Arrival of their very own Shanghai prince was announced along with the comment regarding his handsome appearance, making the group even more anxious to meet him. Changgu had been a trainee for a couple of years at the time – one of the first ones, so he was familiar with the excitement of meeting new additions to their group. Still, they rarely got a heads up like this and when you take into account that they already had a bunch of handsome boys in their crew he wasn’t sure how this new boy could look to be specifically called “handsome”.

Changgu’s cheerful nature granted him getting hyped up easily, especially when it came to meeting new people. He was open and talkative and he knew people loved having him around as he was likeable and usually worked as an energizer. Therefore, he was able to approach new people quickly and make friends and he enjoyed it.

When the Chinese boy finally appeared in front of them he was somewhat taken aback. He was very tall, almost as tall as their maknae and indeed handsome – in a “no one can deny it” kind of way, there simply wasn’t anything wrong with his facial structure, it looked as close to what Changgu assumed most people would consider perfect as it could. At the same time he looked like a grown-up child. The guy didn’t even introduce himself yet, but Changgu recognized it instantly. Innocence.

Yanan was simply extremely cute. He was shy, since he could barely speak Korean, most of the time just relying on one of the older members who spoke Chinese. Changgu really liked him, but since his own knowledge of Chinese was limited it was hard to talk to him as much as he would with other people. He settled on warm, encouraging smiles and did his best to help him with his Korean studies.

With days turning into weeks and months Yanan slowly, but surely became a part of their precious group, gradually relaxed and started speaking more, even though his progress with conquering the language wasn’t as good as Yuto’s. Changgu was there by him, learning the language of their baby prince’s facial expressions and gestures. It was his turn to learn how to listen. Not that he hadn’t before, but it was a well-known fact that he was the talker – now he had to focus on listening and, maybe even more, sensing. He started reading the younger boy – only to discover more innocence.

The Chinese was a pure soul. Untainted, younger than what his birth certificate stated him to be. He was more of a child than all of them, inexperienced and sometimes clueless – from time to time strikingly resembling a small kid, getting scared of silly things or throwing cute harmless annoyed tantrums they just learned to ignore or laugh off, knowing they’ll pass in a minute.

The fact that this child made a decision to leave his country and fly over to Korea to chase after his dream, choosing a hard path that a lot of local kids didn’t even dare try made Changgu want to protect him somehow. He wasn’t the only one to feel that way, but he was perhaps the one that focused on it the most. Yanan accepted it, accepted him and Changgu felt reassured in the hope that things will go just fine for them – each of them separately, two of them as friends and their whole group as a family.

The Korean boy wanted to protect that pure innocence shining off Yanan as well. It was precious because it was rare in this cruel world and, maybe even more, in K-pop industry. He wanted to hold onto the little kid that was still openly playing in the tall body of a handsome man. The thought of Yanan changing in the future – or rather being changed by the things waiting for him was simply scary. If Yanan changes… then will any of them be able to hold onto whatever was left of their own inner children?

Yes, Changgu was a child himself, scared of changes, still not aware of the fact that some changes were inevitable and not all of them were bad. Maybe the reason why he was so drawn to Yanan wasn’t as simple as he had thought, maybe the real reason was that when he looked at those adorable eyes he saw a glimpse of his own reflection. Yanan was looking at him, but Changgu saw himself too – the little boy standing on a thin line between childhood and adultness, sometimes proudly going out in the open to play, laugh and shine and then quickly hiding back when he wasn’t needed, when the surroundings weren’t welcoming for little children anymore. That child needed protection, just like Yanan’s more free, more fragile needed, simply because Changgu was scared of losing them both.

The truth was different though. Little prince wasn’t as fragile and he was already on his way to learn how to hide. Contrary to Changgu’s belief little princes don’t die. They just go to sleep, peaceful and full of wonderful dreams. Waiting to be woken up and live them.