"Leeteuk," Taeyeon took a step forward, although the group remained silent. Leeteuk kept his gaze at Taeyeon and only at her, making it seem like she was the only person in the mansion that moment. 

"Taeyeon," he smiled. "What brings you here to my mansion?" Leeteuk rose an eyebrow, teasing her intentionally. 

"The Princes are with us now." 

He glanced at his twelve young men behind her. "Oh is it?" 

"Leeteuk hyung..." Suho stuttered, blinking at him. Leeteuk walked towards the Princes until Taeyeon firmly grabbed his arm. The Queens and Soldiers grew anxious by her sudden action. 

"Don't you dare harm them," she gritted. 

He smirked, "I just want to talk to them." 

"I know what you're going to do. Don't try to hide it."

Taeyeon searched Leeteuk's eyes for some answers, reading his mind in the process. She wasn't letting him hurt the Princes. 

"Fine, I won't lay a finger on them if that satisfies you." 

Leeteuk turned his attention to the Princes, looking at them in a stern manner. 

"Is it true you're making us your slaves?" Kris blurted out. 

"Who told you that?" 

"The highnesses." 

"Well...aren't they right?" he smiled maliciously. 

The Princes, Soldiers and Queens stood there not believing what Leeteuk just said. Taeyeon wasn't surprised at all since she knew this was coming. 

"LEETEUK!" 

Taeyeon was a second late. Before she could even stop Leeteuk from what he was planning to do, he vanished in thin air, bringing along the twelve Princes with him. She brushed her hand into her hair, panicking to herself. Everything happened too fast, the Queens and Soldiers were too, at loss. 

"Taeyeon where'd they go?" Tiffany asked. 

Wooyoung placed a hand on her shoulder. "Taeyeon are you okay? What's wrong?" 

"Guys...we're in big trouble," Taeyeon could barely speak. 

"Why what happened? Where did Leeteuk and the Princes go?" Inside, Wooyoung was freaking out as well, seeing Taeyeon like this but he tried to calm himself down by speaking softly to her. 

"Seohyun's prediction." 

Seohyun's eyes twiced its size. "Unnie...no...it can't be." 

"THEY WENT TO THE REAL WORLD?!" Yoona and Yuri shrieked. Panic drew in everyone's faces, finally collecting their thoughts. Leeteuk took the Princes to the real world to get his revenge. Only that way, the Queens will receive a heavy punishment from the Celestial Empire. He was going to break a rule and that rule could possibly be revealing themselves to the real world. If that would happen, Solitaire no longer exists as well as the Queens will face their own deaths. 

"NO WAY," the Soldiers disagreed with the consequences the Queens would have to face if this would happen. 

"We're not losing you Queens," Nichkhun said sternly. 

"We can't let that happen," Chansung added. 

"Then how are we going to stop Leeteuk?" Jay hissed. 

Taeyeon held her hand up to stop them from talking. "We need to calm down and sort this out or we'll run out of time."

"What's the plan Tae?" Jessica crossed her arms.

"Here's the plan. We must go to where Taecyeon was in the forest when he first got here. Us Queens are going to create a portal which we can travel to and fro easily. After we enter, search for the Princes and Leeteuk immediately and we'll know what to do from there. Remember we have to hurry and keep ourselves away from the humans." 

"I'll teleport us to the forest," Tiffany said. 

Minjun gawked at her. "You can do that?" 

"Of course. I've been practicing my skills often and now I can teleport a large number of people. Come on let's all hold hands." 

All of them joined hands in a hurry, teleporting in the forest in a blink of an eye. 

"Guys, stay back a little since we need to do something," Taeyeon instructed. The Soldiers obliged and stared at the Queens, waiting for their next move. The Queens stood in a small circle, each of them had a necklace in their palms. One by one, they said their names out loud. 

"Take us to the real world!" they chanted. In just a second, a portal appeared in front of them which led to the real world. The Queens entered the portal first, followed by the Soldiers. Ian, who was the last one facing the portal, took one last breath and entered the portal, all of them successfully entered the society. 

