“Found it!” Heechul declared, waving a set of papers stapled together above his head. He dashed straight through the other cast members who were standing around and headed directly towards Donghae. “I believe this is yours, darling.”

“Uh, thank you, Mr. Kim.” Donghae said, taking the papers, although he was still a little out of it. “I’ll read it over now then.”

“You’d better. I was thinking we could have you just do a quick run through of one of the scenes today. If you were feeling up to it, that is,” the drama teacher added in that line that teachers especially loved to use. If you’re feeling up to it, automatically signifies that this isn’t a choice. You are feeling up to it, and you will do whatever it is they want you to do. It’s just a way for teachers to try and keep themselves sounding nice toward their students without actually losing anything.

“Yeah, yes, of course sir,” Donghae mumbled, then added, “What scene?”

While Heechul began to direct the star actor on the play, Kibum noticed someone watching them from the corner of the auditorium. The boy spun his head to try and catch the spy in the act, however there was no one there. Kibum told himself that he was just imagining things and that he was being too paranoid. The boy was just concerned for his dear friend Donghae. He didn’t want a repeat of what happened last year. Especially since the circumstances were so similar.

“Kibum?” Donghae asked, tapping him on the shoulder to attract his attention. “Could you help me with this scene?”

“Oh yeah, sure thing, Hae,” Kibum smiled, shaking his head to rid himself of any other distractions.

The two boys began to act out the scene where the mercenary – Donghae – confronts the princess – Kibum – to stop following him around because he was secretly worried for her safety. Meanwhile, backstage a girl was breathing heavily, her heartbeat pumping with the spiked adrenaline that came from eavesdropping on a certain someone with a very perceptible friend. The girl didn’t really want to be doing this, in fact she would rather not even be acting in the play at all, but she didn’t have a choice in the matter. If she had not agreed to do all of this, then she would have been put through even worse tortures. Instead, the girl became a spy and an actress for the sake of saving her life. Even if it meant ruining someone else’s. Not that she had anything against Lee Donghae. She actually had a little crush on him in their first year of high school. Not that he would have known that. She was invisible to him most of the time, but it seemed that the transparency was fading away lately.

“Lee Donghae! Are you ready?” Heechul called louder than needed, startling Donghae and Kibum out of their mini-rehearsal.

Donghae in a breath and nodded his head slowly. He wasn’t really ready, but he could bring the script up on stage, so it should be alright.

“Alright then, let’s get on with the show!” Heechul bellowed from his seat in the front row of seats.

The brunet nervously climbed the stairs to the stage and took his place to the side where he couldn’t be seen. He waited patiently, fidgeting with his fingers, while the princess made her way to the stage. Seohyun wasn’t in a costume when she arrived centre stage, but she still looked beautiful. Even Donghae could admit to that. He hadn’t noticed the other times that he had seen her, but today Seohyun was glowing. Donghae thought it may be an effect of being the lead actress and that of a princess that made her adopt a sort of royal and elegant air to her.

“Brave knight, where dost thou dwell when thy words of promise swore you and I to meet upon this location at this hour? Please do not make me await your appearance for I will surely worry should you prolong your arrival.” The sound of the Princess speaking her lines with confidence and real emotions snapped Donghae out of his trance. He looked down at his script and fortified himself before sauntering onto the stage and stopping at an arm’s length away from the Princess.

“Princess, my dear, dear Princess. My deepest apologies for having you wait on my lowly presence. There happened to be a band of brigands loitering around and I thought it would be only just to slay them in chance they would have happened upon you, milady.” The Mercenary bowed his head and kept it down until the Princess softly placed her hands on his shoulders.

“No, my sweet soldier, you need not apologize. Oh! Art thou hurt? We must tend to the wound for fear that it should fester and rot, as do the horrid wounds sustained on the battlefield.”

“Tis but a scratch, and this is not the battlefield milady, these are the – most often – peaceful woods that lay just outside the royal citadel. I was only doing my duty as hired arms by your father and king.” The Mercenary swiftly slipped out of the Princess’s touch and stepped backwards a few feet. “This, however, brings up a topic of pressing matters.”

“Whatever could it be?” The Princess asked, tilted her head in what seemed to be pure confusion.

“Although you are indeed dear to me as the daughter of my employer, and that of a royal and respectful being, I fear that this can no longer continue.” The Mercenary turned his head away from the Princess and swerved his entire body with it.

“What doth thou mean by that? You could not possibly mean–”

“Alas, I do. Our secret meetings can no longer occur. I wish not for this to continue on, and your immediate return to the castle is being requested. I would also appreciate, should your highness allow a being of such low stature to utter such words, that you would not return to these woods or visit me again.” With that, the Mercenary began to leave, when his hand was suddenly grabbed by the Princess.

“No! I will not allow it! Do you truly wish this of me? Do you truly wish that we separate on such terms? Have you not yet realised the magnitude and honesty of my feelings towards you?” Upon the Mercenary’s silence, the Princess continued. “If I must order you to stay with me, so be it. I fear that I cannot be without thee by my side.”

