“Seunghyun.”

                “Huh.”

                “Yah, Choi Seunghyun.”

                “Whaa.”

                “Choi. Seung. Hyun.” CL emphasized, poking him on the forehead. “Are you there?”

                The two were seated in Seunghyun’s bedroom: Seunghyun was sitting on his bed, blanking out as CL hopped off the bed and began pacing around.

                Earlier, Seunghyun had just been woken up, finding himself in a bathtub all by himself. Wasn’t… Jiyong with me? Huh. Oh well. Nonetheless, he staggered out, all by himself, and found the group seated in the living room chatting away.

                CL found him and chuckled slightly, asking him to have a little talk.

                “You’ve been spacing out for a while now. What’s on your mind?” She asked, leaning back on the dresser. She crossed her arms and sighed, feeling a twinge of pity on the tired beast.

                “Ah, not much. Just still trying to get my inner beast in check.”

                CL’s eyebrows rose. “Oh. Is that so?”

                He nodded meekly, staring at the glowing rose that remained perched at his window. I almost forgot about that rose… He thought, sighing. “I’ve been in constant conflict with it all the time. But, the weird thing is, it’s not the inner beast that I’m used to seeing unleashed from me. Do you kinda know what I mean?”

                “Yeah, the beast before kinda wanted to kill everyone. Right? You were like a savage the first few days, from what Daesung told me.”

                “You seem so close with Daesung…” Seunghyun said, furrowing his eyebrows. “Is he chill with you being a witch? I mean, it IS pretty surprising that he was chill with me turning into a beast… but the fact that he’s chill with the crazy witch that turned me this way is pretty mind boggling.”

                CL gulped. He may be onto something…  She thought to herself, biting her lower lip. But he must not know. Not until the spell breaks, at least. “Ah, I guess we kinda clicked when we first met.” She chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

                Seunghyun nodded to himself. “Oh. I see. But anyway… Yeah, I was so not used to being in this new body and everything the first few days. I’d have blackouts and fury unleashed and stuff like that.”

                “Well, that’s understandable, isn’t it?” she hummed to herself, keeping a mental note to NEVER EVER turn someone else into a beast EVER AGAIN.

                “Yeah…” he said slowly, frowning. “But lately… I’ve been feeling a sort of ‘different’… beast.” He said slowly, trying to successfully unpack his feelings onto words. “Do you know what I mean? Argh, I don’t expect you to. This is just so confusing to me… This ‘beast’ makes me feel differently sometimes. I-I don’t know.”

                CL laughed brightly, jumping up and sitting next to him on the bed, swinging her legs on the edge. Of course she understood. That’s what the spell is all about.

                “What are you laughing at?” The prince pouted, feeling somewhat embarrassed for expressing his concerns and feelings.

                “Love.” She said, giggling as she gazed up at the ceiling.

                “H-Huh?”

                “It’s love you’re feeling.” She smiled, looking into his eyes.

                “W-What do you mean?”

                “Are you really that stupid?”

                “W-Well…” he started, trying to defend himself, blushing, “it’s kinda been hard to know what was going on… being a beast and all. All my feelings are out of check, leaving a very confused Seunghyun behind. C’mon, CL.”

                “Well, I guess that’s true…” she mumbled to herself, nodding. “Well, lemme help you unpack this, eh? First question. Who makes you laugh the hardest?”

                “Kwanghee. I love that man. Even though he waxed my abs.”

                “He what.”

                “N-Never mind.”

                “OKAY. Why don’t we start a little closer to home…? Like, someone ACTUALLY INSIDE THE HOUSE.”

                “Kwon Jiyong.” He said confidently, nodding. Ok, ok. Good start. CL said, smiling to herself.

                “Good. Onto the next question. And this time, KEEP IT INSIDE THE HOUSE.”

                “Fine.” He said, pouting.

                “Who do you consider to be a good friend of yours?”

                “Kwon Jiyong.”

                “Nice. Kay, next question. What’s your reason to wake up every single day?”

                “K-Kwon Jiyong.” He said, lightly smiling as he lowered his eyes to the ground. I know where this is going. Seunghyun thought to himself, biting his lower lip as he tried not to smile any further.

