"Just a second, Your Highness!" Maerin replied hastily, trying not to sound as if she were in a state of panic. She scrambled up to her feet and jumped off the bed to grab one of her suitcases, opening the zipper half way. She lugged the large bag and mindlessly threw it on to the bed in attempt to hide the fact that she had ungracefully rolled all over her bed the moment he left the room.

She rushed back to the door patting her hair with her hands before finally opening the door with a ladylike smile on her face.

The moment Maerin opened the door to her room Taemin's eyes landed on her bed and he cleared his throat redirecting his gaze back to Maerin. She was just watching his expression as he scanned her bed for that split moment.

'Whew, he bought it.'

"Sorry to interrupt your unpacking, but I forgot to ask you the question I had earlier," he explained his presence.

"That's no problem, Your Highness. What was your question?"

"I'm aware that you wield Myalo and Thera and I noticed that you are going through Thera breakthrough. What are the degrees of your aptitudes?" Taemin asked.

"I'm currently a second degree on both aptitudes." she answered.

"I see," he murmured, "Please continue with your unpacking. If you need any help, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you,” Maerin bowed politely, closing her door after watching Taemin turn around to make his way to his room.

The door closed with a click and she leaned her forehead against the door, releasing a sigh of relief. After calming herself she turned around to get back to her suitcase. She almost shrieked in horror at the sight before her eyes.

When she threw her bag, it flew open and the contents of it had messily scattered around the sides of the suitcase. She cried out in embarrassment as her eyes landed on her undergarments in clear sight. What made it worse was it was her favourite neon green sports bra was amidst the other white garments, smack center.

“Haaaa! Why!?” she cried out and kneeled beside her bed, stretching her hands out over the articles of clothing and laying her face down on the soft mattress.

Maerin let out one last whine then got herself together and began unpacking her belongings. She started off by sorting out her clothing and then arranging her toiletries. A good hour later she was done sorting out her stuff and then proceeded to look for Taemin.

She carefully closed the door behind her after exiting her room and walked down the hall. She stood before the door at the end of the hall and tried to recall which room was Taemin’s.

“Uhh, which one was it again?” she thought out loud, “Down the hall is… Onew. Then the right was, uhh.. Key? No, Jonghyun? And then… err..”

Maerin wasn’t the best with her directions. She often mixed up left and right. It was almost as if the words ‘left’ and ‘right’ don’t register in her mind. She often got lost, which was why she rarely travelled around on her own and got her sister to drive her wherever she needed to go.

‘I’ll just knock on all the doors,’ she thought and smiled proudly for coming up the genius idea.

She started with the door at the end of the hall, and made her way backwards. All of her attempts up till the third door were failures. Knocking on the fourth door, which was the first one to left, she was hoping for someone to open the door. She waited for about 30 seconds and when there was no reply she accepted that her terrible sense of direction was at it’s peak that day.

She looked down and ruffled the back of her hair in frustration as she turned around and lifted her hand to knock on the final door. She huffed, still looking down and then knocked. But for some reason, the ‘door’ didn’t make its usual knocking sound. Finding it unusual, Maerin looked up only to find that what she had knocked was certainly not a door.

Taemin chuckled, staring at her with amused eyes. He wanted to check what was happening outside after he had heard Maerin knocking on all the doors. He didn’t expect her to forget where his room was so quickly.

She took a small step back, eyes widening in shock. Maerin was dumbfounded as the embarrassment caused by her incomprehensible stupidity washed over her entire being. She had knocked on Taemin’s chest, the chest of The Royal Anax, the chest of one of the planet’s most treasured people.

For the second time that day, she managed to screw up and embarrass herself in front of a Royal. She might have offended him while she was at it too.

“I’m so sorry!” Maerin apologized and bowed as fast as a bat out of hell.

Clearly her sense of estimation was equally as horrible as her sense of direction as she bumped her forehead on Taemin’s chest.

‘That’s it, I’m done for. Three strikes and you’re out Ha Maerin!’ she cried in her head.

She jumped back and bowed for the umpteenth time that day, “I’m so so sorry, Your Highness!”

Her level of embarrassment hit an all time high the moment she heard his laugh echo through the hall.

