“Don’t step on the grass!”

I freeze when I see Hana kneeling by one of the flower patches, her arms outstretched as if she were stopping me from moving.

“Oops,” I step away from the grass she meant and took the other way to stand beside her. 

I look around, seeing the tidy array of flowers, bushes that were cut to perfection, clean pavements, anything you would have expected from a castle’s perfect garden.

“You did all this?” I ask her.  I discard my blazer and set it down on a bench.

“Hm?” She looks up at me, squinting at the sun (Man, her hair is messy and she has smudges on her cheek and she still looks drop dead attractive) and then looks around.  “Do you think I’m a super gardener or something?”

“Well—“

“Am I, though?” She raises the end of her sentence, as if asking.  “Whoa, I didn’t know I could do that,” She stands beside me and puts her hands on her waist, wiping sweat off of her brow.  “Whoa,” She walks away and runs her hand over the tidily trimmed bushes and surveys the flowers and the pavements.  “Are you seeing this, Your Majesty?” She says giddily.  “I did all this!”

I chuckle and step towards her.  “Good job, good job,”

“I’ve always wanted to show off my work, especially to the royal family,” She mutters, the grin still plastered on her face.  “Man, I am awesome,”

“Not if you call me Your Majesty,” I clear my throat.

“Oh, ah, sorry,” She smiles.  “Feels more like it when you praise me.  Aren’t you gonna give me a pat on the back?”

I reach out and pat her head instead, lowering my face to level with hers, as if I were talking to a kid.  “You did a very good job, Hana,”

“Ya!” She swats my hand away.  “Not like that,”

“You got the praise,” I shrug, grinning.  “So, what were you thinking about the whole time that made you not realize that you had done all this in a day?”

I catch the blush in her cheeks before she strides away from me, quietly answering.  “Nothing,”

I grin, excited to .  “Hm? What was that?” I step in front of her to stop her, but she sidesteps quickly and walks even faster.  As I follow her, she suddenly stops much too abruptly, making me fall backwards to prevent myself from tumbling onto her. 

She turns at her heels and looks down at me.  “I wouldn’t want you to kiss my forehead again so I’m just going to tell you that I was thinking about you,” Her cheeks turn apple red and I grin wider, if possible.

“A-ha,” I stand up, dusting my pants and walking beside her.  “What about me?” She keeps on walking and I quickly put my arm around her neck, pulling her face in close.  “What makes you think that telling me would make me not kiss your forehead again?”

She squeals and slips out of my grip, running around the large water fountain in the middle of the garden, avoiding me and having a hard time keeping the smile off of her face.

“Stop it!” She laughs aloud, stopping mid-stance, anticipating whichever direction I start towards.

“Why? But what about me?” I say, standing up straight.

She follows my example and sighs.  “Can you move to the right a little bit?”

“Why?” I step to the right and my view of her is obscured by the running water.

“So you don’t have to see my face when I tell you that I’m worried about you,” She says quietly.

I let the sentence dawn on me and I smile.  She’s been avoiding saying direct sentences and says it in another way instead. 

“I’ve never seen you with that look before, so I wondered what was wrong,”

“Today is my father’s death anniversary,” I explain.  “My mother and I went to visit his grave,”

“Oh,” She replies.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.  You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, Kyungsoo,”

“No, it’s fine, I was actually looking forward to tell you about it,” I say, taking a seat on the fountain’s edge, so that my back is facing her.  “He died when I was 8.  That much time was enough to make me see what kind of father, husband and king he was.  He had enough attention for me, for my mother and the country, and he never got angry at anybody.  He always kept up a smile, no matter how tired he was.  Fern and Red were his presents for my mother and I.  He was kind, but stern in his own way.  He taught me everything I needed to know as a kid and as a boy, as well as the things I would need to know as a man.  He died because of a brain cancer.  He kept on having terrible headaches and his activities were stopped.  He stayed in bed and every single day, my mother and I stayed by him, listening to his words of advice, his messages, and we kept on saying that we didn’t want him to leave, that we wished we wouldn’t have to listen to his words as if it were his last ones.  Eventually, he stopped speaking.  One morning he wouldn’t open his eyes.  His chest wasn’t moving and his heart wasn’t beating.  My mother’s cry was something that still haunts me to this very day.  I stood by my father’s bed as she cried, the housekeepers all had their heads lowered in grief, watching my mother and seeing my father lie there, lifeless.  I cried too, but I didn’t sob.  I clenched my little fists and lowered my head.  Just the night before, my father had said to me and me alone; “Be strong for your mother and for me, Do Kyungsoo.  Take care of her and the kingdom.  Know that I love you both more than anything else in the world,” and by then I knew, that his death would come very soon.  I wouldn’t lie and tell you that I didn’t cry a lot, I did.  A lot.  But alone, in my room, and never in front of anybody.  Because I wanted to be there for my mother.  I wanted to tell her that even though I was a little kid, I could be there for her.  And that I will always be there for her.  She spent time with Fern a lot and after a whole month, she came back as herself, bright and happy, the queen that knew her responsibilities well.  She still had nights when she would grief over my father, but that was all.  I learnt and studied hard, so that I could become the prince my father wanted me to be, and eventually, the king he wanted me to be,”

