“So uh…this will be your new teacher…” Sunggyu gestured to Woohyun, who was standing beside him, smiling politely.

The princes sat and stared at the new face, and then exchanged confused glances.

“Why?” Sungyeol raised his hand.

“Are you leaving us Ssaem?” Dongwoo asked Sunggyu.

“Are you checking into an insane asylum?” Hoya questioned.

“No!” Sunggyu glared at Hoya. “And no, I’m not leaving…”

“Then why is he here?” Sungyeol pointed a finger at Woohyun, before moving his accusing finger across from him to Myungsoo. “And you! You finally showed up.”

Myungsoo tilted his head, folding his hands in his lap. He didn’t say anything and just stared off into the distance with a blank expression.

“Is he…is he ok?” Sunggyu eyed the Rose Prince worriedly.

“Hm?” Woohyun turned to Myungsoo. “Oh yeah, he’s fine…uh I think?”

“You think?” Sunggyu frowned.

“I don’t know...” Woohyun shrugged, putting a finger to his chin as he studied Myungsoo’s stupefied gaze.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Aren’t you his friend or something?” Sunggyu sighed.

“I’m not his friend.” Woohyun pouted. “How can I be friends with a student? That’s favoritism.”

Sunggyu gasped, recognizing Woohyun’s words sounded awfully familiar to the ones in his nightmare. He frantically scanned the area for any balconies and then remembered they were on the first floor.

“No jackhammers either…” He muttered, quietly nodding to himself.

“What?” Woohyun blinked, leaning closer to Sunggyu. “Jackhammers?”

“Y-You can’t!” Sunggyu blurted out, rushing to hide behind the chalkboard.

“I can’t what?” Woohyun frowned, completely confused. “What’re you talking about?”

“Ssaem, do you need to lie down?” Sungjong asked.

“No! Why do people keep asking me that?” Sunggyu groaned, though he still remained hidden behind the chalkboard, clutching on to the wooden edges of the board. He nervously shifted his gaze to Woohyun and then back to the class.

“Is this some kind of spy class?” Myungsoo piped up, with a dazed look.

“What?” Sunggyu frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“Maybe it’s because you’re hiding and looking extremely suspicious.” Woohyun remarked, with a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re ok? Maybe I should handle the class for today?”

And there it was. It hit Sunggyu like a hard slap across the face. He had figured out Woohyun’s scheme. Woohyun was planning on getting the class to like him more than Sunggyu. So that when he ultimately decided to kill him, no one would bother too much or be suspicious of Woohyun. He may even get the princes to assist him in Sunggyu’s murder.

Sunggyu gulped, as he connected the dots. It all made sense in his hungry, exhausted, sleep-deprived, mind. He made a mental note to be even more careful from now on. No one could be trusted. Everyone was a potential ally of Woohyun’s. Anyone could be an enemy.

His eyes darted to and fro. He noticed the librarian eyeing him worriedly from the front counter.

“She’s in on it!” Sunggyu’s eyes went wide. The princes were all staring at him as well. And so was Woohyun. “All of them...they’re all in on it!” Sunggyu clutched his head, desperately trying to calm his buzzing mind. “All of them…I’m gonna die. They’re gonna kill me!”

“I think you need to lie down.” He could barely hear Woohyun’s voice, but when the other clutched his arm, Sunggyu yelped.

“N-No!” Sunggyu swatted Woohyun away frantically, feeling his head go woozy and his stomach ache. “G-Get away from me! All of you! G-Get away…!” Suddenly Sunggyu’s eyes drifted close, and he collapsed into Woohyun’s arms.

“What…was that?” Hoya blinked.

“I’ll tell you what it was.” Sungyeol shook his head. “Complete teacher meltdown.”

*

Woohyun carried the unconscious Sunggyu to the back room of the library (with some assistance from the princes). It was basically a narrow hall with bookshelves lining one wall, and a small brown couch on the opposite side. Woohyun had lay Sunggyu down on the couch, and pulled up a small stool beside the bench for himself to sit on.

The librarian had given him an ice pack and allowed him to help himself to whatever Sunggyu would need from the mini fridge which was farther down the hall.

