Yoseob's head snapped to the side as the door opened and Monique sheepishly walked in. She bowed her head, shy and embarrassed.
    "Where the hell have you been?" Yoseob snarled.
Monique swallowed.
    "I-I'm sorry, I got caught up with some friends." 
    "For a one and a half days?" Yoseob said angrily, his eyes blazing.
Monique bowed her head, sadly.
    "I'm sorry Yoseob..."
    "I know you weren't with just some "friends", Monique," Yoseob said quietly.
Monique stared at him.
    "What?"
    "I know you were with a man. I'm not jealous, Monique, but next time, tell me, so I don't think you were killed. I was worried," Yoseob said softly.
Monique bit her lip.
    "How did you find out?"
Yoseob laughed.
    "I was visiting a "friend"," he put air quotes around "friend", making Monique frown.
    "A female friend?"
    "Yes. Why?" Yoseob tilted his head.
Monique shrugged, folding her arms.
    "Don't you think you've got too much to do to be playing around with young women?"
Yoseob raised one eyebrow.
    "No. Can't I have any fun, Monique? So, wait, you can go off with the famous thief of the land, and I can't have some fun with a friend?"
Monique scoffed.
    "You're the prince. I'm nothing. I can do what I want. You have a reputation."
    "Yes, where have you been? My reputation is that I've slept with practically every woman that that earns my attention!" Yoseob yelled.
    "Oh, yeah, 'cause that's totally something to brag about!" Monique shouted.
Neither of them knew why they were so angry with each other all of a sudden.
    "Oh shut up, you've never even had a boyfriend. You lost your ity to your father's sleazy business partner!" Yoseob snapped, nastily.
Monique fell silent.
    "How do you know that?" She whispered, eventually.
Yoseob opened and closed his mouth, shocked by his own comment.
    "I-I'm sorry Monique..."
    "How do you know that?!" Monique screamed.
    "Y-Your sister..." Yoseob began quietly.
Monique's eyes narrowed.
    "Don't you dare tell anybody else," she hissed.
Yoseob nodded once.
    "I won't."
Monique bowed her head and fell back onto Yoseob's bed, despite her sudden feelings of hatred towards the prince.
    "You think I can't do what I want, then? You want to control me, like my father did? Are you sick of me yet? That's why my father hates me. I never did what he said."
Yoseob pushed his hair back, biting his lip.
    "Monique..."
Monique shook her head, cutting across him.
    "I don't want to hear it. Look, go sleep with some waitress from the local pub, stop trying to get involved with me. As soon as this is all over, I never want to see you again. There's nothing between us, Yoseob. We're not friends. We're not lovers. I don't want anything more to do with you."
For some reason, Monique's words cut Yoseob deeply. He looked away, hurt.
    "I helped you," he said quietly, "I'm sorry I did."
He slipped out of the bedroom, and Monique sat up, suddenly worried.
    "He seemed to take that differently than I expected. I can't have hurt him, could I?"
She rumaged in her bag and pulled out the rose Seungyoon had given her as a goodbye present. Monique breathed in it's sweet scent and smiled.
    "What do I do, eh? I should be more grateful towards Yoseob, I guess. But I'm sick of people trying to control me. I have my own will...I don't need people to tell me what to do..."
The doors sprung back open and Yoseob walked in, chucking a bag at Monique. She frowned, confused.
    "Why did I need bags?"
    "You want nothing more to do with me. So get out of my bed, get out of my bedroom, and get out of my house," Yoseob snarled.
No...this can't be happening, I've got nowhere to go, Monique thought, biting her lip. And, before she knew it, she was on her knees in front of Yoseob, her head bowed, her hands together.
    "Please, your highness, please don't kick me out. I've got nowhere else to go. My father won't take me back, and...and...I have no other relatives," Monique begged.
Yoseob scoffed.
    "Go live with your boyfriend."
Monique's eyes stung with tears, but there was no use stooping to even lower levels. She got up, and began to chuck the few things she had into the bag. Yoseob leaned against a wall and watched her, calmly.
    "You take a punishment quite well, don't you?"
Monique ignored him, desperately trying to hold back the tears. She had been stupid. She shouldn't have just ran off with Seungyoon. She should have thought of Yoseob. She should have been more respectful.
    "You know, you shouldn't stop yourself from crying. It's not good for you," this time, Yoseob's voice was gentle.
Monique's shoulders shook, but she still sniffed back the tears. Yoseob came up behind her, and softly put his hands on Monique's shoulders.
    "Stop shaking, you're scaring me."
    "I'm sorry..." Monique whispered.
Yoseob slowly massaged her shoulders, making me moan slightly. Why was he so good at everything?
    "I shouldn't be so quick to anger. You just wanted some fun. It just scared me to think that you could be in danger. I was worried, and nervous. I don't want you to get hurt, and you will do if you carry on seeing that man."
    "I'll get hurt if I fall for you," Monique said quietly.
She turned around and met Yoseob's eyes.
    "I'll get hurt if I let myself love your charming ways, and your cute little actions. I'll hurt myself if I fall for the way you smile, the way you laugh, the way you're so protective over me. What gives you the right to do this to me? In the 19 years I've been alive, I've never met anybody quite like you. I meet you...protective, sweet, shy, cute, and handsome...and then I meet Seungyoon...fun, interesting, exciting, funny, and handsome too. How do you expect me to react? I've been trapped in that house for most of the 19 years, never falling in love, and suddenly, now I'm going insane because two amazing men are here, ready for me to love them. Do you think I'm ready, Yoseob? Do you think I'm ready to love someone? After my mother and father's abusive relationship collapsed, I've always been scared to become someone's lover. And I'm still scared, Yoseob."
Yoseob swallowed the lump in his throat.
    "Oh Monique...I'd never hurt you. I've only know you for a little while, and already I'm hooked on your scent, your smile, you. Please don't be scared of me. You shouldn't fear love, you should savour it. Not every man is like your father, Monique, I can show you that. We're not supposed to fall in love. It was supposed to be an act. But I don't think I'm acting any more..."
Monique bowed her head and Yoseob s his arms around her waist, pulling her close. Monique slowly wrapped her own arms around Yoseob's neck and she buried her face in his chest.
    "Yoseob I don't know what to do...please tell me what to do..."
Yoseob gently detatched her and looked deeply into her eyes.
    "I can't tell you what to do. But I know this can," he softly pressed his hand against Monique's pounding heart.
    "This is turning into some cheesy teenage romance novel," Monique whispered.
Yoseob smirked.
    "I can make it turn into a cheesy something else, if you want."
Monique blushed.
    "Y-Yoseob~"
    "I'll make it feel better than him. I'll make you never want it to stop," Yoseob whispered in Monique's ear.
Monique stepped away from him, and she looked at him under her eyelashes.
    "How would you do it?"
Yoseob shifted his weight onto one foot, folding his arms, and he looked Monique up and down, thoughtfully.
    "I like a girl who doesn't back down easy. So...if I was to, say, attempt to dominate you, how would you react?"
Monique's mouth twitched.
    "I'm an unpredictable girl, Yoseob, you'll have to see what happens."
Yoseob smirked, and pushed Monique down onto the bed, his eyes sparkling.
    "What do you like, Monique? Do you want me to be sweet and generous, or do you want me to tease you?"
Monique bit her lip ily, and shuffled further up the bed.
    "Surprise me," she whispered.