I'm waiting for my parents to go to bed so I can watch the BBMAs and let me tell you this feels like the longest wait of my life.

I'm glad everyone likes it so far. Also to celebrate me finishing up chapter 17 (yes I'm that far ahead. I like to write ahead so I actually have content for you) here's chapter nine.

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Junmyeon's POV

...

Against father's protests, we were unaccompanied for our little walk. Sure, I had the driver bring us into the center of the city, but Luhan and Heechan were both told, by Yixing and I and even my mother, to stay back at the palace. I was pretty sure Luhan was going to faint when he heard that, but he obliged. The sun was finally out, but starting its slow descent down the horizon, and the million and one lights all around Seoul winked into existence one by one.

"Wow," Yixing commented, gazing around. "It's pretty." I smiled to myself. We were walking side by side, close enough to not get separated but not close enough to arouse suspicion. Though I wanted nothing more than to reach out and take his hand in mine. But we were already drawing a lot of attention to ourselves. Everyone obviously knew who I was, and a great majority of them probably figured out who Yixing was. "Do they have to stare?" he murmured.

"Ah, it's not very often they get to see not only the Crown Prince of Korea, but the Crown Prince of China as well," I pointed out. "I can't blame them." I had to admit all the stares were making me uncomfortable, but I brushed it off as excitement. I had to come out in public more, so I could get used to it.

"Your Majesty!" I turned and was delighted to see Minji racing towards us. I wasn't sure what she was doing out in Seoul exactly, but I wouldn't miss a chance to see my friends. She caught up to us and we embraced. "We thought we'd swing through the city on our way home," she explained. "I didn't realize you'd be here as well." She turned to Yixing, who looked like he was sucking on a lemon. I chuckled lowly, jabbing him in the side.

"Yixing, this is Minji, the girl who played me the song," I introduced. I then shot her an apologetic look. "I hope you don't mind terribly, but I played a, very bad mind you, version of the song you shared with me this afternoon with him."

"Jisoo would be delighted actually," she replied. "I'm glad you find the same sort of sorrow and joy I do." Yixing had remained silent through the whole exchange, and I couldn't quite place the look on his face. "It's nice to meet you officially Prince Yixing," she added, directing her attention at my date. "Prince Junmyeon talked highly of you."

"Oh," was all he said, glancing sideways at me. "That's...nice to know I guess." I glanced away. Minji coughed lightly. The funny part was I never remembered mentioning him specifically. "Junmyeon, we have...something to do."

"A date?" Minji joked. Yixing paled, but she didn't seem to notice. "I have to get going soon. I just wanted to say goodbye one last time." She gave me another hug.

"Oh hey, what were doing out anyway?" I asked. She smiled.

"Visiting Jisoo," she answered. "It's the first time we've seen each other face to face since the wedding was called off. I wished it didn't end so soon." She sighed, a little wistfully. "But he plans to come up and see me sometime."

"That's great. I'm happy for you." Yixing constantly looked back and forth between the two of us. "The next time you see him tell him I say hello."

"I will," she promised. "Bye Junmyeon. Bye Prince Yixing." And with that she scurried off. I turned to Yixing. He glanced to me, drew his lips to a thin line, spun around and began walking away.

"Hey, hey come back!" I called. I ran after him, but he clearly didn't have intentions of being caught. I was aware we were making a scene. Mother and father would wring my neck when I got back for sure. But right now my focus was on Yixing. "Yixing, wait!" I tried again. But he either didn't hear me or was intentionally ignoring me. Probably the latter. I finally got within reach of him, and I grabbed his wrist. "Hey," I said softly when he made no move to pull away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he spat without looking at me. "Maybe it's just this constant reminder that..." He trailed off, then dropped his voice to a whisper. Thank god the reporters seemed to be keeping their distance tonight. "Maybe it's just that constant reminder that, no matter how much I like you or what we do in this couple weeks we have together, it's not going to be enough. Because I go home, and then everything goes back to how it was before we met. We'll be married off. Life will go on. You don't need me after this."

"Hey now," I said, shocked. I honestly hadn't even thought of that. But he was right. He went home in a couple weeks, and then what? It wasn't like we could keep any sort of relationship going. I just got him. I didn't want to lose him yet. "Let's not think about that yet," I advised at last. "Right now we have each other. That's all that matters."

"Alright," he agreed, and when I was sure he wouldn't run, I let go of him. "Let's continue our tour," he said at last, finally turning to me. I frowned at the obvious tear tracks on his cheeks, but decided against saying anything about it. "I'm sure there's plenty of places for me to see."

"Yeah, there is," I said. "Let's get going. We don't have much time." We began our walk side by side again. The only difference was our fingers linked together.

...

Yixing's POV

...

Let me tell you, a king sized bed didn't feel as big with two people in it. And no, tonight it wasn't Luhan. He was in his own room. It still kind of boggled my mind that I was actually in Junmyeon's room with him, sleeping in his bed. Well, I had been sleeping. I could see the sun starting to peek over the horizon, but I didn't want to disturb him, so I stayed quiet.

