"...nie? Unnie...? Unnie!"

"Huh...? What?"

 

Wendy snaps out of her trance. She looks down at her little sister, who had put a hand on hers in concern.

 

"Unnie, you're out of it", Yerim points out. "What's wrong?"

 

Wendy shakes her head, pulling her hand away from her sister’s.

 

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired"

 

Yerim squints, but doesn’t say anything. She knows how stubborn her sister gets, especially when she thinks she’s making others worry about here, so Yerim decides to give her, her space and time. She’ll come around someday and she knows it.

 

Yerim leaves the kitchen, giving Wendy a soft smile on the way out.

 

"I'm such an idiot,” the baker puts a hand on her forehead and sighs.

 

"Yeah, you are"

 

Wendy looks up and finds Namjoon standing in the entrance of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. She tenses up a little as she watches her brother approaches her.

 

"I'm just kidding", he smiles, standing in front the blonde haired woman.

 

"You've been acting weird these past few days and I'm worried about you", Namjoon leans forward against the wooden tabletop, putting his head in his hand, as he stares at his sister from across the table with concern.

 

Wendy fumbles with her hands and looks down. She stays quiet, contemplating whether she should tell her brother what happened a few days ago or if she would just make up a lie and brush it off...

 

"I just don't feel so good"

 

Namjoon tilts his head to the side, silent for a moment, before nodding and standing up straight. He knows she is lying, but considering that the sister he is talking to is Wendy and not Yerim, he doesn’t try to get it out of her like he usually does. No. Finding out what is bothering Wendy requires a different approach.

 

"You need to take it easy, Wendy. We're not that small of a bakery anymore and you're doing this alone", Namjoon walks around the table until he is standing right in front of Wendy.

 

He looks at her with the same soft eyes her father had. Wendy always wondered what their mother looked like and if she took more after her mother rather than her father.

 

"If you need to take a break. Take one. I have my job. Yeri is somehow getting money and I don't wanna know how and from who, but we'll get by with it", Namjoon smiles, his dimples on full display and Wendy has to fight the urge to poke them like she always does.

 

Wendy sighs.

 

"Yeah... We might need new employees. We've had such a steady growth in customers. We might need some more people to help us out. Maybe we could ask that orange haired farmer boy that was all over you or Yoo-"

 

Wendy stops talking when her brother puts his hands on her shoulders. He leans down and stares into her eyes.

 

"Stop", he says. "I want you to rest first. Then we'll talk about future plans"

 

The blonde baker gives her brother a small nod as she looks down.

 

Namjoon smiles and stands up. He ruffles Wendy's hair - which causes the other to groan and fix her hair - and walks towards the kitchen entrance. He stops there and turns around.

 

“If you want to talk about anything. Just know that I’m here for you. Always,” Namjoon walks pushes the door and leaves his sister alone.

 

Wendy sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

 

"I need an aspirin", she mumbles to herself, shaking her head as she turns and stares at the table filled with flour.

 

Meanwhile, in the castle, Seulgi is nervously cracking her fingers as she walks back and forth through the kitchen.

 

"I just don't understand how you could do something THAT stupid."

"Could you PLEASE give me some good advice, instead of telling me how dumb I am? Can you do that, Sooyoung? Please?" Seulgi glares at the red haired girl, who was leaning forward against the wooden island.

 

Park Sooyoung is Joohyun's cousin. She is known for her reputation as the rebellious daughter of the duke. Her father and younger brother of king Bae. She was fierce and didn't let anything get to her.

 

"You'd think after having 2 girlfriends. You'd have a little more experience with women, but I guess not", Sooyoung shrugs, taking a grape of it's stem and throwing it in .

 

Seulgi rolls her eyes and sighs.

 

"One was a one time thing and the other lasted 2 years"

 

"Yeah, a one time thing that lasted several months until that unnie got herself screwed over by getting caught with– ,”

 

Seulgi gives Sooyoung a glare so cold and sharp, it almost makes the younger girl proud. Almost.

 

"What I mean, is that you should relax. You like the girl? Good for you. Now sit down and think about how you're going to approach her. Especially after that fiasco you pulled two days ago", Sooyoung walks around the island and towards the wooden table Seulgi was sitting at, pulling a chair out and taking a seat next to the anxious guard.

 

"You kissed her right?", Seulgi nods.

 

Sooyoung sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, her brows knitted together in deep concentration.

 

"Well... you have to talk to her at some point. You guys are friends now. You can't just ignore each other. That's like the worst friendship ever!"

 

Seulgi stares at the red haired girl in disbelief. It wasn’t like she was wrong. It just shocked Seulgi by how right she actually was. Communication is key. That is what the queen, she used to work for, used to tell her when she was little. If she couldn’t even communicate with her friend, were they even friends in the first place?

