“When are you going to tell Seunghyun?” Daesung asked CL, kicking a small stone in his path. The two were strolling around in the garden that morning, refreshing themselves before Seunghyun’s and Jiyong’s breakfast. The wind was a bit colder nowadays, foreshadowing the cold winter that loomed close by.

                CL pouted slightly, deep in thought. “I don’t know…” she murmured to herself, closing her eyes, burying her face into her scarf. “I think it’s best if we didn’t tell him, though.”

                “How so?”

                “Well, it’ll only be more complicated if we DID try to explain it to him, you know? Plus, we’d have to explain Seungri, you, Sangchu, everything.” She sighed, wrapping herself up in her arms. CL sat down on a stone bench, motioning Daesung to come sit next to her.

                “That is true…” Daesung nodded, looking down at his feet. “But we’re going to have to make them realize their feelings sooner. I know it sounds forced and unnatural to try to make them fall in love by force, but I mean… their love for each other is already hardwired into their systems.”

                “They’re meant for each other.” She smiled, leaning on Daesung’s shoulder.

                “Just like we’re meant for each other.” He said, pressing his cheek on her head.

                “You sound a million times cheesier than Korean dramas.” She said, chuckling. “Why did I fall in love with such a romantic?”

                “You know you have a soft spot for that kind of stuff.”

                “Valid point.” She laughed brightly, intertwining her hands with his. She softly kissed the back of his hand and closed her eyes, sighing contently.

                “By the way, I talked to Seunghyun.” CL said, smiling. “Right before I fixed the expiration date.”

                “Oh? What did you guys talk about?”

                “His feelings for Jiyong.” She said bluntly, sitting up straight and smiling wide like an idiot.

                “WOAH, WHAT?” Daesung exclaimed, sitting up straight as well. “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS.”

                She nodded proudly. “Yep. He fo-sho loves Jiyong. I helped him realize it. All this time he thought it was his inner beast.” She laughed, shaking her head.

                “Oh, my gosh…” Daesung breathed, smiling like an idiot as well.

                “That’s like, halfway.” CL said, rubbing her hands together mischievously. “Now all we need to do is allow Ji to realize his feelings… because I can feel it radiating from him, but I don’t think he’s come to terms with it yet.”

                Daesung nodded to himself, rubbing his chin in thought. “I’ll talk to him about it. We’ll see from there.”

                CL chuckled and crossed her arms, feeling smug from their accomplishments. “Man, we’re good.”

                “We so are.”

                The two shared a long moment of silence. It wasn’t the sort of silence that was awkward or tense, but more like a peaceful quiet, which both respected.

                After a long while of deep thought, CL hummed to herself, pondering the current thought that lingered in her mind. “Daesung?”

                “Hmm?”

                “If something ever happens to me...” She said slowly, hoping that he would manage to follow.

                “Uh huh?” What….? Daesung thought to himself.

                “And it causes me to forget you…”

                “Oh… alright?” Daesung said, furrowing his eyebrows. What an absurd thought. And a quick change of subject as well…

                “I-I’m just saying. I mean, anything can happen. But anyway, if I ever forget you… just remember… that I could never bring myself to love anyone else but you.”

                Daesung remained speechless and confused, his eyes wide.

                “I-I know, it’s a strange thought.” She sighed, looking up into his eyes. “I mean, anything can happen, right? Let’s say something bad happens to me… the administration could wipe my memory, blah blah blah. Something like that. But it’ll be impossible for me to forget you.”

                “What makes you say that?”

                “I will never be able to forget you, Daesung. I’ve tried forgetting you countless times… but it seems as if my whole being is hard-wired to love you.”

                Daesung felt his heart clench up with so many feelings coursing through him all at once. “Chae Lin…” he said softly, taking her hands. Wait. They were cold as ice. He felt his stomach sink. It can’t be… Her hands always turned cold as ice when something terrible was about to happen. “Y-Your hands…”

                “Yeah, I know.” She said, feeling a lump form in . “They’re cold.”

                “I-I hope it’s just a coincidence. K-Korea has some pretty cold weather.”

                “I wish, Daesung. But they’re never wrong.”

                “I-It’s the weather.” Daesung mumbled, pulling her in for an embrace. “Nothing else is going to happen. We’ve been through too much. It’s okay.” He whispered, feeling her hold him tightly. He her silky hair, wearing a sad smile upon his face.

                The two remained in an embrace for a while, savoring the moment with each other’s warmth. It was nice, to say at the very least.

