I froze at his words. "You're what? Can you repeat that?" I asked.

He smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm falling in love with you."

Suddenly I realized how grave our situation was. He can't be in love with me. It's not allowed. It's fun for us to pretend that we have each other, but at the end of the day, there's just a huge space between us. I got off of his lap and stood up. "You can't be in love with me." I said firmly.

I turned to leave and he grabbed my hand. "Why can't I be in love with you?"

"Kai. We... We are just too different. It's not allowed. We aren't in a fairy tale! Fairy tales aren't real. You can be Prince Charming, but you can't have a Cinderella." At this point tears were rolling down my eyes as I realized we would never be together. 

"Cinderella was real Melody." He said. I looked at him questioningly and he continued. "Many many many years ago my great-great-great-great-great grandfather was the prince of this kingdom. He had a ball and a mysterious maiden showed up, made him fall in love, and left quickly without her shoe. He looked everywhere to find her, and ended up going to the marketplace. There amongst the crowd, he saw her and instantly knew her to be the woman he was in love with. He took her home to his castle and his parents honored his wishes for they knew that their son was truly happy."  

I took a deep breath in and looked down. "But.." I said trying to interject.

"But nothing. I went to the marketplace. I found the woman I've fallen in love with. Don't I get to be truly happy?" He said pulling me in closer. "Don't we get to be truly happy?" 

I looked up into his face and saw just how much he wanted this. He wanted us to happen. His eyes were filled with love and his expression was soft. His eyes were pleading me to answer and I had to take a moment just to breathe. "What would it take to make you truly happy?" I asked quietly.

"You." He whispered. "Having you by my side always. Being with you and sharing every moment of every day with you." He took in a deep breath and continued, "Falling deeper in love with you by the minute. That's what it would take."

His words were so genuine that I couldn't help but to believe him. Each word was laced with so much sweetness that I was positive I was going to melt. "You're actually serious about this, aren't you?" I said barely able to form a sentence.

"I'm serious about you." He said pulling me closer. "What will it take to make you truly happy?" He whispered into my ear. 

"My happiness has never mattered to anyone before." I said quietly. 

"It matters to me." He said softly my hair.

"I guess for me..." I paused to think before I went on. "True happiness for me would just be to see everyone else happy and healthy."

Kai sighed and shook his head, "No. That has nothing to do with making you happy. What would make you happy right this very instant?" He asked.

"For you to kiss me!" I blurted out. Instantly, I put my hand to my mouth realizing what I've just done. Kai smirked and placed my hands in his. My eyes widened as I saw his lips get closer and closer. He pushed his lips up against mine and began kissing me passionately. He placed one hand on the small of my back and another behind my head. I felt him dip me as the kiss deepened. Technically, I've never been dipped but I'm going to assume this is what it's like. His strong arms were holding me so I knew I wouldn't fall, but for some reason I was still slightly fearful. He brought me back up and we slowly broke away, ending the kiss. 

"Did that make you happy?" He asked. I started giggling and nodded. He smiled and said, "Now tell me what will it take to make you truly happy?"

"If I'm not factoring in my family or the emotions of others?" I ask. He nodded and waited for my answer. "I would be truly happy if I had you." I said shyly. 

"And why's that?" He asked.

"Because I've been falling in love with you since we met..." I said sounding quite shocked at the fact that I was confessing my true feelings. He sighed happily and his eyes brightened. "What made you buy me a cookie anyways?" I asked.

He chuckled to himself and said, "It got you to talk to me, didn't it?" I blushed and nodded. 

"Do you always call random girls in the marketplace beautiful?" I asked inquisitively.

"Nope. Quite honestly, you're the only one I've ever said that to." He said smiling. "And you know why?" I shook my head and he held me in his arms. "Because the moment, I saw you. I truly knew the definition of beauty."

I blushed even harder and tried to pull away but he only held me tighter. "But I'm not..." 

He cut me off with a quick kiss and said, "No. You don't get to argue with me on this one. You're beautiful. More than beautiful. You're gorgeous. You're stunning. You're breathtaking. You're..." It was my turn to cut him off, which I did by giving him a very light sweet kiss.

"Yours." I said smiling.

"The very thought of you being mine..." His voice trailed off as he tried to find the words. I smiled at his cuteness and watched as he tried thinking of what to say next. "The very thought of you being mine makes me want you even more."

I giggled and said, "But you already have me."

He smiled and said, "But I can't do this anytime I want." He engulfed me in his arms and firmly planted a kiss on my lips. "I want to show you off." He muttered into my hair.

"Maybe one day Kaikai." I said enjoying our embrace.

He broke away slightly and said, "Did you just call me 'Kaikai'?"

I blushed and looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.." I said.

He pulled me back in and I laid my head against his chest. "That is the cutest thing I have ever been called."

"So you aren't mad?" I asked quietly.

He kissed the top of my head and said, "Never." He took in a deep breath and said, "I love you Melody." 

