I sit up on my bed when I hear someone knock at the door.

“Your Majesty? Are you awake?” A girl’s voice said.

“Yes, yes, I am,” I sigh, messing my own hair up and standing up to open the door.

“E-erm,” The girl looks away from my eyes as I look at her.  “I-it’s, the queen asks for your presence in the dining table,” She couldn’t hide the red from her cheeks.

I wonder why I have that effect on people, really. Girls, particularly.  It’s weird.

“Okay, tell her I’ll be there in a minute,” I turn back into the room and add before I close the door.  “In five minutes, actually,”

She bows and scurries away, taking the message to my awaiting mother.

I change into casual house clothes, comfortable pants, a long sleeved, white shirt and set for the dining hall. 

As I approach the doors, the clatter of silverware is evident, indirectly telling me that my mother is impatient to devour whatever dish is served.

I enter and come to see her dressed in a fitted, cotton white dress, seated at the far end of the table.  Her jet black hair is untied, flowing down her back with the sides pinned loosely onto her head.  She doesn’t look her age, that’s for sure. 

“Why are you staring at me like a fool over there, Kyungsoo? Come and sit and let’s eat,” She frowns at me.

“You’re prettier than usual, mom,” I frown back at her.  “It’s weird,”

“Hey!” She protests, but pats her hair daintily.  “Do I, really?” A nearby waiter smiles at her inquiring eyes and nods, bowing as he leaves into the kitchen.  “Why thank you,” She smiles at me and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

I roll my eyes and sigh.  That’s what I get for complimenting my own mother.

The oh-so pretty queen then claps, ordering the waiters and waitresses to come in with the food. 

A large variety of dishes are laid in front of us on the table, the silver platters gleaming under the light the chandelier casts. 

We both get served our favorites, a pair of waiter and waitress waiting by our sides to take any requests we give, if necessary.  They are seated, of course, because me and my mother had insisted for them to.

I stare at the waitress assigned to me intently as she glides along the dining table, setting plates down and taking dirty ones away.  I think I’ve seen her before.

“Excuse me, sorry,” I stop her by lifting my hand up, hovering over her arm.

She looks up and a wave of disappointment washes over me for some unknown reason.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else,” I smile at her and she shies away like the girl that woke me up.

My smile drops and I pick at my food.  Have I always been this annoyingly moody before?

“Kyungsoo?” The queen calls my name and I look up.  “That was really weird, you know,”

“Yeah, I know,” I shake my head as if it would push my strangeness away.  “I know, what the heck was that,” I glare at the chuckling Kai who was seated on my right side.  “Shut up,”

“He’s been strange lately, my queen,” Kai speaks up, ignoring the holes you’re practically boring into his skull.  “Quite strange,”

“So I noticed, Kai,” My mother says, a playful glint in her eyes.

“Aw, come on,” I groan, standing up from my seat.  “I’m done, thank you everybody,” I dip my head at all the waitres and waitresses present in the dining hall and ignore the calls my mother and Kai shout aloud.

I leave the dining hall, slipping my arms into my jacket, and walk towards the only place I’m thinking of.

“Hello, Red,” I enter her space in the stables and sit down on the ground, leaning my back onto her stomach as I reach out to absently pat her neck with my right hand.  “They keep teasing me,” I mutter, playing with the strands of her hair.  She snorts and I chuckle.  “I know, can’t I act like this? I know, I know, it’s really, really weird, but even I can’t help it,”

She lets out a quiet whinny, shaking her head.  “Yeah, I don’t even have her name.  I don’t even know how she looks like,” I throw her an accusing glance.  “Stop telling me what I know, Red.  It’s your fault, why do you have to be so tall? I could have seen her face if you were a tad bit shorter,”

She hits me with her tail and I laugh, patting her neck again.  “Okay, okay, sorry,” I scratch my head with my other hand and wonder aloud.  “I wonder if people would think I’m crazy, talking to you like this,” I meet her eyes and grin.  “You understand me, right?”

Red stares back without a response and I knead my knuckle onto her forehead as I hug her head.  “Don’t play dumb with me, it doesn’t work,”

As if laughing, she whinnies aloud and shakes me off, making me fall onto her stomach again.  She quickly buries her head onto my stomach and moves around, her hair tickling my face and her nose tickling my body.

I roll around on the hay she’s sleeping on, trying to get her off me.  When she had her share of tickling, she stops and lifts her head away, snorting in satisfaction.

“I hate you so much,” I dust my pants and take a candy from the usual pocket, giving it to her.  “I’m giving you one tonight.  I’m going to ask Fern about things and then I’ll decide if I want to give you any more or not,”

I laugh evilly as she stands up to stomp at the ground while I leave for Fern’s space.

Unlike myself with Red, I get nervous around other horses.  Because I know they won’t like me.  I said it before, didn’t I; Red is the only horse I can get close to.

But it doesn’t hurt to try another horse every once in a while.

Sometimes it actually hurts, though.

“Fern?” I call out, opening the door to his space. 

The white horse lift his head up, looking straight into my eyes.  I flinch as I notice that why-are-you-here look and put my palms up as I step back and out his space.  “Sorry, sorry, okay,”

“Your Majesty?”

I jump (literally jump) and turn at my heels to see a girl standing behind me.  Judging from her outfit, she’s a stable keeper. 

And judging from her voice, she was the girl.

“Oh, h-hi,” I quietly say, replying to the bow she’s giving me.

“Hello,” She says, her hand fumbling with the clip of her riding hat.  “Having trouble with Fern?” She continues, finally unclipping her hat. 

“N-not really, no,” I clear my throat.  Damn it, why isn’t my mouth working properly?

