(+) gongzhu - princess

(+) qing ai de - honey ((pet name that lovers give to each other))

(+) bao bei - baby ((pet name that lovers give to each other))

(+) shen ma - what

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Alana stares at the grave before her, and then at the bouquet of lilies in her hand. Jiho’s bright smile crosses her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking of a thought since her best friend’s death; was his sacrifice worth it?

Alana knew what Jiho’s last words meant very well. He had wanted her to change the way the world thinks, and achieve freedom for her country. But could she be able to do it alone? She bends down and plucks a lily off the many, many lilies that were stashed on together. Placing the lily down, she brushes her fingers across his tombstone and sighs, still not believing that her best friend-slash-butler was gone. Her father had mentioned to her not to mourn over his loss too much. But what would the Sultan know anyway? Jiho technically grew up with her; --- he was her only friend inside the palace.

She stands upright again and throws the rest of the lilies into the dustbin nearby. Glancing at Jiho one last time, she silently promises herself to make Jiho’s final request becomes true.

Luhan sticks out a hand and gave her a small smile. Alana was glad that it wasn’t a sympathetic one, because all she needs now is anything but sympathy. She knows she needs to be strong. She could not afford to appear weak in the eye of the public. “Luhan.” She says breathlessly and places a hand in his larger ones.

“Are you alright?” Luhan asks a hand in his long jacket as they make their way to Alana’s limousine. Since the Japanese’s attack, the Sultan had ordered Luhan to stay close and keep an eye on Alana most of the time. She didn’t mind of course, because it was Luhan. Alana looks down to her feet and thought of a quirky answer to give. To her dismay, she was just speechless.

Of course she wasn’t okay. It would take some time for her to get over Jiho’s death.

“I’m sorry gongzhu, I shouldn’t have asked that.” He sounded remorseful.

Alana looks up and gives him a faded smile. “It’s alright Luhan. I’ll be fine in time. All I need now is time.”

Luhan opens the limo’s door for her and lets her step inside first before he does the same thing himself. Then, he shuts the door. Ruffling her hair, he pulls her by his side and lets Alana rest her head on his shoulder. Out of instinct, she lets her fingers meet Luhan’s.

“Would you like me to sing to you?” After a deafening silence, Luhan speaks up.

She nods.

__________

Alana warily looks around and shuts her locker closed. Crumpling the note in her fist, she slithers her way through the crowd and makes her way up the stairs, to the school’s rooftop. Once there, she shuts the metal behind her lock, and thoroughly looks around the place before settling onto a bench nearby.

She un-crumples the note and wipes her sweat trailing down her face.

Your best friend’s dead,

And your boyfriend shall be next.

Alana squints her eyes at the letters and thought, Cursive. It looks like it has been written with a quill and ink. She rests her hand onto the golden linings that framed the note. Putting the paper closer to her nose, she smells it and scrunches her nose. As weird as this sounds but, Alana was sure that this paper came from another fellow royalty. As a royal blood herself she knew very well that the papers printed from the palace would have a certain texture and smell different from a normal commoner’s.

Could it be …? She asks herself.

“No way…” She whispers.

“No way what?” A strong voice startles her, and quickly she stuffs the note into the front pocket of her blazer. She turns behind. “Yah. Kim Jongin.” Alana whines and hits him lightly on his chest. Jongin gives her a half-hearted smile and sits down next to her comfortably. “So what were you doing here?” He inquires.

Alana looks away from his face and sighs. “Just … thinking.”

“About?” He presses on.

“Stuffs.” She mutters, still looking away from his eyes.

“You need to stop acting like you’re okay because I know you’re not. You may fool the others, but certainly not me Alana. And sooner or later, everyone else could just see through you. You wouldn’t what that right?”

She looks down onto her lap and shuts her eyes closed, tight. It hurts so much. Right there, in her heart. She was lost. She didn’t know what to do and where to start. It feels like there was a big hole in her chest, and she knew that Jongin was absolutely right.