All of a sudden he started panicking realizing what he had just done. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It's too soon..."

"I love you too." I said quietly as he babbled more. 

"I don't want anything to come between us. Please don't let me ruin us by saying things too early... Did you just say what I think you said?" He asked. I nodded and he stared at me in shock. "Please say it again."

"I love you too." I said building my confidence up.

At this point, Kai picked me up and spun me around. He was getting ready to kiss me when we heard a sound like a cross between a bird and someone dying. Kai kissed me quickly and told me to get on the horse. "That's our cue that we've been gone a long time. Taemin and I made up that signal a long time ago to warn each other about stuff."

I jumped on the horse and we took off. Kai went fast, showing off his skills again. When we got to the stables, Taemin helped me down and told me which direction Princess Catherine had gone. I went up to her room and she asked me where I had gone. "I had to run an errand. I'm sorry." I said curtsying. She waved me off and said that she was off to lunch with Kai and Prince Sehun. She told me I didn't need to follow and she would see me soon. With all this free time, I didn't know what to do so I went for a little walk. I walked past Kai's room when I heard voices coming from inside.

"You like her, don't you?" I heard Prince Sehun ask.

"What do you mean?" Kai asked nervously.

"You and that servant girl. I saw the way you looked at her this morning." Prince Sehun said.

"What way? I didn't look at her any different than I usually do." Kai said.

"Which means you always look like a lovesick puppy when you see her! You even have that goofy smile on your face and we are only talking about her!" Prince Sehun said with a laugh.

I heard a muffled sound and a small cry of pain from Prince Sehun. "I do not look like a lovesick puppy. There is no goofy smile. I'm smiling because......." Kai said.

"it is true? You do like her?" Prince Sehun asked.

I heard Kai sigh and he said, "It's a bit more than like. But that's all the details you are getting right now." 

"But.." Prince Sehun said trying to interject.

"But nothing. Melody is a very special person to me and that's all there is for you to know right now. We are keeping our relationship a secret until we can tell mom and dad." Kai said. 

"But your parents would never allow it." Prince Sehun said.

"My parents are different than others. I think they would respect my wish to be happy. Right now? in my mind, it's Melody or nothing. I've completely fallen for her." Kai said.

"Yeah but..." Sehun said trying to interject once more. 

"No. No buts. I have hope for this. I really want things to work out between us. She could be the... Anyways, we better leave before Catherine gets any ideas about us and goes looking for us." Kai said.

Upon hearing this, I ran down a different hallway and began walking around as I was earlier. Suddenly I got lost and went down a corridor I had never been down before. I walked for quite sometime and was lost in thought when I bumped into someone. "Mmph." We said as we collided. I saw that it was Princess Catherine! We both started laughing and excused ourselves.

I was about to ask if she needed anything, when she asked me a question. "Are you dating my cousin?"

I looked down quickly and tried to find what to say. "No. We aren't dating... Not. Um, yet." I said admitting my secret.

Princess Catherine smiled and said, "It would be the first time I've ever seen him this happy. Sehun and I were trying to figure out what's up with him but when you two disappeared..."

"I.. He..." I stammered.

She simply waved off my stammering and said, "The secret is safe with me and Sehun. He got Kai to admit anyways. But please please be careful. Not everyone  in the castle would be ok with the two of you together. It could ruin things for the both of you. 

We started walking together and continued talking. "That's what I told him. I said that maybe we shouldn't be together. I'm just a servant, but he wouldn't hear it. He said that all that matters is that we love each other and nothing else matters. It all sounds like a fairy tale to me. I'm not good enough for him, but he seems to think otherwise.

Catherine smiled to herself. "That's my cousin. Stubbornly finding a way to get what he wants no matter what it takes." She took in a breath and said, "The two of you would be a cute couple together, but how far do you want this to go? Like are you just toying with him or what? Do you just want to be queen?"

I looked down and realized I hadn't even thought that far. "I'd like for us to go as far as possible but he might not want that. I'm not talking with him or whatever it is we are doing, so that I can be queen. I honestly love him for him, not the title. When I met him, I didn't meet him as a prince. I met him as a sweet guy out in the marketplace. Kai says he loves me, but to make me his queen would be an entirely different story. I couldn't even imagine my life being queen. Let alone imagine me being married to someone like that. He's too perfect.."

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around my waist  and someone nuzzled their face into the space between my neck and shoulder. "Queen Melody. It has a nice ring to it." Said the voice from behind me. I was about to turn around to see who it was when the person placed a light kiss on my cheek. "And by the way, you're the perfect one in my eyes." He whispered in my ear before slowly moving his lips down towards my shoulder. He placed a soft kiss on my neck and then came back up and said, "I love you too." He kissed my cheek once more and tightens his grip. "I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of saying that." 

"Eww. Get a room you two." Said a voice from behind him. I didn't see who it was but I instantly knew it to be Sehun. 

"I think we've been busted Kai." I whispered.