Empty.

You just feel so...empty. Like everything has been taken away from you in just one moment, like it's all gone, and you can't take it back. That it's vanished. But what exactly has been taken away? What has dissappeared that made you feel meaningless? The thing is, you don't really know yourself. It's like life just became dull of a sudden. Yes, that's it. Dull. Life is dull. Very.

Was it because Yerin still hasn't contacted you or answered your calls? Partially. But then again, you're independent, and your life doesn't revolve around just one person. But still, you miss her. And it's hard not to. Was it because you feel like you're the only one living? Maybe. The palace is beggining to develop a strange and cold atmosphere recently that you don't like, and all you can hear are the sounds of the maids small heels clicking and tapping against the marble flooring as they do their jobs around the palace. Excluding all the servants working there, indeed, it was empty. You don't know what has happened to you recently. You don't talk much, and pretty much stay in your room for the majority of the day, you could say that you supposedly are started to feel and even become isolated.

Have you become depressed? No, depressed is too much of a strong word. Plus, it's also sort of disrepectful to those who are actually depressed. Sad? Probably. It's a good word to use. Sad is what you are feeling, almost a lot over a period of time. You've been thinking about life recently, perhaps too much that it made you think and feel this way. Truthfully, you've always been like this, even since you were little. Thinking that love in fairy tales was too cheesy and the stories were corny. It's unusual to think that way as a child; usually little girls would think the opposite. Dress in a pink princess outfit, waving a wand around and pretending your majestic prince would come and save you; you weren't like that.

You were already a princess in real life. And perhaps maybe at a young age, you realised that life didn't really work like that. That a princess's duties and role in life wasn't to sit around and look pretty all day, no. It was about justice. For you, for your people, for your country. You knew that because your dad was still fought for his country when you were very little before retiring from it. You remember one day, when you were around 5, he said to you that he's going to go away for a while, but only for a while. And back then, you didn't know why. Your mother had to rule Busan and take care of you, and he left both of you there for a year and a half. You remember him coming back that one day, and you were so delighted, but you couldn't help that he seemed weak after and left with a few marks from battle here and there.

All it did was remind you of what you had to do for your country one day. That this could be your duty, but then again, women aren't permitted to fight in war. It's the men that take the privelage to do so. But you're an only child, the only heir, left to take on Busan. But, being the pessimistic person you are, you don't think that you're suited to do this job. And when the time comes when you have to take charge, all you'll think about is the negatives in life and lead the wrong way. You couldn't come up with the positives, the real solutions to all the negativity. You felt like quitting. Quitting your role and duty as a princess, but you can't just throw the crown off your head. Because it's in your blood. Blood which contains all the King's and Queen's who ruled Busan and Korea, done their country proud, all mixed together, all in you. And there you are. The cease to it all. The end of the blood line. And, you ended up being a dissappointment to them, too. You possessed none of their monarch-like qualities to rule, which is why, you don't think you're cut out for this role.

You scratched your head. You rested your arms against the balcony and looked out. There was no sun today, mostly clouds. You were up in the terrace, alone. You were supposedly having some time to yourself. All of a sudden, a shot of thunder came from the clouds. You looked up, and it was getting darker. It could possibly rain soon, so you sighed before deciding to go back inside with half of your face nuzzled in to your sweater.

"Princess!"

You looked up from the ground and met the eyes of Tao. It seemed that EXO-M had come up to the terrace, and apparently were planning on sitting down here to drink bottles of Soju which Tao was carrying a beer box full of. You stared at them weirdly. You had no idea that they drank. Shrugging, you didn't know what to do, so you just thought you would carry on going your own way, minding their own business.

"Um, I was just going..." you began to prod off when Lay stopped you as he grabbed you gently by the arm

"Come and sit with us?" he invited you

You stopped. Your eyes looked down at the bottles that were in the beer box of which Tao was holding. "I don't drink" you say

Some of them laughed.  "You don't have to, silly, " said Luhan "Just so we can talk for a bit"

Should you? You were left unsure. It was a boring day, after all. Besides, at least you would get to socialize with them. "Alright" you agreed, coolly.

The boys took their places and sat down. Tao had given everyone each a bottle of Soju, all except you, of course. You couldn't help but wonder if this was an act of kindness or not, them inviting you to talk to them like this. You had a feeling that the members could see you were upset since your head was down. You shook your head slightly, you weren't upset. Not really. Just...thinking.

"So, how've you been?" asked Lay

You perked up your head from staring dully at the table. "Huh? Me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, you," he replied giggling slightly at your 'dumbfoundedness' "been daydreaming a lot, huh?"

