Daehyun’s POV

I open my eyes in the morning. It feels like I haven’t slept at all. That stupid ball went on until at least two in the morning and now I still have to go to school. What type of world is this?

In the end, I didn’t speak with Jieun, but I swear that was her. I was attempting to avoid her the whole time because if I could recognize her then she could recognize me, but why was she even there? To be there she either has to be super rich or royalty and if either one of those were true, then wouldn’t the whole school know? I’m going by super rich, though because it doesn’t seem like she’s royalty to me, but I always could be wrong.

“Ready yet?” Youngjae yells outside of my door.

“Give me a couple of minutes!” I yell back.

“I’ll be downstairs!”

I don’t even know why that kid got up early in the first place. Isn’t he tired from last night? He has to be, at least he should be. I sigh as I look in the mirror, what really was the purpose of it last night? Mom didn’t say anything else to me about it, but I can’t help but feel that there are some bigger things behind it. I really don’t know what’s going on anymore.

I step out of my room with the uniform on and securing my backpack when a hand stops me. “Daehyun,” the voice says I turn around and see a butler. “Your mother wishes to speak with you. She informs me that you are not going to go to school today.”

“But what about Youngjae? And it’s only my second day,” I complain. “How can she keep me out?”

“She’s already informed the school, don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” I ask, but I see that the man is only doing his job, he’s only doing what my mother told him to do. “Fine,” I mumble. “But I’m going to go change then. Is she in her normal place?” He nods his head. “Alright, tell her I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

I go back into my room and change into casual clothing. I don’t know why my mother wants to see me or what purpose she has to keep me away from school. I haven’t seen Sophie for a night and I wonder if L.Joe did anything to her. I’m sure she’s safe, though, but I can’t help but want to see her. What if she asks me why I wasn’t in school? I could always lie to her and say that I overslept, but would she see right through it? We are best friends.

After changing clothes and making sure that the wig is on right, I guess this will be a way of life, finding a wig…or maybe not. I decide to take the wig off and just go in my blonde hair. She’s going to find out sooner or later from someone, so just might as well tell her now that I have blonde hair, but if she told the school…then doesn’t that mean that she knows about me not using my real name?

Quickly, I make my way down the long hallway to the room that my parents are both sitting in. “Daehyun,” Mom says without even looking up. I can see Dad giving me suspicious looks, probably about me exposing my hair when he knows that I’ll get scolded for it.

“Yes?” I ask. Mom looks up at me and her eyes go wide.

“Jung Daehyun, what you have done with your hair? And why did the school say something about a Daejae?”

“Mom, look,” I say as I step closer. “I dyed my hair and changed my name so the kids in school wouldn’t treat me any differently. I just want to be a normal kid, can you understand that? I don’t want people treating me differently.”

“People should treat you differently,” she says. “Anyway, that is not important. What is important is that you aren’t going to school today.”

“And why aren’t I?” I ask.

“Other important matters,” she simply says. Great, because that’s so descriptive.

“Other important matters?” I ask in an attempt to get more out of her.

“Yes, other important matters that regard your future.”

“Not again,” I whine. “Can’t I just go to school? It’s like the second day. What if my classmates start to be suspicious of me?”

“They won’t be. Anyway, you will be accompanying your father and I for a lovely brunch.”

“A brunch, really?” I ask standing there looking at them. “I’m missing school for a brunch?”

“An important one,” she says as she stands up. “Now go change into something more appropriate. This meeting is either the life or death of you. You are dismissed.”

I roll my eyes as I turn around to leave the room. They’re making me miss school to go to some stupid brunch that I don’t even want to go to in the first place. I’m guessing that Youngjae already knows about me not going to school because I make an extra trip to the living room to see that he’s already left. I’m guessing that someone told him or he figured that I would be able to catch up to go to school on my own. I can’t help but wonder what Sophie would think when she finds out that I’m not there, though.

Sophie’s POV

“Did you sleep well last night?” L.Joe asks as we’re walking to school.

“Yeah,” I say nodding my head. “It was good.”

“Good,” he says with a light smile. “Sorry I didn’t really tutor you. Maybe we could do it some other time?”

“Maybe, that’d be nice.”

“Awesome,” he says with a smile as we continue walking.

After last night, we found a lot of things in common with each other, well…common things about our parents. I would’ve never thought that L.Joe lost is parents in the same way that I lost mine. It just seems completely suspicious. Did our parents do hidden missions together? I can only wonder.

