Prince Leo heard simultaneous knocks coming from the side of Jaehwan. The travel was longer than usual because of the traffic condition in the main road that connected the North and South Kingdom, so Jaehwan fell asleep.

Out of boredom, maybe, Prince Leo said. He was not used to speaking during a long drive since he was used to being alone in the car. He would usually put his earphones on to concentrate and to prevent himself from sleeping since he hated falling asleep in the car, however, he didn’t do it that night because he thought Jaehwan would talk about random things and he was more than willing to listen – the prince thought it would be better to listen to Jaehwan to keep him awake. It was new, he thought again as he looked at Jaehwan.

The drive was finally smooth since the traffic was becoming lighter, however, he still kept on hearing thumps so he looked at Jaehwan and found out that his head kept on swinging left and right, hitting the side window.

Prince Leo couldn’t help but chuckle softly because of that. He didn’t know when he became sadist but looking at Jaehwan who was still deeply asleep despite of his head softly hitting the side window was sort of cute. He didn’t argue with that, and he was kind of surprised at himself for agreeing that Jaehwan was cute. It wasn’t Jaehwan. It’s the action, Prince Leo corrected himself in his mind in the end.

He sighed as he tried to look away. But the noise was kind of bothering him. He stared at Jaehwan again for a long time, hesitating if he would wake Jaehwan up and ask him to adjust so that his head would not hit the side window, or just let him sleep without disturbance.

He must be really tired. I am curious but I cannot ask him. I promise him that I’d let him open up when he feels like it, Prince Leo thought. He knew that it was not natural for Jaehwan to cry except whenever he had those anxiety attacks, probably. Prince Leo started to be concerned when he thought that it was possible that Jaehwan encountered an attack again earlier that was why he was crying.

It has been an hour since they arrived at the North Kingdom, and he was slightly thankful at that because Jaehwan could finally rest at home, and so could he at the palace, however, he felt like the trip was too short for him to escape the reality of his life. In a few hours, he would be Prince Leo once again. How he wished he could escape his responsibilities that easily.

Once again, he was jealous at Jaehwan that he didn’t need to be another person that had a lot of responsibilities at a young age.

He heard a loud thump again, and Prince Leo’s thoughts were automatically cut as he looked at Jaehwan again. Jaehwan’s face turned sour, as if he was really hurt but his eyes were still close. He could infer that Jaehwan was still sleeping because his head was still swaying lifelessly.

He sighed once again as he looked at the blocked window that separated the back of the car from the front where the chauffeur was. He moved an inch towards Jaehwan, then another inch as he looked around, and another, until he was finally an inch beside him. He raised his arm and put it around Jaehwan’s shoulder, carefully not waking Jaehwan up. He had slid his palm between the window and Jaehwan’s head before it thumped on the window again.

It was not even a minute when his arm started to feel numb at that position. When he was about to put it down for support, the blocked window opened and the chauffeur spoke. “We are near Pyongyang. Where are we going to drop off Mr. Lee?”

Prince Leo, in shock, pulled his arm immediately, pushed Jaehwan and almost threw himself away from him. Jaehwan in turn hit his head harder and louder than earlier. Jaehwan woke up and massaged his head as he moaned softly. Prince Leo glanced at Jaehwan as he felt sorry for Jaehwan. When Jaehwan looked at him, he instantly looked away, pretending that he never looked.

I forgot that he had a switch somewhere, Prince Leo thought.

“Eh, we’re already here? I thought I slept a little too short,” Jaehwan chuckled. “Was I snoring?”

“You’re snoring too loudly,” Prince Leo commented, still startled. “Anyway, Jaehwan, what is your house’s address so that we can drop you home?”

Jaehwan replied, “You can just drop me off near the bar where I am working! I’ll just walk from there. You don’t need to take me home.”

Prince Leo looked at his watch. “It’s ten in the evening. It’ll be safer if we’ll drop you off in front of your house.”

