Later that day, Kris is hanging out at his favorite tavern, "The Baozi House", owned and operated by his three best friends. He is explaining about his arranged marriage and how he doesn't want to marry someone he doesn't know and love.

Tao and Chanyeol are also at the tavern, because Tao knows that it is Kris' favorite place. And Tao may or may not be eavesdropping on his love's conversation. Chanyeol is far too distracted by the young worker, named Baekhyun, to pay attention to anything else.

Kris finds his friends’ advice less than helpful, so he decides to take a walk in the forest and think.

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Joonmyeon is traveling through the forest, on his way to purchase some rare coffee only available at "The Baozi House". To pass the time, he begins singing "XOXO" to himself.

Kris hears the glorious sounds of Joonmyeon's voice and starts walking in the direction of the singing.

Joonmyeon stops and dismounts to adjust the girth of the saddle. As he works, he continued singing. Then, he proceeds to start dancing to the tune of "3-6-5" as he comes into Kris' view.

Kris is so drawn in by the music, he finds his feet moving along to the song but isn't watching where he's dancing and stumbles head first into the clearing where Joonmyeon is.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of the young man, Joonmyeon stops singing. Trying to cover the awkward silence, Kris stammers out, "Please d-d-don't stop singing?"

Joonmyeon smiles shyly at the taller boy as a blush warms his cheeks. He nods slowly and continues to sing "With You", starting out softly, feeling self-conscious about singing in front of a smokin' hot stranger.

He never sang in front of anyone, other than perhaps his young servant, Sehun, who had caught him singing to himself on random occasions.

Kris stands rooted to the spot he'd landed in, upon his "graceful" arrival at the clearing. Joonmyeon's beautiful voice and engaging smile made all intelligent thoughts leave Kris' head. He can only stand and stare, until his feet decide to take him to where the other boy is. He sweeps the singing angel into his arms, twirling them into a waltz. Joonmyeon immediately relaxes and allows Kris to hold him close as he continues with the song. They continue to dance like they never wished the music to stop, but jump apart guiltily as Sehun appears in the clearing with a small smirk on his handsome young face.

"Please, don't let me interrupt anything!" Sehun says softly with an almost mocking tone. "Oh Sehun! There you are! I thought you'd stopped to pick some flowers!" Joonmyeon mumbles to cover up the fact that he'd just been caught dancing, in the forest, with a stranger! He turns his scowling glare from Sehun to speak to the handsome stranger only to discover the boy vanished. How could someone that tall move so quietly?

Kris had snapped out of his stupor at the arrival of the second young man in the shaded grove and used this chance to slip away. He needed to recover from his shock of his reaction to the singing stranger. He'd swear that his heart had stopped beating only to start up again at triple it's normal rate.

Kris finds himself seated once more at the counter of his friend's tavern without realizing he'd headed there while he'd been so lost in his own thoughts. He can't help the sadness that swamps him when he thinks of his arranged marriage to a stranger and never being able to see the god like man he'd danced with earlier, again. His loud sigh makes the brow of his best friend crook upward in a questioning manner.

"What's wrong with you now?" Minseok asks, when Kris chooses to ignore the brow query. Kris doesn't know how to answer. Minseok is his closest friend, who'd always listen when there was something bothering him, but Kris doesn't think, "Well, there was this hot guy singing in the forest, and I kinda think he may have stolen my heart!" would be well received by the rule abiding tavern owner. So instead, he just says, "Nothing you can help me with right now, Min. You'll be the first to know when I am able to make sense out of today." Minseok nods slowly knowing that is as far as the conversation was going, but he still can't stop his brow from furrowing in concern. Kris picks up his to-go order of chicken and heads to the door with a brief wave to his friends.

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"Min, stop frowning or you'll get wrinkles." He heard as he looks up to find Luhan and Baekhyun standing in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen area of the tavern.

"Don't you have work to do?" Minseok snaps, earning only chuckles from the pair.

Luhan and Baekhyun work at Minseok's tavern, but it is just a cover. Their true mission is to watch over Kris to ensure that he stays alive and well, so he can ascend to the throne when it is his time to rule.

Baekhyun pushes away from his resting spot at the end of the bar and saunters over to where Minseok is furiously wiping an imaginary spot off the smooth wooden surface and gently places his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"What's the matter, Minnie?" Baekhyun inquires softly.

"It's Kris," Minseok replies in an equally low voice, "I have a bad feeling he's done something thoughtless again!" Baekhyun and Luhan exchange concerned glances, but wait for their friend to continue.

Minseok lookes up and catches the shared glance. He offers his friends a strained smile and a shrug as he has nothing to go on other than a gut feeling.

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Kris has a good heart and wouldn't hurt anyone if he can help it!" Minseok concludes.

A/N: Hi hi! So the second update..... I hope you enjoy and maaaayyyyyyybeeee comment. Yeah, comments are nice :)