Her eyes felt hot. She looks up to his face and softly said, “It hurts so much, Jongin. I don’t even know where to start. When my mother died and my brother went into coma, he was the one that stayed with me no matter how much I distanced myself from everyone. He was the light of my life. He was the only one who didn’t give up on me.”

Jongin engulfs her into a warm hug. “Let it all out sweetheart.” He says in a hushed tone.

“I-I-I don’t know what to do, Jongin. When my mom passed away, I lost a part of me. And now with Jiho gone, I think I’ve lost the other half of me remaining. It’s like my happiness got away.” Alana hiccups in his arms.

“Hey, hey. What about me then? Don’t I bring you some happiness at least? And Luhan? And EXO? Our friends? What about stupid ol’ Sehun? Baekhyun with his sass? Jongdae and his lame jokes? Minseok and his beautiful smiles? Kris and Tao’s affection for each other? Chanyeol and his damn huge ears? Junmyeon and Kyungsoo whom would always be there to give a wise advice or two? What about us? Don’t you feel happy when you’re with us? Hmm?”

Then Alana thought. Jongin was right. Damn. She hated it when he’s always right. Stupid Crown Prince of South Korea had to be so damn mature. So Alana thought she should put that ridiculous note aside for now and enjoy the moment with her friends.

“Jongin. You’re absolutely right.”

“I’m always right.” He smirks.

“Shut up.”

“So, will you join us at the dance studio?” He holds out a hand. Alana nods and slips her hands into his and walks hand in hand to the dance studio together.

__________

When Alana made it into Chinese class, Luhan could see how puffy her eyes were. Had she been crying? He asks himself. He eyes at the girl that had settled into the seat next to his and makes a mental note to himself to investigate on this matter later.

__________

“Alana.” Luhan starts when they reach her room upstairs. “Hmm?” She replies and sits on her study table to finish off today’s homework. “Qing ai de.” Luhan tries again and pouts, before dragging a chair and sat on it backwards to directly face her.

“Shen ma?” She lets go of her pen to concentrate on Luhan. She recognises the tone he was using and of course she felt like pinching his cheeks right then and there. Luhan reaches out for her eyes and sadly said, “Why were you crying?”

Pushing his hand away, she avoids his eyes and returns her attention back to her school work. “What? Me? Crying? No …” She scoffs.

Luhan hastily slams her book close and said, “You can’t fool me Alana, at one glance I could know what you’re thinking.”

Her grip onto her pen tightens and she lets out a sigh to release her stress.

“Talk to me Alana.” He pleads.

She bit her lips and looks up to face him in the eye. Should I tell him about the note? The answer was crystal clear. Luhan may looked like he has not much on his mind, but Alana knew the burden he carries as the General’s son. So she made up a cover line.

“I’m upset about Jiho’s death.” Straightforwardly she says.

Oh my god Ji, I am so sorry for using you as an excuse. But, I am still heavily upset for your departure though.

Luhan only nods and in a flash, he carries her in his arms and brought her over to her bed. “Luhan.” She warns. He winks at her and tells her that he has the perfect solution to her grief. Luhan places her carefully onto the bed and commands her to close her eyes. Feeling rather confused, Alana closes her eyes and follows his instructions.

“Open them.” Luhan says.

In Alana’s hand there was a sketchbook and pencil on the other. “Draw him. Get every single part of him perfect and then hand the paper over to me.”

And so, Alana sketches a perfect portrait of Jiho. Even his nose is proportionally very much alike like the human was.

The drawing of Jiho is currently in Luhan’s possession. To Alana’s surprise, he starts to fold the paper into a sort of paper plane shape. “Luhan?” She asks, avagerated. “Trust me on this.” He whispers and lovingly pecks her on the nose. “Alright.” She smiles, enlighten by his showcase of affection.

