“Please be seated.”


“Thank you.”


“I’m sorry, but does he really have to stay with you?”


Baekhyun bit his lip and looked at the big boy next to him restlessly.


“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but can’t he?” he asked the man sitting across them.


Baekhyun and Chanyeol were sitting in the castle’s library with the royal advisor, waiting for the king to come.


“Only if you really need him. It’s a really important matter, young man,” Jaesun sighed.


The smaller boy bowed his head and squeezed the other’s hand.


“Can you do it alone, Baek?” Chanyeol asked with concern in his voice.


“If.. If it’s about my brother that we’re going to talk about, I think I still need him to stay,” Baekhyun squeaked, chewing on his bottom lip nervously.


Chanyeol stared at the man with pleading puppy eyes. On the other side, Jaesun looked like he was having a hard time arguing with himself. But after a moment of silence, he finally heaved a long breath.


“Fine, Chanyeol-ah, you can stay.”


“Awesome! Thank you, uncle!” Chanyeol jumped on his seat, hugging the other boy tightly.


“Shush, I haven’t finished yet,” Jaesun raised his index finger. “You can stay with one condition.”


“Shoot me.”


“I let you stay because I trust you. Look, whatever you’ll hear and see later, you have to keep it to yourself, don’t spill it to anyone. Anyone. I’ll let you know about this because Baekhyun is still dependent on you. And it seems like currently you’re the only one he trusts. Am I right, Baekhyun-ssi?” the tall man pushed every words with concern.


The said boy looked down and fidgeted with his fingers. Is that true..? he nodded slowly and glanced at Chanyeol.


“Yes, Your Majesty. I don’t think I can trust anyone yet, and Chanyeol is the only one I’m close with,” he said, almost like whispering. He felt his face heating up by his own confession.


The oldest in the room noticed the change on Baekhyun’s face. He chuckled quietly and his gaze on him softened.


Ooo, I smell something more than that. Kids these days.


“You know what, son? Maybe you can call me ‘uncle’ from now on, like Chanyeol does. Because now I’ll just consider you two as one,” Jaesun laughed, his soothing voice eased Baekhyun’s nerves that the boy’s body looked a bit more relaxed.


“Ah, that’s embarrassing, uncle,” Chanyeol scratched his head and glanced at Baekhyun’s blushing face.


“I-If that’s okay..” Baekhyun chuckled, then smiled softly. “Uncle.”


“Ah, that sounds better! I’ve got another nephew just now,” Jaesun laughed again. “Now don’t tense up around me again, okay?”


“Okay,” Baekhyun grinned. He really is a nice man.


“So, Chanyeol-ah. Can you promise me that? Keep everything as a secret.”


“Okay, I promise,” the taller boy nodded and made a peace sign with his fingers, totally forgot about his plan to talk with the others later.


“Good. So it’s a deal, only you two, me and the other three who’s on the way here who knows about this. Understood? Don’t make me lose faith on you.”


Just after the two boys nodded obediently, the door was opened, giving a way for three men to come in.


The other three who had been waiting stood up and bowed at them.


“Your Majesty.”


“Good day, kids,” Suho greeted Chanyeol and Baekhyun with a wide grin. “As you can see, I’ve brought guests here. This is Yixing, but also goes by Dr. Lay. He’s a young professor from EXO-M,” he pointed at the kind faced man on his left.


“Hello, nice to meet you,” Lay bowed deeply.


“And I assume you both know who he is?” Suho smiled expectantly, pointing at the tall man on his right.


“Nope,” the boys answered and shook their heads in unison.


“Oh really?” Suho laughed awkwardly and shot an apologetic smile at the poker faced man. “He is Kris, EXO-M’s king.”


The two puppies gasped and bowed immediately.


“Pardon us, Your Majesty! It’s an honor to meet you.”


“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Kris waved his hand with unamused expression. “Which one is Baekhyun?”


“I am,” Baekhyun raised his hand slightly. “This one is Chanyeol, my friend.”


