I woke up to the sound of my new alarm clock and saw that I had approximately 45 minutes to get ready before I had to wake up the Prince. I went into my bathroom and took a shower. It was my first time ever taking a shower because we only had a bathtub. As I took my shower, I mentally prepared myself for the rest of the day. Technically I mentally prepared myself for the Prince.

After getting ready, I grabbed my clipboard and checked myself in the mirror. I looked pretty good in my palace uniform and was ready to face his highness. I walked into his room and saw him sleeping. I walked quietly over and studied his features. His perfect complexion, soft looking hair, perfectly lined jaw, and perfectly kissable... Wait. This isn't what I'm being paid for. "No use looking if you can't buy" is something my mother has always taught me.

I looked just a little bit longer and thought about how easy life must be as a Prince. You wake up when your told and go do what your told. After that, you tell others what to do. I mean technically this is my boss. He can fire me at any minute for simply doing something that he doesn't like. Today has to go well. First impressions are the most important!

I shake him awake and am immediately greeted by a grouchy monster who had replaced the adorable sleeping creature. "What are you doing?" He yelled.

"Im here to wake you up! It's time to get up, your Highness!" I yelled back. The other servants in the room who were there to assist him in getting ready all stared at me.

He sat up in bed and looked at me in surprise. "You are not allowed to speak to me like that." He said coldly. "No one is allowed to speak to me like that. I am the Prince of this kingdom and you will respect me."

He got up and was walking to the bathroom when I responded with, "But it got you up." I was met with another long cold look before he disappeared into the bathroom. What is his problem this morning? Was I wrong to wake him this way? It's usually what gets my sister out of bed.

Half an hour later, he emerged fully dressed and ready. His hair looked messy but stylish. He was wearing an outfit that one of the other servants picked out for him. I couldn't help but notice that it made him look really attractive. I smiled at him and said, "First off is breakfast, your highness." He did not speak or look towards me. He simply pushed past me and out the door. I followed him to the dining room where his breakfast was waiting. He ate in silence and I could tell I had struck a nerve. I glanced at my clipboard in between eating bites of my own breakfast. I checked over his schedule to make sure I had it memorized. Wake up. Check. get ready. Check. Breakfast. In progress. Horseback riding lessons and sword fighting lessons were before lunch. Then after he would have some free time until his dancing lesson.

I finished my breakfast and quickly checked the clock on the wall. "Your highness, you have 10 more minutes until we have to leave." I said giving him a warning.

"We leave when I finish," was the only response I got. He seemed to be a lot different from the guy I met in the marketplace. I watched as he are his breakfast even slower and even took time to drink an extra glass of juice. I saw that we were going to be late and started tapping my foot impatiently. He only smirked when he saw this and ate even slower.

When he was finally finished, I looked at him with a straight face and said, "Up next is horseback riding. We are already late." He rolled his eyes and got up from the table. We walked in an uncomfortable silence all the way to the stables.

The stables were located about 2 minutes past the rose garden. I let Kai walk on ahead of me and stopped to smell one of the beautiful roses. It was a deep crimson red rose and smelled wonderful. I bent down to touch one of the stems of the rose when someone grabbed my hand.

"What are you doing??" Kai asked. "Don't you know that the stems have thorns on them?!" His eyes were wide and I could tell that he was generally concerned.

I shook my head in reply. "No your Highness. I've never been around fresh roses before. Quite honestly, I've only seen them in story books or on a cake that the baker makes."

Kai sighed and held my hand tightly. "Well now you know. Roses have thorns. Thorns will hurt you. They will cut you very deeply in some cases." He paused for a moment and smiled at me. "And I can't have you getting hurt, especially on my watch."

I looked down at our hands and smiled. "Technically aren't you on my watch?" I said with a smirk.

"Technically." He said with a wink. He let go of my hand and started walking over to the stables. I looked down at my hand and could still feel the tingling sensation his hand had left.

When we arrive, there was a stable boy there. He was kind of tall, skinny, and had brown hair. "Hey Tae, where's the instructor?" Kai asked as he got on his horse with ease. 'Tae' pointed off to a trail and Kai ordered me to stay where I was. He left and I sighed deeply.

The stable boy turns to me and I give him a small smile. "My name is Taemin." The stable boy said.

I nodded at him and said, "My name is Melody. I am the Prince's personal servant."

