Day by day, Prince Jiho and Minhee got closer than ever. The prince even got Minhee’s modern way of talking. They would start the day eating breakfast together, either in Prince Jiho’s or Minhee’s room. Then, they would proceed to the palace’s library reading about possible ways on how Minhee can go back to where she came from. The King would always invite Minhee over for lunch, so the prince would be all alone that time. However, as soon as they finish eating, Minhee would always run to the palace garden to meet with Jiho there. They would play for a while, and then go back to the library until dinner. Those were their routine for five days. The phone and iPad were now long forgotten since Jiho already exhausted all the batteries and powerbanks in just one day playing his favorite games, which are Temple Run and Zombie Tsunami.

“Jiho!”

“Yeah?” The prince looked up from a book he was reading.

“I don’t know what to do anymore. It seems like there’s really no way of finding my way back.” Minhee slumped in a chair. “I’m giving up.”

“Hey! Don’t say that! We’ll eventually find it, okay?”

Minhee just nodded and continued staring at the books in front of her, while Jiho busily scans another pile of books. An hour has passed, and Minhee heard her stomach grumble. She bit her lip and looked down, praying that Jiho didn’t hear it.

“Hey, is that you?”

“W-What are y-you talking about?” Minhee tried to act as innocent as possible.

“Are you hungry?” The prince glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, and then scrunched up his eyebrows. “Oh, it’s lunch time! But, it’s weird that none of my brother’s servants came here to fetch you for lunch. I wonder why…”

“Maybe, he already got tired of talking to me.” Minhee shrugged. “You said it’s lunch time? Come on, let’s eat.”

However, as soon as they stepped out of the library, two of the King’s servants greeted them. “Lady Lee, we’re here to fetch you for the lunch with the King. King Jiseok is sorry that it was a bit late because he had some duties to attend to, but was hoping that you can still have lunch with him.”

“I guess he’s still not tired of you.” The prince chuckled and patted Minhee’s shoulder. “Go. Don’t make the King wait.” He watched Minhee walk with the servants going to the King’s chamber. After he lost sight of them, he returned inside the library.

“It won’t hurt to stay a little longer, right?” He sat down on his seat and opened a pack of potato chips. He got it from Minhee’s bag earlier and hid it inside his hanbok. The prince liked the taste of what Minhee called as snacks, packed inside weird plastic sacks with something written on them. He smiled as he munched on the chips while reading the book in front of him. “I want to go to Minhee’s place, too. They really have a lot of weird but amazing things.”

After reading more pages, he widened his eyes. He looked at the passage again and rejoiced in his seat. “YES!” The prince took out a quill, bottle of ink, and paper. He carefully copied the texts written in the book with a smile on his face. After letting it dry, he folded it and hid inside his hanbok. When the prince was about to step outside the library, Minhee greeted him.

“Jiho!”

“Oh, Minhee. Hello!”

“I waited for you in the garden. How come you didn’t go there? Did you stay here in the library and did not even bother to eat?” Minhee glared at him, but something caught her eyes. “Hey, what’s that?”

“W-What?” Jiho panicked.

Minhee grabbed his left hand and took out the crumpled thing he’s holding. “JIHOOOOOOO!” She chased him when she found out that the prince ate all the Lay’s she hid inside her bag. It’s her favorite potato chips, and Jiho just ate all of it without giving a single chip to her!

Soon, Minhee caught the prince and gave him light punches in the chest.

“Hey, hey, stop! I’ll give you a bag of gold coins in return!” Jiho tried to persuade her.

“Gold coins?” Minhee stopped.

“Yeah. I have a lot, you know. Heck, you’re talking to a prince.”

“Mmmkay. That’s actually great. It’s your brother’s birthday tomorrow and you didn’t even tell me. I’ll take that gold coins so I can buy him a gift.” Minhee smiled.

“Oh, I forgot.” The prince scratched his head. “Wait. Did he tell you?”

“Yeah.” Minhee nodded.

“Look at that guy! He really likes attention, doesn’t he? Telling his people that it’s his birthday tomorrow…”

“Of course, all attention should be given to him. He’s the King, after all.”

Yeah, the King. And I’m just a useless prince. The prince thought as he rolled his eyes.

“Wait. Are you… jealous?” She smirked.

“Me? Jealous? No way!” He denied.

“Heh! Whatever. I know you’re jealous of your brother.” Minhee opened her palms to Jiho. “Now, give me the bag of gold coins you promised me!”

“Fine, fine.” Jiho walked towards his quarters as Minhee followed him.

When the prince handed her the purse, she quickly stood up. “I’m going outside the palace with Areum to buy something for the King. Don’t wait for me, ‘kay?” was the last thing she told Prince Jiho before heading outside.

“Wow! Leaving me just like that. Not even asking me about the progress I had helping her to go back to her place.” The prince mumbled. He decided to walk around the palace, as he doesn’t have anything to do.

While wandering around, he heard some ministers talking.

“I don’t know what King Jiseok’s plan is, but we need to convince him to just make Lady Lee as his second wife. No way that she will be the new Queen!”

“I know. It’s breaking a tradition that is worth thousands of years. We cannot let a strange girl end the royal blood line just like that.”

“The King always eats lunch together with her. Have you heard something about the King telling about the marriage to Lady Lee?”

“No. He wants to keep everything as a secret. According to the servants, King Jiseok never brought up that topic with Lady Lee, making her completely oblivious.”

“What is he thinking…?”

“Or maybe, Lady Lee has her own secrets. Maybe she is trying to seduce the King. Look how everything is connected. She appeared here in the palace just a week before the selection of the King’s soon-to-be wife.”

“You have a point there. But, we need to be careful in our actions, especially in the ceremony tomorrow. We don’t want the King to get upset at us, but we need to make sure that he chooses someone from a noble family.”

“Yes. I heard that Minister Hwang’s daughter is pretty. She can be a good candidate to be the new Queen.”

“I do agree with you. And we are in the same alliance with Minister Hwang, so we can benefit from that if ever she gets chosen.”

Prince Jiho clenched his fists upon hearing the conversation of the ministers. He has a suspicion about his brother liking Minhee, and the ministers confirmed it. Thinking about the marriage of the two broke his heart, but then again, he just looked down at himself like how he used to do in his entire life.

I’m just a useless prince, so why bother? He’s the King. I can’t do anything about it. All his words are the rule. No one ever dare to oppose him. Everything should be his. I have no power to steal whatever he wants. Not even Minhee.

However, he realized something. He took out the folded piece of paper he hid in his hanbok and looked at it intently.

“But I want to spend some more time with her.” He sighed.

New chapter! What do you think about it? Don't forget to comment. :)
And... I reached 40 subs! You're making me happy :))
Thank you to KwonJiMin, woojihooo, and JsscaEliza for the new upvotes. ^^

Also, who's excited for Block B's comeback?

헐헐헐 <3

EDIT: Block B released their girly pink teaser after I updated this. Like, ASDFGHJKL how are they supposed to be so girly like Barbie?!! So gay ㅠㅠ
I conclude that Block B doesn't stand for Blockbuster, but Block Barbie (as Kyung tweeted) *le cries