"I have something to tell you." Luhan stared at the blonde male before him, his heart thumping at a rapid pace. Blood rushed through his veins and there was a tingly finger in the tips of his fingers.

"Well, what is it?" The young prince casually put his hands in his pocket, patiently waiting for Luhan's response.

"I-" Luhan hesitated but forcefully pushed away the nervous thoughts. "I like-"

At that moment, before he could say the final of the 3 words he had rehearsed so many times, there was a heavy weight that sank in his chest. There was a numbing in his brain and all he could see was Sehun's face. His eyes trailed down from the other's forehead, to his thick eyebrows that arched over his oak brown eyes, his straight nose, and down to his pink lips.

The features that were once of an angel to him no longer seemed attractive. In fact, he barely looked like the handsome man he usually was and it seemed that his feelings for him vanished right then and there. It felt awkward to stand in front of Sehun. Was the only thing that bonded them together really their attraction for each other?

"You like..?" Sehun half laughed at Luhan who hadn't even finished his sentence.

"Uh-..I-"

Sehun came closer and leaned down to meet Luhan's height, his face stopping a few inches from the shorter male's.

"Do you want to know what I like?" He whispers, his eyes meeting Luhan's before flickering down to stare at his lips.

"I like-"

"No!" Luhan yelled as he sat up on the bed, breathing heavily in and out with sweat on his forehead. His head was spinning from the sudden movement and his body felt tired and sluggish.

"Luhan!" The familiar voice automatically seemed to calm his nerves down just a bit. Luhan immediately turned his head to see Kyungsoo walking over to him from the window, where he had been sitting for nearly 7 hours the past day.

"Kyungsoo-ah, what happened? Wh-How..?" Luhan tried to figure out his surroundings but he couldn't recognize what room he was in. For sure, it was definitely not his and Sehun's, but rather one of the guest rooms.

"Worry about that later, hyung. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Kyungsoo grabs a water bottle and passes it to Luhan who eagerly takes it and finishes three- fourths of it within 7 seconds.

"How long was I asleep?"

"A day and a half. You have no idea how scared I was, Luhan!"

"How did I even end up here? The last thing I remember is-" When the realization came to him, no words could come out of Luhan's mouth. His eyes stared blankly at the the door in the front of the room and his lips slowly shut.

Kyungsoo sat down on the bed, sympathy written on his face.

"What do you remember?"

"S-" Just the sound of one letter and Kyungsoo knew what, or rather who, Luhan was talking about. It didn't make any sense to him either. The last time Luhan had brought him up was that he had confessed. Now, only after hearing a few rumors from other staff members, he knew small bits that he just couldn't piece together.

"Sehun.." Luhan's voice was shaky and light, as if his name was so precious. Why did he have such a dream where he no longer loved Sehun? It couldn't have been real. His feelings still remained and even the thought of Sehun gave him the slightest goose bumps.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kyungsoo put his arm on Luhans shoulder, slowly lowering to his back and genly patting his friend.

"Kyung, I-I don't know anymore...He-..I don't understand!" Luhan cries, resting his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Half of him wished that he was still unconscious and oblivious to what had happened. The memory was engraved in his mind and it was so difficult to reminded of it every second. How had Sehun gotten so deep in his thoughts? Was he also catching Sehun's illness? Was it love? Fear? Pain?

"I heard Sehun called off the wedding.." Kyungsoo says softly and he can feel Luhan's body tense beside him. It had to be true.

"He did." Luhan mumbles. "He called it off..He said he wants to marry someone else."

"W-What?!" Kyungsoo widens his eyes in shock and anger. "Someone else?! Who?"

"A princess..a woman. A Japanese woman." Luhan explains, numbness in his voice.

"But why? I thought he confes-"

Luhan picked up his head and slouched in his position. Tears threatened to spill from Luhan's eye the more he thought about the situation.

"Yeah," he tried to chuckle. "I thought so, too, but apparently it was just a joke to him. A game."