"Mhm" you mumbled

"Are you still upset?" Luhan asked, taking a swoop of Soju before carrying on "about me and Yerin?"

You shrugged, not knowing what to reply to him.

"Is she still not talking to you?"

You shook your head slowly in response.

"Change the topic, guys" Kris said, he could see things were getting kind of uncomfortable

You nodded your head slowly in agreement. "So, do you guys come here with your Soju's often?" you asked, stretching slightly.

"This is our second time coming up here" said Tao, having a swine of it. You rolled your eyes at their alcoholic-like habits.

"You guys drink that much, huh?" you said, trying to tease them

"Noo," Tao replied in defense "it's not like that"

"Well, we are legal," Chen said "except Tao, he's still a baby."

"I'm not!" Tao said "I'm just the maknae"

"Yeah, exactly, the baby." Chen corrected proudly. Tao pouted his lips, pressing the tip of the bottle on to them once again. A smile curled on your lips slightly. It was weird sitting with them like this. Because they all had their bottles in their hands, maybe even ending up being drunk at the end, you felt like you were one of the guys. But not exactly, since you were the one that was empty-handed.

"Do you want some, princess?" Lay offered

"Um, nah..."

"Wah, the princess really doesn't drink, huh."

"Yeah. She must be really innocent."

You furrowed your brows. "Ani, I just don't see the appeal of it. Besides, I don't want to end up have a drinking problem...like you guys." you joked.

"No we don't..!" Tao defended "We're men. It's...men stuff. You wouldn't know, you're a girl"

"Righhht" you said

"Amongst all of us, Xiumin hyung has the worst drinking problem." said Lay. The other members nodded in agreement.

You looked at Xiumin, who had been very quiet all this time. He was the oldest in EXO, which is probably the reason why he's the most mature out of all of them. You noticed that his bottle of Soju wasn't even a quarter gone, compared to the other members. "Xiumin-ssi?" you said, confused "but...he's hardly drank anything."

Kris smirked slightly. "He's just being humble," he said "he's not normally as quiet as this."

"Yep," said Chen "I think he just wants to put on a good impression for the princess to think that he's a good guy." You could see Xiumin blush slightly at what Chen had said, all the members noticed and made an 'Ooooh' sound. You know the kind.

"Aw, Xiumin hyung! Acting all nice today for the princess." they teased. The members laughed, and so did you. You could see Xiumin was getting really embarrassed and shy.

"Come on guys, leave it" you said

"Okay, okay. But seriously, princess, are you that innocent enough to not even drink just a bit?"

You hesitated for a moment at what to say. Innocent? Yes, you were. It wasn't something you were proud of exactly, but you didn't want the boys to know that, because you know you would suffer endless teasing from them. "No, I told you, I just...don't drink. Not a lot, anyway."

"Yeah, she's innocent." Luhan confirmed.

"Definitely."

You blushed. "What about boys, then? Have you never had an interest in them either?" Tao said, as a joke. What he didn't realise was that it was actually true.

"N..o..." you mumbled, shyly

All the members stopped drinking in that instant. "What?" they said.

"I don't know...I just, never really...had any crushes..."

Everyone stayed silent for a moment at what you had said. You were embarrassed and felt really shy after your sudden confession to them. "P-princess...could you...perhaps be...a lesbian?!" Tao gasped. So did the other members.

"What? No!" you exclaimed.

"That explains why she doesn't seem interested in any of our members!" said Chen

"Oh yeahh" the members said, in realisation

You grunted at their vunerableness to being that literal and gullible. "I'm not a lesbian!" you confirmed, once again.

"But then...why don't you like..." Luhan drifted off

"I don't know? I just, ugh. I've been trapped in this palace so long, not really exploring the world. There you go, maybe that's why." you admitted

It was awkward for a moment. All of a sudden, Xiumin began to spoke, raising an empty bottle of Soju in the air. "But...princess..." he grunted "I'm here, and so are the other EXO members, " he grinned, eyes looking droopy and half closed

"What are you trying to say?" you asked, unsure about what happened to him

"I'm just sayin', you know...I mean, we're the only guys around here..."

"That's it," Lay stopped him "he's wasted after just one bottle. I told you he was the worst one out of all of us. He was probably urging to have a sip of his bottle but didn't want to ruin his good guy image."

"He gives in easily, this guy" Luhan said, placing an arm around Xiumin

"I don't see how we don't impress her..." said Xiumin, looking sad and acting cocky. You laughed, knowing that it was the Soju talking. Talking with the guys was kind of fun today, it definitely made your mood go up a bit as well.