“Sophie.”

“Huh?” I ask looking at L.Joe who was waving a hand in front of my face.

“I was asking you if you wanted some bread from that bakery before we go to school.”

“Oh, sure,” I say nodding my head.

L.Joe quickly goes in and buys some bread before he comes out and we continue walking. “What were you thinking about?” he asks with his mouth full of bread.

“My parents,” I quietly respond.

“Oh.” It’s like no words are needed to express the emotions that we’re both feeling.

“Don’t you find it strange that our parents were both very similar?”

“I do, but I’ve learned not to really question it much. I’ve moved on and I don’t care,” he says.

“I’m kind of curious as to what they did, though. Nothing really makes sense.”

“That’s how I felt at first. I thought that I needed to know everything about them, but when I didn’t learn anything and I came to a dead end, I gave up. I realized that if I were to know, then it would just come to me and that maybe I shouldn’t search anymore.”

“Maybe I should do that,” I say as we enter the school grounds.

“Well…if you want to, I could always help you if you would want to find something. We can be partners.”

“Partners,” I repeat. “Okay. We should get to class before we’re late.”

“Right,” L.Joe says.

We both make our way into the school and into the classroom. I don’t see Youngjae or Daehyun anywhere. I know that Youngjae isn’t in the same class, but while we were walking to class I didn’t see him and now sitting in class, Daehyun isn’t there. His seating partner isn’t there either. Neither of them are there by the time the teacher comes in.

“Where’s your friend?” L.Joe asks pointing over to the empty desk.

“I’m not sure,” I say looking at him. “He didn’t tell me anything this morning.”

“Maybe he’s sick,” L.Joe suggests.

“Maybe,” I say, but I know that he’s probably not since Daehyun rarely ever gets sick. He only ever ends up getting sick when he’s stressed himself out or reached his limits. I don’t tell L.Joe that, though. Is he skipping school then if he’s not sick? Why is he skipping school if it’s only our second day, he should be attending school or else he’ll never graduate at this rate.

I sigh as I turn back to the lesson that I don’t understand. I attempt to follow along in the book, but it’s hard when it takes me forever to be able to read Korean and when the teacher is talking too fast for me to be able to digest everything. I take a glance over at L.Joe and it seems like he’s understanding everything, but he should. He can speak both and he’s learned how to, I only know one language and that’s English.

I’m about to completely zone out when a piece of paper gets pushed over in my direction. I look down and over at L.Joe to see him smirking, so he probably pushed the paper over. I bring it in front of me and open it.

Don’t fall asleep, pay attention. At least try to learn some Korean.

Is he serious? How am I supposed to learn Korean if I don’t know what he’s saying. I glare at L.Joe for a moment before taking out my own pencil to write back to him.

Well, if only I knew what he was saying, it would make things easier for me to learn.

I fold up the note and push it back towards him. I watch him as he reads it with his face turning into a smile, he must realize my point. I roll my eyes while he starts scribbling on the paper again as I turn forward and attempt to learn something, but it’s useless.

Daehyun’s POV

My parents and I finally arrive at the venue for the brunch; it’s some fancy restaurant place. Feeling like she couldn’t trust me, my mother ended up making the butler come and pick out my clothes for me. In the end I had to wear khaki pants with a sweater vest. I completely feel like one of those Catholic schoolboys. This is even worse than the school uniform.

“You look so handsome,” Mom coos over me before we enter.

“Yeah,” I mumble. Now everyone is going to know that Jung Daehyun is back. It’s going to be reported and it’s going to be harder for me to be able to keep it from Sophie. This isn’t going how I planned it at all. Why did my mom make me come back to Korea anyway? I was happy over in America where I stayed away from her and everything dealing with this family.

“Now, this is the real reason why you came back to Korea.”

“The real reason?” I ask. Mom doesn’t answer me and instead, she just pushes me inside of the restaurant with Dad following behind. He never really says anything in these situations as neither do I. We’ve both just learned that it’s better to not say anything when Mom is in charge.

As soon as we enter, everyone bows before us upon seeing the royal family before the worker comes up. “Right this way,” he states leading us to the back into a secluded room. We all sit down and he takes our order. “It’ll be here shortly,” he states before leaving once again.

We sit there in silence as Mom looks at the watch on her hand. “Hmm, they aren’t here yet, it’s unlike them.”

