……… Chapter 5…….

The loyal palace staff noticed the two getting closer and closer over the years. They thought they were cute and adorable together. The Crown Prince would smile so brightly whenever Taemin was around and the smile would linger long after the boy was gone…..... 

In their late teens: At eighteen years of age the prince was placing perfect brush as he held his long sleeve away from his scroll as to not smear the wet ink when he heard the door slide open. Sitting on the floor Jinki looked up from his calligraphy to see Taemin sliding the door to the study closed. The younger male turned away from the door; His smile grew brighter once setting eyes on the prince. “Hello hyung. I came for a visit.” He sat down near him and smiled cutely. “What are you working on today? What have the royal scholars left you to study, hmm? Foreign languages? Etiquette? Mathematics? Astrology? Politics?”

Dipping the bristles in the ebony ink he answered as he glanced up momentarily with another smile “Writing” He dabbed his brush up against the inside of the little clay jar, removing the excess ink before continuing his work.

Taemin leaned over his shoulder to see the prince’s flawless lines on the Hanji (Korean traditional paper) and said “I always press to hard on the brush. They say I don’t write well at all. My mother says it’s sloppy.”Taemin shrugged then continued.  “I rather read than spend time practicing my writing skill.”

“You know what?” Jinki placed down his writing brush. “Would you like to try it?” he pulled out a clean sheet of Hanji from the pile on the side of the table and smiled, locking eyes with the younger “I’ll teach you and if you do well, you can read any book in the palace.”

Jinki’s smile was so handsome it made the boy’s heart beat faster and he couldn’t stop smiling in return; with a light pink now gracing Taemin’s cheeks the younger replied softly. “Okay I will try. Just for you I will.”  Taemin scooted closer until they were sitting side by side. Jinki smiled handsomely again and his eyes seemed to be smiling as well and that is when Taemin became aware that their outer thighs were touching. Taemin quickly averted his eyes away from the prince and timidly nibbled his bottom lip to stop from smiling. He reached in front of the prince for the brush; he batted his shy lashes and tried to avoid eye contact, feeling like his heart would burst if he stared into the prince’s dark brown eyes. Taemin held the sleeve of his hanbok, pushing it back to his elbow and dipped the brush in the black ink. After the younger male wet the brush and was about to make his first stoke Jinki smoothly leaned in closer, his cheek leaning just mere millimeters away from Taemin’s and murmured “You just need to steady your hand, press lightly…” as he placed his hand upon the boys, gently warping his fingers around the boy’s: guiding him.  “…Like this”

Taemin was in the middle of writing his own name when the prince whispered softly again “You are doing very well, Taemin” He glanced at Taemin’s blushing handsome face.

The younger swallowed and bashfully replied “It’s because you are helping me.”

They finished painting the Hanja characters of the younger’s name. “It looks pretty.” Jinki said then softly smiled as he watched the younger boy admire his own work; Taemin was gorgeous. The breathtaking boy blinked slowly as he turned his head to look at the prince but Jinki was so close that their lips almost touched. They shared a small shy giggle but the young men didn’t pull away like they did just a few short years ago. The giggles were soon replaced with a comfortable silence as they gazed sweetly into the others eyes romantically at such close proximity.  The prince murmured “Pretty” Taemin cutely blinked and smiled, whispering “Hyung”    As the prince leaned in to close the gap between their lips they heard talking outside the room and quickly separated without ever kissing. Both of them grinning like love sick fools as if they had kissed. The talking grew louder in the hall. Jinki smirked and grabbed Taemin’s hand and pulled him up, whisper shouting “Come quick”

Taemin laughed “What are we doing? Our fathers are coming.”

“Follow me.” Jinki stood on top of a wooden chest near the window. “We are running away for an hour.”

“Jinki!” he whisper shouted and followed him to the back of the room and chuckled “We can’t do that” Taemin stepped up on top of the chest though.

Jinki sat in the windowsill and smiled handsomely up at him “Do you want our first kiss?” Taemin smiled happily but said nothing; he looked at the door then back to Jinki and nodded.  The Prince held out his hand, “Then come on Taem, follow me.” Placing his hand in his, Taemin grinned and let the prince help him step out of the window first. Jinki swung his legs out of the window and hopped down and shut his windows then grabbed Taemin’s hand and took off.

