"He is a devil!"

Jaehwan whined as he lay on his bed, body face down. The day itself was tiring, because the North Prince turned into a tyrant during practice. And yet, he didn't want to stop. If only Jaehwan didn't tell him that it would affect the quality of his voice, the prince wouldn't have stopped.

"I didn't know he's going to make me suffer like this," Jaehwan said as he tucked his face onto the pillow. "Kong! Where are you?"

He then realized that Hongbin wasn't home. He would usually see him home after school, but that day, he didn't find Hongbin anywhere. He sat on the bed then stood, looking for any sign of Hongbin. "Hongbin?"

No sign of Hongbin.

"Hongbin!" He continued to look for him. "Are you here?"

He heard a sound coming from the kitchen. He went there, but no one's around. He started shivering when he heard another noise coming from the living room.

"H-Hongbin! Hongbin..." He started falling and sitting on the kitchen floor. "S-Stop... Stop, don't bother me..." Jaehwan covered his ears and tucked his head between his legs. He heard another noise, that time it was louder. "N-No! Don't!"

"Your Highness!"

Hongbin, who just arrived, ran towards him as he left the groceries on the floor.

"Jaehwan!" Hongbin shook Jaehwan. "I-I'm here now... Sorry... Jaehwan..."

"T-They... they were here," Jaehwan looked at Hongbin, his eyes were red due to crying.

Hongbin held Jaehwan and hugged him tightly. "No... they weren't. No one's going to hurt you, Your Highness. No one."

***

"You've been stressed out lately, Jaehwan," Hongbin said as he prepared their dinner. "I guess it's because you took another job as a vocal teacher aside from your work in the bar."

Jaehwan had finally calmed down. But he would admit that his condition was getting worse as time passed by. Even though Hongbin told him to stop stressing himself, he said that he would be fine, as long as he would be with him.

Hongbin would always be with him. He would make sure that before Jaehwan got home, he would be there waiting. Jaehwan could not leave alone, because even if he tried, he would always ended up being paranoid. Hongbin knew Jaehwan had a past even before they met, and it was still unknown to him. His father didn't tell him anything about it. But regardless of knowing the real reason or not, he promised that he would stay with Jaehwan so he really would fulfill that promise.

"I'm sorry if I made you worry. I am fine now," Jaehwan said with a smile. He would always forget about his paranoia after its attack. The only thing that he would remember was the fact that he disliked being alone because ghosts would haunt him. "Where did you go earlier?"

"Ah," Hongbin put some soup into Jaehwan's bowl. "I went to the grocery to buy us food. But then, I was caught in a fight so I arrived a little late."

"W-What? You had a fight? With whom?" Jaehwan stood and checked if Hongbin had bruises. It turned out that he had. When Jaehwan touched his face, Hongbin felt shivers in his spine. It was weird because he hadn't felt such thing. He stepped back a little, a little that Jaehwan didn't even realize it. Hongbin stared at Jaehwan's face who was very close to him, and his heart pumped blood more than it should. "I guess... you're a big man now."

"Yah!" Hongbin laughed awkwardly as he still felt that his heart was acting weirdly even after Jaehwan removed his hand from his face. "I was caught in a fight, but I wasn't involved, well, a bit involved."

"But how did you get the bruise on your lips?" Jaehwan asked as he sat back to his seat.

"Ah, I... I tried to stop them but I was the one who got punched by someone. The other one was teasing the person who punched me accidentally because he had tanned skin," Hongbin narrated. "The other one was able to dodge so..."

Jaehwan laughed. "Your face is more precious than anyone, you must stop doing that if you don't want to get involved in a physical fight. So... what happened to the person who punched you?"

"Well, he offered to take me home because he was so sorry, but I refused," Hongbin said. "He looked really familiar... I think he was from the South."

"Hmm, who might that be?" Jaehwan wondered. "How can you be familiar with people in the South? We haven't been there since we got back to Korea."

Hongbin sighed and served another plate of food. "Let's just forget about it. He's really familiar. I wonder where I saw him."

Jaehwan clapped his hands once. "Nevermind! I shall enjoy this food because I am too exhausted!" Jaehwan dug in and took a bite of his food. He acted like it was the best dish in the world. "I love your cooking skills, Kong! How can I live without you?"

"You can't live without Chef Kong!" Hongbin crossed his arms and laughed. Jaehwan was busy munching his food, so Hongbin found time observing the South Prince. He looks so handsome, he thought. Then he shook his head. Aish, what am I thinking!?

"You must eat it too, ah!" Jaehwan took a spoonful and tried to feed Hongbin. Hongbin was caught off-guard that he just took the food in. "It's nice, right?"

Hongbin nodded.

***

"Hongbin! I will be going to the university now," Jaehwan yelled as he tied his shoelaces. "Don't forget to-" When Jaehwan stood, he saw Hongbin in front of him, completely dressed up. "You're going out?"<