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Ever since the incident Suzy would not let Chulhwa out of her sight. She would personally him to and from the orphanage. Other than school she would also take him out on the weekends. Chulhwa still remains rather indifferent to everyone but is slowly warming up to Suzy. He would wait patiently every morning for her to come collect him instead of going to school by himself. Suzy had promised him she will always be there for him as soon as he woke up. At first he was a bit apprehensive about her sincerity but when she truly started to show up every day without fail he thought he could believe her. No. He wanted to believe her. No one had ever been so kind to him. Like a mother. Like his mother.

Chulhwa was waiting on the porch of the orphanage in the bright midday sun. He wondered where Suzy was going to take him today. Last week it was picnic at the park along with the Lee family. Thinking back to the day Chulhwa couldn’t help but let a little smile break through. Henry was re-telling the tale of ‘his’ epic quest making Sungmin and Sohee roll their eyes at him every other sentence. The girls had prepared an excellent picnic and they spent the day chatting and laughing. Even if Chulhwa didn’t participate much he enjoyed the light hearted and warm atmosphere shared between family and friends.

He started to hear some chatter from down the road and Sungmin and Suzy appeared.

“I can do it! Let me do it!” Suzy said.

“But isn’t this too big a jump forward? You just qualified as a teacher 2 weeks ago.” Sungmin reasoned.

“But I’ve been teaching for a few months now!” Suzy said with no intentions of backing out.

“What about your family? Are you sure you can do this?” He asked again.

“I can do whatever I want!” Suzy proclaimed proudly.

Sungmin gave her a look and she cowered back a bit.

“I can do all the good things I want…? Come on oppa I’ll let you monitor me!” Suzy begged.

“Remember we still need to ask Chulhwa first.” Sungmin remained calm as he continued to reason with the stubborn girl.

“He’ll say yes! I know he will!” Suzy said defiantly.

“We’ll see. Oh hi Chulhwa.” Sungmin greeted as they walked through the small gates in front of the yard.

“Hello Uncle Min, Hello Miss Suzy.” Chulhwa greeted in return. It took a while but Sungmin managed to finally make Chulhwa call him uncle outside of school.

“Hi Chulhwa!” Suzy said happily while waving a bit too much.

“Before we go out today we have something to sort out first. And who knows maybe you won’t need to wait for us on the porch anymore.” Sungmin said as he smiled gently. Chulhwa just looked at him, his face painted with confusion.

“Come on we need to go see Misoon Ahjumma.” Sungmin said ushering the boy into the house.

Suzy followed closely behind with a bounce in her step, excitement running through her body.

They found the orphanage director in the baby room putting the babies down for a nap. There weren’t many children residing at the orphanage but even seeing just one child without parents is quite a bitter feeling. That’s why Misoon opened this orphanage. She wanted to make sure every child will at least have a place to call home.

“Misoon ahjumma.” Sungmin and Suzy called together.

“Shhhh” Misoon shushed causing them to clasps their mouths with their hands.

Misoon slowly put the baby she was cradling back into his cot and slowly ushered the small group out of the baby room.

“Did you come to let me know you’re taking Chulhwa out? You do know there’s no need to do that right?” Misoon questioned, a bit confused as to why they came to her.

“Oh no we have something else we would like to discuss with you.” Sungmin explained, Suzy nodding enthusiastically next to him.

 

“Right then shall we head to my office? This way.” She said gesturing down the hall.

“So what can I help you with today?” Misoon asked.

“I recently went to see Chulhwa’s father and got these papers signed.” Sungmin said handing the brown envelope he was holding to Misoon.

Chulhwa visibly stiffened at the mention of his father but it didn’t show on his face.

“These papers state that Chulhwa is no longer legally in the care of his father and he shall have no further ties with him, unless Chulhwa wants to that is.” Sungmin continued.

Misoon nodded knowingly as she quickly skimmed through the thick document.

“I’m guessing you have thought of arrangements for Chulhwa’s lodgings since you have come with this document?” Misoon asked.

“Yes we have come down to two options. First is to have him continue living in the orphanage. He is already familiar here and he may be happier to not have to move around again. The other options is –“

“I WILL ADOPT HIM!” Suzy suddenly shouted unable to contain her excitement any longer.

Misoon and Chulhwa looked at her with shocked eyes while Sungmin just sat there and shook his head.

“Well well, honestly I thought you would take Chulhwa in Sungmin. Are you sure about this Princess Suzy?” Misoon asked apprehensively.

