(KRIS POV)

I’m not sure how I should feel right now. Sitting in front of my mother and a happy Tao was a bit nerve wrecking. My mother looked at me with confused eyes and Tao, like I said before, he was totally happy, smiling like there’s no tomorrow. But, I guessed, I like to see his smiling face. It made me wants to smile too but I restrained myself from showing any emotion. That was so not like me!

I saw Suho standing behind my mother and he looked likes he’s having a hard time containing his laughter. I knew him so well that I could even read his facial expression. He might just start to serve me 2 years ago but, we became close in just a short time.

Talking about him, he took his father’s place as my caretaker. I only started to feel more alive when he came. When we first met, he looked so scared as if I’m going to eat him but after a week of working with me, he started to joke around and it really made me comfortable. When his father worked with me, I felt as if he was just a robot, to fill all my needs. But, with Suho, it’s a bit different. Maybe it’s because he was young and he was around my age. We were able to become friends.

Suho knew how much I didn’t want to meet my mother. After they arrived two days ago, I let out all my frustration to Suho. I told him everything, starting from how much I hate them and I won’t even bother to spend time with them even if they beg me to the point I was even cursing about my family. Don’t think of me as a bad child because I was just frustrated. Everyone would do the same if they were me. And now, I knew that Suho wanted to laugh so badly because I didn’t keep my word. Well, it’s more like I can’t. Tao’s pleading was hard to resist after all. If you meet him, you would do the same too. He was too adorable and cute and don’t ever think that I’m a softy because that wasn’t me!

“Erm…this is the first time you join us for breakfast.” My thought was interrupted by my mother’s voice. I looked at her with a confuse look, still didn’t get it what she was talking about as I was too lost in my own thought.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it. I was actually pleased to see you here. Did you have a nice time with your brother last night? Tao told me that you invited him to your room for a talk last night,” she continued, maybe misinterpreted my confuse look with a displease one. I just nodded my head to her. I could still hear Suho’s snickered at the back.

“Then, let’s start our breakfast,” she said, awkwardly. Yeah, I know she’s feeling awkward. I do too! It’s the first time I’m eating with someone else other than Suho. I felt happy actually. I’d been dreaming of starting my day by having breakfast with my family. My father might not be here but seeing my mother and Tao’s here was enough for me.

“Suho, why don’t you join us,” I said while gesturing Suho to take a sit beside me. I smirked at him, seeing him startled. His face immediately turned pale. Well, he should be scare. No one was allowed to get close to me. It was the king’s order. Those who were assign to take care of the curse prince had to vow that they won’t even talk or get close to him unless it was necessary. My gesture just now indicated that we were close to each other. Oh, I wonder how he would take care of this situation.

“N..no, it’s fine. I’ll take breakfast later,” he stuttered with a nervous smile on his lips. Wrong answer! He should just say he already ate, so I won’t have any other ways to .

“It’s fine! Come and eat with us. It’s not like we haven’t had breakfast together before,” I said while showing a wicked smile to Suho. He stared at me with wide eyes.

“Oh…so the two of you are close?” my mother asked, shocked. I just nodded. My eyes never leave Suho. This was enjoyable. It’s hard for you to see this side of Suho. He always knew how to handle situation that sometimes I even thought whether he ever knew the word panic.

He was trying to form a word but nothing came out. My mother smiled. “Don’t worry honey. I didn’t mind. I won’t tell the king about this. Actually, I’m happy to know that Kris had a friend here.”

Suho chuckled nervously. I knew that he was sweating and trying to calm himself but, you should have known me better. I would never let him go.

“Eat with us Suho. You haven’t accompanied me for two days already. I know you’re busy but at least, spend some time with me. I really miss you, you know,” I said in a soft tone. Once again, he was shocked.

He looked at me with scared eyes and I could even sense a bit of anger in it. I mentally laughed at him. Happy to see he suffered. I’m not a bad person ok! It’s just that, almost all the time when I’m with Suho, he would tease me and I really hate it.

My mother’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape and a shock expression was plastered on Tao’s face.

“Suho, why don’t you come and eat with us… It seems that Kris really want you to.” My mother said with a smile on her face. Suho nodded and he took a sit beside me. I put two pieces of pancakes on Suho’s plate and topped it with maple syrup, just like he usually did.

“T…thanks,” he stuttered, eyes looking directly at me. Well, he sounded nervous but all I could see in his eyes was that he was fuming and I really like it. His eyes told me everything – You will pay for this later – and I just replied with a smirk. He couldn’t do anything to me. More like he wouldn’t. It’s funny seeing him trying to answer my mother’s question which was more like interrogating him about what his relationship with me.

After breakfast, I went straight to the reading room with Suho following from behind. Usually, at this time, he would accompany my mother and Tao but it seemed like he had something to tell me. When we reached the reading room, Suho quickly grabbed my collar.

“Can I help you?” I asked while trying to restrain my laughter.

“You stupid bastard! You shouldn’t say those things to the queen!” he hissed.

“I didn’t do anything. I just told mom that we were a close friend and that’s all!” I explained, trying to act innocent. I tried to free myself from his grip and luckily I succeed. I immediately went to sit on the couch near the window and took the book which I left there yesterday and started to read it, leaving Suho standing in the middle of the room like a fuming statue.

Suho suddenly screamed which startled me to death. I looked at him with wide eyes as if he was crazy.

“I really, really hate you!!!” he screamed again and this time, he launched himself at me. He tried to choke me and I was lucky that my arms were longer than his. At least, I could keep him farther away from me for the time being until he calmed down.

“You make me feel like ….arghhhh…I really hate you Kris! Let me kill you right now! At least, I won’t have to deal with your stupid behavior,” he shouted at me. He tried to punch me but I managed to stop him. He could be violent when he wanted to and it scared me sometimes but at other time like right now, it’s totally funny.

 “Calm down! You’re just overreacting,” I said in a calm voice.

“Overreacting? You should have seen Prince Tao’s face when you said we’re close. He was throwing daggers at me with his eyes. You should see it! If looks could kill, I might have been dead right now!” he screamed, arms trying to reach my neck.

“I didn’t see any daggers thrown at you,” I joked. He sure is overreacting. Every time I looked at Tao, he seemed fine.

“Didn’t you see it? He was like saying, I’m going to eat you right now and I was lucky you and the queen were there!” he said, panic. I just shook my head in disbelief.

“He might throw the daggers at me and chopped me and even cooked me or maybe he even gave you some of my meat and you end up eating your own friend and that was terrible!” he continued.

“Well, he won’t do that. He won’t dare to do something horrible, you didn’t have to worry. He was too kind to be able to murder someone,” I said still holding his arms. He looked skeptically at me like he didn’t believe a single word I said. “If he ever tried to kill you, I’ll go there and tried to rescue you. All you need to do is shout my name and I’ll be there!” I said again, trying to comfort him. He seemed to calm down a bit.

“You promise?” he asked and I just nodded my head. He smiled broadly and hugged me while saying a lot of thank you. I chuckled lightly while patting his back.

Suddenly, we heard a gasped. Our eyes quickly move to the sound and my eyes went wide. Suho quickly got off me and straighten his clothes. I coughed lightly trying to hide my nervousness. I’m not even sure what I was nervous about but seeing Tao and his shocked and sad face made me feel like we had done something horrible.

“I…I’m sorry to disturb you,” Tao apologized then bowed his head. He ran out of the room. I realized at that time, Tao’s crying and it made me feel uneasy. Suho and I looked at each other.

“You should go after him.” With Suho’s last word, I immediately stood up and ran after Tao. I hope he’s okay.