“What happened to you?” Woohyun stared at Sunggyu’s sleeping face, worriedly. Sunggyu whimpered slightly in his sleep, his nose twitching slightly. “You’re not supposed to be like this…” Woohyun swept a strand of hair away from Sunggyu’s forehead. “How am I not supposed to care about you, when you’re like this?” He hesitantly let his finger caress Sunggyu’s soft cheek. “Hyung…” He whispered, leaning in. “It’s not fair…” He felt the temperature in his cheeks rise at the close proximity with the older man. “Stop doing this to me…I don’t want to be like this anymore.” He leaned closer, feeling Sunggyu’s gentle, steady breaths on his face. “Hyung…” Woohyun’s voice was shaky and breathless. “I-I don’t want to be like this…” He breathed, before nervously pressing his lips to Sunggyu’s forehead. He kept his gaze entirely on Sunggyu’s face, getting completely lost in it. He didn’t even remember anything else at that moment. He just wanted to kiss Sunggyu, and he wanted Sunggyu to kiss him back. He wanted to wake Sunggyu up, so that he could he tell him he still loved him. That he was lying when he said he felt nothing for him.

Because the truth was, he never for a moment stopped loving Sunggyu. Even though Sunggyu ignored him, betrayed him, and left him, Woohyun’s feelings wouldn’t change, no matter how much he fought them.

“I-Its not fair hyung…” Woohyun’s voice cracked. “Y-You’re the worst hyung…can’t you just…can’t you just look at me?” Woohyun clenched his fists, resting them on his knees, as he struggled to fight the tears from falling. “I-I wish you would…”

“Woohyun hyung.” Woohyun gasped, wiping his eyes hurriedly and turning to see Myungsoo standing there.

“O-Oh Myungsoo-yah…” Woohyun forced a smile. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t I sentence you guys to study hall?”

“Yeah…but there’s nothing to study.” Myungsoo replied.

“Right…” Woohyun chuckled quietly, focusing his gaze on his lap. “I guess not…”

“Are you ok?” Myungsoo asked, softly.

“Of course I am.” Woohyun shot the other an easy grin, and slowly stood up, but then he heard Sunggyu stir.

“Mm…” Sunggyu groaned slightly, opening his eyes. He sat up, clutching his head, and then noticed Woohyun and Myungsoo looking at him. His eyes went wide as he scooted to the far end of the bench. “Y-You…”

“It’s ok.” Woohyun crawled onto the couch beside him. “You just fainted…are you still feeling lightheaded?” Woohyun placed a hand on Sunggyu’s forehead to check his temperature.

“What…?” Sunggyu stared straight into Woohyun’s eyes and noticed they were slightly red. Before his mind could register, his instincts took over first. He reached out a hand to wipe Woohyun’s tear-dampened cheek.

Woohyun merely blinked, too speechless to question or respond.

“You were crying…” Sunggyu murmured, Woohyun’s cheek softly. He could always tell when the younger man was crying, or upset, even though Woohyun tended to conceal those types of feelings from most people.

Woohyun quickly moved away, and ended up stumbling with his back hitting the rather stiff sofa. “I-I wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie.” Sunggyu reached for Woohyun's wrists and pulled him into a sitting position. “You…” He paused when he noticed Myungsoo standing there, watching them. Sunggyu cleared his throat and let go of Woohyun’s wrists and Woohyun turned around, remembering Myungsoo was still there as well.

“Um…Myungsoo could you give us a minute?” Woohyun asked the Rose Prince. Myungsoo eyed them both with an unreadable expression, before nodding obediently and leaving.

“Here.” Woohyun handed Sunggyu a bottle of water. “You should drink something.”

Sunggyu studied the bottle of water. He realized how crazy his mind had become in the past several hours. And he also figured if Woohyun really wanted to kill him, he would have done it while Sunggyu was asleep. He was more concerned about why Woohyun was crying, and what or who caused it. “Are you feeling better?” Woohyun asked.

Sunggyu smiled softly. “I thought I was nothing to you…but you still helped me.”

Woohyun gasped. “W-Well you collapsed right into my arms so suddenly! I was just being a good citizen. I would have done that for anyone. It doesn’t make you special.”

“Ok.” Sunggyu nodded, with a warm gaze, before opening the bottled water and taking a sip. “Sorry I was acting really weird and jumpy this morning…”

“Yeah, what was that about?” Woohyun cocked an eyebrow.

“Actually I…” Sunggyu rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I kind of got this crazy idea that you wanted to kill me.”

“What?” Woohyun frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“It’s not that hard to believe! You were stalking me like some kind of creep!” Sunggyu exclaimed, defensively.

“But I would never want to kill you.” Woohyun stated, appearing to be disappointed and more than a little hurt. “Did you really think I would do such a thing?”

“Not really...” Sunggyu nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “I think it’s because I haven’t been getting much sleep, or eaten a proper meal in days, and I’ve been…well a lot of things have been happening lately. The crazy delusions were probably a result of that.”

“Oh…” Woohyun stood up. “Then rest some more. I’ll handle the class for today.”