“Yes totally sure! 100%!” Suzy replied a little too over enthusiastically.

“She wouldn’t have it any other way.” Sungmin said with a slight chuckle.

“Well it’s totally fine with me if Chulhwa is happy with the arrangements.” Misoon said smiling at the Princess’ enthusiasm.

“Chulhwa please say you’ll live with me! Please please please please please!” Suzy begged as she turned around to face the boy, rubbing her hands together.

 

Chulhwa didn’t know what to do. Ever since his father had put him there he just assumed he will be staying there until he was all grown up and could fend for himself. But now they were giving him a choice. What did he want to do? Did he want to stay at the orphanage? He didn’t mind it to be honest; it was a really nice homey place. If Princess Suzy adopts him does that mean he will be living in the Palace? Will he have to live by really strict rules and always be proper? But seeing how most the Royal Family acted he doubted there were many rules; or they just broke them a lot.

 

“Chulhwa? Hello anyone home?” Sungmin asked him while waving a hand in front of his zoned out face.

Chulhwa snapped out of his trance and started to um and ah, not quite sure how he was going to answer this question.

“Oh please! I’m going to be coming here every day anyways so we might as well be living in the same place so we don’t have to keep running around. Although the Palace is quite big so we probably will still be running about, but oh there’s so much for you to explore, and you will have such a big family, everyone is really nice, well except for a few but you won’t see them often anyways –“

“Okayyy Princess that’s enough rambling” Sungmin interrupted the girl before she ran out of breathe.

“I…I don’t know.” Chulhwa answered looking down at the ground.

“You could always try. You can come back here if you don’t like it. How about this, you stay at the Palace for a week and you can decide then?” Suzy offered.

 

Chulhwa lifted his head and looked around the small office. Princess Suzy was staring at him with puppy eyes desperately trying to get him to agree. Misoon and Sungmin just smiled gently in the background giving Chulhwa reassuring looks as if trying to tell him everything to be ok from now on. No one will throw him away again. No one will threaten him again. He won’t be alone anymore.

After a long pause and a few more of Suzy’s appalling expressions Chulhwa finally opened his mouth.

“Ok I’ll try.” He said meekly.

 

“YES!” Suzy exclaimed as she threw herself onto the boy. “Told you he will say yes! I told you!” she boasted happily at Sungmin.

“Yes you win.” Sungmin said, shaking his head at her immature but adorable actions.

Misoon couldn’t be happier that another child has found a happy home.

“Well do you want to go pack some of your things then Chulhwa?” Misoon asked the child. He nodded and went out the room with Suzy following closely.

 

“The Princess didn’t need to go did she? He’s only packing a few items to stay for a week.” Misoon commented.

“I’m pretty sure she’s going to make him pack everything. I guess I’ll be seeing you again next week with a new set of documents.” Sungmin said.

“I guess you will.” Misoon replied happily as she led Sungmin out of the office and towards the lobby.

 

They carried on with some small talk as they waited for the Princess and Chulhwa to finish packing. True to Sungmin’s assumptions they came out with eight huge bags which contained the boy’s life. Chulhwa still looked a bit wary but Suzy had such a beam on her face it could compete with the sun.

