Jongin watched the Prince thrash about his room, pacing back and forth impatiently, before rushing towards the glass of water he had asked his butler to bring up. After taking one sip, Sehun slammed the cup down so hard Jongin almost flinched. Almost.

“Your Highness, are you… alright?” Jongin inquired tentatively.

“Alright?” Sehun let out a chuckle, running a hand through his hair, thoroughly messing up his previously styled locks. “Does it look like I’m ing alright, Jongin?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Stop that!” The Prince pointed a finger at the butler, who blinked in surprise.

“Stop what?”

“Stop being so, so polite all the time!”

“But,” Jongin was now thoroughly confused, “but that’s a part of my  job, Your Highness.”

“You’re doing it again! Being all, all Jongin!”

“... I apologize?”

“Don’t apologize when you don’t even know what you did wrong.” Sehun was tiring himself out with all the yelling. He took a seat on his office chair and spun a few times, his head now hanging limply. “You didn’t even do anything wrong.”

“Then may I ask what’s upsetting you so much, Your Highness?”

Sehun mumbled something incoherently. Jongin would have rolled his eyes if he hadn’t already dealt with this type of behaviour at least twice every week. The butler was thoroughly educated in how to treat a bratty Sehun.

“I’m afraid I didn’t catch that.”

“Ji-eun!” Sehun sat up, glaring at Jongin. “Ji-eun, okay? Ji-eun’s bothering me.”

“Ji…” It took Jongin a moment before he remembered who Ji-eun was supposed to be. “Oh, Ji-eun! How’s she bothering you?”

“She likes you.”

There were only a few instances in Jongin’s life when he was taken aback or shocked. There was only one person who could manage to surprise him by their unpredictable actions; that person being Kyungsoo. Most of the time, the butler knew exactly what was going on in his world and how to take control over it or deal with it. But this he did not expect.

“Jongin, you’re my butler. You’re not supposed to go around wooing my future wives,” Sehun pouted. Jongin shook his head incredulously at this ridiculous situation.

“I think you’re mistaken, Your Highness. I’m certain Ji-eun does not hold any feelings for me of that sort.”

Sehun obviously wasn’t going to hear any of it. The Prince looked up at Jongin with sad, puppy eyes as he pleaded, “Help me out, Jongin.”

“How, exactly?”

“How am I charming?” Sehun stopped spinning the chair. “Besides my ridiculously good-looks, of course.”

The butler looked around the room, searching for any hints to prompt him. He widened his eyes when a thought occurred to him. Wait, this is the guy I’ve been in love with for practically my entire life. How am I stuck on what makes him charming? At Sehun’s impatient expression, Jongin quickly flubbed, “You’re the Prince.”

The butler winced, preparing himself for Sehun’s oncoming rant. He was surprised for the second time that day when instead, a wide grin spread across the Prince’s face.

“You’re right!” Sehun exclaimed, clapping his hands happily, “I’m the Prince! That’s why all the ladies are here, to court my hand in marriage. I just need to appeal my princely aura to Ji-eun.”

“I don’t think she’ll fall for that,” Jongin interrupted Sehun’s euphoria. He didn’t like where this was going. “She supposedly chose a butler over a prince.”

“What do you have that I don’t have?” Sehun narrowed his eyes and stood up. Walking circles around his butler, he scanned him from head to toe. “I have better hair, better clothes, better looks - although you aren’t too shabby in that department.”

Maybe you should fix that personality of yours, and your mouth, too. Jongin froze. These weren't thoughts he was supposed to be having about his life-long crush. What was going on with him today?

“But those are all subjective, Your Highness.”

“You’re right!” Sehun’s eyes lit up again. Jongin sighed. This boy is giving me serious whiplash. “Objectively, the one thing I have more than you is money.”

“Uh, hold on a sec,” Jongin cleared his throat, “I mean, maybe that isn’t the wisest choice.”

“It’s natural for women and men alike to search for wealth in their future companions. They need the stability to start a family after all,” said the Prince with a proud gleam in his eye. Jongin internally face-palmed. Sehun only uses his brain for the stupidest reasons. The Prince clapped Jongin on the back and exclaimed gleefully, “Thanks, buddy!”

The butler watched Sehun leave with worry. He had a bad feeling about this.

¤¤¤

Over the course of the week, cameras followed the girls everywhere as they fluttered from place to place to accomplish the stacked tests in their schedules. They rarely got a moment to themselves, unlike the start of the competition when they only had around one task each week. Now, they were forced to eat meals together (for the sake of the Prince, who was rarely ever there), and pretend to get along in front of the cameras.

