You woke up to find the sun glintering in your eyes and yawned. Today was another day for you, the princess, to enjoy life as a royal, however it is also the day when you supposedly meet your 12 husband-to-be's. Your mood suddenly changed and your eye twitched at the sudden thought of it and groaned out loud.

Lazily, you dragged your legs out of bed and did your morning routine before coming down to breakfast.

"Dad?" you called out whilst you were downstairs in the enourmous dining room, where a few servants were aligned along with the narrow table, the prepared delicious food was right in front of your eyes ready to be eaten. For some, it would seem like a luxury to have breakfast like this, but to you, it was just another normal day.

You sat down on the long narrow table, with nothing but you and the food in front of you. It was rather lonely since it was just for you and your dad always.

"Good morning, princess MiNa-ssi"

You looked to your right and saw Jonghyun standing upstraight, dressed smartly with one of his arms behind him. He looked as if he was a butler. A smile crept on your face. "Good morning", you replied. You had to wait a while for your dad to come, since you don't start eating without him, ever. Then a thought suddenly came in to your head, for some reason your mind brought back up the subject of meeting the newbees that were supposed to come today. 

You wondered what they were going to be like. Charming? Handsome? A complete bunch of brats? You smirked. Having a dozen more people in this palace is one thing challenging, heck, the peaceful and settled days in the palace might even turn in to a nightmare if they turn out to be a bunch of hooligans.

"MiNa" you looked up from the table and saw your dad about to sit on the other end of the table.

"Oh," you said "Good morning, dad"

"Good morning to you too," he replied. His eyes darted towards the few servants that stood in a straight line next to the table "That'll be all" he assured, and the servants bowed to him and left the dining room, leaving you and him face to face and both of you having to yell at each other due to the narrow table.

He picked up his fork and began eating breakfast, and you did, too. The food was delicious, as always, but there was something instead on your mind that's been bothering you since last night that you wanted to ask about.

"When are they coming?" you blurted out, your dad in return gave you a confused look "You know, the boys"

"Oh," he said in realisation "Of course. Well, I don't know exactly when or what time, but I assure you that it's any time today."

"Right," you replied, but his answer still wasn't enough and you wanted to know more about what's going to happen "So, how long will they stay?"

Your dad put his fork down to stop eating and looked up at you, you gulped "As long as it takes for you to have an interest in at least one of them, MiNa," he replied "Now, I know you don't open up completely to strangers, but please at least give them a slight chance."

You in return put your fork down as well and stopped eating. You couldn't believe at what he just said. "As long as it takes for me to have an interest in at least one of them?" you argued

"Yes, you heard me right"

"What if I don't manage to like anyone of them? Why can't I just find a suitor on my own? I don't want you choosing someone who's supposed to be in a life-time marriage with me, dad, even if it is just for the sake of having a king after you. That's not love, it's just forced."

You ended up feeling quite frustrated.

"MiNa," he began "if we don't find a suitor for you soon enough, you know you can't reign as a queen without a king, and if i'm long gone by then and you're still husband-less, then the royal people of Seoul or other kings and queens from different regions of the country might come and take over Busan, because you have to have a king and queen to reign together. I'm not letting them take over our city."

You rolled your eyes, not taking in to account in what he just said. "I'm still young, dad. There's a lot of things I want to do before that."

"I know you are, MiNa. But just prepared for when the time comes. Who knows? You might even end up with the exact opposite of what you expected it to be."

Immediately you pretended to gag at what he just said. Be prepared for when the time comes? 'Oh, god.' you thought to yourself.

***

After breakfast, you immediately went straight upstairs back in your own frilly and girly bedroom. Immediately, you noticed that you had left your old journal on top of your desk and it was just lying there.

You walked towards it and picked it up. "Maybe I should start writing in this again?" you said to yourself. Your hand reached for a pen and you began on a fresh page. Your writing had gotten way much better since you were six, so no more of that 'Dear Diary' for every page you write.

My challenge of writing in this for a year has clearly failed,  you began. 'This could actually turn in to a real journal', you thought.

But i'm back now, 13 years later and have matured a lot, although my opinions worded down on this diary still remain the same in thought even until today. My opinions on fairy tales and me having mental-based powers remain. I might not write in this everyday, because let's face it, i'd be challenging and failing myself again. But rather, this is where i'll express my thoughts and feelings whenever I feel like letting myself out and what's happening in life, because, dearest journal, today is no ordinary day.

Today is the day where I supposedly meet my 12 'fiances'. Ultimate cringe right there. My father has set me up with 12 suitors in hopes that i'll at least marry one of them. In my opinion, it's absurd. Too many in one go, but I have to say, setting me up with 12 gives a better chance than setting me up with either 3 or 4. 

I have no interest, though. They're due in to come to our palace today, father says that they'll remain here in the guests rooms until I finally pick one. How ridiculous. Anyway, they haven't arrived yet and i'm still waiting for their arrival though it is already almost noon.

I wonder what they're like...

