Third person POV

Wearing the maid outfit that she borrowed from Jaejoong, Taeyeon went along with Jaejoong out of the palace and went to the stables. Nobody suspected a thing during the busiest hour in the morning. They were carrying a small little bundle each and made their way out of the castle. Previously, Junsu, Yoochun and Yunho helped to bring some of Taeyeon's belongings and put them on one of the wooden planks that served as a shelf. They had to do so to not make things obvious.

Arriving at her destination, Taeyeon went into a portable toilet behind the stables and changed into what she had chose from Yunho's box. Then, she returned the maid's uniform to Jaejoong. 

Kyuhyun's truck pulled over at the arranged time. He came down and passed an empty baggage to Taeyeon. She squeezed all her stuff in it and loaded the bag into the truck.

"Goodbye, everyone. And thank you for your help," Taeyeon said and bowed deeply. Kyuhyun mimicked her. "I'll miss you, my little bro." She hugged Junsu.

"Me too," Junsu said sadly.

Taeyeon patted her brother's back and pulled away. "Don't be like that."

Junsu inhaled. His tears were threatening to fall. Taeyeon pinched his cheeks till they turned red.

"Noona..." Junsu murmured. He felt a stinking pain on both cheeks but, he would care less about it. His sister was leaving.

Taeyeon flicked his forehead and commented, "Su, you're such a crybaby." Then, she spun around and walked away. Kyuhyun followed her and helped her up the truck.

Junsu puffed up his cheeks and rubbed them.

Yoochun laughed at Junsu's cuteness and wondered when his brother would show up. Kyuhyun and Taeyeon were about to leave.

"Wait! Wait!" Yunho bellowed as he ran towards them. He had gotten there just in time. He panted and held out a red rectangular box. "My farewell gift to you."

Taeyeon pushed the box back to him. "I really can't accept anything more from you, Prince Yunho."

Yunho looked at the box and furrowed his brows. "But, I put it lots of effort for this present. It would be impolite of you to reject my heartfelt intention," he said.

Taeyeon looked troubled and turned to Kyuhyun. 

"What do you think, Kyu?" Taeyeon asked.

Kyuhyun looked at Yunho expression and joked, "I think it's best to accept it as we can't afford to offend the prince."

"Alright," Taeyeon said and took the box from Yunho. "Thank you."

The corners of Yunho's mouth curled into a smile. He said, "Please do not open it until you're halfway through your journey."

Taeyeon nodded and turned back to Junsu. 

"Hey, remember to bring back the stuff I left behind!" Taeyeon bossed Junsu around.

"Yes, Madam," Junsu let out a laugh. "Your things will always be in your room, waiting for you to come home any time you want."

Taeyeon flashed a smile. Knowing that she had a place to go back to if she ever needed it made her feel all warm and fuzzy. With that, she slammed the door shut and unrolled her side window. She stucked her hand out and waved goodbye. 

Upon seeing that, the four waved back. The engine roared to life and left. All of them watched the truck disappear in the distance.

After passing through the immigration and going couples of miles more, Taeyeon screamed at the top of her voice, "Oh my god!" that caused Kyuhyun to swerved the vehicle to a stop.

She had decided to opened the present. It revealed two gold bar, roughly the weight of ten grams each.  That was why she exclaimed. Kyuhyun stare at them, stunned. Subconsciously, he took one of them and bit it.

"It's pure..." Kyuhyun drawled.

Instantly, Taeyeon snatched it from him and placed it back into the box. Shutting it, she stared at him intensively. "Make. A. U-turn. Now."

Kyuhyun checked his fuel gauge meter and said, "There's not enough gas to go back. I can only make to the nearest petrol kiosk which is five kilometers away. By then, if we were to return, it would be night time and the palace gates would already be closed. There will be a tight security and we wouldn't want to be caught, right?"

Kyuhyun continued to drive on.

Taeyeon cried, "Nooo!" 

It was such an expensive gift. With that, they could at least rent a small apartment for a month.

Junsu stayed behind. The plan was to wait till the wedding that would never happen to be over before  going back to his home. Hopefully, the king and queen of Shin Ki Kingdom would not come to know that their daughter went missing at least, until then. Yunho would deal with the rest.

"It's strange that I don't see Princess Taeyeon here at the dining hall for two of our meals today," Yunho's father said while he cut a piece of steak.

The queen stopped eating and nodded in agreement. Yoochun and Junsu looked at each other worriedly. Yunho gulped. Yoochun continued eating as if he was not bothered by it. However, under the table, he gave panicked kicks to Yunho's leg. Yunho was just sitting across Yoochun. Yunho put down his utensils and frowned at Yoochun.

