Jongin quickly pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist tightly. “I missed you. You don’t even know how long I’ve been looking for you. When I heard that you disappeared, I thought my world was shattering.”

                Kyungsoo smiled apologetically at Jongin and looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember…” he lied, and watched Jongin’s smile turn into a desperate look. “After I was sold to Miss Choi, I fainted and I was sick for a very long time. I woke up with no idea who I was.” He looked at Jongin. “But you know my real name, so I’m guessing you’ve known me before the incident?”

                Jongin slowly untightened his grip on the girl. “Uhm. Sorry. I didn’t know. I heard about the incident, but I didn’t know it traumatized you. I’m sorry, I was just so excited to see you again. I… I can’t believe you can’t remember anything.”

                Kyungsoo nodded slowly. “I’m sorry, but I must go, I still need to continue my performance.”

                “You’re going back to that bastard—“

                Kyungsoo placed his hand on Jongin’s hand. “It’s my duty and my talent, sir.” He turned to leave when Jongin grabbed his hand. “What is it?” he turned around and kept his innocent expression on his face.

                “I’ll help you. I’ll help you regain your memories. Then I’ll help you with your brother and your mother. I believe it wasn’t suicide; your family was such a happy family, why would they kill themselves? You were sold, for Christ’s sakes.” Jongin kissed Kyungsoo’s hand gently. “I’ll come again tomorrow; let me in the room during your gayageum practices. I’ve been listening to you for a while now, I know where your practice room is.”

                Kyungsoo clenched his other fist. Guessing this guy won’t leave him alone until he says that he’s not interested. “That won’t be necessary. Go home safely.” He quickly wiggled himself out of Jongin’s grasp and slipped out of the room. Jongin frowned at the girl’s words but smiled like an idiot as he looked around the room. He had found Kyunghee.

Jongin was always popular with the ladies. He knew how to handle them, how to make them coo, and how to make them desperate for him. But he never fell in love with the girls. He knew how to control himself, and he was afraid the girls won’t like his actual side of him. It was obvious Jongin was actually a softie in the inside.

Compared to his playboy and cold outer appearance, Jongin was a poet. He couldn’t help it, he was a romantic. The only one that got into him enough to see his inner self was Kyunghee. The mysterious girl he met when he was sixteen.

If he had lost Kyunghee, that would mean he lost a piece of himself. Kyunghee was the only one that seemed to like his romantic side, other than his bad boy side that everyone liked. When he had confessed to Kyunghee with a poem, he never got a reply letter from her, and that crushed him more than it should have.  For the first time, he thought that if Kyunghee had died along with her family, a part of Jongin would also wither away.

He was dumb; he fell in love too quickly for anyone’s taste. But Kyunghee was special. Something about them clicked: to the exchanging of soft chuckles about stupid fables and stories about their favorite flowers. When he finally thought he had found his missing half, they had taken her away.

After finding Kyunghee and her whereabouts, Jongin wasn’t going to let her go again. Jongin was going to build her back up to the Kyunghee he remembered and missed. When Kyunghee could remember Jongin again, he would propose to her without minding the eyes of the elders, no matter where she was in the social caste.

&&

                Chanyeol frowned when he saw Baekhyun’s face damaged by the ruckus he made at the Choigak. “Byun Baekhyun, tell me. Who did this to you? I’ll make sure to punish him greatly. This is an order, not a request.” He caressed Baekhyun’s bruised cheek. After Jongin left and the thud reverberated throughout the Choigak, the bodyguards of the bastard came along and tried to protect their ‘master’. It was six against one, Baekhyun was bound to get a scratch.

                “It… It was the son of the Lee Family, but that’s not important, Chanyeol. I have some information from the Council meeting and—” Baekhyun said with hurriedness, but Chanyeol shut him up with a huff. “Chanyeol, there are much more important matters that this right now! You’re in danger and—”

                Chanyeol frowned. “To me, you’re the only thing I care about more than myself. Stop underrating yourself. If my best friend is gone, who will listen to my problems and understand me? Don’t get yourself in such dangerous matters again or I’ll get you bodyguards.” Chanyeol ordered Jongdae to bring the royal doctor for Baekhyun before he could continue. “You will be staying in my room overnight, I have important matters to talk to you about.” He said in front of Jongdae loud and clear for him to hear. Baekhyun sighed at the seja’s stubbornness but agreed.

                After Baekhyun’s face and arm was treated, the two sat at the table. “So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?” Chanyeol asked.

                “Three years ago, when Daebi was in full power, the Woman killed all the King’s supporters and your siblings—even the ones that weren’t royally approved and the hidden ones so that no one would be able to take the throne after you. They’ve made a move to target you now that the two hardest obstacles were wiped out by the disease. You’re in danger, seja.” Baekhyun said with a grim tone.