Taecyeon placed his hand on the doorknob, his heavy feeling inside him ate him up. He forced his head to look up and remained on the spot where he stood when he saw someone else in the room. It was Yoona, sitting next to his mother who was lying still on the bed. Yoona held his mother's hand into hers, silently praying to herself with her eyes closed. His heart broke at the sight. Taecyeon needed to return to Seoul because his mother was in the hospital. She was diagnosed with brain cancer and she barely had any time left to live. This news was too much for Taecyeon to take that he didn't believe Sooman at first. But his heart broke when he finally faced the truth and there he was, outside the patient's room. Slowly he turned the doorknob, opening the door slightly. He entered the room, closing the door behind him. He smiled when Yoona had her eyes closed still, not noticing his presence. Yoona opened her eyes and looked up, surprised to see Taecyeon in front of her. She stood up, opened but nothing came out. 

"Taecyeon..." she muttered. Yoona grinned nervously, making her way over and threw her arms around around Taecyeon.

Taecyeon didn't expect her to hug him but he returned her hug by encircling his arms carefully around her back. She buried her head in his chest, not wanting to break the hug anytime soon.

"I missed you," Yoona finally broke the hug, her eyes looking into his.

He smiled, "I missed you too."

She put her arms back to her sides and turned to look at his mother. "I'm sorry about your mother."

Taecyeon pulled himself together, to keep himself from breaking down. "What did they say?"

"She's not...going to live anytime sooner..." her voice cracked with a tear escaping from her eye.  

He wiped away her tear that strolled down her cheek with the back of his hand. Taecyeon couldn't hold back his tears any longer when his heart shattered. He went beside his mother and placed a kiss on her forehead. It was difficult for him to see due to the tears b in his eyes. Hugging her with all his courage, he closed his eyes and sobbed. 

"Umma..." he mumbled. Yoona who stood there watching Taecyeon cry helplessly, saddened her too much. She was thinking how Taecyeon was going to cope with this once his mother leaves his side. A little while after Yoona came back from her break, she noticed Taecyeon fell asleep beside his mother. He had her arms around her and a smile was plastered on his face. She thought he was having a good dream. She sat on the small couch and took a small nap as well. 

Taecyeon's eyes fluttered and stretched his arms gently, careful he wouldn't hit his mom. 

"Mrs Ok?" A doctor came in the room. Taecyeon sat up and got off the bed to greet the doctor. 

"Hi, I'm Ok Taecyeon her son." 

"Nice to meet you Mr Ok. I'm Dr. Jung and I'll just check your mother's status if I may? Am I interrupting anything?" 

"Oh no, not at all. Go ahead Dr. Jung." 

The doctor bowed and checked the heartbeat sensor beside Mrs Ok, updating its status. Taecyeon noticed Yoona waking up from her sleep as she rubbed her eyes. 

"Thank you Mr Ok, I'll be leaving now." 

"Yes, thank you." 

"What happened?" Yoona asked. 

Taecyeon sat next to her on the couch. "The doctor just checked on my mother." 

"Oh, alright." 

"Yoona," Taecyeon took her hand which caught Yoona off-guard. Both of them gazed into each other's eyes. Yoona felt her heart beating twice as fast. 

"Yes?" 

"I want to thank you for looking after my mom. I was...too busy so..." 

She smiled, "It's okay, I found out when I dropped a visit to your house. She told me to accompany her to the hospital so I did. She was looking for you as well." 

Taecyeon felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He should've known earlier about his mother's sickness. But he was too late since he knew her time would end soon. He also knew she told him that she wanted to join his father in heaven right after he passed away. 

"Thank you." Taecyeon leaned in and kissed Yoona's forehead which she didn't expect at all. Yoona blushed when she couldn't meet him in the eye, too embarrassed to look up at him after what he did. Taecyeon smiled when she was too shy at the moment. 

"Um...want to grab a bite?" Yoona whispered. 

"Yeah sure." 

They left the room and headed to the canteen where the food stalls were located. Both of them bought fried kimchi rice and settled down at a table. 

"Yoona, I want to thank you for your help again." 

She giggled, "How many times do you have to thank me?" 

"Well...I'm really thankful that I have nothing in return for you." 

"Seeing you is already enough," she smiled. 

"But still, let me return the favor. Please? I'll do anything." 

Yoona's heart softened when she stared into Taecyeon's eyes. "Anything?" 

"Yes, anything." 

She fiddled with her chopsticks before thinking about it. "I do have one thing in mind." 

"What is it?" 

She looked up and held her breath. "Taecyeon oppa....I like you." 