                “…Do you smell what I’m smelling?” CL asked after a while, furrowing her eyebrows. “Is that-”

                “Yep. I know that smell all too well. C’mon, let’s go inside… Seunghyun must’ve burnt water or something again…”

---

 

                “The difference between the most that consumers are willing and able to pay for a given quantity of a good and what they actually pay is called a consumer surplus, which is highly…” Taeyang explained, gently flipping a page of one of the numerous books sprawled out on the study desk.

                Seunghyun rested his face on his hand, trying his hardest not to sigh exasperatedly at the boring subject of economics. He already owned most of Seoul’s nightclubs, why would he need this? He felt a sleepy feeling drag him down but the only redeeming quality of this class was Jiyong, sitting up straight in his desk as he propped his elbows on the desk, listening excitedly. How could someone be so excited for economics?

                He sighed happily as he watched the boy unconsciously pout at the difficult question that Taeyang had brought up just now. Seunghyun watched Jiyong’s eyes search furiously through his book, his long, soft eyelashes fluttering as he scanned the page for the answer. Oh, the way he smiled as Taeyang complemented him for his intelligence… it took Seunghyun down, bringing a stupid smile to his lips.

                He closed his eyes for a bit, finally succumbing to the beckoning of sleep after indulging in the pleasure of watching Jiyong. His eyelids were too heavy to lift up again, so he decided to remain silent and still, hoping that Taeyang wouldn’t notice him.

                “So, Seunghyun.” Taeyang smiled, turning towards Seunghyun. “How, then, do you calculate the elasticity of demand?”

                .

                Seunghyun swore that he saw a smirk upon Taeyang’s lips, as if to say, ’GOTCHA’. And those eyes… yes, those eyes may be sightless, but they still seem like they can see.

                “I-I… um… well. Demand is w-what people want… and so… elasticity…” he stammered, mentally thumping his head against a wall because of how absent minded he had become.

                Taeyang laughed brightly. “I’m just messing with ya. We haven’t went through that yet. But thanks for having a stab at it.”

                “No problem.” Seunghyun grumbled, crossing his arms as he stared at a giggling Jiyong. He rolled his eyes playfully as he saw the boy mouth ‘duhhh’.

                Taeyang continued to lecture, expecting the boys to take diligent notes. He may be blind, but he really does outshine most professors in the area that he not only knows in-depth information about economics, but also calculus, English, Korean, Chemistry, and Biology. Daesung didn’t hire a teacher, he hired a living computer.

                Seunghyun scrunched up his face to make a silly face, earning a stifled snicker from Jiyong. The boy returned by puffing his cheeks cutely. Seunghyun felt his heart twist as he saw the boy’s adorable position but brushed it aside, returning the gesture by pretending to silently bawl as he flipped through the enormous economics textbook. Jiyong brought his hands to his face, dragging his cheeks down and rolling his eyes to the back of his head. Okay, you’re trying to be unattractive but you’re failing, Jiyong. You’re making me fall for you even more. Is that even possible? Seunghyun pouted while trying hard not to laugh. To his dismay, his laugh partially escaped with a ‘PFFT!’.

                “Bless you, Seunghyun. Need a tissue? If not, continue taking notes.” Taeyang said sarcastically, knowing full well of the prince’s actions.

                Eep.

                Like a little child, Seunghyun pouted for the millionth time today and uttered a ‘yes sir’ and flipped open his notebook, clicking his pen to write a message to Jiyong.

                This class blows. I hate economics! The message said as he held up the notebook. The boy smiled and shook his head, flipping his already-filled notebook to a blank page.

                Then why are you here?

                Seunghyun smiled and scribbled a couple of words, feeling his heart flutter with happiness and excitement.

                You’re the only reason why I come, Ji.

                The boy blushed a bright pink, trying to find a coherent sentence to form.

                “Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I’m oblivious. Seunghyun, stop flirting. I can feel it radiating from you.” Taeyang sang, continuing to read his book in Braille.

                Both boys turned a dark shade of red as everything suddenly got awkward between everyone. They both shrunk back like turtles did with their shells, burying their noses in the collars of their shirts. To Jiyong’s relief, Daesung sauntered into the room, smiling widely (probably because he had been watching the whole thing from the beginning.)

                “Hyung, is it alright if I borrow Jiyong for a bit?” Daesung asked Taeyang, smirking at Seunghyun as he heard the prince groan in protest.

                “GET ME OUT OF HERE.” Seunghyun mouthed, clasping his hands together in prayer.

                “Nope!~” Daesung sang, smiling as he earned an ‘ok’ from Taeyang. He motioned for the boy to come along with him, leaving the suffering prince behind.

                “What’s up, dad?” Jiyong asked, shoving his hands in the pockets of his roomy hoodie as they made their way to the living room. He hopped on the couch and sighed happily, curling up into a ball.