                Chanyeol looked down and fidgeted. Baekhyun looked at him in worry. “So, how can we fix this? What do you think we should do about this problem?” he asked Baekhyun with a quiet voice. Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s shaking hand and smiled at him reassuringly.

                “We need to make you King. I’ll ask Eunuch Jongdae to give a request to the Daebi.” Baekhyun nodded. “There will be news and nominations will be made and you’ll be married. That’s the first thing we should do. As seja right now, you don’t have much power, Chanyeol. I know you don’t like the idea of anything forced, especially when it comes to love, but this is how it’s going to be.”

                Chanyeol nodded grimly. “I’ll do it.” Baekhyun was surprised at the tone of determination in his voice. He smiled at the matured seja and sighed in relief. “What would I have done without you, Byun Baekhyun?”

                Baekhyun shrugged playfully. “Nothing.” He smiled, making Chanyeol let out a chuckle.

&&

                “Seja, are you sure you want to do this? I think it’s a bit rushed. You’re only—” Daebi said in a calm voice, but was interrupted by Chanyeol.

                “Halma-mama, I believe I’m old enough to get married and I am well prepared. I’ve been delaying it due to my studies, but it’s always been on my mind to get myself settled down with a wife.” He said playfully but with a tone slightly authoritative. Daebi agreed to his marriage and sent Chanyeol off.

                Baekhyun held Chanyeol’s shaking hand and gave him a nod when he was out of Daebi’s palace and was in Chanyeol’s palace. “Seulgi promised to tell me anything if something came up with Daebi’s planning.” Seulgi was one of Daebi’s servant girls, but as Baekhyun’s other best friend, she told the two everything.

                Jongin ran into Chanyeol’s room with a huge grin plastered on his face. “Hello, my lovely friends! How is your morning going? Isn’t the weather outside beautiful?” Jongin said in a loud and excited voice as he spun around.

                “Jongin, you do know that it is raining outside.” Baekhyun blinked at the strange actions made by the tanned boy. “Did something happen to you—you met Kyunggie?” Baekhyun shouted and pointed a finger at Jongin accusingly.

                Jongin nodded. “Kyunggie was Kyunghee! The love of my life is alive!” He quickly frowned. “Although Kyunghee doesn’t remember me or her past, I’ll make sure to help her remember everything!” he shouted, determined. Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked at their friend in amusement.

                Baekhyun burst into laughter. “Jongin, I haven’t seen you this excited ever since Chanyeol had to strip and dive into the Palace pond.” Chanyeol blushed slightly at the memory and hit Baekhyun’s shoulder gently. “It’s the truth! Jongin, I’m truly happy for you.”

                Chanyeol cleared his throat. “Well, thanks to you guys, I’ll be getting married sooner or later. Daebi agreed to the idea of me finally getting married and becoming King.” Jongin’s eyes widened as well as his grin.

                “Finally, I thought you and Baekhyun would never be able to part. Hopefully there are women more beautiful than Baekhyun out there to be nominees for your wife. I hope you make beautiful royal babies!” Jongin shouted teasingly and smacked Chanyeol’s back. Baekhyun stiffened at the idea but quickly shook it off.

                “I’m not going to abandon Baekhyun when I get married; he’s still going to be by my side. Thank goodness Baekhyun can’t get married, he’s going to be my body guard forever.” Chanyeol slung an arm around his best friend’s neck, despite Jongin’s scoff.

                Jongin raised a brow. “Baekhyun, you can come live with me if Chanyeol starts ignoring you, okay?” he smiled at Baekhyun, who laughed. Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun, who was busy laughing and joking with Jongin. If he did get married, would he be able to treat Baekhyun the same? Would they be able to smile and laugh like now? Would they be able to have sleepovers? Chanyeol was just afraid that he would change and hurt Baekhyun instead. Baekhyun glancced at Chanyeol after his bantering with Jongin was over.

                “Chanyeol, are you okay?” Baekhyun asked with a gentle voice. Chanyeol nodded and looked up. “Oh, there’s going to be another meeting in a few minutes, let’s get ready, Chanyeol. See you later, Jongin.” Jongin nodded and headed out of the room. Baekhyun got up from the chair and started heading out when Chanyeol grabbed his wrist. “What’s wrong?”

                Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun, who looked at him with curiosity. He shook his head. “Ah, it’s nothing. I just wanted to remind you to tell me if Seulgi tells you anything.”   Baekhyun chuckled and nodded before heading out of the room. The servants entered the room and dressed Chanyeol according to the occasion.

                Baekhyun sighed in relief as the door closed to Chanyeol’s room. He felt his heart getting heavy when Jongin talked about Chanyeol’s marriage, and it was getting harder for him to keep his smile on his face. Good thing his meeting was placed at this hour. He placed a hand on his chest with a sigh.