“If thou should order me, then I fear myself that I should betray those orders. If I shall be thrown in the jail or beheaded for such treachery, then that should be my fate. It would be a much better one than staying with you, Princess.”

“How dare you display such treason?!” In a sudden burst of stage fury, the Princess brought her hand to connect harshly with the Mercenary’s cheek with open palm. A loud slap echoed throughout the auditorium and everyone was stunned, but no one said anything. In fact, the show went on. “Oh my brave knight!” The Princess rushed towards the Mercenary and cupped his red cheek in her hand.

“I am no knight, milady, I am but a man driven by one sole purpose; money. I earn coin as I travel the land, and it happened only to be coincidence that my sword was needed in this kingdom. You are but a distraction to my work, harsh as it is true, I will not lie to such a beautiful face as yours. And that is the truth.” The Mercenary put a hand on the Princess’s wrist and was about to pull it down when the Princess resisted.

“Is a man just a man to his lover? No. A man is everything and anything that his lover wishes and believes him to be, and art thou not my lover? Have we not shared so much, and to come to this sour conclusion? I love you, be you a knight, a mercenary, or a man, this is the truth.”

The Princess cupped both of the Mercenary’s cheeks and brought his face close to hers. In the flash of no more than a second’s time, her lips were on his. It was a chaste kiss that lasted no more than ten seconds before the Princess, or rather Seohyun, let go and backed away. Donghae had been completely out of order since the shocking slap that he had had no way of really defending himself against the surprising finale. It seemed that the same was the case for the rest of the audience who were seeing such a scene for the first time.

“Magnificento! Simply superb!” Heechul sang out as he stood from his seat and began clapping frantically. After his outburst, there was a realisation that rang out through the assorted crowd of actors who followed the teacher’s lead and began clapping. It was confused clapping at first, and then it was as loud as it could have been with their small cast as a crowd.

Donghae was stuck in a daze and Seohyun was bowing shyly before she got off of the stage, leaving the brunet by himself up there. Kibum quickly hopped onto the stage and stood beside him. He put a hand on the frozen boy’s shoulder and waved his hand in front of his face.

“Hello? Earth to Donghae? Are you alright?” Kibum asked worriedly, meanwhile, Heechul was going crazy over the performance.

“That was amazing! I knew it was the right choice to cast you two as the leads – no – the stars of the show! What a waste that this is only going to be for the open house, we simply must have another play later on this year. Oh I just loved it! It wasn’t really scripted at all, but I still loved it. Especially that little slap and kiss that you added in there Seohyun dear. It was simply magnificent.” Heechul continued to ramble off compliments, to both actor and actress, although it rang on deaf ears to the former. 

Donghae stumbled down the stairs with a dazed mindset, not even registering that Kibum had been talking to him. The brunet made his way to a chair and sat down with his hands folded across his chest in denial. He couldn’t really believe what had just happened, and he sure as hell wasn’t ready to accept it and move on.

“Donghae?” Kibum asked, sitting down beside him and resting a hand on his friend’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort the boy. “Donghae?”

“Huh? What?” Donghae said after a minute of silence, and straightened up in his seat to look beside him and meeting Kibum’s expectant gaze. “Oh, right. Yeah. Oh my god.” Donghae lowered his head in his hands. “Oh. My. God.”

“Is your face alright? It looked like she slapped you pretty hard.”

“Uh, yeah, no, not really. It’s, it’s kinda, well it’s stinging, for one. Oh my god.” The stunned actor sat up and touched his reddened cheek and then his fingers lingered on his lips where… Seohyun had kissed him.

“I know you weren’t ready for that and it was pretty much pushing a lot of boundaries and personal space and all that stuff, but with all things considered, it was an amazing performance.” Kibum smiled, patting the boy on his back.

“Really? Thanks, but man was I not ready for that. I thought I was going to die. Oh my god. Why did she even do that? Last time I saw her she was running away from me scared for some reason… now this?” Donghae shook his head in disbelief. “I just don’t understand.”

“Wait a minute, you said she ran away from you?” Kibum questioned.

“Well, yeah. I mean, we bumped into each other in the hall, and when I tried talking to her, she got up and ran off saying something like she ‘couldn’t’ talk to me. It was weird, but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore…”

“Weird, yeah.” Kibum said and looked at the actress shyly accepting people’s compliments, like she didn’t mean to do all of that in the first place.

Heechul made his way over to the two boys seated in the audience and stood in front of them.

“Donghae, we’re going to go through another scene, you’re not in it this time, but if you could stick around?” Heechul asked, waiting expectantly for the main actor’s response.

“Um, actually, Mr. Kim, I kind of need to…” Donghae looked to Kibum for help.

“Right! Sorry sir, but we have to study for this killer chemistry test next period, and lunch is almost over.” Kibum butted in.

“Oh, is that so? Well, I guess I can’t get in the way of your academics. Hmm, alright, well the next rehearsal is tomorrow after school, so come prepared.”

Both boys said they would and then grabbed their things and hurried out of the auditorium. Just as they were at the door, one of the cast members walked up to them and tapped Kibum’s shoulder. The boy turned around and Donghae stopped to see what was happening.