“I insist, Sire. It must have been tiring for you, and besides, I troubled you enough. Because of me, you’re still not home right now,” Jaehwan insisted. Prince Leo stared at him for a good second until he sighed and finally gave up. Jaehwan thanked him. Jaehwan’s phone suddenly rang so he took the call. “Hello? Yeah! I’ll be home soon, Hongbin. Yes, of course. I’m with Prince Leo. He’ll be taking me to the bar,” Jaehwan looked at Prince Leo who was looking away. He covered the mouth piece slightly and he whispered, “Of course… no! Don’t come. I can go home by myself. Yes. Are you still sick? Ah. Okay. Okay, let’s get it together. Okay. See you later.” He ended the call and then he looked at Prince Leo. “Can you just drop me off at a nearby drug store? It’s just a few walks from the bar. Hongbin said he was there so we’d be going home together.”

Prince Leo’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you living together?” It sounded like a whine, and Prince Leo realized that as well. He coughed softly.

Jaehwan nodded as an answer. “Yes. Hongbin and I are living together since… ah… It’s part of the things that I cannot tell you.”

“Just how many secrets do you keep?” Prince Leo suddenly asked. It actually just crossed his mind, and he didn’t want it to slip out of his mind. Again, it sounded like he was complaining, but that time, he just let it be. Jaehwan stared at him as his smile almost faded in awkwardness, so Prince Leo sighed in defeat. “Alright, I know this is a big adjustment, and I told you that I trusted you, so okay. I’ll not question that anymore.” Why do I sound like he and that guy living together is a big no-no? They are best friends so I think it’s okay.

“Thank you, Sire,” Jaehwan smiled genuinely.

“Oh, one last thing. I told you to get rid of the honorifics. Taekwoon will do,” he said. “Don’t address me as Sire.”

“But you’re-”

“Taekwoon. Taekwoon will do, I said. Even days before, I told you to call me Taekwoon. It would at least start our friendship somewhere,” Taekwoon said. “That’s a favor from my side.”

“Alright then, Taekwoon,” Jaehwan said. Taekwoon felt contented so he smiled. Jaehwan was amused seeing the serious Taekwoon smile, so he nudged him. “Yah! You’re smiling!”

“Is it bad for me to smile?” Taekwoon asked.

“No, it actually looks good. You actually look good,” Jaehwan complimented, to Taekwoon’s surprise. He blushed for a while, so he coughed intentionally. “Hey! Your face is red! Are you embarrassed being complimented or anything?”

“No,” Taekwoon said. Jaehwan just shrugged and smiled as he looked outside the window.

After roughly fifteen minutes, they arrived at a drugstore and Jaehwan saw Hongbin waiting outside. He was wearing a comfortable hoodie, jogging pants and rubber shoes. He was hugging himself so he thought that he was still cold, but he still went for a jog. “He’s sick yet he’s jogging. I don’t understand this man,” Jaehwan commented as he shook his head. Then he turned to Taekwoon. “Taekwoon, thanks for the ride. I saved transportation cost.”

“I’ll just see you tomorrow,” Taekwoon said. “Same time, right?”

“What do you mean? Oh,” Jaehwan nodded as he realized what Taekwoon meant. “You’ll be back on it?”

“Absolutely,” Taekwoon smiled thriftily. “See you tomorrow.”

Jaehwan smiled and nodded again then he opened the door as the car closed. He stood on the side and waved, then the car went away. Hongbin approached him.

“Yah! You’re late! I thought you’d be home earlier?” Hongbin scolded as he nudged his best friend’s shoulder. “I prepared food for you but it got cold already.”

“Such a caring best friend, but,” Jaehwan pouted and crossed his arms over his body. “Why are you jogging at this hour? You’re still sick! Look at you being cold and everything! Did you buy your medicine already? Let’s go home or you won’t be able to go to university tomorrow!”

Hongbin put his arm around Jaehwan’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “I am not sick anymore since I see you now. You’re safe. But then, why was the prince with you?”

