The following night Yesung made sure he hid somewhere high up in the willow tree branches so he wouldn’t be seen. Waiting was tiring as he sat atop the tree straining his neck to peek over the tall hedge. Kyuhyun could be coming and Yesung really wanted to avoid the little boy.

Just when Yesung thought that the boy wasn’t coming -maybe he forgot, maybe he lost interest, maybe his legendary Madame Hee caught him sneaking out- the young prince comes running into the deserted area of The Lilac Pond. His dark brown locks bounces as he runs (and then he falls a few times only to stand back up and curse at the ground). Yesung holds his breath as he watches the prince wander around calling out for ‘Mister Ghost’. But all the boy receives is silence. Kyuhyun searches high and low for any sign of Yesung but he never notices the faint glow on top of the willow tree.

Finally giving up, Kyuhyun leaves with disappointment written all over his face and Yesung grins feeling successful with his hiding. Little did he know that the prince is a very stubborn prince and he always gets what he wants.

~*~

The course of the next week was filled with visits from Kyuhyun. He only visited at night and began to stay longer making the Guardian of The Lilac Pond hide in the willow tree with decreasing patience. Yesung thought that after ignoring the prince for so long the boy would give up and pretend he never met a spirit, but Kyuhyun surprised him by continuously visiting him. Slowly and surely, the visits began to occupy the day time forcing Yesung up into the willow tree for practically the entire day.

~*~

A month after Yesung and Kyuhyun’s encounter, the young prince sits beneath the willow tree as he begins to talk. He talks about how Madame Hee has been ill lately and how worried Kyuhyun secretly is.

Then the day ends like that and Kyuhyun leaves and doesn’t return until the next day. Yesung finds the amount of time he sees Kyuhyun lessens but everyday the prince would visit the lilac pond like always and say one thing on his mind. At times they were good things like how he managed to sneak a cranberry pastry from the kitchen or how Madame Hee gave him permission to watch the archers practice. Other times they were bad things like how the King and Queen scolded him or ignored him whenever the Palace had a royal feast or how his brother had stolen his favorite toy.

Yesung was always there to listen. At first he wanted to reveal himself so he could possibly talk to the boy but later on it was more calming to just hear the young prince talk as if he knew Yesung was there all along.

~*~

A year older, Kyuhyun visits the lilac pond. It’s Kyuhyun’s birthday and he’s turning nine but instead of a face filled with joy and traces of cake icing, his face is stained with tears. The prince runs over to the willow tree and slumps onto the ground in his normal spot as he buries his face in his knees and wails.

“It wasn’t my fault.” he cries and the sounds reach Yesung’s ears and pierces him in the heart. “It wasn’t my fault! I was only trying to be nice.” he continues and Yesung begins to edge out of the tree slowly drifting down and hesitating to whether or not he should comfort the birthday boy.

“What happened?” Yesung speaks to Kyuhyun for the first time in nearly a year. The boy wasn’t startled though as he looks up to see his ‘Mister Ghost’ and smiles a bit.

“I offered cake to the servants. I wanted everyone to be happy and celebrate my birthday but Mommy and Daddy said I’m not supposed to do that. Then the servants were taken away and were punished when they didn’t do anything. It’s not my fault!” Kyuhyun cries louder as the memories of the punishment he witnessed fills his mind again.

After sneaking away from his birthday banquet he had managed to catch glimpses of the whips and chains that hung human bodies on the wall. It wasn’t the most severe punishment but it was still painful.

Warm arms embraces Kyuhyun, pulling the boy closer. Yesung wraps his long arms around the small, petite body. He’s not the best at comforting others but it’s the best he can do.

Kyuhyun’s sniffles begin to die down as his fists clench Yesung’s tunic while he buries his face in it. If Yesung wasn’t a spirit, then his cloth would be drenched already.

“I didn’t know ghosts can be so warm.” Kyuhyun mutters as he finally pulls away even though he wants to return to the warm arms.

“Our forms are still like humans, with the temperatures and everything. It’s just, our hearts don’t beat anymore and we have ceased to exist. Spirits who are still wandering Earth today don’t belong but we are still here.” Yesung explains and he can tell that Kyuhyun is staring at the faint glow of light purple that outlined Yesung’s figure.

“Why did you avoid me?” Kyuhyun asks forgetting entirely about the birthday incident once he finally got to meet Yesung again.

