Min Jiwoo wrung his wrists as he made his way through the dimly lit tunnels of the ruined temple. His heart was beating too fast for his liking, sweat already forming along his forehead as he spotted the entrance to a warm looking room. His large, round eyes closed for a moment, trying to calm himself down, but it wasn't long before a voice interrupted his thoughts:

"Jiwoo?"

Jiwoo looked up to see a young, very handsome man peeking out at him from behind the opening.

"I didn't think you would be the one I'd have to convince." he smiled. "Come."

Doing as he was told, Jiwoo slowly moved forward and eventually emerged into the circular room. His heart was calming down slightly before the young man appeared. Then it rose up again. He sat down as instructed on a comfortable sofa while the young man in extremely elaborate and ancient looking robes sat down before him. He wondered who he was. Who could live in such a ruin all the time? The ruin was so far from anything, how did he live so well? It seemed full of necessities and even luxuries, but who could live so isolated like that? Wasn't it too lonely?

"It's not." the man said.

"Not what?"

"Lonely. Excuse me for the intrusion, but to answer your concern, I've been living like this for centuries, I'm used to it."

"I see." Jiwoo smiled nervously, avoiding eye contact for fear that his heart might burst.

He hadn't seen anyone in New Revenet who looked quite like him - what a beautiful face he had. Focus! Jiwoo shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking of such trivial things. He was there to meet his mother, though part of his heart was still unsure, still nervous. Jiwoo was almost the polar opposite of his older brother. Shy, introverted and very much non-confrontational. The servants often joked that he was a stolen baby, for he did not quite fit in with the usual character of the Min family. Moreover, his brother had emerged from the ruins with a swollen face and red eyes - a state he had never witnessed before. Yunho was boisterous, arrogant and had a willpower of steel - not a man who would cry at anything. Yet whatever happened in that very room was enough to reduce him to that.

Perhaps his brother's memory of their mother had been much clearer than he was led believe.

"While both of you were very young when your mother passed, your brother was old enough to have some understanding. As he got older, his memories remained, his understanding increased and he began to yearn for what was taken from him. But she is your mother, too. She was also taken from you. Your yearning for something you never had is quite different and your insistence to find out information from others has perhaps built up a romanticised image in your mind."

Jiwoo wasn't quite sure how to respond. This guy... the Shaman Gion, or was it Taehyung? He hadn't quite understood his brother's ramblings after he emerged from the ruins in an excitable and emotional state. He wasn't wrong in anything he said. Was he really a spiritual being?

"He doesn't say it anymore," Jiwoo began, shifting his weight on the sofa, "but I know that if he had the choice, he would swap my life for mother's without hesitation."

"You're not wrong." Taehyung agreed. "But make no mistake that he loves you very much and he does have your best interest at heart."

"I just feel like... everyone has an experience of mother except me. It's like I have to prove that I'm worth being here instead of her and I know that's not what people really think or say but it just feels so much like that."

"Are you sure you want to meet your mother, Jiwoo?"

"Well, I just - I dont know what I'm going to say or how I'm going to react and I'm worried it'll be awkward and we won't have anything to say to each other-"

"Stop."

The Prince closed his mouth.

"Jiwoo, you're going to live a long and healthy life. You have plenty of time. But if you worry about small things like that, when will you ever do anything?" Taehyung smiled warmly at the young Prince. "Close your eyes and rest. Think for a moment and tell me after you've thought it over."

"Okay. Thanks." Jiwoo nodded, closing his eyes and leaning back into the comfortable sofa.

The sofa was so comfortable and cosy he felt like he could sit there for the rest of his life. He ought to find one just like it for his bedroom, how comfortable it would be to curl up and read a good book or do a sketch. He imagined it would also be nice to have someone to sit on it with with a nice blanket on a cold winter day, chatting, cuddling and drinking cups of hot fruit tea.

Wouldn't that be something?

"... so this is my Jiwoo."

Jiwoo's eyes snapped open at the sound of the new voice and he found himself looking at a decorative ceilin