During the busy week, Luhan barely got to see the Prince at all. He didn’t deny that there was an emptiness lingering in unexpected corners, but he appreciated it all the same, since it would make leaving the Royal Castle that much more easier. Still, it would have been nice if Sehun had spared him a glance once in a while.

Luhan recalled the moment when they were balancing plates on their heads and walking down the hallway to practice posture and a girl accidentally bumped into him, the two ending up on the ground with broken plates. Sehun had rushed to the other girl’s aid, checking for any injuries. It was only after the girl was escorted away did Sehun seem to remember Luhan’s existence and asked him if he was alright. Luhan had hidden his bleeding forearm behind his back and forced a smile. He could take care of himself perfectly fine without any Prince, and didn’t see the need to bother anyone.

Other than that, the seven days passed by peacefully. It was near the end that things started to get a little more interesting.

¤¤¤

Calligraphy was a skill thought to be calming and able to create a passageway to your soul as black ink flowed from paint brushes, leaving behind smooth lines that form stark characters. Luhan didn’t doubt that calligraphy was an ancient, precious tradition and it was all very meaningful, but did they honestly expect him, the farmer boy who had never held a brush in his entire life, to whip out some masterful painting ability out of nowhere? Luhan stared down at his paper in disgust. They had provided them a phrase to write, but the characters Luhan had painted resembled drawings more than actual words.

“Um, excuse me?” Luhan called over one of the maids standing by the side of the wall. “Can you get me another piece of paper please? I think I, um, made a little mistake.”

The maid raised her eyebrows, clearly implying, that’s more than a little mistake, but bowed and replied, “Lady Ji-eun, this is your fifth sheet,” as she side-eyed the crumpled paper balls to Luhan’s side.

“I know.” Luhan deflated slightly. “I guess I’ll just continue working on this one.”

“That’ll be a good idea,” said the maid before returning to the wall.

Luhan continued to pout at his work, having given up long ago. He ended up using the ink to paint little doodles on the back of the paper after glancing up to check if any camera was on him. Thankfully, they were all focused on where Sehun was, which was beside a blonde girl. Irene, Luhan recognized her. From what he could see, Irene was the most skilled at calligraphy out of all of them. Apparently her parents were quite wealthy and she was put through lessons of all kinds, and it showed from her professional posture as she painted confident .

She even looks like a princess, Luhan thought, as he watched Sehun lean over her. They make a good couple. Something was squeezing the air out of his chest.

He watched the cameramen smile and laugh  to themselves while filming. All the girls knew Irene was the favourite with the cameras since the cameramen would always focus on her and let her have the most broadcast time. Luhan, on the other hand, got little to no screentime. He didn’t mind, though.

What he did mind was the way Sehun casually wrapped an arm around Irene as he complimented her work, which she returned with a beam and fluttering eyelashes. Luhan diverted his eyes, blinking away the image of Sehun and Irene, laughing, talking, together.

Clearing his throat, he searched the room for Jongin as a distraction. The butler was standing at the large window overseeing the garden, and Luhan left his seat to approach the younger boy. He stood silently by Jongin’s side and gazed out the window, following Jongin’s line of sight. To his surprise, he found Kyungsoo wandering in the garden with a girl he didn’t recognize.

“Her name’s Se-kyung,” Jongin said without Luhan prompting him, “and she’s a new chef. Kyungsoo’s training her.”

Luhan watched the girl tug on Kyungsoo’s arm and point towards the flowers, a bright smile lighting up her face. He didn’t see how taking a stroll through the gardens was chef training. Instead of voicing that thought, he murmured, “She’s pretty.”

“She is,” Jongin agreed, and Luhan detected a slight trace of sadness weaved in the simple two words. The butler turned his back on the scene, facing Luhan. “Not as pretty as Irene, however.”

Luhan didn’t know what to make of what Jongin was implying. He chose not to reply. It was one of the better decisions Luhan had made recently, as Sehun had chosen that moment to bound up to the two of them and sling an arm over Jongin’s shoulders, shooting a wink in Luhan’s direction. “What are my favourite two people doing here?”

“ at calligraphy,” Luhan responded immediately.

Jongin laughed, “Keeping the horrible calligrapher company.”