And you ended your first journal entry in thirteen years there. It wasn't much, but it at least gave a sense of foreshadowing at what's going to happen next. You placed your journal in to one of your desks drawers.

You then plonked yourself on the bed and stared up at the empty, blank ceiling, thinking.

Was your dad right? Maybe you are a little more than just cold to strangers, and it's true you don't open up as much. You don't know why, though. It seems as if only people that you know and trust can be a part of your life, like friends and family. Strictly speaking, you only have one real friend, and that of course is Yerin.

Speaking of Yerin, you immediately shot up and decided to tell her at what was happening. Your phone was lying near your bed-side table, so of course being eager, you immediately rang her.

Ring Ring.

"Yeoboseyo?" she yelled out from the other side of the phone

"Yerin-ah"

"Ne?"

"I have something to tell you" you said straight-forwardly

"Omo," she replied "Jinja? What happened Min?"

"Well, you see, my dad called me downstairs last night to speak to me. We started talking about our future and what's going to happen to me and him"

"And..?"

"Basically, he says that I can't reign alone as a queen and that I need a husband and that he's sent 12 hooligans out here to get me" you said rather quickly

"Aha," Yerin said, not fully understanding what you had just said "Wait, what? Hooligans?"

"Yes," you cleared your throat "or 'suitors' as my dad calls them"

"Ohh," Yerin said in realisation "You could've said, Min"

"The thing is, I think I'm way too young, Rin."

"Oh, I know you," she replied "Never been kissed. Never dated. Heck, and I swear you didn't even have a crush on anyone since we've known each other, right?"

"Exactly"

"So, what are you going to do now? Does this mean you'll be married by next year or something?" she asked

"Heck no," you said immediately "Don't think I will. Don't want to. My dad says that they're due to come by sometime today, and that they'll be staying here in the palace in the guest rooms."

"How long will they be staying?" she asked

You cleared your throat "As long as it takes for me to have at least an interest in one of them" you said in a mocking tone of your dad

"Wahh~~ Aigo, MiNa. Can you imagine that? Twelve boys in the palace, it must be crazy"

"I know,"

You and Yerin continued talking for one hour straight over the phone, about suitors, your job as the heir to the throne, boys, and the future. Sometimes, you feel like Yerin is one of the only decent people in the world that's living and that she's someone worth talking to. You felt glad that she was at least there to support you.

You got up from your bed and went on to your bedroom balcony, where the spring sunshine immediately touched the surface of your skin making you feel slightly hot. It was a beautiful view from where you were standing. Your eyes looked below and saw the palace's gardener planting some flowers in the garden, whilst a few maids were hanging the clothes to dry.

But what was even more beautiful was the view when you looked up. High, fresh green hills, trees that are half the sky's height. It was nothing more than a pretty scenery of nature at it's best - right in front of your eyes. You took in a breath of fresh air before looking back down again to see what the maids and gardener were doing.

Perhaps they were right. Maybe you had spent too much time within the palace that you completely forgot that there was another whole new world out there right in front of you, hence the reason why you don't open up a lot and don't like to step out of your comfort zone either.

All of a sudden you start wondering about the dozen who might or might not come at any moment. When it comes to love and relationships, you never thought about it much. Fairy tales about the prince and princess falling in love at first sight to you was absolutely fake as. All they loved each other for was their looks; and you didn't want your love story to be like that. You wanted to like someone for who they are, and in return they'll do the same to you. You don't easily (/never have)  given away your heart like the reckless princesses in fairy tales. You want to experience love, but experience it for a real reason.

It's strange that a young 19-year old girl like you hasn't even had a crush her in her entire life time, but part of that reason might be because maybe even you don't know yourself as well. Mostly alone, thinking too much about your life and it's fatal flaws. Because let's face it, how can you expect someone else to accept you when firstly you can't even accept yourself?

Your elbows rested on the balcony, the palm of your hand met and cupped your cheek and you began looking up at the blue sky.

"Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

***

"Hyung-ie, we've been waiting for her for ages"

"Shh, the princess is sleeping"

"She's cutee"

"How about I use my power of water to splash some on her face to wake her up?"

"Yah, Suho! Don't!"

You heard some fumbling noises coming from within the room. At first, you thought you were just dreaming, but you began blinking your eyes open slowly. It was a bit blurry at first, but as soon as the light settled in, you found a face right in front of you that was just a few centimetres away from yours.

"Argh!" you screamed, jolting up-right from your bed.

"Argh!" a few of them screamed in return. You raised your eyebrows. In front of you were twelve fairly handsome boys dressed well in traditional black suits, they all looked the same age as you, maybe some a bit older. They were all aligned up perfectly in a straight line and their eyes were all focused on you. You blinked your eyes in confusion at the sight of them all. C-could this be..?

"Who-who are  you?" you asked

A few of them smiled. "We are one! Annyeonghasseyo, we are EXO." they all said together in harmony whilst bowing afterwards.

You tilted your head to the side "EXO?"