“I can’t.” Sunggyu sighed, forcing himself to get up as well. “It’s my class too. Plus you don’t know what we were working on.”

*

The moment Sunggyu and Woohyun returned to the princes in the little section of the library they were using for class, applause broke out.

“Ssaem, you’re alive!” Sungyeol cheered.

“W-We thought you were a goner!” Dongwoo was on the verge of tears.

“Was it due to old age?” Hoya questioned.

“Are you ok?” Sungjong stood up to help Sunggyu to a seat. Sunggyu was quite surprised by the actions of the youngest, but accepted the kind treatment anyways.

“Thanks.” Sunggyu blinked at the Orchid Prince.

“No problem Ssaem.” Sungjong smiled sweetly.

This was the kid that supposedly blew up a kingdom?” Sunggyu wondered if that was really true. He couldn’t see how such a cute and innocent looking creature would be able to commit such a devious act.

Meanwhile, Woohyun was eyeing Sungjong with his lovable smile and his rather large cat eyes, and his flawlessly clear face, and well, his general perfection. He was definitely cuter than Woohyun. And Woohyun didn’t like that. He didn’t like it one bit. He watched the way Sunggyu was smiling at the young boy, with a sparkly look in his eyes. It pissed Woohyun off to no end, but he refused to show it on his face. So instead he put on a not so convincing fake smile, and was about to head to the front of the class, when he felt a hand clutch his wrist. He turned to his right to see it was Myungsoo, who was sitting on his seat, looking up at him.

“What’s wrong?” Woohyun asked.

Myungsoo stared at him for a moment, before releasing Woohyun and folding his hands in his lap. Woohyun tilted his head in confusion, but let it go, and went to stand beside Sunggyu in front of the chalkboard.

Everyone was looking to the head of the table at Sunggyu, in complete silence.

“I should faint more often.” Sunggyu snorted. “Since now you guys are actually paying attention.”

“We’re sorry Ssaem!” Dongwoo blurted out. “We’ll listen to your every word in your final hour!”

“I’m not dying.” Sunggyu sighed, and then glanced at Woohyun who was awkwardly hovering beside him. He smiled slightly and tapped Woohyun lightly on the . “Yah, you can sit down too you know?”

Woohyun jumped slightly, clearly startled by the rather casual contact. “Uh right…” He nodded and took the seat at Sunggyu’s right, beside Sungyeol. He noticed Myungsoo sitting across from them, shooting him an unreadable look. Woohyun merely smiled back, not really being able to interpret what the Rose Prince’s expression meant.

Even though the main reason he had gotten this job was because of Myungsoo, and the younger man’s apparent attachment to him, Woohyun didn’t really know him that well.

*

Even if one was born and raised in the Rose Kingdom like Woohyun, that didn’t necessarily serve any guarantees that they would ever meet the rulers of the kingdom. But Woohyun, as part of his revenge, had strived to get the same job as Sunggyu. It wasn’t easy, however. Obtaining a job working with royalty took a certain skill set and particular qualifications.

One day, about five months ago, while he sat in his small currently empty house, almost out of the blue, he received a call from the Rose Kingdom. At first, he didn’t believe it. Why would the kingdom be calling a nobody like him? Especially the Queen.

“I-Is this Kim Sunggyu?” The Queen’s voice sounded desperate. Woohyun remembered that Sunggyu sometimes used the land line as his contact on resumes and such. And figured that after he moved out he forgot to update his contact information. Woohyun always used to make fun of him for being so outdated. But Sunggyu’s old fashioned tendencies actually gave Woohyun an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Yes, this is him.”

*

“He won’t come out of his room!” The Queen was in a state of panic as she hurriedly guided Woohyun to Myungsoo’s bedroom door. “He locked the door and he won’t come out! It’s been five hours!” She gripped onto Woohyun’s arm, and shot him a helpless look. “You have to help him Sunggyu-sshi!”

“Uh…” Woohyun cleared his throat, feeling guilty for posing as Sunggyu and lying to the Queen. There was also the fact that he had no idea what he was doing. “This isn’t really my field of expertise—.”

“Please!”

“But I can try…” Woohyun sighed, and stood in front of the door for a moment before hesitantly knocking. “E-Excuse me…? Your highness?” He was met with silence. “Hello? Myungsoo-sshi are you in there?” He could hear some slight shuffling from inside. Suddenly a piece of paper with some words prettily written was slid under the door. Woohyun picked it up and read it.

Who are you?

Woohyun contemplated his answer for a moment, before leaning into the door.

“A friend.”

---

I swear these chapters are getting more depressing.Woohyun stop crying gdi