&&

                Jongin stopped by the Choigak as usual, but Kyunghee was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Kyunghee?” he asked a passing gisaeng, who shrugged. “She promised to meet me—” he was mumbling to himself when he saw Kyunghee walking towards him with the familiar mask around her face. “Kyunggie!” he shouted, Kyunghee said she didn’t want her real name to be known to the public.

                Kyungsoo blinked at the boy and quickly turned around and walked fast paced to the backyard of the Choigak when Jongin grabbed his hand. “I told you I would stop by your room. I would have come yesterday but I had important matters to tend to. I missed you.” He smiled at the petite male (although he didn’t know of his real identity) and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead before Kyungsoo moved away from the unwanted touch.

                “I didn’t agree to the meeting, you were stubborn and said you were coming.” Kyungsoo huffed. “I don’t know what I used to do to you, but I’m not the same as I was in the past, sir.” He said and looked down. Jongin sighed at the sound of ‘sir’. “I don’t want my memories back. I don’t want to remember the massacre of my family.”

                Jongin stood there, frozen and not being able to speak. It was true, he was doing this for himself. Maybe Kyunghee didn’t want her memories. He never thought from her perspective. “I’m sorry, Kyunghee. I just—”

                “Thanks for wanting to help, but I won’t need it anytime soon. Hope you’ll stop visiting the Choigak.” Kyungsoo said flatly, shaking Jongin’s fingers off of his wrist and walking to her practice room.

                “If you don’t want your memories back, I’ll…” Jongin didn’t want to back off from Kyunghee. He loved her more than anything and to keep her next to him he—“I’ll make you fall in love with me again. You just wait, Kyunghee.” He promised to himself.

&&

                Daebi smiled at the girl in front of her. “So, I heard you were the daughter of the Hwang family. It’s a pleasure to meet you, future Wangbi.” She flattered the girl. The girl in front of her smiled and her eyes glistened.

                “The pleasure is all mine, Daebi-mama. Call me Hwang Sumin, mama.” Sumin bowed her head slightly with her hand placed on her chest politely. “Our family name would have not been this well-known if you didn’t help us through the incident, my father is very thankful.”

                Daebi nodded. “It was my duty to return thanks to my favorite civil servant, Sumin. You don’t even need the testing, you are already legible to become my grandson’s wife. I know you’ll do great things.” Her eyes twinkled. Sumin nodded. “This is the series of questions you will be asked upon by the noblemen. Study them and practice answering them, and you’ll be the King’s wife in no time. I’ll make sure of that.”

                Sumin thanked the Daebi and came out from the palace, and met eyes with Baekhyun, who was going to meet Seulgi. Seulgi was escorting Sumin out of the large palace hallways. Baekhyun bowed his head to the girl slightly, who returned the bow. Sumin raised a brow and turned to look at Seulgi. “Who is that?” she asked in a sharp tone, different from how she was speaking to the Daebi. Seulgi looked at her surprised.

                “O—Oh, he is the bodyguard of the seja, miss.” Seulgi said, and looked down at the ground as she walked. Sumin nodded and shrugged. “May I ask why you were curious, miss?”

                Sumin walked with her head held high. “Just gaining knowledge of the people I’ll have to meet later when I get chosen as the next Wangbi.” She said and turned to her own servant. “Dal-ah, let’s visit father before we go.” Sumin left for the Council Court and Seulgi quickly turned to go back to her place at the Daebi palace. Baekhyun pulled Seulgi aside.

                “Who is that and why is she coming out of the Daebi palace?” he asked in confusion.

                Seulgi shushed the boy. “The Daebi is planting the daughters of her favored civil servants in the nominations so it’ll be easier for her to control the next Wangbi.” Baekhyun blinked. “That was the daughter of the Hwang family, Hwang Sumin. Daebi gave her the questions for the testing and—” Baekhyun noticed a servant pass by and quickly acted as if he dropped something.

                “Miss, you dropped this.” He pretended to hand Seulgi something until the servant passed by them completely. “We’ll talk more about this later, thanks.” Baekhyun quickened his pace to Chanyeol’s room. Seulgi sighed in relief as Baekhyun left with the new found information, not noticing the shadow behind her.

                Chanyeol blinked at Baekhyun who burst into the bathroom. It took him three seconds to realize that he was and Baekhyun could see through the water but obviously Baekhyun didn’t care much about that. “What are you doing here? I need privacy when it comes to bathing and—” Jongdae chuckled softly.

                Baekhyun raised a brow. “I’ve seen you plenty of times before, Chanyeol, I’m not sure why you’re acting so weirdly.” He peeked into the wooden bathtub. “You don’t even have much to see.” Chanyeol flushed and quickly hid himself from Baekhyun. “Fine, fine. I won’t look but you have to listen to me. I knew Daebi wouldn’t go so easy with this. It’s been two days since the agreement of getting you settled and she has already planted daughters of her favored civil servants, Chanyeol. I only know one of them so far, Hwang Sumin. If you do get married to one of the daughters, you’ll be an easy kill.”

