Choi Seunghyun spoke to Kang Minhyuk about the intruder. What he looked like, the clothing he wore or the weapon that he used. It was interesting to note but it was just that it did not help in any way at all. It was stuff that they already knew.

 

Then Minhyuk told Seunghyun and the Palace things… the stuff that they did not know.

 

Winner, Yunho and Kyuhyun travelled back to Seoul while Seunghyun travelled back to the Palace to see the Queen, Crown Prince Jiyong and his fiancée, Taeyeon. The King was occupied and could not attend – unfortunately.

 

The Queen was the first to speak, her face betrayed no emotion at all but there was this little twitch of her lips. Seunghyun would soon find out what that actually meant.

 

“So, the Korean Intelligence Agency does not have any clue whatsoever as to the assassin, his face, motive or his social background?” The Queen asked quietly as she studied the cup of steaming hot tea in her hands.

 

Seunghyun’s back got even straighter, “Yes, your Majesty.”

 

“Mother…” Jiyong tried to calm her.

 

“No, no, let me.” The Queen waved her hands dismissively.

 

“We spend billions of won every year for electronic equipments, education, training and weapons for our agents and yet, you have nothing on him.” Her piercing eyes remained on Seunghyun as she remarked.

 

“Yes.” Seunghyun could not help but nod, feeling more and more miserable by the second. He could so see his next assignment would entail camels, penguins or snakes.

 

“However, you have vast details on my son’s love life and is hundred percent sure that he is… And I quote, “madly, deeply, desperately” in love with Taehyun.” The Queen’s eyebrows were raised as she looked down at the memo on her lap.

 

Her gaze then travelled to all those who were present in the room. “For a moment, I thought we have lost all hope. He really likes him?”

 

The last question was directed towards Seunghyun.

 

“Yes, your Majesty.”

 

Her interest in that issue was rather alarming. “How much?”

 

“I rather not go into details,” Seunghyun said.

 

For a moment, he was so sure he had evaded all difficult conversation but only to be steered towards another sort of difficult situation.

 

The Queen, a proud mother of three, was not going to let him off the hook. “No, no, oh no, please go ahead.”

 

Taeyeon sniggered and nodded encouragingly at the guard until her fiancé elbowed her.

 

“I really rather not…”

 

“Agent Seunghyun.” Her voice was soft but carried a hint of a quiet warning.

 

Seunghyun sighed then went into detail, into greater detail. Minhyuk had been painfully precise and at the same time, blissfully innocent and was more happy for them than embarrassed.

 

The Queen was not at all happy. “They got interrupted?” In fact, she was visibly upset and her palms hit the table. All the individuals present and several tea cups jumped.

 

“Ahh! Seriously!”

 

“Mother…” Jiyong tried to reason as he reminded his mother gently. “They are very, very young. Don’t you think you are exaggerating a little bit?”

 

Taeyeon, covered with cookie crumbs, rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Nonsense, they are young so they should really enjoy being in love!”

 

“But not too much.” Jiyong reminded her.

 

“Maybe a little bit?” She prodded him, clearly enjoying herself.

 

Jiyong drew a deep, long-suffering sigh. Taeyeon was well beloved by the Korean people, by the Royal Family, by Mino and by Jiyong even more than just well-loved. However, she could get a bit too enthusiastic when it came to certain things especially matters concerning the heart.

 

“They are not teenagers anymore.” Taeyeon continued.

 

“But just barely.” Jiyong answered.

 

“I think is great news because now we are certain we are not forcing them to do anything.” The Queen supplied.

 

“They may like each other but we may still be forcing them.” Jiyong countered.

 

His mother rolled her eyes. “When I met your father then, I was appalled.”

 

“Mother, we all know the story.” Jiyong tried to get the Queen to stop but to no avail.

 

“We argued all the time and once quite shamelessly in the throne room. Thank god no one was there to listen.” The Queen continued.

 

“Besides the servants, the guards and the ladies-in-waiting.” Taeyeon said as she reached for another cookie.