“He went around the South Kingdom and he actually toured the place,” Jaehwan explained. “Yah! Let’s go home!”

“Alright, Sire,” Hongbin gave him a big smile and dragged his best friend.

***

“Sire, your father is waiting for you in the common hall,” the assistant to the royal family informed Taekwoon who just arrived. “He is requesting your presence immediately.”

I bet he’s going to scold me for coming home late, he thought. “Alright. I’ll be there in a while.”

The assistant went ahead, and Taekwoon walked to the common hall. He saw his father waiting for him. He bowed even though he could not see him since his back was facing him. “Why are you only now? Your classmates went home earlier. I had the schedule checked with Assistant Kang. Did you trouble the Lee family?”

“No, I just went for a short tour,” Taekwoon lied. Great. I am becoming used to lying now.

“You’re not in a vacation, Prince Leo. You’re a prince and you should not be wasting your time in leisure,” The North King turned to him. “You must know that you’re not a normal fellow. You must not waste your time in other activities not related to your duties and responsibilities as the crown prince, and moreover, the next king of Korea. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Taekwoon bowed slightly. As he raised his chin again, he thought and he couldn’t help but wonder why royalties were different from normal people that being a prince was just being entitled to a sort of a label. It was not like he was a god. I remember. Since when did he call me with my name?

But then, he had no guts to tell what he thought to his father.

“Anyway, why did you call for me?” Taekwoon asked.

“I just want to inform you that starting tomorrow after your university classes, you will be required to attend the economic meetings. I expect you to come on time, and also, I expect you to always be prepared to deal with the business tycoons. If you can suggest improvement and others, I would recommend you to do so as well,” The King informed him.

“After classes? Starting tomorrow?” Taekwoon clarified, since it was not included in his plans. He thought that starting the next day, he would be able to practice his singing with Jaehwan, so that as early as possible he could perform in the bar with Jaehwan, although he wasn’t sure on how he would pull it off without revealing his identity. He had decided already and he was ready to tell Jaehwan about his plans, but it seemed that the heaven was against him doing so.

The King looked at him curiously. “Why? Do you have plans tomorrow, or do you have any other schedule after classes?”

Taekwoon didn’t want to lie, but he guessed it was the best. “No, I don’t.”

“So I believe I’ll see you tomorrow during the meeting then,” the king said and exited. Taekwoon sighed as he returned to his room.

He was tired but he thought it was more tiring to learn that he’d sit in during economic meetings. He knew that he would need it to understand more on how he could lead Korea but he was still concerned about Jaehwan’s feelings about it. Taekwoon promised that he’d be practicing singing again.

Why am I always concerned about Jaehwan and how he would react? I must just tell him instead of worrying.

***

“So, did you find anything?” Hongbin asked. He just reheated the food and let Jaehwan eat dinner.

“I did. I met Chief Hwang, the officer in charge of the music museum. He told me that there was a fire that broke out in the upper wing of the museum. The night before, I also dreamed about the fire and that someone was trying to kill me. It was confirmed that the fire was caused by that someone who knew my schedule,” Jaehwan narrated then he continued, “After learning about the story, I decided to finally become a prince. I will not abandon my dream to become a singer, but I feel like I need to be responsible for the deaths of a lot of people who believed in me. I know now why I lost my memories as a child but they kept on coming back, and why I was so scared of ghosts. I thought that it would be best to become the prince that they wanted me to be so in that way, I’ll not feel guilty.”

“But Jaehwan, would you be happy if you… decide to become the crown prince?” Hongbin asked.

Jaehwan got the small box where the royal ring was kept. “I was immature, and I didn’t realize that I needed to become someone who would save the kingdom from bad people who wanted the title, the fame and the fortune all to himself. I was born to this family, and it was not my chosen path at all. But I would be happy if the people who I cared about in the past would see me as a good king in the future,” Jaehwan showed the ring to Hongbin. “Hongbin, this ring symbolizes all the good and bad things about being the crown prince. Be