"Mother, please, you are smothering me!"

Myungsoo pouted his whole way through an argument between a hairdresser and his own mother, Queen Jinyoung, over the best headress for him to wear during the dinner. The three of them sat in Myungsoo's chambers of their family's palace, with Myungsoo slumping in front of the mirror as the Queen threw insults of incompetence to their lowly servant. Myungsoo's bodyguard Daehyun stood by the door of his chambers to guard.

It was a pivotal event for the House of Kim as it marked the return of King Myunghae to the throne in place of Regent Bang Sok, Sunggyu's father. This was an important moment for the Kim family, and Myungsoo's mother wanted everyone looking in tip top condition. 

"If Myungsoo is going to be wearing a pink hanbok, he looks better off wearing this headress of stones." The hairdresser opened up a golden box which was home to a black crowned hat with a rim of dangling crystals that looped around the head. 

Myungsoo thought the whole look was absolutely hideous. His upper lip quivered in disgust. He was never one to have the most extravagant look, but the whole crown was too tacky for his tastes.

Queen Jinyoung tugged on Myungsoo's shoulder. "My son is the Crown Prince, and he needs something better. Something to show off his ranking."

She plopped a crown on top of his head, which was very tall black crown that was two feet in the air, and adding onto it was an enormous brim of what seemed like a one foot radius in itself. The crown headress could barely balance itself on Myungsoo's head, the weight moving forward and falling in front of Myungsoo's face and ruffling up his hair.

"Which one do you like better?" his mother asked.

NEITHER, they are both shoddy in style. Queen Jinyoung was always the one willing to display elegance and affluence of the House of Kim, while Myungsoo was disinterested in all of the luxurious costumes and presents necessary for him to wear. "While I appreciate the effort in choosing an appropriate headress for me, I respectfully disagree in choosing both. Mother, can I wear the crown I always wear? The simple one that is half a foot tall, no decorations, and can actually stay on my head?!" Myungsoo whined. "I never liked wearing crowns like this in the first place."

"Myungsoo, please do not argue with me. I am your mother and I know what is best for you." 

Queen Jinyoung was seconds away of permanently placing her own crown on top of her son's head, Daehyun walked into the chambers with his hand out to stop. "Queen Jinyoung, Jinah, Prince Myungsoo." The three of them turned to Daehyun. "If I could participate in this conversaton. Prince Myungsoo's looks are very simple and though he will wear a fanciful silk hanbok, it would be nice to balance it out with the crown headress that he suggested. I have seen him wear on multiple times on occasion, and I believe it will be the most fitting for his attire."

Queen Jinyoung raised an eyebrow at her hairdresser Jinah, who was smiling nervously back with her hands behind her back. She thought for a moment if this would be the best decision for her son. Although she loved displaying extravagance to a T, she convinced herself that simple clothing could accentuate the features of Myungsoo's face. She agreed. "Jinah, let us retrieve his other crown in the downstairs chambers. And while we're at it, we will take care of Moonsoo."

Daehyun stepped to the side as Queen Jinyong walked by to leave Myungsoo's chambers with Jinah trailed from behind the queen's gorgeous and flowing hanbok. As the two of them left the vicinity, Daehyun walked over to Myungsoo chuckling. "Queen Jinyoung is quite the character."

Myungsoo regretfully shook his head. "Poor Moonsoo. My brother always gets the flack that I avoid from my mother."

"You are the eldest son, so you get more say in what you do than majority of the House," Daehyun smirked.

"I guess so." Myungsoo flashed a gentle smile towards Daehyun, always feeling comfortable and taken care of around his presence. "Oh! I have something for you." In front of the mirror was a small pine chest that was home to many of the prince's most valued treasures. Gifts he received from anyone, jewels from his parents, letters sent from loved ones were all resting in this compartment. He opened up the lid and stuck his hand inside to take out what looked like a folded piece of paper. He stood up and held it in both hands, bowing in front of Daehyun to give it to him. "Please accept this."

Daehyun bowed gently in front of Myungsoo, receiving the gift in both hands and observing it. Daehyun grinned, knowing exactly what to do with it and flicking it with one hand. It was a watercolor paper fan of Japan's very own Mount Fuji, painted in hues of blue to represent the sky and splatters of pink for the cherry blossoms of spring.  "When did you get this for me?"

"When we were at the markets, I noticed you looking at that one in particular. I know that my father rejected the purchase at the time, but I bought it in secret for you. It is quite a lovely fan, correct?"

"It sure is." Daehyun closed the fan, raising his head to see Myungsoo eye-to-eye, blushing from the caring sentiment of the prince. "Thank you Myungsoo. I surely do not deserve something like this."

"Yes you do." Myungsoo blushed himself, patting Daehyun on the shoulder. "You are the best bodyguard and friend anyone could ask for. You deserve it all."