 

~~~

 

Sungmin took most of the heavier bags off them before all four of them headed outside. What he didn't expect to see was a carriage was waiting just beyond the small gates. A very nice carriage at that. Upon seeing them the carriage man climbed off his seat and opened the doors for them. Suzy smiled brightly as she ushered Sungmin and Chulhwa over, prompting them to place the bags in the carriage and then pushing the two boys in afterwards. Before she herself climbed in she turned around to Misoon ahjumma. "we'll be back next week! Thanks for everything Misoon ahjumeoni!" Suzy said waving happily at her. Misoon waved back smiling amusedly at the girl's impatient antics. As Suzy climbed in Sungmin  stuck his head out and greeted farewell while a tiny hand could be seen waving from an opening.

 

The carriage ride mainly consisted of Suzy explaining the family tree to Chulhwa. Her vivid descriptions of each member of the Royal family made him nervous, the sheer amount of people in the family alone scared him. Would he be able to get used to all of them? Will he just be another outcast in a fancier world?

Sungmin could see the slight discomfort in Chulhwa's eyes and continued to wonder whether this was a good idea or not. But he figured if Chulhwa could learn to live with the crazy royals he should be able to adapt to any type of environment. Especially those whose quirky reputation precedes them.

 

Once they reached the palace gates a few butlers approached the carriage. The boys assumed this is where they got off but instead Suzy just asked them to pass the bags to the butlers. After telling the butlers to place all the bags in her quarters she closed the carriage doors and told the carriage man to continue. 

 

"Where are we going?" Sungmin asked.

"To have fun! Hehe we won't be too long away about 5 more minutes" Suzy vaguely explained.

"But shouldn't you bring Chulhwa to greet Her Majesty the Queen and the rest of the family?" Sungmin asked

"Oh they'll be busy around this time. I may have to make some special arrangments to gather them all together." Suzy remarked thoughtfully as she tapped her chin.

 

Five minutes later they stopped inside what Sungmin assumed was the royal carriage storage shed. The carriage man opened the doors and helped them out before tending to the horse that had carried them all that way. Following Suzy the two boys looked around curiously. As they stepped out into the sunlight all they could see were green fields bordered with fences. As they took a quick turn in the opposite direction they could see stables. Lots and lots of stables and horses. Contrary to the amount of animals there, the stables did not smell too bad. Clear indication of how well kept they were; or maybe just how rich the royal family were to be able to maintain that standard.

 

"And today's activity.... Horse riding!!" Suzy announced.

Chulhwa's jaw quite literally dropped. He had seen horses many times before but they were all for business reasons. Whether it be a carriage horse or a police horse or a delivery horse. Never had he thought about being able to ride a horse just for fun!

 

Suzy smiled warmly at Chulhwa’s astonished expression and held out a hand for him to take. She then led him into the stables to choose a horse with Sungmin tagging closely behind.

 

“Right you can choose any horse you like! Although beware of Arnie, that’s Amber unnie’s horse and he refuses to let anyone else ride him.” Suzy said as they passed Arnie, who remain nonchalant to the people walking in since it wasn’t Amber.

 

As they walked in further Chulhwa was quite tense to be surrounded by so many horses and made extra care to stick close to Suzy. Seeing him like that Suzy decided to lead him to one of the smaller horses at the back of the stable.

 

“Chulhwa this is Sandy, he is my horse Connie’s son. We named him sandy because his hair is as golden as the sand.” Suzy explained enthusiastically when they stopped outside the stall said pony was residing.

 

Upon seeing Suzy Sandy started to neigh happily and came closer, asking to be pet. This scared Chulhwa a bit as he backed away.

 

“Don’t worry Sandy is very friendly. Just pet him like this.” Suzy said as she softly pet the horse who leaned into her touches.

 

Chulhwa slowly inched forward. He stretched his arms forwards while leaning his body back at the same time, making Sungmin chuckle at the boy’s antics. After a good few seconds his fingertips finally touched Sandy’s muzzle. Sandy then inched into Chulhwa’s touch affectionately and as if feeling the horse’s kind intentions Chulhwa relaxed and took a step closer. He continued to the horse gentle and Sandy let out a happy neigh to have made a new friend.

 

“Jinhae oppa” Suzy suddenly called out and a young man appeared from inside a room near the ponies stables.

 

“Ah Princess Suzy it’s nice to see you. Connie really misses you.” Jinhae said, greeting the princess with a bow. “And your friends are?”

 

“This is Sungmin oppa, a teacher from my school. And this is Chulhwa, hopefully my new adopted son.” Suzy introduced them.

Chulhwa felt weird hearing Suzy claim herself as his mother. But a good weird and he smiled gently as he continued to play with Sandy. Sungmin on the other hand was a bit sad upon hearing his introduction. So he is only a fellow teacher?

 

“Hello Sungmin-ssi and new young master, nice to meet you.” Jinhae said with a wide smile.

“It’s nice to meet you too Jinhae-ssi.” Sungmin replied with a handshake.

“Annyeonghaseyo” Chulhwa greeted politely with a slight bow.

 

“Jinhae oppa can you take Chulhwa out for a ride on Sandy? It’s his first time so he may be a bit scared but I trust you can take care of him well.”

“My pleasure your highness.” Jinhae replied with a bow. “Come on young master let’s take Sandy out for a walk shall we?”  

 

Suzy and Sungmin watched as Jinhae grabbed some kit and led Sandy out from his stall. He gave Chulhwa one side of the rein and asked the young master to follow him to the field. Chulhwa nodded and quietly followed the horse trainer.

 

~~~

 

“Right!” Suzy suddenly said as she turned to face Sungmin. “Your turn!”