                Chanyeol’s eyes widened at Baekhyun being straight forward. “Baekhyun I—”

                Jongdae opened his mouth. “If that is the truth, Baekhyun, which it better be, I have a plan. Do you remember the civil servant, Choi Siwon? They have a daughter and I’m sure if she becomes Wangbi, this problem will be solved. We can plant our own people in the—”

                Baekhyun shook his head. “But Jongdae, she is only nine years old. I know the Choi’s are amazing people but I don’t want Sulli to be in a part of a plan so early in her life. She is only a child.”

                Jongdae sighed. “I’ll look for more of the civil servants in favor of the seja, but I’m afraid not a lot of them exist ever since the death—” Chanyeol looked at Jongdae, who stopped talking. “But there is no other way.”

                Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, then Jongdae. “I have a plan to propose, but it is a bit ridiculous.” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun expectantly. “I could dress as a lady. I could be a nominee and if anything goes on in the competition, I can protect the daughter of whoever we manage to find. I won’t marry Chanyeol, but I could at least help out in the midst of the girls.”

                Jongdae nodded. “That’s very risky but that’s the only plan we have for now. I’ll go through my connections.”

                Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun. “Are you sure about this?”

                Baekhyun nodded. “If it means protecting you, I’m willing to do whatever.” He remembered the words of the Wangbi and closed his eyes.

                “I must meet with the Choi’s. I’ll ask them for the civil servants who is still in favor of the seja and we’ll go from there. Baekhyun, you go with me as well, we must start on your side of the plan also. We have no time to waste.” Jongdae said, and looked at Chanyeol, who stood up and grabbed his robe from the side of his bathtub.

                “I’ll follow you guys as well. This is for my sake, I shall help also.” Chanyeol stepped out from the bathroom and sighed. If Baekhyun was caught in this plan at all, he could be highly punished.

&&

                Chanyeol had to admit, he was skeptical about Baekhyun tricking others about being a lady. That is, until he saw Baekhyun dressed as one. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol shyly and uncomfortably. The bright colors of the hanbok matched Baekhyun perfectly, and his makeup and everything—“Wow.” Chanyeol blurted out.

                Baekhyun blinked at Chanyeol. “What did you say? Don’t make fun of me, okay?” Baekhyun bit his lip, which made Chanyeol’s attention go to his pink lips. Sooyoung left the room for the two to speak, and Chanyeol got up from the floor.

                “You look beautiful.” Chanyeol said, walking closer to Baekhyun, who flushed.

                “I know you’re just making fun of me. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have just kept it within myself—” Baekhyun blabbered, but Chanyeol had his words tuned out. He was definitely prettier than any of the girls he has seen around. Chanyeol grabbed his best friend’s hand and smiled at him reassuringly.

                “I’m being serious, you look fine. You fooled me for a second and I knew about this plan. You look stunning.” Chanyeol whispered in awe and tucked Baekhyun’s hair behind his ear. Baekhyun felt his heart beating faster. He quickly swatted Chanyeol away.

                Baekhyun averted his eyes to his hands. “Do I really look pretty?” he asked, and Chanyeol nodded his head like a bobblehead. He sighed. At least this plan won’t fail too miserably. He turned to look in the mirror and let out a soft gasp when he saw his reflection. “I—”

                “I told you.” Chanyeol grinned and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I’d marry you any day.” Baekhyun turned pink and smacked his hand. Jongdae came into the room after speaking with Siwon and looked at Baekhyun with his jaw dropped.

                “Baekhyun, is that really you?” Jongdae asked. Baekhyun nodded. Chanyeol smiled widely. “It’ll be a success! Baekhyun, you’re a genius.” He smiled confidently. Baekhyun blushed again, which made Chanyeol’s heart skip a beat.

                “Did you find any daughters of the ones in favor—”

                “There is one from the Shim family. I’m afraid she’s the only one who is legible.” Jongdae said. “But we have you, Baekhyun. Maybe you’ll become Chanyeol’s—”

                Baekhyun made a face. “Don’t say such scary things, Eunuch!” he said and hid his face. “I’m a disgrace to myself, this is terrible. What if someone finds out that I’m actually a man? Oh the shame, oh the punishments!”

                Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun. “Does that mean you regret helping the rightful King of Joseon? That’s high treason.” He said in a serious tone, which made Baekhyun shake his head. “Good. You’ll be fine, Baekhyun. I’ll protect you as well.” His smile reassured Baekhyun.

                Jongdae clapped his hands together. “The competition will start three days from now and you must have a background ready for you to be legible. ID’s will be a piece of cake to create in the palace.” Baekhyun nodded. Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s shaking hand and reassured him with a nod, like how Baekhyun reassured Chanyeol.