“Is that so?” Sehun frowned slightly and stood in between the butler and Luhan. Rolling his eyes, Jongin made a face at the older boy, who laughed, not denying the giddy feeling at the Prince possibly acting jealous. The warmth quickly flooded away once Sehun opened his mouth again, “Hey, actually, Irene’s pretty good at calligraphy. I can call her over here to help you-”

“That won’t be necessary,” interrupted Luhan.

Sehun blinked, taken aback by the curt tone. “I was just offering-”

“And I said, thanks, but it’s unnecessary.”

“So you’re okay with not winning?” Sehun took on a whining tone, but Luhan doubted the Prince was aware of it.

“Yes, actually-”

“Oh, looks like Miss Bom’s calling me over,” Jongin excused himself from the amusing, bickering couple, but not before he leaned in towards Luhan and whispered in his ear, “Sehun’s cute when he’s jealous, but you’re even more so.”

With that, the butler left the two. Sehun, slightly annoyed at being left out of the loop, raised a suspecting eyebrow. “What was that all about?”

“Oh, just Jongin being… Jongin,” Luhan replied weakly.

“Yeah, I get it.” The Prince thankfully dropped the topic for now. “Oh, and sorry for not spending more time with you. Everything got more frantic with the cameras and all here, and I was getting pressured into evenly spreading my attention to all the girls.”

“You don’t need to apologize for that.” Luhan smiled at how adorably apologetic the Prince looked. The older boy couldn’t help teasing Sehun, “I can’t believe the Prince is sorry about something like that.”

“Well, I am,” muttered Sehun. Luhan bit back another smile when he realized that Sehun was blushing. So cute. “And since you’re not accepting my apology, I guess I’ll just go over to Irene, who obviously enjoys my company-”

“No!” Luhan restrained himself from grabbing onto Sehun’s arm. His outburst was enough to stop the Prince in his tracks, anyway. Fighting the blush spreading across his cheeks, Luhan tried to pass it off, “Maybe you shouldn’t bother her right now? I mean, look at her, she’s practically swarmed by cameras.”

Sehun glanced at Irene’s empty station, an amused expression clear on his face. Real smooth, Luhan. The Cheshire grin on the Prince’s face set off alarms in Luhan’s mind, and the older boy fought the urge to run away. Leaning down, Sehun said sweetly, “Awh, is our Ji-eunnie jealous?”

“No.”

“You are! Oh my god, you’re so jealous!” Sehun nearly cackled, and if it weren’t for the face-splitting grin the Prince wore, Luhan would have ditched this scene ages ago. “You’re so adorable.”

Luhan fought the urge to roll his eyes and took a seat back at his desk, the Prince following him. Leaning with two hands flat on the surface of the desk, Sehun stared right into Luhan’s eyes, making sure that the older boy’s attention was fully on him.

Tilting his head adorably, Sehun said, “You do know I only spend time with the other girls because I have to, right? You’re the most fun out of all of them.”

Luhan hid a smile behind his hand. Of course I know, with you always reminding me at every given moment.

¤¤ ¤

“Ladies, Prince Sehun has an important announcement for you all!” Miss Bom clapped her hands, voice booming through the dining hall where the girls were eating their lunches. Irene was chatting away with the cameras, Hyeri off at her side. Hyuna and Dara were huddled together at the far corner. The remaining four girls finished their meals in peace. “But before all that, the citizens’ votes came in and from the scores, we are to eliminate the last two.”

Concerned murmurs rose from the table, the only one not worried being Luhan. After all this time, this might be the day he would be set free. Even though he had grown close with the Prince to the point where he didn’t want to leave the boy’s side and made a couple friends along the way, Luhan realized that when it was so obvious he would be eliminated, it was easier to pretend that this was what he was aiming for (and it was).

He was distracted from finishing his meal when the Prince sauntered in, dressed in a grey suit over a lavender collared shirt paired with a dark purple tie, a string of butlers at his heel (Jongin being right behind the Prince, of course). It had been a while since Luhan had seen Sehun in formal clothes, and as he audibly gulped, it still affected him as much as it did the first time.

“Good afternoon, ladies, Miss Bom,” Sehun nodded to the people present in the room before taking his place at the head of the table. He coughed and held out his hand, which cued Jongin to place a rolled up paper on his palm. Uncurling the sheet, Sehun cleared his throat to read the results, “I will now announce the names from first to last. If you are the last two, please go to your rooms after you finished your meal and pack your luggage. Right, so first place goes to…”

“It’s Irene, for sure,” The girl, Solar, who was sitting beside Luhan whispered to him.

