Baekhyun's P.O.V

“Hahaha, that's so true my king! But tell me: how does it feel to work as much as you do?”
“I work only for my family's sake and of course for my country's sake.”

The two old men laugh loudly as the minister chuckles and tries to keep up with the conversation. Baekhyun glances over at his mother who tries her best to show of her beauty and kindness towards another woman who is older yet pretty. Baekhyun then glances to his left side where she sits.

“Oh my soon-to-be-husband: can't you hold my hand?”

Baekhyun tries his best to not roll his eyes as he looks away. He HATES those kind of girls. His mother glances over at him, her eyes is saying everything. She feels sorry for him, he can tell by the way she looks at him. But she also begs him to go with the flow for now.

“Baekhyun? Can you hear me?”
“Ah sorry, I spaced out a little.”
“Haha, don't space out like that! Now tell: what was so important for you to miss our real engagement ceremony? I had a really pretty dress on and I was hoping for you to pay me lots of attention! But then you weren't there.”
“I beg of pardon, but I had some important business outside the palace.”
“You can't fool me though. I know you sneaked out because you got scared that you had to settle down with one woman: didn't you? Don't worry, I'm as beautiful as ten of your lovers if not more!”
“I-I don't have any lovers! Why do people think that as fast they see me?”
“Oh? Then tell me: why did you get the urge to leave the castle right before our engagement then?”
“Because I had important business to take care of. And by the way, it's really rude for a lady to ask so many questions that is none of her business.”

Baekhyun tries to act cool and calm as the young diva girl beside him gasps. She must have either realized how rude she is or she thinks that he is rude towards her. Baekhyun glances over at his mother who looks somewhat relieved but still a little strict. He shouldn't act like this towards a lay, but he doesn't want this.

“Excuse me everyone, but could you excuse me and the young prince for a while? The young prince is exhausted and need some rest, so please excuse us.”

Baekhyun watches his mother suddenly stand up as she gives him a quick glance. He hurries to stand up and then follows his mother out of the room. His mother walks gracefully towards the door, like this is totally natural and that she's the one who decides if they can leave or not. The others sit silent until Baekhyun and his mother reach the door that gets closed behind them. As fast the door is closed and the chatters fill the other room: Baekhyun's mother sighs tired and massages her temples gently.

“Come here Baekhyun, let's withdraw to my room for a while.”

Baekhyun nods silently as he follows her. Of course two guards follow them down the hallway until they reached his mother's room. She stops outside the door and turns to the guards with a gentle smile on her lips.

“I'm with him in here: so can you please wait outside? This is a family matter after all.”
“But my queen-”
“He's my son my dears and you should know very well that only a mother knows what is the best for her son. Right?”
“Y-Yes my queen. T-Then excuse us.”

Baekhyun follows his mother into her room as the guards close the door after them. To be honest, he feels impressed. His mother managed to get the guards to leave them alone so easily with a gentle smile and only with some few simple words. Baekhyun admits, he's really proud of his mother and for everything she has done for him this far. He truly has the greatest mother you can have.

“Mom... I don't know what to say...”
“Come here sweetheart, let's sit down for a while.”

Baekhyun sits down beside his mother on a couch as she sighs tired out. She must be exhausted. After all, she has tried her best to talk with Baekhyun's father and to entertain the guests that are here this evening.

“I know that you're father didn't listen to what I said: I could tell right away when I saw him enter the room earlier.”
“Mom... He's totally focused on his own power and to secure the throne to me and me only.”
“It's not weird my dear. After all, his father was the same towards him. I hate to admit it, but I got mostly forced into marry your father to begin with. Though we learned to love each other after a couple of years, but it took a while. I love your father Baekhyun and he loves me and you as much as we love him. But he's really stressed out right now and he's not thinking straight. He looks like an evil father who won't listen to anyone, but you know very well that deep inside he only wishes you well.”
“I know that... Of course I know all that... But it's just... so frustrating.”
“I can understand that. I would be as frustrated as you are.”
“Tell me... Is there no other way to get me out of this mess?”
“You could always turn down the girl who wants to marry you, but then there will be a diplomatic problem. You see, they picked her out even before you turned 2 years old. She was one year old when you two were decided to get married. It's a tradition to pick a random “noble” or rich family when you pick a wife for our future king.”
“And what if I say no? Will it really be such a bad thing?”
“It will be troublesome, especially for your father.”

Baekhyun sighs as he closes his eyes. He wonders what he's supposed to do. When they go back to the others, he's probably expected to propose to that diva girl. Baekhyun feels how all the frustration grabs him as he puts his head into his hands and just sighs. He wants to leave so badly. He wishes he had his friends here to tell him what to do. Kyungsoo and Luhan would obviously tell him to turn that girl down and Jessica would come up with some crazy smart plan to get him out of the trouble. And then Kai and Sehun would try to help without getting too involved and Chanyeol... Chanyeol would definitely do everything in his power to stop this. If he was here right now, he wouldn't let anything like this happen to begin with...

“I know it's a burden for you to be here Baekhyun... But sometimes... I hate to admit it, but sometimes you will just have to put on a mask and pretend that everything is alright. Sometimes it's better for you to just go with the flow than going against it.”
“Are you saying... that I should just do as dad says?”
“I hate to say it, but I think that would be for the best. Not only for him, but also for you.”

Baekhyun feels somewhat hurt. He thought his mother would try to support him longer and harder than this. But maybe this is for the best? It hurts to admit it, but it would be less troublesome if he just do as everyone want. It will hurt his feelings more than anything else, but he knew very well that he would have to come back here and marry someone else in the future.

“At least you can be happy with what you got during your time away. You got to live the life you wanted for a couple of months: right? Shouldn't that be enough for you to accept the situation and move on?”
“It feels like you're being manipulated by dad right now...”
“I know honey, it really does sound like that... I just... I don't want you to get even more hurt than what you already are. It will get so much easier for everyone if you just do as your father says-”
“And how will that really make me feel happier?”
“Baekhyun, don't be ignorant-”
“You have been in the same situation as me mom... Then you should know how hard this truly is... Everyone thinks it's easy to just do as everyone else say and want... But it isn't as easy as they think...”

Baekhyun feels like crying: he's too damn tired of this . He won't stay here if everyone is going to turn against him! He had hoped that his mother would try to be more on his side and help him out, but it looks like even she has begun to lose hope for him.

Chanyeol's P.O.V

“I'm telling you, I know the prince!”
“Sorry sir, but we can't let you through-”
“I even brought my damn ID for you guys!”
“If you're going to get violent-”
“I'm not getting violent! I'm holding up my ID so you can take it and check it!”
“What about the other four guys? You all look suspicious to me.”
“We're just a gang of college students sirs!”
“Yeah, we were the ones who looked after the prince while he lived outside the palace!”
“Wait... Are you the ones who hid him?!”
“W-We didn't know he was the royal prince until now!”

Chanyeol feels frustrated: those stupid guards won't let them in! Well, it's not that weird since the prime minister is inside the palace and so are the royal family. Of course Chanyeol expected it to be this hard to get inside, but he had hoped that Baekhyun had told them about them and their names so they at least could come and visit him.

“Please, call the royal prince and tell him that Park Chanyeol is at the gate and really needs to see him! It's urgent!”
“How do we know you're not terroris