A/N: Here's the first chapter! I hope you all like it. Please comment and subscribe. Criticisms are very much welcome; your opinions about the story matter to me

“Kim Jonghyun!” Key screamed at the top of his lungs.

This caused his classmates’ heads to turn at him and startle the dinosaur-resembling guy who was sleeping soundly on his chair. He lifted his head up and groggily looked at Key.

“Yah, you don’t need to shout,” he said with a yawn.

“Not shout? You’re telling me not to shout? At a time like this, I shouldn’t just be shouting at you. I should be strangling you and kicking your lazy !” Key exclaimed loudly. “You know when the deadline for our book report is?”

“Wasn’t it next month?” Jonghyun asked as he scratched the back of his head.

“No, you idiot!” Key was losing his patience. “It’s three days from now, and we still haven’t started.”

“Three days? Oh, we still have a lot of time,” Jjong replied in a carefree tone.

“Oh yeah, it’s enough time to read a book that’s this thick,” Key said sarcastically while holding up a book that was more than three inches in width.

Jonghyun’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Seriously? We have to read that?”

“We? I’m done reading this, pabo. And I’m telling Mr. Cho that I’m doing the report without you,” Key placed his hands on his hips and gave Jonghyun an icy glare.

“But, Key! Don’t do this to me. I’ll fail,” Jonghyun started to plead. “I promise I’ll start reading the book tonight.”

“You’ll fail? Oh that’s good,” Key said with a smug look on his face. “You deserve it. Who the hell asked you to go hook up with Shin Sekyung and a hundred other girls during the midterm’s month, anyway? It’s your fault you’re failing”

With that, Key marched (in his usual diva-ish way) out of the classroom. Jonghyun quickly got up and chased after him. He grabbed Key’s arm and – unintentionally – brought Key’s face close to his. They were now staring straight into each others’ eyes.

“Key, please? Pretty pretty please help me with the report?” Jjong said softly.

Key, on the other hand, was trying with all that he was worth not to blush. His heart was beating rapidly as Jonghyun held him. He tried to avoid looking at Jonghyun in the eye – which brought his gaze upon Jonghyun’s lips. And that gave him an even more difficult time in not blushing. Key composed himself, and with a confident-sounding, “Hell no,” he pulled his arm free from Jonghyun’s grip and walked away.

“Aish,” Jonghyun muttered to himself as he walked back to his seat. He was feeling something he couldn’t explain. His heart was beating fast, and he had this huge silly grin plastered on his face. He couldn’t stop smiling ever since he held Key’s hand.

“Am I starting to have a crush on him?”  Jonghyun thought. He quickly shook his head, and considered the idea impossible. He sat on his chair and picked up the book for their – rather, his – report which Key had left on his table. 

“Runaway…” he read the title. He knew it was quite impossible to finish the book on time, but he needed to at least try lest he wouldn’t be able to graduate. He opened it to the first page and started to read.

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 “Hold on tight, your highness,” Henry whispered. 

It was midnight. The cold wind was biting on my face as I fastened my grip around Henry’s waist as we, on horseback, sped silently to the outskirts of the kingdom. Henry had promised to bring me to somewhere safe – somewhere where my stepmother’s men wouldn’t be able to find me.

You see, my life was in danger. A few nights ago, my elder sister, Jessica, went missing. My stepmother, the queen who had unrightfully taken the crown from Jessica, had plotted her execution after she vetoed the bill which would have asked the townspeople to give half of their income to the palace. Where Jessica was, I knew not. All I could do was pray that she was safe. Since Jessica had mysteriously disappeared, the queen had turned her rage on me and had ordered my execution.

I was unsure if I could completely rely on Henry’s promises of giving me sanctuary, yet, as you know, I was here fleeing with him. Why, you might ask? It’s for the reason that Henry was my late father’s most trusted knight. And when you’re the person that the most powerful woman in the kingdom has turned her rage upon, you barely have anyone to trust. So whether I liked it or not, I had to go with Henry or else I’d be beheaded the next morning.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“You’ll see, Princess Krystal,” he answered.

I decided to keep quiet for a moment and just take in all that was happening. I buried my nose in Henry’s back and tried to just – I don’t know how to put it – memorize his scent for I knew that this could be the last time that I would see him and be this close to him. I relished the feeling of having him wrapped around my arms. I had secretly loved Henry even from the first day that we had met.

“Are you feeling cold, your highness?” Henry had noticed what I was doing.

I felt myself blush at the awkward moment. To hide my embarrassment, I diverted the topic to something else – something which I also badly wanted to know.

“Do you – “ I paused as the horse galloped, “Do you know where my sister is?”  

“I’m sorry, your highness, but I do not,” Henry replied.

We continued to ride in silence until we heard the sounds of carriages chasing behind us as we entered the forest. “Follow them!”  a man’s voice echoed.

Henry clucked his tongue to signal the horse to go faster. The horse ran like the wind. Those who were chasing us were getting farther behind until I could no longer hear sounds signaling their approach. Just when I had thought that we were safe, carriages and horses with men armed with swords, bows and arrows, emerged a lot closer behind us.

“They took the shortcut,” Henry muttered.

I was trembling in fear. I knew that if we did not outrun those men, it would be the end of me and of Henry.

Heavy rain had started to fall. Thunder crashed in the sky while bolts of lightning gave a momentary source of light to those chasing us. They had seen where we were headed to, and I had seen that they were getting closer and closer.

“Your highness, you have to go on your own.” Henry announced with fear in his voice.

“What are you saying?” I asked getting more scared.

“It is impossible for us to outrun them at this point. You must go on your own while I stay and try to distract them,” he said.

“Henry, what about you? You’re greatly out numbered by those men! You’ll – “ I couldn’t say the next word, yet we both knew what it was: You’ll die.

“My princess – my love! – you are the only hope of the kingdom. Only chaos will reign if you let your stepmother have the crown for good. Princess Krystal, you must live.”

Henry and I got off the horse and hid behind a huge maple tree. I was still in disbelief – I would have to go on my own and Henry had called me his love.

“Be brave, my princess,” Henry said as he caressed my cheeks and looked at me in the eye. Suddenly, he kissed me gently on the lips.

“I love you…now go!“ Henry commanded me as he gave me a lift up the horse, not even giving me a chance to say anything in reply.

I took off quickly, too terrified to even look back.