The sound of birds chirping and wind rustling leaves drifted through the window, into the sunlit room. Baekhyun opened his eyes, to a sight that instantly inked onto his brain, permanently.

  Warm, gentle and golden sunlight shone upon the beautiful sleeping face inches away from him, and if he weren’t aware of the light’s habit of tricking his eyes, he could’ve sworn the rays formed a small halo on the top of her head. A smile found its way to Baekhyun’s lips as he captured how mesmerizing she looked in her sleep, how peaceful she appeared to be with her deep, steady breaths, how her dark hair seemed to reflect a color between chestnut-brown and dark violet…

  Andrea stirred slightly as Baekhyun tenderly the side of her face with his fingers. Disturbance creased in between her eyebrows for just a second before – maybe recognizing his touch – she relaxed and smiled, still asleep. Such movement earned her a chuckle from Baekhyun, along with a gentle kiss on the lips.

  Underneath her composed and tranquil mask she wears as a protection shield, she is, like every teenage girl, someone who longs to feel secured, even more after the loss of her only family, her father. His heart ached. If only we could stay like this forever… if only I weren’t a prince…

  A clutter in the living room startled Baekhyun, and the bedroom door suddenly swung open.

  “Andy, I know you have tons of questions – “

  The blonde-haired boy stopped mid-sentence as soon as his eyes took in the whole scene before him. His blue eyes widened when he saw the absence of space between Baekhyun and Andrea, and then blazed with fury – Baekhyun literally saw fire light up in his now-orange irises – when he locked gaze with him.

  Just that moment, Andrea's eyes fluttered open.

  “Baek?”

  She rubbed her eyes groggily, then blushed, noticing his arms wrapped around her and his face just inches close. But then she noticed the shock and bewilderment in his eyes, and spun around to face the direction of the door.

  “Lucas!” She immediately tried to push herself away from Baekhyun, and he let her. “L-Luke, what – “

  “What are you doing here?”

  Flinching at his harsh tone, blazing eyes and clenched teeth, Andrea confusedly asked, “W-what, Luke, this is my room – “

  “No, I meant him.” Lucas balled his hands into fists and glared directly at Baekhyun. “What is he doing here – “

  “I let him in last night.”

  “– when he already has someone else?”

  A split second passed before Andrea whirled around to face the boy beside her. “WHAT?!” She waited for him to deny, to turn angry and accuse Lucas of telling such a ridiculous lie, to do something.

  But he didn’t.

  As she stared at his face, taking in the raw guilt sprawled all over his beautiful face, her heart dropped to the bottom of her feet. Baekhyun couldn’t even look her in the eyes.

  “No…” she scrambled out of the blankets, out of her bed, away from Baekhyun. “No… Baek… tell me what he’s saying isn’t true. Tell me he’s lying,” she pleaded.

  The pain and guilt splattered all over his face were like a slap on hers. “Andrea – “

  “You promised!” Sobs were making their way up . “You told me you love me!”

  “Andrea, I do – “

  “Then why aren’t you denying Luke’s words?!”

  “It’s… it’s just an engagement – “

  “An engagement?!” Andrea cried. “It’s just an engagement?! You… you… you kissed me, held me, told me you love me, but all this time… you had already promised yourself to another woman?!”

  “Listen to me!” Baekhyun tried to reach for her, but in vain, his heart feeling like dripping blood; what he had feared the most, happened. Andrea found out, but at the wrong time, and in the wrong situation. “My uncle arranged it, but I swear, there is nothing between me and Princess Celeste – “

  Andrea squeezed her eyes at the heaviness in her chest, letting trails of tears stream down her face, “No, there is not nothing, Baekhyun. There is a contract between the two of you, and soon enough, there would be rings and lifetime promises – “

  “Andrea, stop – “

  “I can’t believe it.” She shook her head, taking steps backward. Her heart ached, ached in a way that she wanted to just rip it out of her to free herself from the unbearable pain, because it just hurt so much. “I can’t believe I actually believed you when you said all those words…”

  “Please, Andrea!”