At that, Kyungsoo immediately slid off the bed but Luhan grabbed his arm quickly. "Please, don-"

"That ing son of a !" Kyungsoo's eyes glowed with anger and hatred. "How ing dare he say that to you? Who the hell does he think he is? He thinks this is a game?!"

"Kyungsoo, it's okay-"

"Okay?" Kyungsoo looks at Luhan as if he's crazy. "Sehun had just confessed to you after nearly 2 months and now he tells you that it meant absolutely nothing to him. Doesn't it make you feel like at all?! How can you be so calm about this? He deserves to be punch, kicked, slapped- anything! He hurt you Luhan! Why are you defending him?"

Luhan stared at his hands folded on his lap.

"He's right...Now that I think about it, I started the game myself. Also, I did come here uninvited. I don't belong in the palace and I probably never will. I'm no royalty nor am I fit to be one. This marriage was ridiculous to begin with and I was just the one who stupidly believed everything."

"What are you even saying, hyung!? Has Sehun etched his ideas into your head already? When you were conscious, you loved him from the bottom of your heart, and then you wake up a day and a half later, just accepting the rejection!"

"I don't think," Luhan runs his hand over the smooth fabric of the blankets on his knees. "that I was really ever in love with him."

Kyungsoo felt like falling to the floor. "Are you ing kidding me?! Don't lie to yourself Luhan."

"I'm not." Luhan looks up and meet's Kyungsoo's eyes. "I had a dream, just before I woke up, that all my feelings for Sehun had disappeared right before I confessed to him. It has to mean something,"

"You're saying that you're going to give up on Sehun just because of one damn dream you had? Have you lost your mind? Where is the Luhan I know who fights for everything he believes in? Where's the Luhan who thinks of others before himself? Where is the Luhan who loves with such a big heart that I'm scared to my bones that he's going to be taken advantage of?!"

Luhan sighed. "He's right here. I'm not fighting for our relationship because I don't believe in it. I can't. I'm doing this because I want Sehun to be happy even if I'm not. I don't want to love Sehun because..because I know, I will be hurt if I continue to love him."

Kyungsoo sighed hopelessly at his best friend who seemed to be internally crying. He was trying to be strong when he wasn't and Kyungsoo knew Luhan had this habit of holding in his emotions in order to lessen the burden on others.

"Hyung...just let it out. Cry, scream, yell,.don't hold in your anger and sadness. When I was going through a lot of stress and pain from my family, this is what you told me..remember?" Kyungsoo half smiles at the memory. "You told me to be strong and never let anyone get to you. You told me that I was special and perfect in my own character and even if no one else loved me, I had to love myself for who I was. Hyung, even though I disagree with Sehun's actions and I still believe you two love each other, more than anything, I hate to see you in so much pain."

"I-I'm not-"

"I want to see you proud and strong. I don't want you to be crying or lonely without that pretending to be your friend. I want you to show him that you will not be hurt by his actions. I want you to slap him across the face as hateful as you did the first time you saw him. I want you to overcome your feelings and make him regret what he did to you." Kyungsoo says more demandingly. His words seem to instill a tiny burning flame of hope deep down inside Luhan. Just that small flicker of fire seemed to clear his head and a surge of energy ran in his veins. Just the thought of this subtle rebellion sent tingles to his toes and back up to his ears.

"What should I do?"

Kyungsoo seemed like a whole different person. No longer the shy short doe he used to be but a defiant man who knew what his friend needed. This side of him only came out a few times during their long friendship and Luhan always appreciated every advice received. It was from his strong and bold personality that Luhan had nicknamed Kyungsoo 'D.O.'

Kyungsoo looked at Luhan carefully, trying to spot any hints of hesitant or shyness. He wanted to make sure that Luhan knew what he was going to get himself into and not only agreeing because he had advised so.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Luhan blinked but didn't stutter. "What do I have to do?"

Kyungsoo accepted this answer and continued. "Act like you're not affected. Pretend as if you, too, had never been in love with him. Show him that you can also be indifferent about this. Show him that you're happy about his marriage. Don't show him any affection anymore than a hyung would and don't voluntarily do things necessary for him. Remove him from your daily activities and stop spending so much time with him."