Once he was done, he looks into her eyes once again. He stands up and nudges her to follow his actions, and as they neared the window, Alana realised what he was planning on doing. “Luhan, you don’t suppose …”

“You’ve probably heard this saying tonnes of times, but yeah, I’ll say it anyways.” He rambles on and opens the window. A cold gush of air went inside the room, sending Alana’s hair flying through her face. “When you love someone,” Luhan starts.

“You need to learn how let them go.” Alana finishes.

“Yes, and in your case Alana, you need to let Jiho go. His soul will never be able to leave when he sees you like this. He wants the best for you and you know that.”

“It’s not that simple Luhan-“

“I know gongzhu, I know. I may have never lost someone so dear to me before but seeing you like this hurts me so much because you’re my other half. And it saddens me more when I realized that I may never be able to help.”

“Luhan…” Alana rubs her eyes roughly trying so bad to prevent from the tears from falling. Ah, why did her prince have to be so good with words? Luhan sticks out his head from the window and enjoys the evening’s breeze. Patting a hand onto the space next to him on the window sill, Alana steps up next to him and watches him fly the paper plane away.

“Jiho …” She breathes.

Luhan gazes at her from the side and says, “Do not pity the dead, Alana. Pity the living.” He pauses and looks at the grassy ground below. Alana curiously peers over to him, wondering what his next words would be.

Luhan looks up at the clear blue sky and smiles before continuing, “And above all, --- pity those who live without love.”

__________

That night, Alana went to bed with a small smile on her face. She was finally willing to let Jiho go no matter how much she missed him. But she knew better, --- Jiho deserves a peaceful afterlife and holding him back was not the way.

“Bao bei, what are you smiling at?” Luhan grins as he walks out from the bathroom, just with his basketball shorts on and a towel around his neck. Her cheeks flushed red. His hair was still wet. And his pale skin, oh my goodness, it was such a sin to look at. “Luhan, get a shirt on!” Feeling rather flustered, Alana looks away, not forgetting to throw a pillow at her lover’s direction.

“How dare you-“ Luhan’s words got cut short when he starts running around the room the catch the petite Alana. Laughing, she jumps onto her bed and sprints off to the other side off the room, by her small racks of books. But Luhan being the manly man he is, caught up to her and almost immediately wraps his arms around her waist.

“Gotcha.” He teases, and carries her over to her bed before hovering over her.

“Luhan!” She protests and unintentionally hits his chest.

Alana suddenly sees a mischievous glint in his eyes and before she knows it, he was already trailing kisses down her neck.

Oh, her neck.

It was her sensitive spot, and somehow rather Luhan managed to catch that. Alana grips onto his back and claws her fingers deep inside his skin. A weird kind of noise, --- a moan maybe --- left as she struggles to overcome the tickling sensation by her neck.

“L-Luhan.” She says, finally getting a grasp onto herself but she didn’t know whether to tell him to stop or go on because she suddenly finds a liking to his kissing patterns on her neck. She knew it was wrong however the temptation was still strong …

In the heat of the ecstasy, her body started to curve upwards, meeting Luhan’s bare upper body. Luhan snaps out of his trance and let go of her, lightly falling next to Alana on her bed. His cheeks felt warm, and Luhan was sure its color was red. He felt bad for dragging her to do this sinful act, but he would be lying if he hadn’t said he enjoyed it.

Feeling her arms around his body, Luhan looks down and smiles when he sees his princess already falling fast asleep in his arms, the sweat evident on her forehead. Wiping them away, he interlaced their fingers together and finds himself slowly falling asleep after staring at her for a long period of time.

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Hello there! Did you guys saw our Luhan during the Baidu Press Conference yesterday? *^* Soo good looking. So, who caught the Harry Potter reference in this chapter? A quote that Luhan said belongs to Albus Dumbledore and I believe that is my favourite quote from all the seven books!

Have a good day and don't forget to smile everyone!

xoxo, Tuna.