“Nice hair you got there, Chanyeol-ssi,” Kris winked and smirked, startling the tall boy. Chanyeol mumbled a thanks and ruffled his dark brown curly hair while laughing awkwardly, while Baekhyun stared at Kris with narrowed eyes.


Pedo alert.


They all sat on comfy maroon chairs around a big round white wooden table in the middle of the room. A servant then came in, bringing some tea for the six males, then hurried out quickly after stealing a glance at the oblivious Chanyeol.


“What’s wrong with him?” Chanyeol leaned closer and whispered to Baekhyun, motioning his chin towards the spacing out Kris, who was sitting across them.


“My son is missing,” Kris cried out suddenly, startling the two boys.


“Oh, he could hear us. Sharp ears,” Chanyeol whispered again, this time with straight body and lowered gaze.


“Stupid, he can hear that one too,” Baekhyun slapped the taller’s thigh under the table. He cleared his throat and flashed a kind smile at the king.


“Oh I’m sorry to hear that. How could he- Oh wait, you mean M’s prince is missing?” Baekhyun’s eyes widened.


“Yes! Have you seen him?” Kris widened his eyes and leaned forward.


An image of Luhan popped out in Baekhyun’s mind. He was about to open his mouth to tell Kris when he felt his leg being kicked. He winced and turned his head to Chanyeol on his right, who was busy flying his gaze around the big library in awe. Then the kick came again.


Oh wait, it’s not coming from this side..


The confused boy turned his head to the left where King Suho was seated. The king blinked at him meaningfully and slightly raised his index finger. Baekhyun let out a quiet ‘oh’, taking Suho’s weird act as a sign to keep quiet and not to tell anything to Kris.


“Ah, n-no.. I don’t know where EXO-M’s prince is,” Baekhyun bowed his head and played with his fingers under the table, not used to lie to anyone.


“Oh, M’s prince? Isn’t that- Ow!” Chanyeol whined and rubbed his sore leg. He scrunched his nose and looked at the other boy with a kicked puppy expression, but then immediately shut up when Baekhyun and Suho blinked at him weirdly in unison.


“I mean.. Isn’t that.. The prince whom people say.. Quite beautiful?” Chanyeol laughed nervously and awkwardly.


Baekhyun, Suho and Jaesun facepalmed at the same time.


“Yeah, he gets that a lot,” Kris sighed. “He wants to be called handsome and manly though, not pretty or beautiful. Yeah well I admit that he’s handsome, although his father is still more handsome,” he shrugged sadly. “I miss him though.”


“Well we do hope he’s okay and to be found soon,” Suho cut and clasped his hands together, his voice sounded a bit too excited, earning a pout from the other king.


“Now let’s get back to our main problem here. Dr. Yixing, please,” he shot his best smile at the said man.


Lay pulled out a giant thing from a big case and dropped it on the table, creating a loud thud.


“What is it?” Baekhyun asked out of curiosity.


“It’s a book,” Lay answered shortly.


“Oookay, I can see that,” Baekhyun cleared his throat. “It’s one huge book. Looks old.”


“It is old. I’ve been studying it ever since Jaesun was younger than you,” Suho smiled. “That was before Sehun was born. And that time this book was already really old. So I suppose you can guess how important this book is.”


“Yes,” the petite boy gulped. “Does it have something to do with me?”


“Well not directly. How do I say this..” Suho frowned, afraid that his words might scare the boy away and make him choose to shut up instead. “Jaesun-ah, help me explain.”


The royal advisor sighed and glared at his brother.


“So, you see, Baekhyun-ah. I’m sure you have no idea about this book, am I right?”


Baekhyun nodded, still feeling fine, he made sure.


“And you know your brother was really smart and he worked with us, right?”


“Yes. I guess It’s okay to talk further about him now,” Baekhyun assured himself.


“Okay. So let me start. This book, your brother studied about it too,” Jaesun patted the book. “And he was the ‘key’, the last one who had what this thick book explains about. You know, he was still 20 that time, and he wasn’t exactly a professor like Yixing hyung here. But we all called him ‘young professor’, because he was really smart, he had that amazing way of thinking. And with that, we made it to solve some puzzle inside this b