Luhan took a deep breath. "It's not only a lie to him, but also to myself.."

"It has to be this way. Sehun said those things to hurt you and to get you to leave. Considering that the marriage between you two is called off, we basically have no relations here except with Halmeoni's consent."

"Eventually we will have to leave the palace. And you'll be separated from Jongin.." Luhan adds with small frown. Just remembering all the memories he had made in the large palace was heart breaking.

"Don't worry about me. But until then, show him that you're fine without him and you're in fact happy that the marriage is over."

Luhan laughed. "That's funny. I literally just fainted for nearly 2 days because of that and now I have to pretend as if I don't care? He'll never believe me, Kyung. It just seems too fake."

Kyungsoo thought again.

"There's only one other option I could think of but it seems too risky."

"What is it?" Luhan asks.

"No, no. It wouldn't make any sens-"

"You better hurry up because you're probably the only person who knows I'm awake. It probably won't be long before someone comes in." Luhan pressures the idea out of Kyungsoo.

"Fine! You could pretend you've forgotten everything."

Luhan furrowed his eyebrows.

"Forgotten what?"

"That you and Sehun were ever together. Pretend as if all you can remember up to was that you were supposed to be Halmeoni's grandson and you've only been living in the palace as Sehun's brother or something. Forget any romantic or marriage related memories you two had. That would be the most painful revenge."

Luhan thought about it but still couldn't understand how it was possible. Some parts just wouldn't tie together and he would get caught for pretending to forget.

"How am I supposed to do that? I can't just say I remember everything but the marriage! It doesn't make sense. In that case I might as well just forget Sehun completely and move back to China." Luhan says, waving his hands up before dropping them on the bed on either side of his torso.

"Actually, it's quite possible. One of my aunts has this and you basically forget everything about something that has caused you tremendous amounts of stress or grief. In your case, it could be your marriage to Sehun but not Sehun himself."

"And what if I mess up? We'll get caught for sure."

"We need to get more people on our side."

"Yixing and-"

"Jongin!" Kyungsoo finishes with a smile. Just then, there was a knock on their door and the said dark male popped his head into the room.

"Soo!" Startled by the sudden call, Kyungsoo immediately turned around to his boyfriend whose eyes widened at the sight of Luhan sitting up and awake.

"You're alive!" He says with a small smile and Luhan nods.

"Jongin, I, well, we, have something to tell you."

Jongin looked at Kyungsoo confused, before looking to Luhan, then back at his lover.

"What?"

Kyungsoo explained the plan to Jongin.

"Luhan, are you sure you want to do this? I heard about what Sehun did and as his best friend, I apologize for his behavior, although I know it doesn't change anything." Jongin says with a concerned expression. Luhan nods confidently.

"I need to do this. And I need your help to do this. I really appreciate it and I'm glad Kyungsoo has found such a caring person like you." Luhan says with a smile and Jongin bluhes.

"I'll try my best, hyung." Jongin smiles before resting his hands on Kyungsoo's shoulder, who was still seated on the bed.

"By the way, who else knows?"

"Just us three for now. We're planning on telling Yixing and that's it."

"Oh! I completely forgot why I had come here in the first place!" Jongin snaps his fingers and frowns.

"What?" Kyungsoo asked.

"She just arrived."

"Who?" The two boys answered in unison. Some part of Luhan knew what his answer was going to be but the other half refused to believe it.

"Haru. Haru Mastunaga."

Y'all can give me slap on the arm for not updating this week! *extends arm*

I just really had no time to update and I was going to update yesterday but the Internet was down and I couldn't update as I had intended to. Thank you guys so much for being so patient and supportive even with my crappy updating schedule. You're all seriously amazing for that! This chapter isn't very long but I tried to not make it too short, considering that it took me FOREVER to update!

Leave a comment! What do you think about Kyungsoo and Luhan's plan? Do you think it'll succeed or fail? :)

Comment, Up vote, Subscribe! SARANGHAE! <3 <3 <3