“I didn’t avoid you.”

“Then will you tell me the rest of your story?”

“Don’t you have a birthday to spend?” Yesung asks.

“That’s right! I haven’t opened up my presents yet.” Kyuhyun exclaims as he jumps to his feet and dashes off before stopping and looking back.

“Mister Ghost! What do I call you?” he shouts out.

“Yesung.” the spirit answers after a few seconds of pondering. The young prince shouts a ‘See you tomorrow Yesung!’ before running off through the hedge. Yesung thinks he should’ve asked for the prince’s name but he already knew it after a year of silently listening to the boy’s secrets.

~*~

Ten year old Kyuhyun is just slightly more mature than the nine year old who came to Yesung crying after a birthday cake. He doesn’t throw tantrums when he can’t find Yesung at the pond, he doesn’t swear loudly (like his nanny does) whenever he trips on his way to the pond, he doesn’t cry when he falls out of the willow tree during attempts of climbing it, that was all in the past.

In fact, the new Kyuhyun even has a new best friend. That was the thought that entered Yesung’s mind when Kyuhyun skipped over with a white pomeranian puppy in his arms.

The little creature’s head bobs gently against Kyuhyun’s arms as the boy runs over happily and shows Yesung his new pet.

“Look! He is my best friend and his name is KyuTwo!” Kyuhyun exclaims holding up two fingers. Yesung only pats the puppy’s head and leaves to feed the koi carps. He really has no interest in living things outside the Lilac Pond. Kyuhyun doesn’t notice Yesung’s attitude and sits down by the willow tree with KyuTwo in his lap and begins to talk to the puppy. The prince tells KyuTwo about everything, even Yesung. The spirit can’t help but inch closer to the two just to listen in on the one-sided conversation. Usually he was the one that Kyuhyun confided in and now his ear felt lonely.

“Don’t you think that name is too patheti- bland?” Yesung comments exasperatedly when he hears Kyuhyun address the dog as ‘KyuTwo’ for the umpteenth time but hasn’t even said the name ‘Yesung’ all day.

“No, not at all. KyuTwo likes his name.”

“But who names their pet after themselves? It’s not original.”

“But KyuTwo likes it…”

“But no one else does!”

“I like it.”

“What about me?” Yesung practically screams hating how existence is being ignored.

“What about you?” The prince asks cocking his head to the side. “Ah! I have to feed KyuTwo, bye!” Kyuhyun calls as he rushes off with the little puppy in his arms. The spirit lets out an exasperated sigh as he feels his emotions boil into jealousy then simmers down. Being jealous of a dog is simply pathetic but being jealous of someone hogging your best friend’s attention is much more serious.

~*~

“Yesung, come play with KyuTwo!” Kyuhyun calls out to the spirit staring aimlessly at a lilac trying to ignore the prince.

“Why should I!?”

“Because you’re the Mommy.” that caught Yesung’s attention making him quickly rush over to kneel down on the grass beside the small white puppy.

“What do you mean?”

“I am the Daddy of KyuTwo and you are the Mommy. KyuTwo can’t just have one parent.” Kyuhyun explains as he picks up the pup and nuzzles their noses together.

“Why am I the mom then?” Yesung growls lying back against the willow tree and frowns. He doesn’t even like Kyuhyun’s new best friend.

KyuTwo took Yesung’s place. The young prince was now seen everywhere with the dog, he told the dog about everything, and the lilac pond visits were growing more and more scarce.

“Look KyuTwo you have a family now.” Kyuhyun chirps as he places the white puppy in Yesung’s lap. Yesung looks down to see KyuTwo looking up at him with big warm eyes, similar to its owner’s, and Yesung couldn’t help but place his hand on the puppy’s head and ruffle his fur.

“Hey, you have to bring KyuTwo over more often, you can’t take him anywhere else.” Yesung tells the prince who nods and smiles cheerfully.

In truth, Yesung doesn’t want to spend that much time with KyuTwo, but if it meant not losing his friend then he would do anything. Not having anyone to talk to for a hundred years was painfully lonely. And it would be nice if Kyuhyun could stay around for as long as possible.

~*~

A twelve year old Kyuhyun sits under the never-aging willow tree while he plays with his puppy, KyuTwo. His hand is busy with the puppy but his eyes are more focused on the spirit that tends to the bushes of lilacs.

