Kris heard the impact.

Not feeling anything, Kris opened his eyes slowly.

He gasped in shock when he saw Tao, who had fallen to the floor, with a bleeding lip.

"Tao!" Kris immediately knelt down next to the said boy, but Luhan pushed him away angrily.

"Shut up! Don't come near him. You hurt him and yet he still took the punch for you!" Luhan growled, glaring at Kris while hugging Tao protectively, quickly untying the rope used to bind his wrists together.

Taken aback that the normally quiet and gentle Luhan had just spoke in an angry tone to him, Kris backed away, his eyes never leaving Tao's hunched figure, not even when the guards and the young boy left the room.

"T-Tao... Why did you take the punch for me...?" Kris spoke softly, not wanting to aggravate Luhan or scare Tao.

"Of course he would take the punch for you! Gege, are you blind? How could you not see that Tao ing loves you?!" Luhan glared at Kris, not being able to contain his anger anymore. "You hurt him so much and he still ing loves you! Wu Yifan, he's loved you for nine years! Nine ing years!"

Kris froze, shocked at Luhan's words.

"W-What? T-Tao... You l-love me?!" Kris stared at the blushing boy in disbelief. The boy whom he had loved for nine years, actually loved him back?

"Y-Yes..." Tao accidentally blurted out, before hurriedly covering up, "I-I know I shouldn't have these kind of feelings for the crown prince, I'm sorry, I'll erase my feelings, I'm really sorry--"

Chuckling softly at Tao's flustered face, Kris cut him off with a gentle kiss.

"I love you too, Tao." Kris pulled away, smiling, as he cupped Tao's face in his hands, forcing the younger to look at him. "I'm sorry I played with all those women, I thought you didn't love me, they were mere replacements for you, I'm sorry, please forgive me--"

This time, it was Tao's turn to cut the other boy off, softly pressing a finger to Kris' lips.

"You don't need to explain to me. I forgive you." Tao smiled, removing his finger from the older boy's lips and pressing his lips against his.

"Eww. If I knew you two were going to be this cheesy, I wouldn't have helped get you two back together." Luhan made a gagging sound, earning a playful smack on the shoulder from Kris, while Tao blushed even redder.

"You're going to have to be more mature now that it's going to be you who's inheriting the throne, you know." Kris lectured, but cracked up again at the sight of Luhan pouting.

"B-But I want to marry Sehun! Not some princess!" Luhan whined. "Why can't Yixing inherit the throne?"

"Because he's only 13!" Tao pointed out, chuckling.

"Not fair! You two can gang up on me now!" Luhan pouted, before turning around and storming out of the room.

Kris laughed at Luhan's childishness, pulling Tao into a warm hug.

"Don't ever lie to me again, okay? From now on, I don't want there to be any secrets between us. See what happened when I misunderstood you?" Kris looked at Tao apologetically, gingerly brushing his thumb against Tao's bruised lip.

"I'll never lie to you again, gege." Tao smiled, kissing Kris gently.

Because now, there isn't a need for me to lie to you any more.

I finally finished it! Kekeke ^^

Hope you enjoyed it~ :)

I might be adding a chapter in between the first and last chapter, in Kris' point of view (3rd person limited). ^^

Oh, and congratulations to EXO for winning Best New Asian Artist Group and Rookie Of The Year at the MAMA in Hong Kong! ^^