 

"But… I kissed her!", Sooyoung shakes her head, raising her eyebrows as if she doesn't know what the older woman is talking about.

 

"Yeah... so what?"

 

Seulgi stares at Sooyoung in disbelief. is slightly open and her eyebrows raised as she represses the urge to smack the younger girl across the head.

 

Sooyoung sighs and stands up again.

 

"Look,” the red haired girl begins. "The worst thing that could happen is her not talking to you anymore", she crosses her arms and stares at an - now - even more panicked Seulgi. "If this were like one of those cheesy romance drama novels Taehyung reads. Wendy would forget about that kiss in like a day and act like it never happened. You could just hang out with her and confess like every other normal person."

 

Seulgi stays quiet, biting her fingernails as she considers her options. She hates it when the younger girl has a point. She exhales and stands up, turning to Sooyoung.

 

"Maybe you're right."

"I'm always right."

 

Seulgi huffs and rolls her eyes.

 

"Aren't you supposed to be at a family brunch?", Sooyoung groans loudly and lets herself fall on Seulgi, whining in her shoulder about how she doesn't want to go, because the brunch is boring and she likes it better with Seulgi.

 

Seulgi just chuckles and pats the red haired girl on her head.

 

"Where were you the other night?"

 

Joohyun and her family are sitting around the big dinner table. The king and queen were seated on each end of the long table, while Joohyun and her half-brother Seokjin were sitting across from each other.

 

The princess looks up from her plate and turns to the king, who was still staring at his plate. King Bae never made eye contact with Joohyun and it wasn't really a mystery to the princess as to why he didn't want to look at her.

 

Having your first born be a girl wasn't really something her father was looking forward to. He barely paid attention to her and only talked to her when necessary. It didn’t bother Joohyun as much as it should. She grew up with this kind of treatment after all.

 

"Excuse me?", she asks, tensing up a little as she waits for a response.

 

"Where were you the day you went missing?"

 

There is a moment of silence. . Joohyun looks at her father, then her mother who is barely paying attention to them, staring at her plate. She turns to looks straight ahead and meets the eyes of her half-brother, who was giving her an indescribable look.

 

The princess looks down at her food and exhales.

 

"I was just getting some fresh air, father", Joohyun says and she could swear she heard a soft huff coming out of her father's mouth.

 

"Until 20:00 PM? That is quite a time to come back home, no?", king Bae's voice is sharp, making sure his daughter knew he wasn't joking. "You did not warn any of our guards or your own. Seokjin didn't know anything and your mother did not know either."

 

Joohyun stays quiet. She knows the king isn't done talking and you should never cut off the king.

 

"You went to see that baker, didn't you?", the question came out sharp and almost like a statement rather than a question. His daughter’s silence confirmed all of his suspicions. "Of course you did. I should have known."

 

Joohyun's head shoots up and she stares at her father.

 

"Wh-what do you mean with 'I should have known'?" the princess is confused.

 

How does her father know about her and Wendy? Did someone teel him?

 

Her father sighs and closes his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he puts down his fork.

 

"Your highness", the sharp voice of the queen cuts through the air. She puts down her cutlery and dabs clean. Joohyun visibly flinches when her mother looks up with her sharp eyes. The same ones Joohyun has. "Let us not do this here. We are having brunch with our beloved nephew"

 

Everyone around the table looks at the single young man sitting on the far end of the table, close to the queen. He looks around with wide eyes and gulps his food down.

 

"Uhm...", he starts, wiping his mouth clean with his sleeve. "I'm just going to use the bathroom... I will be right back!", the young blonde haired man leaves the table and rushes towards the door.

 

Joohyun sighs.

 

"Father, tell me", she waits. She keeps her gaze on her father, waiting in a heavy silence for him to speak up.

 

Another heavy sigh escapes king Bae's lips and he shifts in his seat, straightening his back.

 

“Seokjin, leave,” the king orders.

 

The young man nods and excuses himself from the table. Joohyun waits until the door closes and then turns back to her father.

 

“Father, tell me what you meant with ‘I should have known’.”

 

“It should not be of any concern to yo–,”

 

“I have the right to know, father!” both Joohyun and the king are taken aback by the sudden rising of Joohyun’s voice, but the princess quickly controls herself and looks into the king’s eyes.

 

“Tell me what you know.”

 

---

 

Guess who's back? After a LONG time... I kind of lost inspiritation for this story I'm not gonna lie, but I'm back! And I'll try my very best to end this story, because I honestly love this fic a lot and I'm glad a lot of people do too. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter too :))