Moments later The King and Magistrate Lee slid open the door to the Bihyeongak (The Study of the Crown Prince) to find it empty. The two teenagers laughed and ran to the back of the palace. Reaching it, they bent over laughing harder and trying to catch their breath.  Leaning forward, their long braided hair slid from their backs and over their shoulders and dangled across their heaving chests as they huffed and puffed. Once they settled down Jinki smiled and brushed Taemin’s daeng'gi meori (long braid) behind his shoulder to where it belonged as he leaned closer. Taemin tried not to blush as the prince touched his hair for that was an intimate thing to do. “It should be somewhere as beautiful as you.” Jinki tenderly laced his fingers with Taemin’s. The younger smiled sweetly; Jinki thumbed over the back of the boy’s hand. Taemin giggled as he was led away once again…They walked peacefully around the outside of the palace buildings eventually finding themselves in Jinki’s favorite place, the royal gardens located behind the Gyotaejeon  (Queen’s quarters). Access to the Garden is restricted to the royal family only. The Elaborate garden extended northwards leading to Bugaksan Mountain behind the palace. It held ponds and hidden paths leading to over 10 pavilions amongst the nature and many small gazebos throughout the stunning gardens. With flowers in abundance of all the colors of the rainbow and even shades of color the younger had never seen before and had never known had existed… Trees and bushes with pretty yellow forsythias flowers lining a wooden path to a gazebo caught his attention the most due to how bright they were like the midday sun.  Taemin breathed in awe “It’s so beautiful! You never showed me this place before.” The younger let go of his hand and knelt down gently touching the soft petals of a flower, leaning closer to smell its heavenly fragrance. 

Smiling, Jinki replied “I was saving it for something special.” Taemin looked over his shoulder behind himself, locking eyes with the prince. “Our first kiss?”

With an eye-smile the Prince said cutely “Maybe” while holding out his hand; Taemin placed his hand in his to stand up.

Jinki sighed peacefully as he looked around at the magnificent floral grounds “When my 10 times great grandmother was a young woman, I think she was your age actually…”  Jinki swung their intertwined hands lightly and began walking. Instead of walking on the wooden path, he choose to walk amongst the flowers… “Let me start from the beginning…Beyond the city and villages that surround the kingdom is a place of glorious impressive beauty, a land of purity and fruitful bounty called The Emerald Fields.”  The garden they were in with its own majestic serene beauty surrounded them as they walked to a tree to sit in its shade.

“I heard of that place. Father says we aren’t allowed to travel through there, we must go around.”

“This is true but did you know these flowers come from there? It is our bond between nature and humanity. Have you studied about our kingdom? Do you know the story of creation? It’s my favorite story. The King used to tell me stories of the beginning when I was a child, to get me to sleep. My father told me about an angle that they say could even speak with the animals; she lived amongst them in harmony. A mother of nature and earth you could say. Father says the legend says that there once was a princess; an angel, born in heaven and sent to earth through heaven’s gate in Emerald Fields to find love and save humanity. Others think she was born of the earth in the center of the Emerald Fields when the heavens built the earth… Either way she was literally created by god either up there or down here but she was here and made for our people: A protector, an angel and full of pure love. She lived off the land for years…waiting.... One day a stranger came...a man had gotten lost. They say he wasn’t a nice man, had a temper I believe. He was a prince cast out perhaps. But the angelic woman saved him. Fed him, gave him knowledge and gave him shelter, taught him to be peaceful…and she gave him something else he had been missing.”

Curious, Taemin asked softly “What was he missing?”

“Love.”

“oh.” Taemin blushed. “That is a pretty story.”

