There was a rumor going around that the water prince was touched in the head. Jongin didn’t blame him. It should have been hard to live alone on land while his entire kingdom was under the sea. Suho was a curious case. His mother was a princess of water and his father the prince of both ice and wind kingdoms. No one thought to remind the couple that their son just might inherit the land qualities of wind. Suho ended up a child who cannot breathe under water while his mother could not live on land.

Jongin heard that Suho’s father had tried to raise him on land for a while, but he couldn’t stay parted from his wife for too long and had soon gone back into the sea. From then on, the poor prince had been passed around kingdom to kingdom and had once even made it to Chronus, the kingdom of time. Jongin himself along with his brother Tao are the princes of Chronus and control the power of teleportation and time respectively. Jongin remembered a scrawny solemn boy of 12 when he thinks of the water prince. He himself had been 10 at that time. Suho had arrived alone with just one servant and a suitcase one stormy night. Apart from Jongin and Tao; guests, Kyungsoo the earth prince and Chanyeol the fire prince were also in residence at that time. They had looked curiously at the soaking prince from the window in their room.

The following days Suho had been a shadow in the castle. Jongin’s parents spoke to Suho about his education and training at the dinner table and Suho answered well enough, but after that he returned to his room to do God knows what. On the fourth day, Jongin’s mother called him aside and told him that he should include Suho in his games and should not leave the boy alone. Jongin being quiet happy to make a new friend had taken his brother and gone up to the room to invite Suho for a game of It. The image of the quiet boy sitting on the window sill manipulating a mass of water out of his palms was still etched in his memory.

Tao had taken an instant fascination for the water prince and wanted to see what else he could do. The prince smiled and indulged the little boy by splitting the water bubble into thousands of drops over Tao’s head who poked at them in fascination. Suho was shy and soft spoken, often coming across as if he is scared but with Jongin, he always smiled.

Chanyeol and Suho though gained an instant dislike. Maybe because of their opposing natures but soon there was a competition going on between them to gain Jongin’s attention. Chanyeol and Jongin were childhood friends and in Jongin’s mind, there was nothing more important than Chanyeol. But neither Suho nor Chanyeol understood that. It all culminated on Jongin’s birthday when Suho gave Jongin what he called a spray bubble.

Chanyeol had been upset and started a fight with Suho. Suho became angry and hit the fire prince with a jet of water that Chanyeol dodged but Tao who stood behind him didn’t. Tao ended up falling down a flight of stairs and Jongin had ended up shouting at Suho.

“I hate you. You hurt Tao you monster, why did you come here?”

Chanyeol had goaded from behind with a smirk, “That’s right, no one wants you here, you monster.”

Of course, Jongin didn’t mean anything by it. He was just stressed with all the drama between his friends and he was afraid that Tao would die. But he never got the chance to say that to Suho. Suho was way small for his age and even Jongin at 10 was taller and stronger than Suho. The image of a small Suho dripping and soaking wet looking scarred, upset and very very afraid was ingrained in his head forever.

Over the years, things have changed so much. Jongin had grown up and so had Chanyeol. The brat of a boy had grown to be a lovable and responsible boyfriend who adored him. Life had been kind to him. Not everyone ended up living the perfect life with a perfect boyfriend like Chanyeol by their side. Sometimes he wondered what had happened to Suho. Especially, when he looked at the spray bubble that was still floating in the crystal cube, the way Suho had gifted him the bubble. The bubble used to do funny things that made Jongin wonder of it had a mind of its own. Sometimes it just floated peacefully, sometimes it hit the walls and sprayed into a million pieces on the opposite side and once it curiously settled on the base and became a puddle for a few minutes before it reformed. Nevertheless, it was always a habit of Jongin to look at it every day in the morning.

“I saw him during the war you know.” Jongin startled and almost dropped the crystal.

“Tao, jeez you scared me.” Tao looked sheepish.

“Sorry, I did knock. But you seemed to be too deep in thoughts. Were you thinking of him?”

Jongin sighed and sat next to his brother.

“Yes” he admitted.

“I saw him, just a glimpse, but I saw him during the battle.”

“Where? I was there too but I never saw him.”

“He was mostly over the clouds, in dragon form I suppose. And I think he kept away from all of us.”

Jongin sighed. Suho was considered a recluse in polite circles and a freak in others.

“How was he?”

Tao seemed to ponder over the question.

“Handsome… no beautiful. He still looked small and pale but was so so… fierce and scary. He, he extracted every molecule of water from a dragon in less than 10 seconds. He didn’t look like he was all there Jongin…“

Jongin thought about the scared and afraid boy and sighed once again.

"I am sure he is ok, Tao. Let's not worry about him."

Tao stared out the window quietly.

"I... I feel...nevermind."

"Tao?" Jongin wondered why his brother sounded so pensive.

"I saw the treaty our father had signed with the Northern ice kingdom. They have traded Suho for a years worth of supplies. As if he was worth 600 sacks of potatoes and a handful of pepper. I am sure our father is planning to use him as a war machine."

The door fling open and like a ball of sunshine Chanyeol walked in.

“How are my favorite princes doing?”

And before he knew it, Jongin was pulled into a warm hug that made him forget all about a boy he lost fifteen years ago.