“When are you going to tell me the rest of your story?” Kyuhyun asks. He asks the same question every day and at times it makes Yesung extremely irritated.

“Later.” Yesung replies with the answer he uses every single time.

It has been 4 years since their encounter and Kyuhyun noticed how Yesung knew everything about him but Kyuhyun knew nothing about the spirit. Kyuhyun wants to know more about his best friend that stuck with him for so long.

“Liar. You promised me too.” Kyuhyun huffs, slamming his hand on the ground and scaring KyuTwo away into hiding. He continues to pester Yesung to tell him the story until the spirit loses his cool and screams back.

“You’re still a kid! Don’t ask about things you can’t understand!”

Ever since then, the Lilac Pond’s guardian cannot be seen whenever the little prince came to visit.

~*~

Kyuhyun had fallen asleep under the willow tree again waiting for Yesung to appear. He hasn’t seen the spirit for a good two months and the days have grown long and lonely. Not even KyuTwo can cheer him up.

When Kyuhyun wakes up this morning he smells a nice, sweet scent of strawberry cake. It’s exactly enough to make him jolt up out of his slumber to see a plate of the cake set before him with a fork resting by the sweet surprise.

“Mornin’.” a familiar, husky voice greets and Kyuhyun turns away from his cake to meet with a pair of brown eyes he had missed and longed to see. A smile breaks out on his face as he crawls into Yesung’s lap with his back against the spirit’s chest. Yesung’s sitting with his legs crossed so Kyuhyun can’t exactly fit in his lap so his legs are splayed out over Yesung’s. Neither of them talks as Kyuhyun eats his cake because they’re just both simply glad that things are back to normal.

“You’re getting a bit too big for this.” Yesung grunts when Kyuhyun snuggles back against the spirit’s chest. The prince doesn’t care if he really is getting too big for it, he just wants to enjoy being in his friend’s embrace like when he was little. Kyuhyun always sat on Yesung’s lap, behind the thick curtain of leaves of the willow tree, when he was just a child.

“I’m still a kid.” Kyuhyun replies repeating the spirit’s words. Guilt strikes Yesung when he hears it and he decides to wrap his arms around the prince’s skinny body and just shut him up. They were silent afterwards. Sometimes an ‘I’m sorry’ from a friend doesn’t have to be said to be understood.

~*~

At the age of 14 Kyuhyun brings a girl to the Lilac Pond. Yesung watches from the top of the willow tree. His special hiding spot still hasn’t been found by Kyuhyun and there he watches as Kyuhyun awkwardly holds the girl’s hand as he leads her around the pond in search of the Lilac Pond’s guardian.

Rage boils within Yesung as he watches Kyuhyun show a stranger around Yesung’s safe haven. The place belongs to him, no one else is allowed in except for Kyuhyun.

But most of his rage is directed to something else. Yesung can see it. He sees the way Kyuhyun blushes when around her and how he smiles like the seven year old kid within him whenever the girl is standing close to him. Yesung can tell almost immediately what he’s witnessing. Love. He knows because he experienced it before, the blushing, the butterflies, the kisses, the promises, and the goodbyes.

He doesn’t know how yet, but Yesung vows to make sure Kyuhyun doesn’t get hurt in such a painful mistake called love.

~*~

“She went back.” Kyuhyun says one day and Yesung immediately knew Kyuhyun was referring to the girl and he couldn’t help but smile secretly.

“I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not. You didn’t like her.” Kyuhyun grumbles as he pulls up grass and tosses them repeatedly at Yesung.

“I just don’t think little kids like you should date.You know nothing about love.”

There he goes with the little kid again. Kyuhyun groans mentally and stands up to leave.

“One day I’ll prove that kids are more mature than you think.” Kyuhyun says and is about to leave the pond when Yesung pats his lap with a cocky smile playing on his lips. The spirit is sitting against the willow tree again and has his lap open for Kyuhyun like always. Kyuhyun always feels safe sitting on Yesung’s lap and in the spirit’s warm arms so he can’t help but walk over sheepishly and sit on Yesung’s lap and lean back against the spirit’s chest.

“You were saying?” Yesung teases as he wraps his arms around the boy. The smile he wears fades a little within him when he notices just how big Kyuhyun has gotten over the years. He can hardly fit on Yesung’s lap now. As much as Yesung wants to ignore it, the young prince is slowly growing up and things will change drastically.