THE PAST

Jinki shook his head. "As long as you find your happiness. We will support you all the way."

Kibum smiled and hugged everyone. "Thank you guys." he said gratefully. "Now the only thing left is to ask Minjung for her opinion."

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Minjung and Sujin walked cautiously to the toilet, hiding smiles on their faces. They glanced at each other, biting back a giggle.

The Head Mistress and other maids and kitchen helpers were around the place, not paying them any attention. Minjung and Sujin each went to one cubicle, closing the door firmly.

Once inside, they because a blur of fluster, taking off their clothes in top speed.

"Quick! Pass yours under the door!" Sujin hissed as she passed Minjung her Palace Maid uniform.

Minjung took off her Kitchen Helper uniform and exchanged it with Sujin, putting on the Palace Maid Uniform at record breaking speed. She would have entered the Genius World record for the fastest person who can change clothes, except there wasn't Genius World Record yet.

"I'm going out first!" Minjung whispered. "Thanks for your help, Sujin ah!"

Sujin smiled through the door. "It's fine! I'm happy I can help! Go quickly!"

Minjung bit her lips nervously and opened the door. There was another maid outside waiting to use the toilet and she scowled. "What took you so long, Sujin ah!" she chided, before rushing in.

MInjung bit back a smile. "Ah. Mianhe." she muttered softly. *YES! She didn't recognize me!*

Minjung bowed to the other maids who passed by, ducking her head so that they wouldn't see her face.  Her heart was racing as she went to their usual meeting spot : The Horse Stables.

She snuck behind a tree, seeing no one around, she ducked into the back of the stable where it was smelly and stale. She held her breath, trying not to breathe unnecessarily.

"Princess!"

Minjung spun round, to see Kibum smiling at her in a guard's uniform. "You came." Kibum chuckled, caressing her cheek.

Minjung smiled back. "Of course." she tilted her head cutely. "Tell me what's the plan first Kibum ah, we don't have much time."

Kibum nodded. He looked around in disgust. "Let's go to the bushes and talk. This place is smelly." he held her hand and pulled her along with him, ducking behind a bush.

"So what's the plan?" Minjung asked curiously.

Kibum smiled excitedly. "For the next few days, I'm going to pretend to like Sooyeon. So you must not be alarmed if you hear rumours around about us. Trust your prince okay?"

Minjung nodded, smiling. *Babo. I'm going with him, of course I trust him.*

"Then, you'll pretend that your Aunt needs you to be home. So you tell the Head of the Kitchen about it and go out of the Palace the day after tomorrow in the afternoon." Kibum continued. "And after that, I'll try to sneak out somehow."

"Where will we meet?" Minjung asked.

Kibum held her hand and caressed it unconsciously. "At the Daejeon Pier. From there, we'll take a boat to Busan where Jinki and Jonghyun has prepared a house for us." he smiled gently, a glint evident in his eyes. "And from there, we'll live our lives happily, just the two of us."

Minjung giggled, excited at the thought of it. "I'm so excited, Kibum ah."

"Me too." Kibum chuckled.

He had done a lot of preparation for this.

He had investigated on the guards and soldiers as well, what usual routes they would take if they were to search the city.

He had made an attempt to learn more about farming and seeds, instead of his usual poetry. He knew that he, as the guy, would have the responsibility to earn the living in the future.

He was excited for the new life. No matter how hard it was going to be, he was ready.

"Princess, I have something to show you." Kibum smiled childishly, his cheeks puffing. He pulled a scroll of paintint from his robes, the paint still not fully dry.

"What is this?" Minjung's eyes widened. Tears began to gather at her large surprised orbs, and she let out a small gasp. "Did you paint this? Kibum ah."

Kibum nodded and smiled softly, wrapping his arms round her waist from the back and resting his chin on her shoulder. "This is going to be us in the future princess." he pointed.

"This is going to be me, the strong and charismatic prince farmer." he whispered, pointing to a goofy looking farmer smiling widely in the painting. Minjung giggled softly.

"And this is going to be my beautiful princess wife." Kibum pointed to the lady beside the farmer. "My one and only princess." he pecked her temple, inhaling her soft alluring aroma of her hair.

"And these," Kibum continued, pointing to the little girl and boy running in the fields. "These will be our little prince and princess. The fruit from our love." he smiled.

Minjung softened, turning around to face Kibum. She was touched that he had already thought about their life that far away. He really meant it when he said he wanted to spend the whole of his life with her.

"Kibum ah, I really love you." a smile played at her lips, her eyes looking at him with adoration.

Kibum chuckled softly, letting go of the painting and cupping the back of her neck with his hands. "And I love you more." he whispered, pressing his lips against hers.

The painting fell on the floor, forgotten by the both of them amidst their passion.

What they didn't know was someone else had followed them and had heard everything. He was glaring at the painting on the floor, his fists clenched. *I will do anything. ANYTHING to stop this from happening.*

With that, the man strode away, beginning the plans that started formulating in his mind.