Last night had been very eye opening for a number of reasons. The first being that Seoul was an expansive yet beautiful city, and there was so much to see that we couldn't fit it all in before we had to come home. Another was seeing the people of Korea react to the two of us together. Most seemed in awe of the two of us. The last was, of course, regarding the encounter with Minji. I had to remember that, no matter how much I thought I liked him, nothing would ever actually happen. Sure, it was fun for now. But we were destined for different paths in life.

I sighed quietly. A part of me loathed having to grow up and take responsibility of my country at some point in the future. Because it meant my life would always be somewhat picked out for me in advance, and things like this were only novelties. Considering mother and father didn't know about how I truly felt, I feared I would always be mildly unhappy once it was time for me to take control. Because beside me wouldn't necessarily be the love of my life. It would always be someone out of duty.

"Mmmmm." I turned as Junmyeon made a noise, and squeaked when his arm shot out and wrapped around my waist, drawing me closer. I sighed contently, slotting against him easily. Despite the fact I had a few centimeters on him, he seemed adamant about being the big spoon, and I wasn't about to argue. I hated to say I'd get used to this, because I only had a couple weeks to enjoy it.

"What if we get caught?" I wondered aloud. He grunted, and I glanced to him.

"They'd be pretty foolish to ignore my do not disturb sign," he said, tone laced with that early morning sleepiness that was going to drive me utterly wild. "Not that any of my staff barge in here unannounced anyway. Unless it's urgent, they leave me alone. Or if I've slept in." He chuckled lowly. "What are you doing up Xing?" he asked at last. "The sun isn't up."

"It's waking up," I joked. He blinked lazily at me. "I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I'm pretty sure I'm just overthinking things."

"Silly," he responded, kissing the tip of my nose. "Don't do that. It'll hurt your brain." I was too stunned to comment. "Try to go back to sleep for me, pretty please?"

"I can't very well say no, now can I?" We both settled back down. It felt so natural to lay here like this with him. Would it be like this in the future? Would I wake up and simply admire whoever was across from me down the line when I finally settled down for real? Would they put the butterflies in my stomach the same way he did? Just as I was about to drift back off, a knock on his door jerked me awake.

"Ugh, come in!" Junmyeon called. He then flopped back onto his pillow, burying his face in the fabric. I chuckled at his antics as Luhan entered.

"Oh, Luhan, hello," I greeted, making no move to, well, move. I was comfortable with Junmyeon's arm wrapped around me, keeping me pulled against him. "What brings you here?"

"What brings me here?" he asked, and his tone had me listening a little better. "What brings me here? Oh, I don't know. How about I went to your room this morning to get my laptop because I left it there, and you're just gone? How about not knowing where you went, because I turned in before you guys even got back last night? What if you'd been kidnapped? What if you were hurt?" He released a breath. "Thank god you're alright."

"I'm sorry Lu," I apologized, feeling a little twinge of guilt. "Junmyeon offered to let me sleep here last night, and I accepted. I'm sorry for making you worry." As I talked, he approached the bed. When he finally stood at the edge, I expected him to lecture me. He just reached out and ruffled my hair instead.

"At least leave me a note next time, alright?" he said. "It's early. You should go back to bed. I'm sure I've already disturbed your boyfriend's sleep." Boyfriend. I blushed at the word. "Be good," he also warned. "I'm not taking you home and having to explain to your parents that you aren't a virgin anymore."

"Oh my god," I groaned. Beside me, Junmyeon chuckled. At least he found amusement in this situation. Luhan laughed.

"Gotta pick on you while I can you know," he said. "Once we go back I won't be able to again. Everything goes back to normal." I grew quiet, and Junmyeon's hold on me tightened, like I'd float away if he wasn't careful. "Rest easy, alright?" he said at last, realizing he'd struck a nerve. "I'm coming back at noon to forcibly drag you out of bed if I have to."

"Yes sir," I mumbled, closing my eyes and listening to his footsteps retreat out of the room. Junmyeon scooted closer, resting his chin on my shoulder. I could feel the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed, and a sort of calm settled over me. I shouldn't be stressing over something like this. Not right now. Right now the only things that mattered were I was here with Junmyeon, and we had two weeks to make the most of it.

"I don't want to lose you so soon Xing," he said at last, his breath tickling my neck. I squirmed. "What's going to happen in two weeks time?"

"I'll go home, and everything will reset," I said, staring up at the ceiling. "You'll go back to finding a potential wife, and so will I. It'll be like we never met again." I turned to him once again. He had his eyes closed. "We can keep in touch though Junnie," I added, and his eyes snapped open once again. "We can call and text and Skype and all that fun stuff. You're parents said I'm welcome back any time I'm in the area. I can visit again."

"It's not quite going to be the same though, is it?" he asked, and anything I'd been about to say halted on the tip of my tongue. "It's not like I ever went on those dates with the intention of finding my forever anyway," he continued, shifting positions so he was on his back. Now it was my turn to wrap an arm around him and draw him close. "I mean, that's the point of these trips. To find the person I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with. But I always fear that when I do finally find someone, it's only ever going to be out of a sense of duty rather than any sort of real affection or attraction." Once he started, it seemed he wasn't going to stop. Nor was I going to interrupt. It was good for us to talk freely from time to time. "I'd rather spend my forever with you," he mumbled.

"Same Junnie," I answered, my fingers carding through his hair. "Same."

...

I didn't think it would get this long holy moly.