“Oh no no no, I don’t do horses.” Sungmin said, stepping back a bit.

Suzy’s eyes widened at the history teacher. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how to ride a horse!”

“Well I’ve never really had the opportunity to do so…” Sungmin replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You can kick but you can’t ride a horse!” Suzy continued in the same tone of disbelief.

“Yah it’s not that surprising!” Sungmin retorted defensively.

“It’s ok oppa I will teach you.” Suzy said smugly while patting Sungmin on the head. Finally something she can do that Sungmin can’t! If this wasn’t an ego booster she didn’t know what was.

 

Before Sungmin could voice his objection Suzy had already run off to fetch some kit and ran down the stables to a stall closer to the entrance. He followed her and saw her a tall, sandy coloured horse who he assumed was Connie. Connie was a lighter tone than Sandy; her hair was a fairer, blonde colour.    

 

“Connie this is Sungmin, Sungmin meet Connie. She was given to me when I was 8. Back then she was only this tall.” Suzy demonstrated happily by levelling her hand around her waist.

 

She carried on chattering away about her adventures with Connie while she strapped a double saddle onto the horse. Sungmin stood leaning against the stall doors, listening intently while watching her work away professionally. He had only ever seen her lack of knowledge side during her early days at the school but never really once thought about other, un-academic things that she may excel in. Just goes to say never judge a book by its cover.

 

Once she was finished she turned around and flashed a wide grin Sungmin’s way. If he thought he could get off the hook then he was so wrong. She marched over to him, spun him around and started pushing him out of the stable, towards the field. She was surprisingly strong for a girl, not that Sungmin ever underestimated girls since he has witnessed what his sister could do, but still.

 

“Errr don’t you need to bring Connie out?” Sungmin asked.

“Don’t worry she’s following.” Suzy replied confidently. Sungmin turned his head around and true to her words Connie was indeed loyally following close behind.  

 

Once they got outside they saw Chulhwa trotting around a fenced bit of grass, happily chuckling as he rode around on Sandy with Jinhae holding onto Sandy’s reins and making sure Chulhwa was safe. After checking up on the boy Suzy pushed Sungmin further towards the open fields.

 

“Wait why aren’t we going inside the fence?” Sungmin asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

“Come on oppa you beat thugs for lunch, you can’t seriously be scared of a simple horse ride.” Suzy commented.

“But this is different, I could fall and die!” Sungmin replied dramatically.

“I won’t let that happen” Suzy said calmly, well there goes Sungmin’s superman image.

 

When they finally halted Suzy went over to Connie and swiftly climbed onto her back. She then held out a hand for Sungmin. He was hesitant; he wasn’t exactly scared of heights, more the risk of falling off said tallness. He had seen it happen before and it wasn’t pleasant. Connie turned around slightly and nudged Sungmin in the side; slightly impatient wanting to run around and she knew they weren’t setting off until Sungmin got on. With a sigh he finally obliged and started fiddling around as he tried to clamber onto the back of the horse. Once on top, he immediately held onto Suzy’s shoulders for balance. Suzy giggled and removed Sungmin’s hands only to replace them around her waist.  

 

“It’s better if you hold on here.” She said with a slight tease in her voice.

Sungmin wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself as his hands laced around her slim waist.

“And you better hold on tight because Connie loves to sprint. Let’s go girl!” Suzy added happily before tapping her feet against Connie’s side to signal she could start.

“Wait! WHAT?! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!” Sungmin called as Connie start running around happily.

This caused Sungmin to hold onto Suzy even tighter and Suzy just laughed lightly at her little prank.

 

A couple of meters away Chulhwa stopped to watch what his guardians were doing.

“Jinhae Seonsaengnim can we go that fast too?” Chulhwa asked, becoming more daring with his social interactions.

“You sure? You have to hold on real tight and sit properly.” Jinhae told him.

Chulhwa nodded in response and Jinhae proceed to teach him how to bounce along with a horse as the ride becomes bumpier the faster they go.  Chulhwa couldn’t remember the last time he had had so much fun. Maybe this adoption plan wasn’t that bad after all. He was sure Suzy wasn’t going to leave him alone anyhow so why not make things easier for the both of them? The thought comforted him and after a long time he could finally genuinely smile.