“Irene.” The Prince gave no sign of surprise. Neither did the girls. “Next is Luna, Wheein, Hyuna, and then Dara.”

Silence fell over the table and all eyes turned to the three girls whose names were yet to be called. Luhan felt Solar tense at his side, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering to Hyeri, who he could tell was barely managing her anger. Someone reached over to grab his hand, and Luhan looked down to find that the hand belonged to Luna, who gave him a reassuring squeeze. He hadn’t spoken to her the entire week, but she still knew how to calm him down in situations like these.

He was getting ready to leave his seat when Sehun finally spoke.

“Ji-eun.”

“What?” Both Luhan and Hyeri stood up in their seats, the former staring at Sehun in disbelief. How did I manage to surpass both Solar and Hyeri in votes? Hyeri voiced his thoughts, “Prince, this is impossible! How did she-” Hyeri pointed a finger at Luhan, but he didn’t notice as his eyes were still fixated on the Prince. “-manage to-”

“Solar and Hyeri, you are both excused,” Miss Bom curtly interrupted and directed the two girls to the exit. Hyeri, sputtering, shot a glare at Luhan before exiting. Wordlessly, Solar followed her, but not before shooting Luhan a quick “good luck.”

That sparked a smile out of Luhan, but he still couldn’t shake off the weird feeling. Glancing at Sehun, who was blatantly staring at him, Luhan wondered to himself if the Prince had anything to do with it.

He was distracted from his thoughts when Sehun made it clear that he wasn’t finished with his speech yet, and he obviously wanted Luhan to hear what he was going to say next, as he kept his eyes on the older boy the entire time.

“For all your hard work so far and lasting until the top six, I have prepared a small gift for you ladies.” Sehun paused with a tiny smile, waiting for the excited murmur to die down. “And that reward is… Drumroll, please!”

The Prince laughed at his own corny attempt to increase suspense. Finally, he raised his hands to silence the room, and locked eyes with Luhan.

“We’ll be having a pool party this Friday! Attendance is mandatory, ladies.”

The room erupted in cheers and applause, the girls clearly delighted at the prospect of showing off their perfect figures while cooling off in the refreshing water. Everyone was standing up and approaching the Prince to thank him, but Sehun was only focused on one person, the only person not expressing any sort of happiness towards his gift.

Jongin somehow found his way to Luhan’s side through all the commotion, and when the two met eyes, Luhan knew that he understood. Memories of water barreling past him uncontrollably, of his senses clogging up, of flailing limbs and weighted clothing filled Luhan’s mind, and the trembling in his hands only stopped when Jongin gripped his shoulders tightly.

Making sure that Luhan was focused on him, the butler gave him a comforting smile, “As long as you don’t enter the water, you’ll be fine. I’ll make sure you won’t.”

Luhan let out an unsteady breath. Jongin was right. Nothing bad will happen as long as he stayed on land. He managed a weak smile when the Prince waved to get his attention across the room, but he couldn’t shake off the doubt, the familiar paranoia, the feeling that something was going to happen.

¤¤¤​​

It was a little cool to be opening the pool (that Luhan didn’t even know the Royals owned), with the wind nipping at his heels as he hurried along the paved pathway, being the last one to arrive at the pool. It had taken him a few laps of pacing back and forth in his room and an impatient Luna banging on his door to finally lure him out to the treacherous waters. In the distance, he could hear sounds of splashing water and laughter mingled together, something he paired with sirens when he was a child. How badly he wanted to join in on the fun, but he was smart enough to know the dangers of doing so.

He paused outside the fence, mouth dropping open at the elaborate display of wealth the pool provided. Two palm trees were off to the side, patio chairs and towels scattered across wood floorboards, and lastly, the magnificent pool shaped like a bean. He wondered if this was the difference between the Royals and common folk expressed visually.

Once he creaked open the gate, all eyes were on him. Already, he was feeling self-conscious about his choice of clothing. He was the most covered up out of all the girls, all of which were wearing bikinis of all different colours. Luhan, on the other hand, sported baggy basketball shorts (he didn’t pack swim trunks) and a regular graphic t-shirt.

His discomfort dissipated when Sehun pulled himself out of the water.

The Prince’s lean, toned body and fair skin was definitely easy on the eyes, water trickling down smooth planes. Flipping the wet locks out of his face, Sehun shot him a dazzling grin. The effect was slightly ruined, however, when Sehun padded over to Luhan, slightly shivering from the wind.