 

“Despite that, I am happy to say that he is and remains as the love of my life.” The Queen declared.

 

“This does not mean Mino and Taehyun are like you and father.” Jiyong mentioned sternly but at the same time could not help but be impressed how his mother could be like this in private and a wonderful Queen professionally.

 

“Taehyun is quiet, of a gentle soul, of thorough thinking if you will, while Mino is capable of great emotion and feeling, is full of childishness and outpouring, overwhelming love. Taehyun does not like to argue and if he does, he wields words like weapons, while Mino is either deeply unhappy when he argues or just teases him to make him laugh. You can’t compare to the two of you.” Jiyong continued.

 

“He has been in love with him since they first met.” The Queen shook her head.

 

“But does he still feel the same?” Jiyong asked.

 

“And we cannot go ask him right?” Taeyeon noted.

 

At her words, the Queen looked up and their eyes met.

 

“Or can we?” Taeyeon asked again.

 

There was a dangerous glint to the Queen’s face. A glint that the Crown Prince did not like at all.

 

“Mother?” the Prince asked, a faint warning in his tone.

 

“I need to speak with your father.”

 

“Are you planning on spending taxes on something unfortunate?” The Prince chose his words carefully, hoping that it will invoke a sense of responsibility and bad consciousness within his mother.

 

One could tell by the look of the Queen’s face that it clearly did not work.

 

“I need to make a phone call.” She said and immediately rushed away.

 

Jiyong’s helpless gaze travelled towards Seunghyun, who was still standing there like a statue. He was smiling when Jiyong’s gaze met his and the smile immediately vanished.

 

“They start to rub off on you, Agent Seunghyun” the Prince remarked.

 

“Your Highness?” Seunghyun asked innocently.

 

“You would not do me the favor?”

 

“Would that favor include treason?”

 

Jiyong sighed and realized he has been doing a lot these few days. Letting his prince persona drop, “Hyung, what is your opinion? Privately, personally, not as someone who works in the Palace but as someone who knew them… since they were children.”

 

“Your Highness… they just need time.” Seunghyun struggled for the words. “He has lost his brother and almost the love of his life and pick up the pieces of the stupid decisions he made.”

 

“Stupid decisions.” Taeyeon grumbled. “Tell me about it.”

 

“Time.” Jiyong repeated. “I am not sure if we can afford that luxury.”

 

His gaze was sad when he looked at Taeyeon. Taeyeon could not help but to move over and hugged him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Things were then put into motion.

 

“Kihoon hyung is concerned. I think we have been receiving more letters in YG that they do not want us to know about.” Seungyoon commented.

 

“What is new about that?” Seunghoon asked, busy texting Minhyuk. With one ear, he listened to Seungyoon, with the other he listened to Taehyun in his room - and to the male voice, speaking in there.

 

“Why did we let him in again?”

 

“Because he likes Taehyun and Taehyun trusts him.” Seungyoon answered.

 

Then, the doorbell rang.

 

“I am lazy. You go answer it, Seungyoon-ah.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“As your hyung, I say just go.”

 

With an exasperated sigh, Jinwoo came out from the back of the dorm, shooting a dark glance at the two members sprawled on the living room couch and went to open the door…

 

He could only stare at the person.

 

Then the most un-diplomatic thing came out of his mouth, he could hear Seungyoon face palmed behind him when it left Jinwoo’s lips.

 

“You cannot come in here.”

 

Of course, it only rose Mino’s suspicions.

 

“Why? I just need to speak with Taehyun. I promise I will behave.”

 

“I think is a bit late for that.” Seunghoon muttered.

 

Mino frowned at guy sprawled on the couch.

 

“Too late?”

 

“Yes. And maybe you could, like, phone, beforehand, phone?” Seungyoon asked, somehow coldly. “Everyone does, instead of doing the wrong thing and barging in.”

