"Don’t trust anybody. Don’t talk to the people. Don’t wander around all by yourself. Don’t take off your hood. Don’t let people see your eyes. Don’t-"

"Aish… Arraso! Arraso! Geez, Daesung oppa. You have been repeating yourself ever since yesterday. I have known it all by heart already, you know!" Haru pouted. TOP came over and gave her a small bag containing a few changes of cloth.

"Daesung. What did I told you?" He patted Daesung’s shoulder.

"I know. But, still-"

"No no no. No arguing. We already decided to trust her, isn’t it?” He’s trying to calm Daesung down.

"….. But yeah. Don’t trust any men outside. Aside from oppas, all men are wolves. Arraso?” TOP patted her head.

"Geez! You guys are hopeless!" Taeyang came over to fix her hood. "She’ll be fine. It’s not like she’s going alone. Infinite are there with her all the time. You promise you won’t do anything foolish right, Haru?" He narrowed his gaze down at her.

She beamed at him. "Of course! Don’t worry oppas. I promise that I’ll come home safe and sound!"

"Good. Don’t even try to hide anything from us just in case anything happen, cause I will know. M’kay?" GD stated.

"Yeah. Yeah. I understand, YOUR MAJESTY." she emphasized the words while curtesy in an exaggerating manner.

GD faked a gasp and dramatically shrieked. "Who taught you such manner young lady!?" She giggled and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Seungri oppa."

". . . . . . . . . . "

"Yah! Maknae!"

----

It’s been a while since they had started their journey. The Forbidden Forest was located at least 4 hours away from the castle. Well, that was, if they chose the shorter route, which was to pass through the city. But that was mainly impossible since V.I.P, the capital city of Inspirit, was having a Moonlight Festival, which was to celebrate the day their princess was born. In order to avoid unnecessary attentions from the subjects,  they have to take the longer route, which was to pass through the forest. 

Haru soon grew tired of waiting. She tapped her fingers on her lap impatiently. "Are we there yet?" She questioned. God, that might be the 165783th times she asked that same question today. Myungsoo, who was sitting in front of her gave her a look. A look that screamed, that-question-again?. She bit her lips in embrassment. "Mianhe. I’m just…. Curious." She whispered.
 
Hoya chuckled and ruffled her hairs affectionately. "No. Not yet. We’ll be there soon. Why don’t you have a rest first? I know that you are not used to traveling. At least, not this far." He patted his shoulder as a signal for her if she wanted to rest her head on his shoulder. She meekly shook her head before shifting her gaze on the scenery outside the window. The carriage was not moving that fast, so she could at least see the scenery outside.

*Resting? That’s impossible. There’s no way I can do that.* She sighed. A lot of questions had been flowing in her mind. She was scared, but mostly, she was nervous. It’s been 10 years. Obviously, there were a lot of things that she wanted to say. There were a lot of things that she wanted to tell. However, her mind seemed like it’s not working today as she didn’t know the right words to use to explain her worries.

*Just relax. You’re going to faint if you keep on stressing yourself like this. Come on, smile. Isn’t this the moment that you’re waiting for?* A voice suddenly rang in her mind. She blinked her eyes once. Twice. Triple times. *Eh?* She shifted her gave and looked in front, to where Myungsoo was sitting. She was taken aback when she found that Myungsoo, who she thought was already asleep just like the rest, was staring at her straight in her eyes.

She sighed in relief as soon as she realized that Myungsoo was speaking to her through his telepathy.

*You scared me, oppa.* She softly laughed it off.

*YOU scared me. You didn’t sleep again last night, did you? You look like a panda. A terribly, tired one.* He paused.

*…..On second thought, it’s okay. You look cute, looking like that. Hm… What’s the name fitting for you, eh? Panda baby? Panda darling? Aha! Panda princess!* He teased.

*Oppa!* She shrieked. If Myungsoo was sitting next to her right now, she’d definitely smacked that guy in the head.

Myungsoo stifled his laugh as he didn’t want to wake the others up. To be frank, he was tired and he too, need to sleep. But he’s not going to let the chance to talk to her alone like this slipped away. At least, while the -blockers were sleeping, he’d have all her attentions for himself. *Heh.* He grinned at the thought.

*Hmph! Look who’s talking. You’re looking just like a panda yourself!* She hmph-ed, crossed her arms and looked away.

*It’s fine. I’ll look cool in the end. As I always did anyway.* He said in a duh-manner. As if to stated the most obvious things in the world.

*Aishh… Look at this guy. So conceited!*

*Yes, I know I’m cool. Thank you.*

She snorted. *When did I say anything about you being cool?*

He shrugged. *Well, you didn’t deny it. Might as well assume that you’re agreeing to it.*

*I did not!*

*Yes, you did, baby* He blew a flying kiss at her.

Haru stared at Myungsoo in pure shocked and disbelief. *I wonder if it’s hot today? Why is he acting like this today?*

*Just go to sleep, oppa. YOU ARE DRUNK!*

*I’m not.*

*Yes, you are!*

*…………..*

*Pfft! Ahahaha!* Unknowingly, they both burst into laughter as they bickering had finally came to an end.

