knew and trusted the boys enough to tell them a little part of the story to keep them satisfied until Chunji was ready to tell them everything.

‘Yes it has to do with Kevin.’

‘Who is Kevin to Chunji?’

‘He is a m…a parent.’

Silence followed this statement. Everyone knew that Chunjis parents were dead and that it was a sore subject for the boy whose past still tormented him.

‘Was he a good person? Did he love Chunji? Did Chunji love him?’ Ricky asked

‘Yes. He was an amazing parent.’

‘So, what was that with the King?’ Jonghyun asked

‘Chunji looks a lot like Kevin, and the King probably mistook him for Kevin.’ Niel replied.

‘So what was the reason for him to act like that towards Chunji?’ Kai asked

‘The King and Kevin used to be very close friends at one point but there was a misunderstanding and a falling out. There were things that Kevin has done that the King finds wrong.’

‘Illegal things?’ C.A.P asked

Niel hesitated. ‘…yes. But not the bad kind of illegal things.’

Ricky went to open his mouth and question Niel further however Chunji at this moment grumbled in his sleep and rolled over to curl further into Niels side.

‘Now you should all leave and go rest. Tomorrow we will have a lot of work to do clearing up after the feast.’ Niel ordered.

The boys all grumbled but understood and began filing out of the room all glancing back one last time. C.A.P turned around before he closed the door and looked at the two boys.

‘Niel?’

‘Hmm?’

‘If you ever need anything, I mean anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. Don’t forget to look after yourself as well.’

‘Thanks hyung.’

‘Also…’

‘Yes?’

‘You know you can trust me right?’

Niel who had been looking down at Chunji this whole time finally looked up. He saw the sincerity in C.A.Ps eyes and felt his heart warm at the older boys words.

He nodded and smiled at C.A.P and the boy smiled back before turning to leave the room and closing the door gently. In that moment Niel knew that he and Chunji had finally found a home and people who they could trust and he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders.

*

‘Ok now boys!!! Curfew starts soon, time to close the gates!!!’ the gatekeeper hollered and as ordered a few soldiers began rotating the wheels that pulled the huge, heavy wooden gates closed. Just as the two doors were about to meet, an object was stuck through the crack, jamming it.

‘What the…?’ the gatekeeper began, ‘Who’s there?’ he motioned for the soldiers to open the gates.

As soon as the gates opened a tall, cloaked, teenaged figure in the shape of a man stepped through and into the light of the torches, however his face was still hidden by the hood.

Annoyed by being ignored by this stranger would had turned up in the middle of the night and suspicious of his intentions, the gatekeeper drew his sword, pointing it at the figure and asked what their name was again.

The figure let out a low chuckle and raised his hands to the hood of his cloak, lifting the material up to reveal his face.

‘My name is…’

Author's Note: So yeah...new chapter whoop! I'm really crap at these author note thingies. Also sorry about any grammatical or spelling mistakes, I've tried proof-reading but yeah and English isn't my first language (kekeke best excuse evaaarrr but no really it isn't) Anyhoo, does anyone want to hazard a guess at who the cloaked figure is?? Also please comment!!! Any little thing motivates me to write more!!! Also tell me if you want me to change the font size or whatever!