 

Mino stared at the three members in front of him and could not make any sense of the situation. Then, he heard nearing voices and refused to be pushed outside by the three members who suddenly pulled at his various limbs.

 

Taehyun came out of his room, their gazes met and the world seemed to stop turning.

 

The pulling ceased as Jinwoo, Seunghoon and Seungyoon stopped pulling to just look up at Mino and then, at Taehyun’s frozen face.

 

Behind Taehyun, with the smile that was previously on his face slipping off immediately, came Hanbin, his hand leaving Taehyun’s left shoulder.

 

“Here we go again.” Seungyoon muttered under his breath.

 

Mino felt his hands tense and the familiar rage creeping up his stomach towards his neck. He felt a sudden urge to go over, claim Taehyun in any way possible and just deck Hanbin; break his jaw or smash his skull.

 

Then, he took a very deep breath and his hands relaxed.

 

“Minho…” Taehyun started and Mino immediately shook his head, forcing a smile on his head.

 

“I just came to return this to you.” Mino said as he put the bag down. The gaze he cast at Taehyun was gentle but once he looked at Hanbin, fury returned.

 

“You forgot this at the Summer House. I am sorry for intruding.”

 

“Hyung,” Hanbin started, but much to the surprise of everyone, Taehyun stopped him.

 

“Are you not angry?” he asked, his voice calm, arms neatly folded over his body.

 

Mino tilted his head. “I’m not angry, I’m jealous.” His tone was surprisingly calm, even a bit playful. “And I’m not giving up, if that is what you are aiming at.”

 

It took him self-restraint and all the memories of his friendship with Hanbin, when he dramatically lifted his arm to point at his old friend. “Just wait, Hanbin-ah!”

 

They all stared. Hanbin would later pick up his jaw from the floor, while Taehyun relaxed visibly, for a moment, a glimmer of a smile tugged at his lips.

 

Mino, of course, did not notice. “Anyway.” He nodded, partially at those around him and at himself. “I need to go now. I see you then. Expect me to pick you up for a date!”

 

He threw another dark glance towards Hanbin and marched away. They heard his voice in the hallway outside their apartment, when he picked up his ringing cell phone.

 

“Yeah, I brought it to him. Yes, tell mother I will be there soon. I just have to take care of something beforehand.”

 

The driver drove him back towards the Palace, where Mino avoided his father and mother, his brother, where he happily greeted some of the servants and guards and continued his way.

 

The rage within him roared and trembled, as he hastened his steps towards the small temple that stood near the main building.

 

He had not visited that temple for a very long time - and his circles around it had increased after Siwon’s death.

 

Something else started to rise next to his ire, something that ultimately seeped into his soul as he approached the temple, something that rose to greater waves than the fury he felt for Hanbin.

 

When he arrived at the doorstep, he almost limped, his shoulders heavy from his heart, his head bent.

 

Carefully, he made his way inside.

 

One step, the wood groaning under his feet, the well opened, spilling freely. Tears immediately came to his eyes and once he had entered the temple fully, he started to cry.

 

First chokes, then cries, like a baby, like a newborn. He stumbled forward, howling, then fell to his knees and crumbled, both inside and outside. His heart burned, his rage at the world for the injustice flared.

 

Almost like purging, he felt stripped bare to his soul and suddenly did not feel human at all. He howled, cried, cursed and cried again.

 

It had never been rage, not towards Taehyun and only jealousy towards Hanbin.

 

He realized it had been sadness, as he cried and cried, kneeling in front of the flowers, in front of the altar, under the wooden roof, in that little temple just somewhere hidden within the Palace, while the late Crown Prince Siwon looked down at him from that picture amidst the flowers, smiling.

 

It was the first time he cried for him ... finally ...

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

A woman arrived at Incheon International Airport. No one noticed her, she wore red and black checker suspender skirt, a black shirt and shoulder length hair with a slightly crazy smile.

She looked almost homeless and definitely bohemian. A group of bodyguards, led by Seunghyun himself, who begged to fetch her from the airport, greeted her without a single arrogant glance at her attire.