(((())))

Sungyeol sulked his way out of History 31, a class which covered the entirety of Korea's Joseon Dynasty and all of its rulings. His head was hurting, having to balance taking the worst midterm he had ever taken in his life and the worst heartbreak he would ever receive. The mind wandered all over the place with facts about the Joseon Dynasty's finding with Yi Taejo, to slamming down a caffe americano sometime within the next hour because he had so much work to do, to the thought of running his fingers through Taeyeon's soft hair while he lay in bed with her. Sungyeol was a mess, to say the least.

"You look like ." Sungyeol exited his lecture hall where his brother Sungjong was standing by the stairs waiting for him to come down. He waited along with Dongwoo, who was a really good friend of the both of them. "You look like a bus ran you over multiple times and rammed you off a cliff."

"What the hell, do I look that bad right now?" Sungyeol questioned.

"Kind of. It's..." Sungjong hesitated to finish his sentence. "It's mostly your eyes. They're the reddest I've ever seen them..."

Thinking about how badly he bombed his first midterm brought some tears to his eyes. And thinking about Taeyeon breaking up with him was what brought the true waterworks in the situation. And thinking about crying in general solidified his sobbing. 

"I'm sorry," Sungjong apologized. "Come on hyung." Sungyeol stood at the foot of the stairs on the verge of cuddling up into a ball and crying in the middle of the Korea University campus. Sungjong stepped forward to hook his arm into his older brother and walk with Dongwoo away from the lecutre hall. "Do you want to go to Starbucks?"

"Yes please," Sungyeol frowned.

Sungjong was a first year at Korea University as an economics and communications major. He shared an apartment with Sungyeol blocks away from the Korea University campus, living by themselves in a cheap two bedroom unit. Sungjong was known for his snarky and unsympathetic comments towards anything. Though he was nice at first glance and definitely looked like an obedient child, deep down inside Sungjong showed no fear in talking back to anyone.

Dongwoo had been a close friend of the Lee family since childhood, going to the same church as their families and attending the same Bible school every weekend until college. Dongwoo was a third year at Korea University with a major in biology, separating from the two brothers momentarily until they both got accepted into Korea University themselves. Between the three of them, he was known as the caring clown who knew how to cheer someone up with laughter. And compared to Sungjong, Dongwoo was that of an angel.

"I'm sorry everything happened to you Sungyeol. If you two want, we should go to Missing Chicken. They have a popcorn chicken sale and we could have some beer," Dongwoo suggested, playing with the straps of his backpack. "It should cheer you up. Especially after a midterm like that and you know..."

"With the way this midterm ended, I think I'm gonna have to start reading up on the next couple of chapters," Sungyeol grumbled, rubbing his forehead at the potential grade he would receive. "That was such a terrible test, I need an A+ for this next one to even remotely pass the class. If you come over today with some beer, we could hang out for a study break."

(((())))

Sunggyu stood in the middle of the palace ground's bridge that overlooked an artificially-made water garden, perching his arms on the railing to watch as two cranes danced on top of the water together, elegantly walking around each other in the tall grass. Sunggyu smiled, throwing a pebble into the pond to watch as the tiny fish inside swam away from the ripples caused. The sun was close to setting and almost marked the end of an eventful first day back to Korea. There was one more dinner that the Kim family had to go through, but all Sunggyu wanted to do was be by himself.

At the corner of his eye, he spotted his uncle  King Myunghae strolling the gardens with his own father Regent Bang Sok. The two walked side-by-side with their faces stern and lack of facial expression to follow. Sunggyu paced himself across the bridge, squinting his eyes and trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I cannot express enough gratitude by serving the country rightfully during my absence. It means the world, and with everything said the country was short of any complaints about your ruling." King Myunghae placed a hand on Regent Bang Sok's back, patting it gently. 

"Hyung, it would be an honor for me to serve my people dutifully when the time is right. I want to thank you for lending the responsibility to me," Bang Sok bowed slightly. "I thought nothing more than, what would Myunghae do in this situation? I tried to act as honorably as possible and thought about nothing but our people."

A genuine smile flashed on King Myunghae's face. "You are truly a treasure of this family. You and Sunggyu, I do not know what me or this country would do without you both."

The two disappeared into a forest of potted trees to continue on with their discussion. Sunggyu remained unnoticed by his father and uncle, contemplating the last words he heard as they walked away. I do not know what me or this country would do without you both. Sunggyu thought he had it all, the recognition of the court and in the Kim family name. The respect of his peers. Yet, deep down inside there was something missing.

Sunggyu heard the footsteps of someone walking on the bridge, feeling the vibrations of the wooden railing as someone drew near. Sunggyu turned his head to find the silhouette of a delicate flower in front of him, She wore a red and blue hanbok with her hair tied into a bun and decorated with different gems and charms hanging down. She held onto the fabric of her flowy hanbok, smiling shyly at Sunggyu. "Son Naeun." Sunggyu bowed respectfully at 90 degrees in front of her. "How are you doing?"