Myungsoo did a victory dance in his head as he had succeed in making her smile. Or to be exact, making her laugh. He sighed in relief. *Well, that was worth it.* He stared at the love of his life who was laughing softly in front of him. Her sweet laughters sound like sweet music to his ears. He could listened to it for all day and all night.

*Now, go to sleep. You really need a rest.* He said.

Haru looked at Myungsoo and slowly, her laughters died down. She shook her head, stating that she couldn’t sleep. *I can’t, oppa. I just can’t. There’s a lot of things going on in my mind.*

*I’ll lend you my ears. So, tell me about it.* He gave her a reassuring smile.

Haru hesitated for a moment. *Should i?* She thought. She searched his eyes, and right then, she knew that she could trust him.

*I guess. I’m scared.* She muttered under her breath. She lowered her head down, suddenly feeling depressed. He could heard her small sigh as she stared at the ground.   

*’It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.’ Isn’t it?* He guessed. She gave him a bewildered look. *Eh?* She tilted her head, confused.

*You’re scared because you’re feeling guilty. You’re thinking that it was all your fault. You thought that it was all because of you that the Queen died.* Seeing her reaction, he knew that he was right. *Bull’s eye.*

Her eyes widened as she heard his answer. Right then, it seemed like something had just clicked, making all the puzzle’s pieces fall into place. Her heart trembled as she was reminded of that day. *How did you….* She gripped onto the hem of her dress.

He smiled. *I know. I understand. Even during all those hard times, you’d always hide you tears with you usual smile. But I know that your heart are about to break. Even if you always act tough, when I looked into your eyes, I’d knew straight away. You don’t need to utter a single word for me to understand. I know your heart.*

She was speechless. It was amazing how he can read her as if he was reading it straight from a book. It was amazing how he knew her worries like the back of his hands.

*Now, I know. Why he’s the one who hold the key to my heart.* She thought.

But still, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was blaming herself. It was indeed, her fault. *It is my fault. No matter how hard I try to blame the fate that is playing with me, I will always end up coming back to reality. It will never change the fact that my mother…. End up losing her life protecting me.* She could felt her lips trembled as her tears were threathening to fall.

Myungsoo sighed. It’s hard to comfort her when she’s not sitting by his side. Suddenly, an idea lighted up in his head. In the blink of an eye, the person who was sitting next to her was no longer Hoya, but him. Myungsoo was now sitting next to her. Yes, he used teleportation. A trick that he had learnt during their hand-combats practice. 

Myungsoo took her chin and tilted her face up to meet his eyes. He wiped her remaining tears with his thumb. *You knew, if I were in the Queen’s place, I will do the same thing she did. Even if I die, I’ll have no regret. Because sometimes, it’s better getting hurt, yourself rather than seeing the person dear to you get hurts. No doubt, I’m sure that the Queen too, have no regret when she decided to protect you. You shouldn’t be blaming yourself. In fact, you should be thankful and live your life to the fullest. After all, your own mother did her best to keep you alive.*

*Knowing that the price of this beating heart is another person’s life, how can I swallow everything and live my life like nothing had ever happen?* She pointed towards her heart, still in denial. Myungsoo slung his arm on her shoulder and pulled her towards him. His other hand was gripping tight onto her hand. She couldn’t deny that her heart… did skip a beat.

*How can you say that? You might not notice. But you, yourself, have already saved a lot of hearts from being swallowed by the darkness. You know how some us, Infinite doesn’t have a good past, don’t you? Thanks to you, we are who we are now. You make us realized that life is beautiful. How can you, yourself not notice that?*

Haru searched his eyes and noticed that they were sincere. His eyes were trying so hard to convinced her that he was sincere.

*Feel your heartbeats inside you. Don’t be afraid. Free you heart from all the chains that are binding you. You can do it. Because you are our princess.* He caressed her check affectionately.

Her eyes soften and she knew that he was right. She couldn’t keep on dwelling on her past. She had to move on. Erasing her past was no longer the main worry here. In fact, she can never erase it unless she had an eraser in her mind. The main thing that she had to care about was the present and the future. *What will I do without you, Kim Myungsoo?* She thought.

*I can lean on you, right?*

*Anytime, princess.*

She leaned her head on his shoulder and slowly closed her eyes, drifting of to Dreamland. *Thank you, oppa.*


-------


A/N : Actually, i have written this chapter like...... 2 weeks ago? And i told myself that i will definitely update 'tomorrow'. In the end, that tomorrow passed, days passed and even weeks passed! So, yeah. . . 

I'm so sorry! >.<

Hm? Oh. yes. I changed the title. Why? Because I find it much more . . . suitable that way? 
Anyway, since i have changed the title, the poster won't work anymore. Mianhe , hazie_inspirit? You still have my thanks though! :D
Please bear with me while i find a way to get a poster. Until then :) Please keep on supporting! :D