Chuckling, she takes off her hat, letting her brown hair tumble down her back, the full waves enveloping her shoulders.  “You were talking so well with Red, but why are you like this with Fern?” She says, opening Fern’s door and gesturing for me to follow her.

“Y-you heard that?”

“Only from the part where you wonder if people thinks your crazy, talking to her like that,” The girl kneels down by Fern’s head.  “Come here,”

I kneel down beside her and glance at her face.

If there was a heart rate marathon, I would’ve won the whole thing.

I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful she is.

People might see her as an average girl you’d encounter anywhere but there’s something about her that—

“Get it?”

I snap out of my trance and blink repeatedly as she looks into my eyes, tilting her head in question.

“I’m sorry, I-I wasn’t paying attention,” I find it hard to look away but tear my eyes away from her and onto Fern’s head.

The girl chuckles quietly and repeats herself.  “I said, they don’t dislike you when you approach them.  They, let’s say, are mostly curious as of to what you’re gonna do.  You notice how they stare at you like why-are-you-here? It’s actually something you have to answer with your gesture.  Get it?”

“Ahh,” I nod at her explanation.

“To show them that you’re trying to be nice, you put your palms up and step towards them, and when you’re close enough, you reach out to pat their neck,” She demonstrates, patting Fern’s neck.  “Don’t back away because it’ll only confuse them,”

“I-I wasn’t, you know, that was—“ I stop, sighing at my own stupidity.  I’ve never been so inarticulate.  Even if I’m set up with an unbelievably pretty date, I always manage to pull out properly structured sentences.  “I get it,”

She smiles and stands up, stepping out of the space.  “Let’s try it out with Chestnut over there,”

She points at a black horse in another space, still awake and standing quietly.  I step back nervously.  “I-I’m not sure—“

“Come on,” She grabs my wrist (from which a jolt of electricity crawls up my arm and quickly makes its way into my heart, making it go into overdrive) and pulls me along with her, guiding me towards Chestnut’s space.  She pushes me in and closes the door behind me, setting her elbows on the top of the door and starts watching.  “What should you do first?”

“Put my palms up,” I do as she taught me, looking into the black horse’s eyes.

“And then?”

“Approach,” I step slowly towards Chestnut, halting when she shuffles in place.  “Why is she like that?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” The girl urges on.  “Now what?”

“Pat her neck,” I reach out very slowly and manage to set my palm on her neck, gently patting it with familiarity.  “Hey, that wasn’t so hard,” I let my lips spread into a grin and I look to the girl, only to have my heart go cuckoo again when I see how she’s smiling at me.

“I told you,” She grins, a happy twinkle in her eyes.

I follow her as she hangs her riding hat in the keeper’s quarters, waiting outside because I know she was going to change.  When she steps out, she looks at me, puzzled.

“Why are you still here, Your Majesty?” She asks.

She’s now in a housekeeper dress, her hair tied back in a low bun, the loose strands accentuating her pretty face.

“I, it’s,” I blink at her.  “Why are you wearing that?”

“I don’t only work here as a stable keeper, Your Majesty,” She chuckles. 

“Oh,” I stupidly reply, but my thoughts brighten up at the possibilities of me seeing her within the castle.  “Okay,” I mentally slap myself for another stupid reply.  Do Kyungsoo, is that the best you can do?

The girl chuckles (can’t she stop doing that? It’s driving me nuts) as we walk, the castle doors coming closer. 

But she suddenly steps back, flustered, as she watches me open the door for her.  She stands there, outside, and simply stares at me, who was waiting for her to pass by me and into the castle.

“You’re not coming in?” I ask.

“O-oh, yes, yes, I’m sorry, t-thank you, Your Majesty,” She steps inside the castle and fiddles with her apron, glancing nervously at me while I close the doors. 

I laugh, making her look up to meet my eyes.  “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because, y-you know,” She a breath through her teeth and breathes out, rubbing the back of her neck.  “I don’t know,”

The whole night she doesn’t even trip over her own words when she explains things to me and now she’s stuttering because I held the door open for her. 

“Then here’s another,” I take my jacket off and drape it across her shoulder, letting it cover her bare arms, exposed because of the short sleeved uniform.  I chuckle when I see her cheeks redden, her eyes looking away from me.  “Cold, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” She hugs the jacket tighter around her and looks up to me.  “I-is this okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I-I don’t know, because, you know,” She lift s her shoulders in a little shrug, looking away again, not answering my question. 

I’m really enjoying this, aren’t I?

“What’s your name?” I ask her.

“It’s Hana,” She squeaks, clearing and trying again.  “It’s Hana,”

“Alright,” I bow towards her, flustering her again as she replies to me.  “I’m Do Kyungsoo,” I laugh quietly.

“I-I knew that, Your Majesty,” She says, making me laugh again.  “Why are you laughing?”

“It’s nothing,” I clear my throat, unable to hide the smile from my lips.  “It’s just Kyungsoo, though.  Not Your Majesty,”

“Oh, I can’t do that,” She steps back, shaking her head.  “You’re, like, the prince,”

“Yes, you can,” I smirk and fix my sentence.  “You should, in return for my jacket,”

“Wha—“ She reddens again and blows the hair away from her face.  “Okay,”

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, Yo—“

“Excuse me?”

“O-okay, K-Kyungsoo,” She barely manages.

I grin in satisfaction and wonder how I could have the upper hand so quickly tonight.

“Then, I’ll excuse myself,” She bows, clearly avoiding my name.

“I’ll excuse myself, what?” I tease.

“I’ll excuse myself, Kyungsoo,” She stomps her feet in frustration and walks away without taking a last look at me.

Chuckling, I make my own way back into my room.

I didn’t know teasing someone could be that fun.