“Well…never mind,” Dad says. I don’t know why he didn’t say what he was going to say and I don’t know what people we’re waiting for. Is it someone that has to deal with the royal business and is going to teach me what I have to know before I take it? I don’t want it, how many times do I have to tell them that I don’t want to be the king?

The three of us sit there for what feels like forever before the door opens again. My mood immediately drops when I don’t see our food appearing from the other side, but my mind starts to get confused when the people step inside.

“Jieun?” I automatically ask once I see her.

“Daejae?” she asks looking at me.

“Daejae?” Mom chimes in. “Who is this Daejae? Daehyun, do you know?”

“It’s me, Mom,” I tell him. “I’m Daejae. In school I’m Daejae.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter what nickname you made up for yourself in school, but Daehyun, this is Jieun and seeing by your reaction, it appears that you guys already know one another so that will make this even better. Daehyun, Jieun, you guys are going to get married, isn’t that great?” Mom squeals.

“What?” we both ask at the same time.

“Yes, Jieun’s family owns a large financial corporation and with you being the Prince of Korea, well, it couldn’t be any more perfect,” Mom says. I look over at Dad who gives an apologetic smile.

“Mom, she doesn’t even know I’m the prince,” I say looking at Jieun who seems just as confused as I was a moment ago, but now things are starting to set into place. She’s probably having an even harder time since she doesn’t know that I’m the prince, but now she does.

“Now she does,” Mom says. I sigh at Mom’s bluntness to everything. “You two are going to get married and that’s final.”

“Is that why you had the ball last night?” I ask her.

“I wanted you to meet Jieun in a comfortable setting,” Mom explains, “but as it turns out you didn’t talk to her at all. It seems as though you were avoiding her.”

At the mention of avoiding her, Jieun looks at me. “No, I wasn’t avoiding her,” I lie, but at the sight of my mom’s threatening eyes, I decide to tell the truth. “So maybe I was, but that’s because I recognized her from school.”

“And since you didn’t make an effort to speak with her, I figured that we should tell you guys now rather than later. It was either this or telling you on the way of your wedding.”

“Wedding, though, really?” I ask. It seems like I’m the only one who has any objection to this thing. Jieun just keeps sitting there. Did she already know about this or does she want to marry me? I’m too young to marry anyone and don’t to be mean, but I don’t want to marry Jieun. Yes she is a nice girl, granted that I only talked to her at school, but…what about Sophie? What would Sophie feel if I told her that I was going to marry someone else? Would she be happy about it? Would she fake and say that she was happy when she’s really sad?

Why am I so concerned about Sophie? She’s only my best friend. We’re best friends. Do I like Sophie?

Sophie’s POV

I sit at lunch with L.Joe since Daehyun isn’t there. I still wonder where he is. It is completely unlike him to skip school and to skip school without me knowing anything.

“Are you still zoning out?” L.Joe asks flicking me on my forehead.

“Oh, um…no?” I say looking at him, but he simply laughs at me.

“I beg to differ,” he says as he continues eating some of his lunch. Some of his friends talk with him about something that I can’t understand, but whatever they say, it makes L.Joe’s face flushed.

“What did they say?” I ask him.

“Nothing you need to know,” he quickly says and I guess he starts denying everything, at least that’s what it seems like since I can’t understand a word he says.

I sigh and continue to do what I’m doing, which is eating my lunch and looking at the Korean book that L.Joe gave me. He said that he had it when he first came here to help brush up on a couple of things and thought that it would be useful for me since I don’t know anything.

“Do you find that book that interesting?” he asks.

“Well, considering it’s just a bunch of things about the language, I’ll say no,” I say as I continue reading and eating.

“But it’s helpful, right?”

“I haven’t learned anything yet.”

“That’s because you’re on the first page,” he says pointing at it.

“So, I’m just starting,” I say moving the book out of his view.

“How about I walk you home today?” he asks.

“Don’t you want to be hanging out with your friends?”

“I’m sure they can wait,” L.Joe says. “I’d rather help you home because, what’s his name, Daejae? He’s not here. I can’t watch you walk home by yourself.”

“If you insist,” I say not paying him any more attention.

“Okay then, I’ll walk you home."

Daehyun’s POV

“So, you guys are going to be married in a month,” Mom says before I turn off my hearing towards her anyway. It seems like she’s dictating this whole thing and it surely seems like it’s more than a brunch, we’ve been sitting here all day and already ordered lunch. Did they just say that to trick me?