Taecyeon dropped his chopsticks on the plate and stared at her for a minute. He felt odd when she confessed to him. He did have feelings for her but his heart still belonged to his Queen, Yoona. He didn't know how to answer her back with that fact stuck in his head. Yoona noticed Taecyeon hesitating for a while, almost feeling heartbroken. 

"It's okay, you don't have to like me back. I just wanted you to know how I feel for you," she stuttered. 

He held her chin and forced her to look at him. "No it's not that, I like you too Yoona." 

She blinked for a couple of seconds when a smile dawned upon her face. "Really?" 

He nodded. "Absolutely." 

Yoona couldn't help but to giggle at him. She felt happy that Taecyeon liked her back even if she didn't expect him to. Taecyeon and Yoona strolled back to Mrs Ok's room, only to find out that his mother was finally awake. Taecyeon insisted on feeding his mom but Mrs Ok preferred Yoona's help as he went to cut the apples at the small table. After Mrs was fed, she thanked Yoona for her assistance. 

"Yoona, can you give Taecyeon and I, a moment alone please?" Mrs Ok asked politely. 

"Of course." 

"Yoona where are you going?" Taecyeon called out when she noticed her leaving the room. 

"I just need some air. I'll be back." 

Yoona quietly closed the door behind her as she left the both of them alone. Mrs Ok mentioned Taecyeon to sit next to her on the bed. 

"Taecyeon, we need to talk." 

He sighed, "I'm listening." 

Mrs Ok took his hands into hers, her eyes focusing into his. "I think, it's about time that I'll let you go." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I meant that, you have to find your own happiness from now on." 

"Umma, don't make it seem like you're leaving me now," he frowned.

"Taecyeon, I don't have much time left. I feel very weak right now and I don't think I can hold on much longer." 

He her hands with his thumb. "I'm sorry..." 

"Don't be, you have nothing to be sorry about. So from now on, please find your own happiness. You have to promise me that Taecyeon, don't disobey your umma." 

"Alright..." 

"Besides, I won't be worrying much about you since you have Yoona by your side." 

He smiled slightly. "She's a nice friend." 

"You see her as your friend only? I thought you two were a couple," Mrs Ok teased. 

He chuckled. "I'm thankful I met her." 

"So Taecyeon...can you promise me you'll be happy?" 

Taecyeon stared into his mother's eyes, with sorrow in his eyes. "Yes, I promise I'll be happy." 

"Good. I can finally be in peace," she whispered. 

He hugged her once more. "I'll miss you umma." 

The Soldiers and Queens appeared at the park, near the cherry blossom tree that Taecyeon usually pass by. Their eyes took in the surroundings. Everything felt foreign to them since it's the first time they visited Seoul. 

"Wow, so this is where Taecyeon lives huh?" Wooyoung whispered to Nichkhun. 

"It feels so...strange yet familiar in some way." 

"What about the portal?" Ian asked. 

"The portal stays Ian, until we go back. So now split up and catch the Princes," Taeyeon said. 

"Hold on guys," Nichkhun held his hands up. "I know where they are. I'll give the directions then?" 

"Go on Nichkhun." 

Nichkhun sorted out the places in his mind, thanks to his tracking ability. He instructed everyone the precise direction of where the Princes were and with that being said, they scurried off to the specific locations. 

Wooyoung secretly followed Taeyeon who was running off to somewhere. 

"Taeyeon where are you going?" 

She turned her head back. "I'm after Leeteuk." 

"Leeteuk? Mind if I join you?" 

"No...not at all but won't it be faster if you'd help the rest find the Princes?" 

Wooyoung shrugged. "I don't want you to get hurt, not like last time please." 

Taeyeon smiled, "Alright but stay close to me then." 

"That ain't a problem!" 

"I just need to stop Leeteuk, like right now," she sighed. 

He patted her shoulder. "I'll help you don't worry."

"Thanks~" 

Sunny and Sungmin ran off to the water fountain where Suho and Baekhyun were at. 

"Over there!" Sunny pointed at the two guys who were creating chaos in the public. The citizens in Seoul frantically ran away from the Princes who were damaging everything in their way. The police officers couldn't stop them as they helped the citizens to escape by mentioning the people to hide in sheltered areas. 

"We're exposed Sunny ah..." Sungmin glanced at her worriedly. 

"I know and the only way to reduce our chances of getting a punishment is to stop the Princes so let's go." 