Stifling a laugh, Luhan tossed him a towel he found folded on a patio chair. “A bit early for swimming, don’t you think?”

“It’s still fun,” Sehun grinned boyishly. “And you look great, by the way.”

Detecting no sarcasm or malice in the Prince’s words, Luhan fought back the idiotic smile he knew was itching to creep onto his face. However, he denied Sehun’s invitation to dive into the pool and instead opted to sit out beside Luna at the poolside as he watched the Prince cannonball into the pool, sending a mini tidal wave that splashed the nearby people. Despite the slight chill, it was a warm, golden day, and Luhan felt satisfied simply basking in the comfortable sunlight.

Luna pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, turning to look at Luhan. “You do remember that Ji-eun’s coming in two days, right?” Luhan nodded. “Just a reminder. Or a warning.”

The dynamic between the two had changed drastically from when they were teenagers, one of them having a gigantic crush on the other. Now, the air was tense and strained when he was around Luna, the memories of them goofing around a painful reminder of how close they once were. Despite some of the past occurrences that hinted at what Luna was really like, Luhan knew she wasn’t a bad person. But he was still curious.

“Do you dislike me?” He managed to ask. Luna stilled, not looking up at him.

“Why do you ask? Do you think I do?”

Luhan shrugged, “I don’t know. It seems like it sometimes.”

“It’s not that I dislike you,” She swung her legs in the water, making little whirlpools. Luhan had his knees pulled up against his chest, not daring to even touch the body of water. “It’s just hard to get along with you when you’re like this.” Luna gestured towards his wig. “You remind me so much of Ji-eun, but your personalities are complete opposites. It throws me off.”

The conversation lulled when Sehun swam up to the two of them, grinning cheekily at Luhan before spraying water in their direction. Luhan laughed down at soaked shirt, while Luna let out an exasperated shriek, “This is why I hate swimming!”

“I didn’t know you hated swimming,” Luhan said in surprise.

“I don’t like a lot of things.”

But Luhan didn’t know any of the things she disliked. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know any of the things she liked, either. In fact, he barely knew anything about her at all, despite the fact that they were classmates and she was his sister’s best friend. Judging by the look on Luna’s face, she figured just as much.

“Did you ever wonder why I never brought up your crush on me?”

This wasn’t a topic Luhan was expecting. “Sometimes. I thought it was just because you didn’t like me back and didn’t want to deal with the awkwardness.”

“Oh, if I didn’t like you, I would have made it clear,” she scoffed. “It was because you didn’t know me well enough. So you couldn’t have really liked me.”

Luna didn’t explain any further, but Luhan found that he was okay with that. He seemed to have gotten a rough grasp on how to interact with Luna and her clipped sentences and vague edges. Anyway, he had gotten an answer and he was happy.

Luhan paused at that thought. Happy. Even though he had enough worries to fill the pool before him, in this moment, he had found happiness tucked away in the little things: sitting underneath a sky that seemed so far away, watching Sehun being an idiot (a cute idiot), not forced to act any sort of way. It seemed almost too good to last.

And it was.

Right after Luna left to find some snacks, the hair on the back of Luhan’s arms prickled as the familiar fear set in. He hadn’t realized how close he was to the water when he had Luna beside him, but now that he was alone, the deep, tranquilizing shimmering of the water’s surface made the pool appear vastly deep. It seemed as if it was warning him. He heard Luna call his name from across the pool and looked up to see her holding a plate of sandwiches, but she was waving her hand frantically. Confused, Luhan let go of the pool’s edge to wave back at her. In that moment of distraction, he hadn’t registered his mistake.

Everything after that happened in a split second.

Giggles from behind led to a pair of slim hands against Luhan’s back. Before he could react, Luhan felt himself falling, suspended in mid-air. In retrospect, that was probably the worst part, when he realized what was happening before he dove headfirst into his terror.

Once submerged underwater, it was impossible to find which way was up as he tried not to black out from the weight pounding on his chest. It was so difficult to move around, as if someone was pulling back every limb. Everywhere he looked was bubbles, blue-tinted tile walls of the pool floor, and his own flailing limbs. Muffled shouts of he’s drowning reached his ears and he vaguely thought it sounded like Luna’s voice.

The last thing he registered before darkness overcame him was a shrouded figure in black swimming right towards him.