“This is truly an extraordinary feature...for a castle,” The prince comments, “An aquarium.” He glances at the tiny girl next to him, who gracefully walks alongside him. “Did you know that jellyfish have survived 600,000 years without a brain?”

The girl smiles, “That’s some ray of hope for my sisters then.”

“Doesn’t this path lead to the famous zoo instead of the Princess’s room?” He mumbles to himself, trying to remember the map of the castle he had seen for the first time that morning. He is to make a good impression, after all. And if this is a test, he wishes to pass it.

“Well, it does lead to some kind of a zoo,” There is a smirk in her tone. Her name is Lily and she definitely likes to act like she is older than him. It irks Minseok. Isn’t he supposed to be accompanied by some important cabinet member? But all’s well as long as he can win the heart of the Princess who awaits him in her room. 

Zoo, she says. Well, he isn't expecting anything less from the famous sisters.

“Oh, Seulgi,” Joohyun groans, “Why are your shoes muddy?”

“T-There was a puddle,” Seulgi curls up with fear at Joohyun’s narrowed brows. 

“Why did you step on it?” The older girl asks again.

“...because it was a puddle.”

“Oh Lord, save me,” Joohyun crosses her legs and groans at the childishness of her sister. “Go wash up! I can’t even have some tea with you all--you’re too busy with your little adventures---and oh god, why do these ducks have...what are these, Seulgi?”

Seulgi bites her lower lip, watching the ducklings waddle off in a line with their new plastic raincoats she made out of polythene bags, “They live outside...they need this, Joohyun.”

“And when will you grow up?”

“T-Tomorrow…? I’m free tomorrow?” Seulgi asks, unsure yet if Joohyun will like her answer. Seungwan cackles up at her words.

“Come sit here, sister,” she says, patting the chair next to her in the garden.

“If a duck and a chicken had a baby together…” Sooyoung starts, sipping on her green tea, watching the ducks walk away in the neat line, “The baby will be called chuck…?”  

“Or ,” Seungwan added, and the biggest accomplishment was Irene bursting out in a big laugh. Yerim smiled at her eldest sister, turning the page of the newspaper in her hand. “Lily...where’s Lily?” And all of their eyes widen with panic at Seungwan’s sudden question. 

“Oh ,” Sooyoung leaves her tea on the table and looks around the garden. “Let’s not panic. Maybe she wanted us to have a quiet moment.”

“Quiet moment? You think she cares enough to leave us alone?” Joohyun can’t help the anxiety in her head. She stands up at the thought of her little sister planning some serious prank for the five of them. “She’s up to something.”

“Well, if I were you, I’d say--” Yerim takes a sip of her warm tea. Her face immediately scrunches up in a weird shape, “Ew, what kind of tea is this?”

Sooyoung chuckles, “I boiled gatorade for you.”

“Are you crazy?” Yerim’s eyes widen even more. The bad taste lingers in , like a wax coat. Out of pure revenge, she swings the cup of gatorade at her sister’s face. Sooyoung shrieks at the sudden splash, not like she hadn’t expected that. But Yerim gets the same treatment. Sooyoung’s green tea lands on her pale blue dress. Seungwan laughs at the two of them as they glare at each other. “ you,” Yerim mutters under her breath.

“It was just an experiment but okay, you too,” Sooyoung threatens back.

The silence is broken by Seungwan’s shrieking weird laugh, catching their murderous attention. Sooyoung takes Seungwan’s cup and throws the content at her face, having her scream now. 

“Oh my god,” Joohyun pinches the bridge of her nose, utterly disgusted and disappointed by her sisters but then Wendy grabs her tea and splashes it on her face too. Her red cheeks, angrier eyes only make her sisters laugh out louder. “You...you just...Goddamn it! I’m the eldest and most respected Princess in Dian and you dare--”

And this time, only to join her sisters in on the fun, Seulgi throws her own cup of tea at Joohyun’s face. And the sisters find it difficult to stop laughing. Their hairs tangle in the mess of the food they throw at each other, the cream of the pastry, the sprinkles of the cake, on their lashes, their beautiful gowns, their skin. Even Joohyun has no other option than to attack.

“No, no, no, my ducklings!” Seulgi yells, when she sees the line of the coming back around the pond. Sooyoung pushes Seungwan and the girl loses balance. Seulgi’s eyes widen, thinking she’ll land on the ducklings and out of pure motherly instincts, she pushes Seungwan in the pond first so that the ducklings can pass by safely.

Wendy lands in the shallow pond, still laughing. The sisters stare at the mess they’ve made of the garden and themselves. Covered in sweat, tea, pastry and mud, they look like they’ve had some serious battle that didn’t really emerge from boiled gatorade. But this is how they are, and this is how they always wish to remain.

They’ve only calmed down from their laughing fit when Lily treads into the garden. “Here you all are,” she says, “I see, tea was more chill than the last time?”

“Where were you?”

“Oh, I only have one job and that is escorting your suitors to you, Yerim,” Lily smirks, “And I present to you, the honorable Prince of the West Isles, Prince Kim Minseok.”

Yerim’s eyes meet with the Prince’s. And with her face covered with the strawberry cream and her hair sticky with the toffees Sooyoung had thrown at her, she just wants to say, “It’s not a good time at all.”