“Sorry to bother you, but I need to measure Kibum for his costume. We’re doing the knights and guards first, and it won’t take that long either. Please?” The guy said; it appeared that he was from the fashion class that was helping with the play for costumes.

Kibum looked at Donghae with an apologetic face. “Sorry Hae, I won’t be long, promise.” And with that, both boys were gone and Donghae was left alone at the entrance. He fumbled a bit with saying anything in return and instead just continued on his way outside. He’d had enough drama for the day.

The brunet put his hand on the door handle and pushed, but the door didn’t move like it normally would. He tried again, this time with more force, and it budged a little, but the door still didn’t open. Nervously, Donghae looked around the auditorium for anyone who might be watching him, and wondered if it was a door you pull instead and if anyone had seen him make that kind of mistake, he would have been mortified. Donghae tried again, this time pulling the door handle, but it still wouldn’t move. The brunet stepped back and looked at the door, puzzled. He was just about to go to the other exit when the double doors sprung open, knocking the boy on his bottom to avoid being hit.

“Ouch…” The brunet groaned on the floor, his hand rubbing his sore back as he slowly opened his eyes to see what had caused the door to fly open like that. As soon as his eyes met with what stood before him, his body froze in its place.

“Surprised to see me?” A voice called out to him, and he could almost see the venom that dripped from it.

“H-Hyukjae.” The boy whimpered. His head dropped to the ground. He shut his eyes tightly, wishing that this wasn’t actually happening.

“ you too.” The platinum blond growled, and he stepped closer to the brunet on the ground. Hyukjae reached out to touch the boy below him. Donghae flinched as he saw the hand come close to him, reflexes he told himself. Hyukjae clicked his tongue and pulled the boy up so that they were face to face. Donghae’s breath hitched as his eyes darted towards Hyukjae’s lips and then eyes that were so close to his.

“What do you want?” Donghae asked, trying to come off as nonchalant, but anyone with decent eyesight could see that he was shaking.

“What do I want?” Hyukjae laughed, acting like it was incredibly obvious what he wanted. “I want to know why the you’re in this ty play.” Although that wasn’t what the blond had really wanted to say, not that he could have come clean with his true desires.

“I don’t think that’s any of your concern,” Donghae’s tongue darted out of his thin lips and then disappeared again. “At least, not anymore it isn’t.”

Hyukjae’s hand was still on the boy’s wrist, and at this comment his grip tightened sharply. Donghae’s face contorted in pain for a brief moment, but the boy willed himself to hold it in. He wanted to look strong right now. One more loss in front of this man and he didn’t think that he would be able to stand himself.

“The you mean by that, boy?” The way the words rolled off of Hyukjae’s tongue and the fire in his eyes shocked Donghae, although he didn’t really expect anything besides this when he dared to say those words.

“You know what I meant when I said it.” The brunet said.

With each second Donghae became more and more daring and confident with his words. He was overcome with a sudden surge of irritation. He was annoyed at himself for always being a coward in front of Hyukjae after what had happened between them, and he was annoyed that Hyukjae was still acting this way towards him. These kinds of wounds may not heal as fast as others, but it had been almost a full year since everything and he was tired. Donghae was so tired of hating himself and locking it all away and just feeling so useless in front of the other. He didn’t want to be the blubbering mess he usually was, but he didn’t know if he could pull through. He was still the same person, after all.

“You have no right after–” Hyukjae started, his eyes flaring up when Donghae interrupted him.

“No, you have no right!” Donghae shook his head, closing his eyes and then opening them again, the lock on his jar opening slightly. “And don’t even try to give me that absolute about what I put you through, okay? You put me through so much more than you could ever have felt. I mean, what do you think you would have felt like after someone breaks up with you without reason? And then after asking and begging you finally tell me the reason and it’s not even the truth! I tried to explain what happened, I tried so hard to make things right and work it out, but you wouldn’t even look at me. I tried, Hyukjae, what did you do?” Donghae closed his mouth and looked away, tears b his eyes.

The brunet harshly shook off the hand on his wrist and then stared straight into Hyukjae’s eyes. Eyes that were full of hurt, confusion, and rage.

“Woah.” Kyuhyun muttered, making his presence known for the first time since the confrontation began. He was standing behind Hyukjae and looked completely unsure of what he should do in this situation. Hyukjae on the other hand blinked his eyes and his features turned from almost sympathetic and apologetic to vengeful.

“You don’t know about what happened, Donghae, so don’t stand there like a baby with in’ tears in your eyes. Stop trying to make yourself into the victim here, you’re a and you know it. Oh, and don’t think that I don’t know about your real reason for doing this play. You just want to get into some more unsuspecting girls’ pants, you .”

A clean slap echoed throughout the auditorium. Donghae pushed past Hyukjae and then Kyuhyun. Salty tears cascaded down his cheeks as he quickly ran out of the school, leaving a red-faced and emotionless blond behind.

“.” Hyukjae cussed, lowering his gaze and clenching his fists.

It's been awhile, sorry, been writing this on and off, dealing with anxiety and stress for my writing, asking for your kind understanding, my faithful readers. 

Thanks ♥