 

~~~

 

After a couple of minutes of torturing the poor teacher, Suzy finally signalled for Connie to slow down into a soft trot. Noticing the change in speed Sungmin lifted his head from Suzy’s shoulders and looked up to see where he was.

 

“Admit it you were trying to kill me weren’t you?” He asked the girl in front of him.

“Gasp how did you find out?” Suzy exclaimed, playing along with his accusation.

“Ungrateful child; trying to be done with her own saviour.” He tutted in return.

“Oh great saviour of mine! How could I possibly repay you?” Suzy replied with a damsel-in-distress tone.

“Hmmm… I’ll think of something…” Sungmin pondered playfully.

 

“How’s this?” Suzy asked but before Sungmin could question her, she turned around and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Sungmin froze at the contact and instantly went red in the cheeks.

 

“You know, I don’t know what this is. But I feel happy whenever I’m with you. And when I saw you come rescue me I was so relieved. You had found me. When no one else did. Thank you for always being there for me oppa.” Suzy confessed quietly. Her words were so quiet it almost got carried away by the wind, but Sungmin heard her loud and clear.

 

“No. Thank you for making my life so much livelier.” Sungmin replied when he finally came to his senses. He wrapped his arms around her waist protectively, showing that he felt the same way Suzy did, letting her know he will always be there for her. Suzy snuggled slightly into his embrace and they remained in comfortable silence while Connie happily trotted around the field. She sped up a little bit but Sungmin didn’t notice as he enjoyed the warmth radiating from Suzy.   

 

An hour after the horse riding session Chulhwa became tired and had sat down in the middle of the field playing with Sandy. Sungmin and Suzy were taking a while and he was getting bored so he asked Jinhae to call over to them and ask them to come back.

 

“PRINCESS! SUNGMIN-SSI! I THINK IT’S TIME TO HEAD BACK! CHULHWA IS QUITE TIRED!” Jinhae called across the field to the happy couple. Suzy made a motion showing she heard him and they started dismounting from Connie.

 

“Jinhae!!” Said man turned around to face the pair of voices coming from the stables.

“Prince Hyuk! Prince Hae!” Jinhae replied happily. Many familiar faces were showing after a long time today.

“How are you man! Haven’t seen you in like forever!” Donghae said with Eunhyuk nodding next to him.

“Well whose fault is that? I’m always here it’s you two who don’t show up!” Jinhae playfully pouted.

“Aww big baby no need to put the blame on us! We have girlfriends now, priorities man, priorities.” Eunhyuk reasoned.

“Well the least you could do is introduce a nice girl to me? Any of your girlfriends have a lonely girlfriend?” Jinhae asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Same old same old aren’t you Jinnie.” Hae said as they laughed at their silliness.

 

“Oh what’s this?” Eunhyuk said pointing towards the distant figure of a horse and a couple walking towards them.

“Oh Princess Suzy bought Sungmin-ssi and little Chulhwa for a horse riding session today.” Jinhae explained.

With that they looked around the field and spotted Chulhwa sleeping soundly with his head resting against Sandy’s side. They turned their attention back to the group walking towards them and noticed something fishy.

 

“Hey are they holding hands…?” Donghae asked as he squinted to see properly.

“That’s normal for a couple right? Aren’t they a couple?” Jinhae asked.

“Since when?!” The twins cried out scaring Jinhae a bit.

“Well I don’t know do I? I’ve only met Sungmin-ssi today and I just assumed they were an item.” Jinhae concluded.

By the time he had finished explaining the twins were already eagerly waiting at the edge of the fence waiting to grill the newly formed couple.

 

“YAHHH PARK SUZY WHAT IS THIS?” Donghae hollered at the couple.

Suzy looked surprised at the sudden appearance of her brothers and looked like she wanted to break away from Sungmin’s hold. Sungmin held onto her firmly though, smiling softly.

 

“OMG SUNGMIN HYUNG!! THAT’S OUR BABY SISTER YOU GOT THERE!” Eunhyuk called down the field.

“WELL SINCE WE’RE ON THAT TOPIC WHY DON’T I GO AND GET DONGHEE-SSI, YESUNG AND RYEOWOOK ALONG FOR THE DISCUSSION?” Sungmin called back leaving the twins gaping without a comeback.

 

The happy couple chuckled at them and proudly displayed their new found couple status. 

 

 

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Long update ~ This has got to be the longest chapter I have ever written! XD

Oh this is going so slow! ~ I really want to finish this but just serious writers block and uni is not helping either!

I have a Ryeowook fic idea and wanna write it but I should really finish this first ~

Almost finished with this couple now ~ next couple coming soon :)

Thanks for reading

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