  The look on her face as she looked directly at him for the last time, stunned him right on the spot. The pure betrayal, hurt and heartbreak shone clearly in her eyes as beautiful as velvet curtains, mocking the guilt in Baekhyun’s heart. He forgot what to say, and just stared at the back of the girl he loved as she bolted out the bedroom.

***

  Sehun was right. Baekhyun is so selfish.

  Did he think he could play with me, lure me into having these feelings for him, and then leave me, just like that?

  He knew we couldn't be together. He knew it, and he still broke my heart and made me feel like the inside of me had been torn into half.

  He lied to me. None of his words last night, none of his enchanting touches and kisses and hugs last night, were true.

  Sehun was right about Baekhyun.

  I never should have trusted him with my heart.

  “Go away.”

  A sigh erupted.

  “I said, go away.”

  “And what, let you drown yourself in your sorrow in the middle of piles of hay?” A head with golden hair blocked the sunlight from above, and a second later, a body dropped down beside Andrea. “Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve played hide-and-seek.”

  Letting out a frustrated groan, Andrea looked away, but a thought later, turned her head and buried her face in Lucas’ chest. “Luke…” she sniffled.

  “Woah,” Lucas wrapped his arms around her. “If jumping into piles of hay means I get to get a hug from a beautiful girl, then I’d start doing it every day.” After patting her head, he sighed, the ends of his eyes softening. “Andy… look. I’m sorry for bursting into the room and saying all that, but… really, I thought you knew. I didn’t know you two were really serious, and I thought… that there was a reason why you two were together while…”

  “I d-didn’t,” Andrea sobbed into his shirt. “He n-never told me!”

  “The festival he took you to was to celebrate the engagement between him and Princess Celeste.”

  She sobbed even harder. “The festival… I didn’t know that… he even… he even – “

  “Kissed you. I know.”

  Andrea pulled back so abrupt it startled the both of them. “How… how do you know that?!”

  Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, looking guilty. “I… well, Andy – “

  “Answer me!”

  He slapped his hand onto his face. “I followed you, okay? Ugh, it was only for your safety, please, did you think I really wanted to see the two of you kiss on his balcony?”

  Andrea felt as if her privacy had been violated, and she felt a little disgusted and embarrassed. “What do you mean, for my safety?” That sounds just like what Gillian would have said. “Did Gillian send you to spy on me?”

  With a scoff, Lucas gave her a look of unbelief. “Do I look like I would take any Stargazer’s order? No, of course not. It was Rick; I promised him that I would always look after you, even if he can’t one day.”

  So many questions were swirling in Andrea’s head, and she felt so dizzy that she didn’t know which one to ask first. Adding to, the desperation of heartbreak was still gnawing at her. “What… Rick… I… you… he…”

  Lucas chuckled. “At least stop crying first.” He wiped the last tears from her eyes with his sleeve gently. “You look so pretty when you’re crying, though.”

  “Luke – “

  He held up his hands. “Just saying.”

  “What… so you’ve known? All along?” Andrea asked. “About everything, Rick’s true identity, my true identity, the Stargazers…?”

  “Yes, and no.” Lucas adjusted his sitting position a little and draped an arm around her shoulder. “I didn’t know at first. Remember how I kept telling you, that Rick had found me wandering around the borders of the Forbidden Woods?”

  “You mean trying to trespass, but failed.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t try to trespass; I was trying to come out. It was the first time I spent a whole night in there, and when I Turned back to human form I wasn’t aware that a guard was near. So Rick found me just in time, and then… yeah. Brought me to meet you.”

  Andrea pulled back a little to look clearer at Lucas. “Turn?”

  “The first Turn of a werewolf is on the night of the first full moon after he had turned 16.”

  This time, she shot back, staring at him with wide eyes. “You’re… you’re a werewolf?!”

  Lucas merely blinked. “Yeah. With the urge to howl and horrid breath odor and all.”

  “Don’t yeah me! You… you’re a… I can’t believe…”

  “This might be the time you would scream ‘Good Gods!’ or maybe even ‘Please don’t eat me!’ and run away, I suppose?”