                “Correct me if I’m wrong… but are your cheeks a light shade of pink?”

                “Correct me if I’m wrong, but are we done with these embarrassing questions?” Seunghyun snapped, crossing his arms. She’s not getting away with embarrassing me, though.

                “Nope, Mr. Sassmaster, I’m not done with you. Gosh, you’re such a diva I can’t even handle it.” She sighed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. “Anyway. Question four. Who makes you the happiest in your life right now?”

                “Kwon Jiyong.” Seunghyun breathed, feeling his heart flutter.

                “You know it’s love.”

                “Y-Yeah. So… I’m in love.”

                “Exactly. Gosh, it took you this long to figure it out… nice going. Anyway. Last question. Who was Mr. Prince Charming kissing a couple of nights before?”

                “Y-YAH, HOW D-DID YOU…? W-WHAT?” Seunghyun cried, falling off the bed in pure shock, earning a huge THUMP sound on the ground.

                CL smirked and hopped off the bed, crouching down to the motionless prince on the ground. “I have my ways, Seunghyun. I see everything.”

                No response from the beast.

                “I. See. Everything.” She said again, enunciating each word.

                Still, no response.

                “Yah, Choi Seunghyun, don’t you dare ignore me. Did you hear what I said?” She called, rolling him over. Her eyes widened as she realized that he had hit his head on the ground, knocking him out.

                Did I… kill him!? She thought to herself. Wait… Nahh… if he were dead, the death angels would’ve arrived and I would have to deal with them, scolding them for leaving a scent of DEAD PEOPLE everywhere.

                Maybe he’s just knocked out.

                Well, perfect timing, eh? I’ll just shorten his spell period to a month now. It won’t hurt him and I studied how to do it very well.

                Well… here goes nothing.

                She began whispering a spell, feeling a twinge of guilt in her heart. She hoped that she wasn’t going to ruin anything to the best of her ability; she already has by interfering.

                All I have to do is to try a bit harder to make them two realize their feelings.

                She finished the spell and bent down, giving Seunghyun a sad smile.

                “I’m sorry, Seunghyun. I’m sorry.”

                “So. What’s your first wish gonna be?” the man asked, crossing his legs as he leaned back in his comfortable chair. The two were seated in a café, discussing some business.

                Seungri placed his chin in his hands, pouting in thought. “Hmm. Okay… so this is gonna be so difficult… I have so many things to wish for… AH! I GOT IT!”

                “Finally! After so many hours.” The man said, chuckling.

                “I wish for a million wishes!”

                “…It doesn’t really work that way. I wish I could wish for a million wishes.”

                Seungri slumped in his seat in defeat. “Okay, fine, Tablo. I’ll have to think about this then…”

                “I guess that’s alright. I’m in no rush, really. But don’t say my name in public.”

                “Why?”

                “I’d like to keep my name a secret, if you don’t mind.”

                “Oho, you’re a notorious drug dealer or something?” Seungri mocked, pretending to act scared.

                Tablo sighed, rubbing his temples. “Just don’t. I don’t wanna be found out by the others.”

                “The others?”

                “People from my world. I don’t want them to know I’m here.”

                Seungri nodded slowly, not finding much understanding but nodding nonetheless.

                I wonder what’s up your sleeve, Tablo. I wonder…

                Evening. The sun was beginning to set, coloring the wide, open sky with a shade of pink and orange. Seunghyun had woken up, finding himself tucked in his bed warmly. Huh. Weird. What happened…? He thought to himself, frowning. All I remember is talking to Chae Lin and… that’s it.

                GASP. THAT WITCH. SHE PROBABLY DID SOMETHING TO ME.

                He jumped off his bed and ran to his dresser, studying his appearance in the mirror. Has he turned into a cat? A dog? A bird? A poodle? Is that a dog? Whatever.

                But no, he was still the same old beast, just with a new red bump on his forehead. He gingerly touched it, wincing as he felt throbbing.

                “Aish, what did I do…?” he mumbled, dragging his feet out of the room. Where was everyone?