Naeun bowed in return, her cheeks painted with pink blush to highlight her cheekbones. "Dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes."

"Great. I will return to the quarters then for the dining hall."

Sunggyu stepped forward to walk with Naeun back to the dining hall. As they walked through the gardens, Naeun posed a question. "Sunggyu, why were you out here by yourself?"

Sunggyu shrugged his shoulders, ripping a petal off of a passing cherry blossom and tearing off the piece little-by-little. "After some time spent speaking to officials in Japan, talking with the shogun, and having to handle different affairs by the hour, I hardly had time by myself except in my dreams. Which were often interrupted by an early meeting I had to wake up for. Serenity is nice."

"It sure is," Naeun added.

"Want to know something neat?" Sunggyu changed the subject. "I took some lessons in the art of samurai during my stay."

"You learned the art of bushido? It is one of the most respected arts that we know of."

"I can show you later, but on display in my study space is an armor suit that I received as a gift from the shogun himself," Sunggyu bragged, lifting his head high as he tried to impress her. "My combat skills are lacking in some areas, but I am trying my best to improve."

"I overhear things that within the past couple of months you have immensely increased your combat skills through a lot of training. You might even reach Myungsoo's level before we know it," Naeun complimented, touching Sunggyu's arm. "You are a very bright and talented member of the Kim family. Everyone adores you, as do I."

Sunggyu blushed, and with Naeun's touch Sunggyu thought that his senses were driving him like a mad man. He did his best to stay composed in every situation, but when Naeun was around Sunggyu could no longer control his emotions. He gently brushed Naeun's hand off of his arm, knowing that she was going to marry his cousin soon enough and that he had to resist his feeble urges. "Let us hurry up and take our seats at the royal table."

(((())))

Sungyeol took a careful sip of his caffe americano, shoving it in between his legs as he inspected his history book on his apartment couch. With his glasses on and highlighter ready to take notes, he concentrated on understanding every fact and ingraining the words in his head. He tapped his highlighter on the lid of his Starbucks coffee, squinting his eyes as he took a closer look at his history book. "So as Korea was heavily influenced by China at the time, King Myunghae was a leading ruler in bringing Japanese culture into Korea before Japan isolated themselves into Sakoku during the 1600s. And for about 100 years since the 1400s, Japanese influence flourished the state."

"Wow. That is so interesting," Sungjong added sarcastically, sitting on the opposite side of the couch and flipping through channels to see what was on. His feet rested on their coffee table as he slowly sipped on a caramel frappucino, disinterested in Sungyeol's musings about the subject. 

"He had two sons, Kim Myungsoo and Kim Moonsoo, all of them heirs to the throne..."

"Stop thinking out loud. I don't care."

"I'm trying to study here!" Sungyeol complained.

"And I'm trying to enjoy my time watching Miss Korea, but I can't enjoy Lee Yeonhee's beauty if you keep blabbering about pointless . I don't even get why you're a history major in the first place."

"I love history!" Sungyeol slammed his book on the cushion next to him and took a sip out of his caffe americano, pointing it right at his brother's face. "Sure the jobs for history majors are limited, but I really like learning about the past. I love museums, and history is my best subject throughout school."

"Are you sure it's not because of Taeyeon."

Sungyeol stayed still.

Taeyeon was pronounced a trigger word for him since their breakup, and the word led Sungyeol to drown himself in a river of tears.

"I mean, ." Sungjong hit his forehead with the remote control, realizing he should not have said that. "Sungyeol, I'm sorry I didn't mean it."

The memories of him and Taeyeon came flooding back and engulfing him down the neverending river of agony. Sungyeol crushed his caffe americano paper cup in his hand, and the waterworks came crashing down on his history book. Needless to say it had only been a day since their unexpected breakup, but Sungjong's insensitivity brought on many emotions that he tried to push away while taking care of his studies. "Taeyeon..."

"Sungyeol, I didn't mean to make you-"

"No Sungjong, it's ok." Sungyeol did not care to blame his brother for his own mess. He tried so hard to forget about her, but with no avail. Sungyeol could care less about studies, history, anything. All he wanted was Taeyeon back in his life. "I want to be alone."

"I can go to my room if you want me too," Sungjong suggested.

"No." Sungyeol threw his empty and crumpled coffee cup on the coffee table and stood up, wiping away the tears streaming down his face with his jacket. "You can stay here. I'm gonna go to my usual thinking spot."

Sungjong scratched his head. "The outdoor jacuzzi?" 

"Yeah."

This was going to be a longer chapter, but I'm splitting it up into two parts cause I realized there was more to say. I hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. Sungyeol and Myungsoo are crossing paths soon. :D