  Andrea picked up a few strands of fallen hay on the ground and threw them at Lucas. “This is not funny, Luke! I mean, you… you’re a werewolf, for goodness sake! And you’ve never bothered telling me?!”

  Lucas sighed, but a grin was plastered on his face, as if he was enjoying her reaction. “The Pack has a strict rule of not running around telling other people who we are, Andy. Unless the panicked faces of people amuse you. And Rick – “

  “Rick’s half werewolf.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”

  “… Gillian told me.”

  “Huh. Always playing the role of a wise one, that old man.” As a cool breeze blew across their faces, Lucas closed his eyes and tilted his head up. “Andy. I came here to explain, actually, because Sehun told me that you had found out about everything yesterday.”

  Andrea nodded. “Along with being burned on the left side of my skin.”

  He laughed. “I know, he told me, too.”

  She hit him in the arm. “Hey, you’re supposed to panic and screech ‘are you alright?’”

  “Ah, but you’re still here safe and sound, eh, your highness?”

  Your highness. The words felt weird and alien to Andrea’s ears, hearing them, knowing that they were meant for her. She was a princess, but… “I still am having a hard time… accepting all of this, Luke.”

  Lucas patted Andrea’s head. “I know. I had a hard time imagining you as a princess too when Rick told me the truth.”

  “When?” She asked. “I mean, when did he tell you?”

  “One week after I met you. He was a werewolf – half werewolf – that I looked up to, and I kept following him, remember? So then he kind of decided that he could trust me, I guess, and then told me. He brought me to the Stargazer village and told me everything: the truth behind the Fire, how he and Gillian decided to disguise you as his daughter, how you miraculously regained consciousness one year before I met you… even how the Pack was once responsible for almost hurting you.”

  “Do they – “

  “Gillian and Rick haven’t told the Pack that you’re actually alive yet. When I swore to them of my allegiance of protecting you, they made me promise that I could break the news to them, only until you found out about your true identity, which it seems was yesterday. So I’m considering telling them today, later in the afternoon.” Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think they’ll take the news easy, though, because… well, we’ve been submissive to the Stargazers, thinking that we owe them bad because we killed their princess. But now she’s actually alive and even kissing princes – “

  “Luke.” Andrea gave him her best deadly glare. He smiled playfully.

  “Sorry, Andy. But… truly. Do you… you really like him, don’t you?”

  “Why has our topic turned from wolves suddenly to me?” She murmured.

  “Baekhyun – “

  “Byun Baekhyun is just a prince I had changed a few words with,” Andrea said, ignoring the strong urge of wanting to cry again and standing up straight. “From now on, that is only what he is to me. Nothing more.”

  “Good.” Lucas seemed smug at her attempt of wanting to forget the other things besides just changing words with him. He knew that on the inside, she was still feeling like she wanted to crumple to the floor and never stand up again, because no one can completely recover from heartbreak, especially the first, and when you had fallen deep and hard for the other. He knew that other than him, the prince was the only other boy she had opened her heart to, maybe even was willing to give, but now had lost him in the most painful way.

  Lucas studied Andrea as she patted at her nightgown for imaginary dust. He knew, and decided, that the best way for her to recover was to give her time, let herself do it on her own without asking questions, and just staying by her side. No more asking, no more making things worse. He owed her at least that much.

  “You might want to go change now, Andy. The Stargazers are calling for you. And something in their un-suppressible urgency tells me it’s very important.”

[A/N] Hope you guys would like this chapter and... please don't kick me for the eye-bawling YOU'RE-ACTUALLY-GETTING-MARRIED thing between Andrea and Baek omg sobssssssssssssssssssssss. I'm crying too ohkai or is it just me OTL OTL.

WARNING: no I'm just kidding this ain't a warning HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm just going to tell you guys... that ACTION is coming!!!!! Like, more action stuff~ Yeah. Literal meaning. OMG IDEK WHAT I'M SAYING ANYMORE. /hits myself with a carrot/

LOVE YOU PEOPLE <3 YOUR COMMENTS MAKE MY DAY IN A WAY IT CAN'T BE EXPLAINED. (whispers THAT RHYMES HAHAHAHAHA.)