                He heard some laughter in the library on his way out, causing him to skid to a halt. He popped his head in the doorway, curious to see what lay behind the door. To his surprise, he saw Jiyong sitting at a desk with Taeyang, accompanied by a bunch of books sprawled out on the desk. Daesung , CL, and Sangchu were also there, enjoying the presence of the new teacher.

                “Oh, look! Sleeping Beauty’s up!” Daesung joked, motioning Seunghyun to come join them.

                “See? I told you guys that I didn’t have to kiss him in order to wake him up!” the boy pouted, burying his head in a big book to cover his flustered expression. CL and Daesung both snickered, trying to stifle their laughter. And he SWORE he heard a chuckle come from Sangchu.

                Seunghyun blushed as he gave CL and Daesung a death glare, mentally throwing them across the room for making a fool out of him. “I was knocked out; of course I wouldn’t be able to wake up.” He grumbled, pulling up a chair and sitting next to the boy. He noticed the pink tint in the boy’s cheeks and whipped his head over to CL and Daesung, narrowing his eyes as he watched them wiggle their eyebrows.

                “Nice to have you here, Seunghyun.” Taeyang smiled, flipping through one of his books, all written in Braille.

                “Thank you.” Seunghyun said politely, smiling as well. “What are we fixing to learn?”

                “Math.”

                “Dammit.”

         It began to become a routine for the next couple of days: Seunghyun would wake up, trot into Jiyong’s room, rip off his blanket, and start whacking him with his fluffy pillow, waking the boy up. Usually, Jiyong would whine in protest as Seunghyun jumped up and down like a 5 year old would, disrupting a well-needed sleep for the boy.

                “Wake up! Wake up!” Seunghyun sang. “It’s time for school!”

                “Since when did you get excited for school…?” Jiyong mumbled, curling up into a ball and burying his face into his pillow.

                Ever since I got to go to school with you. “I’ve always been excited, what are you talking about?”

                “Whatever… I remember the exact look on your face when Taeyang told you that we were going to learn math.”

                “That was the face of pure excitement.”

                “That was more like the face of pure terror and disgust.”

                “You get those two mixed up quite often, Jiyong. C’mon now, get up. C’MON!”

                Jiyong resisted and felt around for his phone, trying to see what time it was. In the end, he began groping his to check if his phone was nestled safely in his pocket. Why… Why did you do that…? The prince thought to himself, biting his lower lip to prevent himself from getting any wrong ideas. Please don’t touch your like that. He mustered all of his self control and looked away, closing his eyes shut.

                You know you’re in love, Seunghyun. A little voice in his head said.

                And he knew it.

                After Chae Lin pointed it out, it only had gotten worse. He was now fully aware of it and that was ALL he could think about. He couldn’t even focus on studying. But yet he came to the library early, sitting and waiting eagerly for Taeyang to start class.

                Just so he could see the boy and his smiling face.

                “It’s only 6:30 in the morning. You have three seconds to tell me you woke me up this early.” The boy said darkly, sounding all too y to Seunghyun’s ears. Jiyong… calling the shots? That’s downright y. I’m .

                …GOSH, DAMMIT CL. EVER SINCE YOU POINTED IT OUT TO ME, I’VE BEEN HAVING UNECESSARY THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM. GAH. BAD SEUNGHYUN. BAD.

                “Um…” he said, smiling guiltily like an idiot.

                “One.”

                “It’s because…”

                “Two.”

                “I-IS IT WRONG TO SAY THAT I WANT MORE TIME TO SPEND WITH YOU TODAY!?” Seunghyun blurted out, not even having to review or process what he said.

                “Thr-” Jiyong started, pausing at the prince’s words. He remained silent and buried his face into his pillow again. “O-Oh.” He said, his voice muffled.

                “S-So yeah. T-That’s all I wanted.” Seunghyun said, wrapping his arms around his pillow and burying his chin in it. “B-But I mean, it’s okay if you want to get more sleep. Yeah.”

                And with that said, he turned around and began walking towards the door, wanting to collapse on the floor and die on the spot because of literally embarrassing himself in front of his crush.

                “W-Wait.”

                Seunghyun stopped abruptly in his tracks, but did not turn around. “Yes, Ji?”

                “C’mon, let’s go make breakfast together. It’d be nice, spending more time with you. I’d like that.”