He cocked his eyebrow cutely “It’s not over.” He thumbed over the back of Taemin’s hand. “You see, the love someone gives you makes you stronger. Makes you the person you are supposed to be.  Once she had taught him everything he needed. She told him he was ready to return to his people. He became a gentleman, regained his honor and ended up becoming a great man. But he realized he was still missing something, lacking something for his heart felt empty. He journeyed back to the Emerald Fields. She was sitting surrounded by yellow hibiscus flowers, which later became our national flower by the way because of her. No words were spoken for their eyes said everything. The angelic lady smiled and welcomed him home. As he sat beside her he felt his heartbeat increase, increase so much he felt it thump against his chest.” Jinki patted his own chest “Thump thump. The man becoming aware of his own heart, it needed love all the time. She smiled her beautiful angelic smile again and the man’s smile grew 10 times brighter in that moment, his heart felt full, full of love, thus he plucked a flower from the ground and placed it behind her ear gently and kissed her sweetly on the lips marrying their souls together. Man and wife from that day forward…. Unable to live without the other they walked out of the beautiful green lush fields and brightly colored wild flowers. They wanted to spread their love. To help others that may be lost in mind, body, and soul. They found a lot of darkness in the world. They saw wars and fighting, starvation and other horrible things. But together they pulled everyone together building what you see today, this nation and this specific spot - They settled here on this very hill side at the base of the mountain. The Man and the Angel became the 1^st leaders of the SHINee World and they planted this garden together with seeds from Emerald Fields, in honor of where they started. The flowers, the trees, all that you see, is from there. The Lee family legend is, when royalty pass on into the afterlife, Emerald Fields is where our souls rest to be with the souls of the first couple that unified us. To not disturb our ancestors at rest we respectfully never journey there.  It’s like a gate way to heaven. Well, that was the original reason but not that many aristocrats believe that nowadays but my direct bloodline still believes it... you know why?” they approached the tree and sat down side by side, Taemin as always pillowed his head on the prince’s shoulder after shaking his head “Because you're half Angel?”

The prince nodded and continued “They had a son. Half man and half angel, that son was the 1^st official King of the SHINee Kingdom. I’m a descendent of them. With ancestors from heaven, it’s something we take very seriously but others find hard to believe.”

Taemin breathed “Oh, I see.”

“The 1^st King fell deeply in love with a young woman; the one I said was around your age.  He wanted to marry her so he did the same as his father and plucked a yellow flower from The Fields and romantically placed the flower behind her ear followed by asking her a very special question.”

Taemin beamed with sparkling eyes. “He asked her to marry him, didn’t he?”

Jinki nodded “Every man in the Lee family proposed to his future Queen this way, its tradition and also why it became the kingdoms official flower.”

Taemin sighed sweetly “That’s beautiful, such a romantic tradition.”

The prince blushed “Not as beautiful as you.”

Taemin giggled cutely “Jinki hyung-nim” while glancing away bashfully from his royal boyfriend’s sudden compliment.

“You are very handsome Lee Taemin. The most beautiful person I have ever seen. You are prettier than these flowers. Your smile is brighter than the shining sun. Your sparkling eyes twinkle more beautifully than the glimmering stars that flicker in the night sky.”  Jinki intertwined their fingers and tenderly squeezed his hand.

Taemin smiled handsomely. “You are handsome too. Very.”

“With all the poetry you read that is the best you can come up with?”  He teased making the younger blush and giggle cutely and voice “Words can’t describe how handsome you are to me, Jinki hyung.”The Prince smiled and leaned against the tree allowing the other to lay his head on his shoulder again. There was a moment of comfortable silence as they listened to the birds sing above them in the tree’s branches until Taemin heard a soft “I love you.”

Taemin blinked and lifted his head slowly; locking eyes with the crown prince, the ends of his lips curled up in a soft smile “I love you with all my heart hyung.” Now that they had finally verbally confessed they couldn’t stop looking at one another’s handsome eyes until... With a voice as sweet as nectar the crown prince asked softly “May I… May I kiss you?” Taemin slowly leaned up from the prince’s shoulder; Jinki met him half way, tenderly sealing their lips in a chaste but yet romantic kiss. Just like in the prince’s story, Jinki’s heart thumped rapidly, pumping love throughout his body; Taemin’s heart soared to the heavens as the soft royal lips pressed lightly against his. By the gentle love in the pure kiss the younger knew one day he would receive a very special yellow flower. But Jinki knew from the moment he first held Taemin’s hand in the courtyard a year or two ago that he would be with Taemin forever: they would lead this kingdom side by side in marriage…. With pink cheeks of his own Jinki bit his bottom lip happily, trying not to grin like a blushing love sick man as they slowly separated from their first kiss, he failed for the teenagers both had love written across their pink faces….