Sunny sprinted towards Suho who welcomed her with waves of water floating in mid-air. Sunny ducked down and slid across the ground, the water was just above her figure. She startled Suho with a kick in the knee. Suho grunted, standing back up and shot out a strong current of water at Sunny. She took a side step, missing his aim easily. 

Sungmin missed beams of light that Baekhyun was emitting. He rose his eyebrow when Baekhyung was receiving sudden punches and shook his head, knowing it was Chansung. Baekhyun crumpled on the ground, groaning in pain. Chansung made himself visible again, smiling at Sungmin. 

"You looked like you were in trouble there." 

Sungmin rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you just had to barge in and be all hero like." 

"GUYS I NEED HELP HERE!"

"Oops," they said in unison.

Sunny's voice screeched as she was trapped in mid-air with the water physically suffocating her. Chansung went back to being invisible as he sneaked behind Suho and trampled him on the ground. Suho lay flat on the ground with Chansung pinning him down, showing no mercy. Sungmin rushed to Sunny who knelt down and coughed water out severely. 

"You alright?" 

Sunny looked up, breathing heavily. "Great, now I'm soaked." 

Sungmin let out a chuckle. "Come on you'll get dry anyway." 

"Get Suho and Baekhyun." 

"Chansung will take care of that," Sungmin turned back noticing Chansung holding onto the two Princes.

Minjun caught Chanyeol burning up the stores along the street as he put out the fire with his cooling frost. The shops were now solidified with sparkling ice, the fire was nowhere in presence. 

"Stop right there fire boy," Minjun said when Chanyeol was at the end of the street. Chanyeol turned back and scoffed. 

"You've caused quite a mess and I just had to freeze them up for you." 

Chanyeol stared blankly at him. 

"Which is kind of a troublesome thiing to do so, I might as well freeze you up," Minjun smirked, throwing darts made out of ice at him. Chanyeol responded with fireballs back at him, both of them leading to an endless fire and ice fight. 

"Yo Minjun! I guess we're in the same situation!" Jay was on the side of the street, facing off with Xiumin. 

"Well this is kind of fun isn't it?" Minjun replied. 

"Oh how fun it is," Jay said sarcastically. 

"Gosh he is so annoying!" Tiffany whined. She had been teleporting from one place to another for umpteen times, chasing Kai around. 

"Need some help there Fany ah?" Yuri asked. 

"Yeah, I'll grab hold of him and you can beat the hell out of this guy to stop him from moving." 

Yuri shook her head with a smile, "Sure." 

Tiffany chased Kai for a couple more times until Yuri slashed his arm with her dagger. Kai remained still as he couldn't have the ability to teleport any longer due to his injury. 

"Boy that was tiring," Tiffany wiped sweat off her forehead. 

"Well at least Jessica over there is being herself, I mean look at her." 

Tiffany and Yuri grinned at the sight of Jessica manipulating Sehun with pain. 

"Typical Jess," Tiffany remarked. 

Nichkhun skipped towards the ladies, looking exhausted. Yuri his arm as a hint of worry was visible in her eyes. 

"What's wrong Khun?" 

He panted, "No I'm fine it's just that," he turned back to take a peek at Jessica. "Jessica's scaring the hell out of me." 

"Why what happened?" 

"I was fighting with this Prince and then she showed up looking furious." 

Tiffany stuck out her tongue. "Nah she's like that when she fights. Always as menacing~" 

"Oh who's up there?" Yuri pointed up to a building. The three of them stared at the person who was floating in the air. 

"Must be Hyoyeon."

"Should we help her?" Nichkhun asked them. 

Yuri shook her head. "She'll be fine Khun since she's part of the manipulation trio." 

"Who?" 

"Jessica, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung." 

He nodded his head. "I see..."

Sooyoung and Junho were dealing with Luhan and Chen. Those two Princes were making a mess at the main roads. Luhan was flipping buses and cars all over while Chen blew up the electricity that was running in the traffic lights. On the other hand, Yonghwa and Seohyun fought against Tao and Lay. Opposite them were Yoona and Ian trying to attack D.O. 

"Yoona, are you okay?" Ian carefully held her shoulder. 

She nodded. "I'm fine, thanks." 

D.O hurled rocks over Yoona's side which she broke into pieces of stone, using her fists. She gave herself a heads up when a rock was about to hit Ian.