Yerim helps herself into the new dress, her face now all cleaned up and her hair free of the dirt. She leaves the buttons on her back to the maids and gathers her hair so that they can rest the emerald necklace on her collarbones. While her sisters camp in her room, their usual gossip rings in the air. Gloves on and the mini hat clipped into place on her hair, she checks herself in the mirror once again.

“Who were you talking to? Why weren’t you picking up?” Joohyun yells into her phone, most probably talking to her husband. “Pizza Hut? Who the hell is Pizza Hut and why are you talking to her?”

“It’s a pizza place, Joohyun,” Seungwan tries to calm her down.

Joohyun blinks at Seungwan’s words, processing them but Sooyoung butts in with a knowing smirk. “No, I’ve never heard of it, Joohyun. Is Yixing cheating on you?”

Taking her sister’s words into account, she gasps, “Hey, who were you talking to?!”

Yerim takes a deep breath, “Guys, I’m going now.”

But no one pays her any attention, too busy with the drama they’ve just started. She sighs and knocks on the doors. They’re opened to her and she sees the Prince pacing around. Her face reddens. Now, the Prince surely thinks she is a very ugly joke after watching her sprawled on the garden, covered with all kinds of desserts.

“Prince Minhyun,” she bows to him.

“It’s Minseok, Princess Yerim,” he kisses the back of her palm with a soft smile on his face.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes. “Um...about the scene in the garden today, I apologize once again. My sisters can be...quite the circus. And also for making you wait, I’m really sorry, Prince Minjung.”

“Minseok, Your Majesty,” he reminds her for the second time. Yerim bites on her lower lip. How to tell him that she is bad with names and faces without sounding utterly stupid? “And it’s alright, I don’t mind at all. I love a loud crowd.”

“Oh, they’re very much so,” She takes his extended arm and leads him further into the corridor. “I’m so sorry--what was your name, again?” 

“Minseok,” he patiently replied, “You must have had a tiring day. Is it a wrong time?”

“No, no, absolutely not,” she reassured him while they walked in between the wildlife her father had kept on either side of the corridor for her very own recreation. Too bad, she had no time for the fish in the tanks. “So, you may begin. Whatever your conditions are for marriage.”

Prince Minseok chuckles, “You’re all business, Princess.”

“There’s no time to waste,” Yerim remarks. The Prince glows in the blue hue that casts over the two of them because of the water sparkling above them. And he is handsome...only that she’ll soon forget his face. But his sharp eyes strikingly resemble a cat’s. “Land, money, horses, elephants, gold, shoot your price,” she says.

“Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, Princess, but you’ve gotten the idea of marriage mixed up with bargaining,” he says.

“Oh tell me then,” Yerim sighs, “Men are so shady about what they want, at least the ones I’ve met. If only you could be clearer instead of beating around the bush.”

Minseok chuckles, “There’s no price. I take you for you, regardless of your titles.”

“Tell me, Prince, you aren’t the youngest of your siblings so why the disthirst for the throne?”

“I came to marry you only because I like you, Yerim. Nothing diplomatic about it, no politics, no strategy...only pure admiration,” he pats her gloved hand in his hold and smiles, “I request you to spend the evening with me, if that’s not too much to ask for.”

Yerim quirks her brows with interest, “And what might we do?”

Minseok stops in his tracks and looks down at her. “Do you want to...fly?”

“Fly?”

“Yes, I’ve traveled to Dian on my own,” Minseok says, “You see, I’ve learned to fly my own jet so to not both my father about the traveling expenses.” Yerim beams with excitement in her eyes. “And truthfully, that is all the skill I have so I’m counting on Fury to win your heart.”

“Fury?”

“My jet, I mean.”

“It has a name. I’ll be honored, Prince Minjun,” Yerim says.

Minseok smiles, “It’s Minseok, Princess.”

“Minseok, right. I’m sorry.”

Little does Yerim know that she will remember his face and his name as clearly as day as she will that very experience of flying in the air. Prince Minseok, etched in her mind, lives rent-free. And Yerim smiles out of nowhere at the thought of him, her sisters think she has finally gone nuts. Their jokes roll in and out of her mind but Minseok doesn’t. She checks the list of suitors on her schedule, she is supposed to attend to them all, and get married to one for god’s sake, her mother’s words. While the suitors come and go, she only remembers one face, one name and that one moment that she was in the sky, flying.

“Seulgi is like a slinky,” Lily mumbles to herself, playing with the toy in her hand. The colorful slinky travels from her one palm to another and then to the floor.

“Slinky?” Yerim asks, “How so?”

“Almost useless, but makes you smile when you push her down the stairs.”

Yerim sighs, watching Lily walk away to the opposite side. She's always in some kind of threat with Lily around.

Yerim was only going to touch the frozen sausages in the fridge when her phone beeps with a message. She fishes the device out of the pocket of her skirt. 

Lightning struck, it says. Joohyun is still sticking with the code in their group chat. Yerim sighs at the text. Lightning struck is the code for I can’t find Seulgi. And she had to come across this text every time she came out to do some shopping with her sisters. 

You mean, lightning has