“So, you’re the prince,” Jieun says, it’s her first words of the meeting as her parents and talking with my parents over the color scheme of the wedding to the tuxedoes and suits.

“I am the prince,” I say. It’s not like I can actually deny it with my parents sitting right there. Everyone knows who they are.

“Why didn’t you say anything? Who is this Daejae person anyway?”

“He’s fictional,” I admit. “My cousin and I, Youngjae, enrolled in the school, only we’re not in the same class. We combined our names to create Daejae and Hyunyoung, but since Hyunyoung is kind of a girl name, we changed it to Hyunsoo.”

“And what about that girl you were with? She’s not your sister.”

“You have that right,” I tell her. I don’t know why I’m telling her all of this, but I guess if I have to go through with this wedding, it’ll be better just saying the truth than having her be mad at me the whole time. I don’t know how I would be able to live with an angry person. Wait, am I actually considering marrying this? But I don’t have a choice, my parents, especially my mother, are going to make me marry her no matter what. I guess I should embrace that thought now. “She’s my best friend, Sophie Karm, my best friend,” I whisper. “We’ve known each other for six years since I moved to America and then I brought her back with me because of her parents. Yes, she’s that Sophie Karp, although I don’t know the significance.”

“I’m glad to see that you guys are getting along,” Mom says. “But our meeting will have to continue another time. We can’t just simply discuss it all in one day. We have a month. It was nice seeing you guys again.”

Mom, Dad, and Jieun’s parents exchange their greetings as we all make our way towards the entrance. “I guess I’ll see you in school,” I tell her.

“I’ll see you in school.”

“Can we keep this hidden?” I whisper so our parents don’t overhear.

“Of course, I can’t have people know that I’m going to get married.”

“Thanks,” I say smiling. “And please, in school, I’m Daejae.” She gives me a smile before she departs with her parents.

“So, you’re getting along well with her,” Mom says coming over. I immediately turn and look at her.

“Why must you do that? Why must I get married? Why?”

“For the future, of course,” she simply states. She thinks everything is so simple.

“I thought you wanted someone of royal blood.”

“I did, but then we arranged it with their family.” Unable to say anything else, I guess I just have to go along with my family.

Sophie’s POV

“Ready to go?” L.Joe asks coming up to me after school. I nod my head. “Then let’s go.”

“Well, two days I’ve been here and you’ve been with me after school both times,” I tell him.

“That’s good,” he says with a smile. “Unless it’s not good at all then it’s bad.”

“No, it’s good. I’m glad I’m making other friends than the ones I already came with.”

“Are you really?” he asks leaning close. I immediately nod my head. “You’re so fun to freak out.”

“That’s not funny,” I say hitting him. “Wait,” I say just remembering something. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get there by walking.”

“Why? Is it far?”

“Um…a little bit?” I ask.

“Then I’ll just ride in a taxi with you. I can’t have you go alone when you don’t know any Korean,” L.Joe says.

“Okay,” I say as he gets a taxi for us.

“Where do you live anyway?”

“Um…the Korean Palace,” I say remembering the name.

“You live there?” he asks quite surprised, but I don’t know why. I guess everyone knows how big it is.

“Yeah,” I say. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” he says quickly letting it go.

The ride back home is quiet, which I find is unlike him since he was just talking a lot. When we finally get there, I’m about to get out of the taxi when L.Joe grabs my arm.

“Hmm?” I ask turning around to look at him.

“Are you sure you live here?” he asks.

“Yeah, why?” I wonder.

“Do you know who lives here?” he asks. I shake my head. “The King and Queen of Korea.”

“There’s a king and queen?” I ask and L.Joe nods his head. “They live here?” I point towards the house and he nods his head again.

“The King and Queen live there with their family. They themselves have two children and I believe there is a cousin that lives there.”

“What are the names of their children?” I ask as I faintly start putting the puzzle pieces together.

“Jung Hyosung, Jung Daehyun, and Yoo Youngjae,” L.Joe says making me stare at him intently.

Daehyun…he’s a prince?

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What will Sophie's reaction be to finding out that Daehyun is a prince? How is the arranged marriage going to work out between Daehyun and Jieun? What will L.Joe say about Sophie living at the Korean Palace? What will everyone's reaction be to the arrange marriage? Will they even know about the marriage in the first place?

Here is Chapter 12. Hope you enjoyed :D