“It’s really okay,” he assured her with a polite smile which looked genuine unlike before, “Shall we?”

Maerin smiled sheepishly and nodded. Taemin led the way as they descended down the stairs and out the front door. However, instead of getting into a car or walking towards the training centre, Taemin led Maerin around the side of the house, to a door that looked like those used for wine cellars.

“What is this, Your Highness?” Maerin asked, referring to the door.

“This is an underground passage to the training centre. It was built for any case of invasion because the training centre is the heart of the military base,” he explained pulling the doors open.

Maerin just nodded although she didn’t really understand why the training centre was considered the heart of the military. She believed she’d find out as soon a he showed her around though, so she just followed behind him as he guided her through the dimly lit tunnel.

Unconsciously, Maerin had closed the distance between Taemin and herself a little. She was afraid of the dark and the tunnel was pretty creepy. She knew this was the last place she’d walk through alone. As they walked along she willed herself not to look behind. Although she knew there was probably nothing there, her heart would just constrict in fear.

“Is something wrong?” Taemin asked, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

Maerin’s eyes darted up to meet his, slight panic detectable in her eye that slowly began to revert to their original black color.

“Of course not, Your Highness,” Maerin smiled awkwardly.

Taemin lifted his arm up to show that she’d been gripping onto the edge of his jacket sleeves, “I think there is.”

Maerin immediately let go and scurried to one side of the tunnel, walking as far apart from Taemin as possible, “I’m sorry, Your Highness!”

He watched as Maerin gripped the hem of her white knitted sweater and stared at the ground, taking quick small steps so she could keep up with his long strides. He shortened his steps and inched his way next to the smaller girl, watching as she slowed down in suit.

Taemin took off the ring on his index finger put it on his palm. His eyes glowed yellow momentarily as he shifted his ring into a flashlight before holding it out towards Maerin. For a second, she looked at the object in front of her as if it were from another planet before looking up at Taemin’s face with confusion in her eyes that finally turned black again.

“You’re afraid of the dark aren’t you? Use this,” he said, placing the flashlight in her hand, his fingertips lightly grazing over her skin.

Maerin could feel her cheeks heat up and her heart rate increase from the light contact. The feeling lingered on her hand and felt almost electric. Almost. Must be the Royal effect. Maerin did look up to him and the other Royals for being so sacrificial for the planet.

She shrugged the feeling off and they continued their walk to the end of the tunnel. It was longer than she thought, taking a good 10 minutes to get to the end at the pace they were walking at. There were two metal doors at the top of the flight stairs at the end of the tunnel. Maerin thought it probably led up to the training centre.

Taemin walked up ahead first and pushed the doors open. It looked slightly heavy. The light that pierced through the gap of the doors seemed almost blinding after all the time they’d spent in the rather dark passageway. He walked up and out before offering a hand to help Maerin up as well.

She didn’t know what he meant at that moment and thought he wanted his belonging back. She held out the flashlight she was holding to hand it back to Taemin. He chuckled and grabbed the object, allowing his eyes to change color for a split second to change the flashlight back into his precious ring.

In the meantime Maerin had made her way out of the doors and into the training centre. The area they were in wasn’t that large. Just a simple area with an elevator which only had a down option.

‘More basements, just my luck,’ Maerin thought, imagining the dark places and creepy flickering lights. Possibly weird holding cells and other things she didn’t even want to begin imagining.

“This place is pretty complex. The whole centre is underground and divided into 5 Wings. This is the main one of the main entrances but pretty much the only one we use,” Taemin explained.

He told Maerin about the layout of the entire centre. The elevator they used could take them down 10 floors, just like every other. The core of the centre has the 5 different elevators which would take you up and down each Wing. 2 Wings were dedicated to dormitories, 1 male and 1 female. Another Wing was used to store gear and ammunition. The fourth Wing was for simulation training of the recruits. Finally, the Royal Wing. All conference rooms, Royals’ simulation grounds and Royals’ Affairs Officers living quarters were within that Wing.

Maerin tried to note everything as they descended to the B10, the lowest floor. She didn’t trust her sense of direction but she tried her best to remember things. Thankfully he said she’d mainly be going around this Wing though.

The doors of the elevator opened and she couldn’t believe the sight before her eyes.