Taemin started laughing and said, "Good luck with that. He can be kind of a handful sometimes." I wondered what he meant by a "handful" but decided not to ask.

I walked over to some of the horses in the stable and asked if it was ok to touch them. Taemin walked over to me and showed me the best ways to get the horses to respond. "Wow." I said as the horse nuzzled against my hand. "This is the first time I've ever pet a horse before."

Taemin smiled and said, "Well you're definitely a natural. You're welcome to come hang out with me- I mean them, anytime."

I blushed and thanked him for his kindness. Taemin and I talked about various topics, such as working at the palace. He even taught me a little about all the horses, introducing each one to me by name. My favorite was a brown mare with a white nose. Her name was Brownie and she was the one who responded to me the most.

I spent a good portion of time with her and Taemin even let me brush her and some of the other horses. Taemin was probably one of the sweetest guys I had ever met. He truly cares for each one of those animals and when he spoke, you could tell he cared about you. "You know what Melody? You're probably the best assistant I've ever had." Taemin said with a laugh.

I smiled at him and said, "If you ever need some help out here and the Prince doesn't have me running an errand for him, I'd be more than willing to help!"

Taemin opened his mouth to speak but Kai approached with his horse. His riding lesson was over, which meant my time withTaemin was also at an end. "Have a nice ride?" Taemin asked.

Kai smiled at him and said, "Yeah. It was good. I think the new horse is warming up to me." Taemin looked down at the ground sadly and Kai dismounted.

To change the conversation, Kai turned to me and said, "What's next?"

I looked down at my clipboard and said, "Swordfighting, then lunch and some free time." Kai nodded and began walking back to the castle. I gave Taemin one last smile, thanked him once more, and followed Kai out of the stables.

As Kai and I walked back to the castle, I decided to ask him about Taemin's mood change. "Your Highness, may I ask a question?"

Kai looked over at me and said, "You just did." I expected to see a mean face but when I looked over at him I saw him smiling.

I took this as a sign that he was in a better mood and went on. "Why did Taemin look sad when you mentioned the new horse? He's the stable boy. Shouldn't he be happy when it comes to horses?"

At this point, Kai stopped walking. "Never. Ever. Mention. This. Again. You understand?" I looked down at the ground ready to apologize when he continued. "Around this time last year, Taemin's horse was put down. He had it since he was 5. So he took it pretty hard. He loves horses but he really misses Kimlee."

Kai looked over at me ready for me to respond but I couldn't even speak. I felt the tears in my eyes and knew that I was about to cry. Taemin was such a sweet guy and I could never even imagine losing something or someone who was that close to me. I reminded myself that that is why I'm here. I'm here to send money to my family so that they may eat well and have good health. I looked up at the sky to try to stop myself from crying. Suddenly, I felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around me. "Shh. It's ok. I'm here. Taemin will be fine." Kai said as he held me.

After a few minutes, I gained my composure and could finally look into Kai's eyes. He wiped my tears away with his thumb and I eventually smiled. He started to lean in closer to me when we heard thunder off in the distance. He let go of me and I blushes deeply. Saying nothing more to each other, we walked back into the castle to the arms room where the swords were kept.

As Kai was getting suited up, I met his instructor Jonghyun. He was a short but muscular guy with black hair. I made sure to stay out of their way during the lesson, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the Prince. His movements were fluid and Jonghyun was working with him on precision. Kai gave it his all and by the time the lesson was done, we were late for lunch.

I followed Kai quietly to the dining room where his lunch was placed in front of him. I watched as servants brought out the individual pieces and then lined against the wall awaiting more orders. "Is there anything else you need your Highness?" I asked sweetly. Kai rolled his eyes and said no very coldly. "Also, since we have free time after this, I don't expect to see you until time for the dancing lesson. I've seen you too much today."

His words stopped me in my tracks. Where was the sweet guy I had spoken with outside? The one who held me when I cried? The one who held my hand this morning and stopped me from getting hurt? The one who wiped my tears away? The one who.... No. No more of this. I can't keep thinking about him. He probably just did that stuff to makeup for being rude to me earlier. But if he did that, then why was he so mean to me once more? All I knew was I needed to get away and he didn't even want me around. I don't really understand him. When we are alone, he's super sweet, but with others around, I'm nothing more to him than a servant. Maybe I'll go hang out with Taemin some more...