"Stop it," Yunho hissed and Yoochun stopped immediately. 

"Father, Mother, Taeyeon ran away," Yunho decided to go straight to the point. He caught his parents' attention immediately. The queen's face grew red with fury. She was about to flare any time but, before she did, Yunho confessed, "I let her."

"Yunho!" the queen exclaimed. "Y-You." Then, she let out a cry of frustration. "Also, she's so irresponsible to just disappear!"

"Thank goodness we haven't announce that the two kingdoms are uniting through this marriage. It saved us from embarrassment," the king commented.

Yunho smiled at his father's words. At least he was thinking on the bright side of the current situation. 

"Mother, she doesn't love me. I feel the same way as well. Moreover, she loves someone else and I couldn't possibly stop her. I also—" Yunho paused and thought.

Meanwhile, Junsu was being uncomfortable position. He felt bad that his sister was the cause of the royal family's dispute. 

He reached out his hand and placed it over Yoochun's. "If the marriage is a must due political issues, I wouldn't mind if both of us get married with each other. Don't you feel the same  too?" Junsu muttered under his breath, slightly blushing as he did so.

Yoochun's heart skipped a beat. "All along, he felt the same as me?!" Yoochun thought. He turned and faced Junsu. His heart raced. "Of course," he began, trying to keep his cool. He was so happy that if he was not with other people, he would jump up and down, shouting, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Yoochun and Junsu seemed to be in their own little world until Yunho broke the silence.

"I also have someone that I love greatly," Yunho said and sat really straight.

"Who's she, son?" the king questioned.

The queen gasped,"Is she the one that appeared in the article, together with you?!" She was right.

Yunho said, "Yes, Mother." The king's eyes widened. "When the time comes, I'll bring her here."

"What will happen to our treaty?" Yunho's mother said, changing the topic; she found that what Yunho had said was too overwhelmed. "Yunho. Deal with it. You started it."

Yunho sighed and agreed. He had brought this upon himself.

Yoochun appeared all serious. The first thing that came to his mind was Jaejoong. Was Yunho serious about showing Jaejoong to their parents?Seeing Yoochun's expression, Junsu nudged him in the ribs. 

"Do you...by any chance...know anything about this?" Junsu asked.

"Nope," Yoochun lied. To make it more convincing, he shook his head as he spoke and shrugged his shoulders.

~

Whatever that they had hoped for turned out to be just a wishful thinking. The rulers of the Shin Ki decided to visit just a few weeks after Yunho had said that Taeyeon left. They came to the Dong Bang Kingdom only to discover that their daughter was missing. Afraid that they might offend the most influential and powerful kingdom in the region, they got down on the knees without any hesitation. 

"Please forgive us for being unable to discipline our daughter well. Sincerely, we apologised for our daughter's doings." the king of Shin Ki begged.

Yunho's father was on his throne. He blinked his eyes and said, "Really. Please don't do it. We didn't take this matter to heart." He gestured them to stand up. Then, he jerked his head and motioned his son to take this matter into own his hands.

The couple stood up. The king of Shin Ki Kingdom supported his wife. She was in shock that their daughter had the guts to run away even when it meant that their country was at stake — at the mercy of a great kingdom.

Yunho cleared him throat and started, "Be rest assured. I let her go." He stopped and took in a deep breath. "The treaty will be still on despite not having the marriage." He knew why they were so panic-stricken. He needed them to calm down.

"Thank you so much!" the king and queen of Shin Ki Kingdom chanted as the bowed continuously, grateful for the Dong Bang Kingdom's forgiving attribute.

They strolled out of the throne hall. Junsu was waiting outside, fiddling with his fingers as he shifted his weight from one of his leg to another. Hearing footsteps, he tilted his head up and come face to face with his father. He glared at Junsu.

"Why didn't you keep a watchful eye on your sister?!" accused his father.

"Sorry, Dad." Junsu managed. If he had told his father that he knew about his sister's plan to run away and did not stop her, he would be more furious. Junsu dug into his pocket and took out his sister's letter to their parents. "Here, Dad. Noona left this for you..."

His father took it from his hand and tore open the envelop. After scanning through the paper, he folded it and sighed. Then, he softened his gaze. 

"Junsu, let's go back home," said his father.

Junsu took his luggage as well as his sister's one which contained the things that she had left behind and loaded them into the limousine. 

Before he left, he felt his cell phone vibrate. It was from Yoochun.

The message read, "Sorry for being unable to be there to see you off. Hope to see you soon again, Su. Love, Yoochun."