 

Seunghyun was about to bow, but the woman, smiling her slightly manic smile, did not let him. She hugged him, tightly and happily, and then looked up at him from under her mane.

 

“How are you?”

 

Seunghyun blushed. “I am fine. How are you?”

 

“Not fine but better. It is wonderful to see you again, Seunghyun. You have not changed one bit. Oh! Are you happy?” She asked as she put a little distance between them so she could look at him properly.

 

“To see you.”

 

She laughed. “No, I do not fancy myself so important to justify that kind of happiness.”

 

She took him by the arm and dragged him away. “You have to tell me everything about them. Not one bit left out.”

 

Seunghyun groaned and wondered how the hell did she do that.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jiwon made his way into SBS studios, clad in jeans and a shirt, trying to look normal as possible. In his jacket, he carried a blurry picture of a man out to kill the Korean Prince.

 

Again.

 

He knew he was supposed to turn up here. He was supposedly close to an idol group, maybe a SBS employee? Jiwon could not be sure.

 

Trying to look around, he started to memorize the face of the people while he was following the girl he was supposed to accompany to this place.

 

That guy? Too tall. That dude? Minho of Shinee. This person? Park Misun. Wrong gender. Nobody of them looked like the suspect. They just did not match up, not in stature, not in weight, not in anything …

 

Well, it was not the first time he came to this place but he felt an identification of the suspect would have been nice. Very nice in fact.

 

The girl he was suppose to protect, spoke to him.

 

“Oppa,” she said, when he absentmindedly steered away from her. After all, he was her manager oppa, somehow.

 

“You are the most conspicuous secret agent I have ever seen.”

 

“Ha yi-ah.” He tried but she immediately shook her head.

 

“It is Lee Hi. How many times do I have to tell you?” She said as she pushed him through the crowd of a giggling A-pink.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Umm Taehyunie? Someone is here to see you.” Seunghoon popped his head in.

 

Taehyun quickly hid the ring that Mino lost in front of the book he was reading.

 

“Hyung, I am not really in the mood…”

 

“Well, I don’t think she is going to take no for an answer.” Seunghoon struggled.

 

The door opened further and a new head appeared. A smiling head of a beautiful Japanese girl with shoulder length hair and a friendly, but tired smile. She wore red and black checker suspender skirt.

 

“Annyeong,” she greeted Taehyun, while the latter scrambled to his feet. “How are you doing, my dear, little brother?”

 

“Annyeonghasaeyo.” Taehyun managed, bowing deeply. First tears of happiness and sadness threatened to emerge when he saw his dear old friend, Siwon hyung’s fiancée.

 

“Annyeonghasaeyo. He repeated, this time choking with tears in his throat. “Mina-san...”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Mino took a deep breath and climbed the stairs leading to his door. The air bit into his lungs and tore at his fingertips. For some reason he suspected that what ever lead his way towards the things he was destined to do, reminded him of the delicacy of the situation, of the things he had to do.

 

He had to straighten things out. He had to be fair and honest, even if it was currently the thing he wanted to do the least.

 

It was a strange feeling … to go into the night to break someone’s heart.

 

He rang the bell. Twice.

 

Jinhwan opened and the smile gradually vanished from his face when he saw Mino’s expression, the seriousness lurking there, the pain and the compassion.

 

“We need to talk,” he said. “May I come in?”

 

And without a word, he stepped aside and let him come in.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

A man with a baseball cap and more voices in his head than one should have sat in a room with a weapon in his hands …

 

He had found out how to kill the Prince. It was really easy. He had witnessed it when he had followed them through the woods.

 

The Prince would come to him, voluntarily, he just had to get Taehyun. That boy would go anywhere where Taehyun went.

 

Anywhere…

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hihi back with an update... i hope you all like this... i never tried wiriting such a long fic before but there was just too many things happening at once so a long chaptered fic happened... well no silent readers please... i hope you all enjoy this update...