"Ian! LOOK OUT!" she ran towards him but her stomach clenched when she a was a second too late. She bent down at him, only to see blood trickling down the side of his face. Fury took over her mind as she threw rocks back with a massive force. Unfortunately she caught a huge rock that made her tumble down the road. Her back jerked through the rough surface of the ground. Her hands ached at the sudden friction. She gasped when loads of rocks were in the air, thinking how she would escape from them. Yoona closed her eyes, waiting for them to hit her but none came. Her eyes flew open and parted when she saw Taecyeon protecting her with a force field. 

"Taecyeon..." she whispered. The rocks bounced off Taecyeon's force field and was hurled to another direction instead. Tiffany, Jessica, Yuri and Nichkhun noticed the danger as Yuri sprinted towards D.O, pinning him on the ground while Jessica manipulated him. Taecyeon's force field vanished when he observed Yuri and Jessica taking care of the Prince. 

"Yoona!" he knelt down and enveloped her in his arms. "Thank god, you're safe." 

Yoona responded immediately by burying her face into his chest, her arms encircled his neck. "You're back..." 

Taecyeon broke the hug and smiled at her. "I needed to protect you." 

"Thank you," she planted a quick peck on his cheek. 

Taecyeon helped her back on her feet, with Yoona holding his hand tightly. She went over to Ian who was still lying on the ground. 

"What happened?" Taecyeon anxiously glanced at Ian who was unconscious. 

"He got hit by a rock." 

Ian fiddled slightly, his eyes fluttering open. Taecyeon and Yoona sighed in relief, knowing he was alright. 

"Ian bro, are you okay?" 

"Taecyeon? You're back so soon?" 

"Well I sensed you guys were in jeopardy so I came to help." 

"Sorry Ian if I didn't call you out earlier," Yoona said with a hint of guilt.

Ian shook his head. "It's okay Yoona, your safety is more important than mine." 

Yoona smiled, giving him a friendly hug. The three of them stood up and let out a chuckle. 

"Thank you Ian, for protecting Yoona for me." 

"It's the least I can do anyway, you're welcome." 

"Taec! Bro you're back!" Nichkhun punched his arm playfully. 

"Missed you too Khun," Taecyeon smirked. 

Tiffany welcomed him with an eye-smile. "Hey there again big guy! I knew you're always around Yoona, one way or another." 

"Right Tiff~" 

Wooyoung kept his distance away from Taeyeon as he did what he was told. He stared at the two of them, feeling the tension within. Taeyeon stared deeply into Leeteuk's eyes, as if she was conveying a message to him. 

"Leeteuk, please just listen to me." 

"Why should I?" he snapped back. 

"Because you have no other choice," her eyes flew shut. "You're always making it difficult for us." 

"You're right, I have no choices and this is the solution to it."

Taeyeon creased her brows. "Well it's pointless either because you're included in this and they'll be after you as well. That way, you will never have the Solitaire." 

Leeteuk scoffed. "Exactly. I wanted all of you to suffer and I've finally had my revenge on behalf of my brothers." 

"Oh I swear they didn't want this either. Because they wanted us to be in peace and you just had to ruin it." 

"How can you be sure of that?" 

"I'm not dumb Leeteuk I can read your mind," she sighed. 

"Quite so. There's nothing you can do now anyway. All of us are exposed," Leeteuk laughed maliciously. 

Taeyeon dashed up to him, grabbing Leeteuk by the collar. "This is your fault," she hissed. 

"No Taeyeon, this is your fault," he smirked. Wooyoung pushed Taeyeon away from Leeteuk, noticing the threat that he posed to Taeyeon. 

"Don't you dare touch her," Wooyoung tightened his grip around Leeteuk's collar. 

"That's enough." 

The three of them turned to where the voice came from. Taeyeon's eyes widened while Wooyoung and Leeteuk froze in their positions. 

Taeyeon mustered up her courage to speak although she was frantically anxious inside. 

"Max...Yunho..." 

____________________________________

hey there! okay just to make this clear, Mrs Ok's death occurred waaaay before the tragedy so Taecyeon took some time to mourn shortly. So anyway! I was focusing too much on this story so...my apologies if I didn't update my other fic :X I just need to finish this badly since we're at the peak of this story now :) teehee~ thank you for the support ^^ really appreciating it~