When I look up, I see Hana sitting beside me, sadness coloring her beautiful features.  She reaches out and runs her thumb under my eye, wiping my tears off.  I hadn’t realized I was crying.  “You are the prince he wanted you to be, Kyungsoo.  I see your training, your studies, you’re exactly what he wanted you to be.  Even I know that, and I haven’t even met your father, so don’t worry about disappointing him,” She says quietly, slipping her hand into mine.  With both of her hand she holds mine, and she stares right into my eyes as she says, “Because if he were alive, he’d be proud of you.  Very proud,”

I couldn’t even find the right words to say to her, and I just stared into her eyes, returning her smile and the hold she has on my hand.  I chuckle and shake my head.  She’s amazing. 

“What?” She tries to pull away but I tighten my grip on her hands.

“So,” I smile at her playfully.  “You’ve seen my studies and my trainings, huh?”

She gapes in disbelief and looks away, failing to hide the red that has crept up her cheeks. 

“I didn’t notice you were paying such close attention to me, Hana-ssi,” I grin, still holding her hands to keep her from going anywhere.

She yanks her hand quickly away and stands up in front of me.  “So what if I was?”

Catching me by surprise, I gape at her for a second before I chase her around the fountain again, our laughter ringing out in the afternoon air. 

“It means that you like me!” I grab her from behind by the waist, and screaming in surprise and delight, we tumble backwards into the fountain, her body between my legs, splashing water all over us.

She slips out of my grip and she turns around to face me, tucking a lock of wet hair behind her ear.  Her pointer finger and middle finger taps me as if it were legs, up from the stomach to the chest and she finally taps my nose with her finger.  “What if I do?” She throws me a sultry look and quickly splashes my face with water, returning to her usual, cheery self, struggling to stand up in the water, her loose gardening pants soaked. 

I stand up first and after I swipe my hair away from my face, reach out to help her down the fountain.  She takes my hand and smiles at me, thanking me indirectly for the gesture.  I walk towards the bench to grab my blazer and I watch her squeeze the water out of her hair.  Her pants are pasted onto her body and the garden lights make it easy for me to notice her see-through blouse.

I avert my eyes and trot towards her, wrapping my blazer around her shoulders.  “Do you happen to pass the male keepers’ headquarters on your way back?”

“No, it’s on the other side of the castle, why?” She asks, tilting her head after she thanks me for the blazer, wrapping it closely around her figure to keep herself warm.

“Nothing, just go get changed quickly before you catch a cold,” I smile down at her.

I turn at my heels and run a hand through my hair. 

“Kyungsoo!”

I turn back to see her running towards me and my heart did a triple take when she takes my hand and stands on tiptoes to kiss my forehead.  “That’s for yesterday,” And quickly pecks me on the cheek.  “And that’s for you.  Don’t be sad, okay?”

“Y-yeah,” I stutter, watching her back retreat from me.

I zone out until I get to my room and by then, I still couldn’t register the fact that she just kissed my cheek.  First, a sultry look after teasing me and second, two kisses in a row?

“Hana, you are so full of surprises,”

guys where have you all gone ;(

where comments where WHERE

I FEEL SO LONELY ;(

IT'S LIEK I'M WRITING FOR NOBODY ;(

and btw hello @delusionalsunset ily very much yes I do ;3