                “I just wanted to see how you’re doing!” Daesung said, plopping himself down right next to the boy.

                “I’m doing good.” Jiyong said, smiling.

                “Oh, okay.” Daesung nodded to himself, hoping the boy would say something about Seunghyun. To his dismay, the boy fixed his eyes on him, waiting for him to say anything else.

                That just created a new atmosphere of awkward.

                Okay, Daesung. Obviously Ji’s not gonna spill his feelings of Seunghyun out to me right away. What was I ever expecting…?

                But I kinda hate this awkward atmosphere.

                Should I cut to the chase?

                Okay, yolo.

                “So I saw everything in the study room. EVERYTHING.” Daesung smirked, placing his chin in his hands. He laughed out loud as he saw the boy blush the same color of red as earlier.

                “W-What are y-you talking about?” Jiyong stammered, looking down at his feet.

                “Judging by the color of your face, I think you already know.” Daesung sang, shrugging.

                “Argh, appa…” he whined, burying his face in his knees as he pulled his legs up to his chest.

                “Why are you blushing? Why are you embarrassed?” Daesung asked, feeling sorry for making fun of the boy but WHAT HAS TO BE DONE WILL BE DONE.

                “Mrrff…” Jiyong mumbled, trying to escape the topic.

                “Could it be…” Daesung said, pretending to be shocked and widened his eyes.

                “Huh!?” the boy’s head shot up, curious of Daesung’s actions.

                “Do you… LIKE… Seunghyun?” he said, bringing his hands up to his hands. “Omo.”

                Jiyong basically died, burying his face into the sofa to hide himself from further embarrassment. “A-Appa, why did you say that!?” he cried, his voice still muffled.

                Daesung KNEW that he was acting like a 11 year-old girl, but he didn’t care. This was too fun. “So I WAS right! You DO like him!”

                “Who told you!?”

                Wait, what? WHO told me? There’s a WHO in this? Does this WHO know??

                “Wait, what?” Daesung asked, waving his arms in the air.

                “That doesn’t make sense… I only told Sangchu this.”

 

                It was a while ago, when Jiyong took Sangchu out for a walk in the garden. The boy was so lost in thought, his eyes distant with the one person in his mind- Seunghyun.

                There was so many things that had happened these past few days… and he couldn’t find any words to explain all these feelings that coursed through his mind. For some reason, his heart fluttered every time he set his eyes on Seunghyun, every time Seunghyun said something, every time Seunghyun came in to wake him up from his much-needed sleep… it was strange. It had even gotten to the point where he’d steal glances of Seunghyun whenever he wasn’t looking. Sure, there were times where he’d get caught, but for the most part, he was sneaky about it.

                But what did he like in Seunghyun?

                He was a scary-looking beast, wasn’t he? No one else would’ve been able to bring themselves to love Seunghyun.

                …not Jiyong.

                Jiyong saw past through that.

                Through all the coarseness that may appear on the outside, Jiyong saw goodness. Pure goodness. Through all the clumsiness, he saw a soft heart.

                Was that what he liked in Seunghyun?

                He didn’t know.

                “Sangchu…” he said, petting the dog, running his fingers through his white coat of fur. “What am I going to do?”

                What does he mean? Se7en though, placing his head on Jiyong’s lap.

                “I’ve been feeling strangely around Seunghyun for quite some time now…” he mused, staring at the ground. “I wonder if that’s normal.”

                You’re in love, son.

                “Could it be… that I’m in love? With Seunghyun?” the boy mumbled to himself, knitting his eyebrows. “My heart beats so fast whenever I lay my eyes on him… and I feel like my heart is about to burst. I feel like I want to be with him forever, too… I’ve long forgotten about the debt that I am to pay.”

                Se7en smiled, trying to hold back from saying ‘AWWWWWWWWWWWW’. That would freak the boy out. Instead, he the boy’s hand, receiving a giggle in return.

                “It’s a silly thought, isn’t it? Falling for a beast?”

                Not at all, Ji. Not at all.

 

                “Hmm, I wonder where Sangchu is…” Daesung mumbled, looking around. “I haven’t seen him around in about a day.”

                “Well, I saw a little identical puppy trotting about behind him one time… maybe he’s tending to his wife.” Jiyong giggled, covering his mouth.

                “He WHAT!?” Daesung exclaimed, standing up suddenly. “HE HAS A WIFE!?” AND HE DIDN’T TELL ME?

                Jiyong shrugged. “Maybe I was seeing things.”

                “We’ll see… I’ll ask him about it later…” Daesung muttered lowly to himself. “But anyway. So. Seunghyun.”