─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

❝ I've said those words before but it was a lie. And you deserve to hear them a thousand times. If all it is eight letters, why is it hard to say? ❞ - Zach Herron & Jack Avery, Why Don't We, Eight Letters

🌹

C H A P T E R F I V E

CHANGMIN SHOULD NOT have said those words so directly to Son Youngjae. It was foolish for him to force his nonexistent feelings towards the boy just so the wolf-boy would stop approaching Lee Hyunjae.

It was also smart of him. Creating a forced relationship could make his manga back on track.

He sits on the sofa with one leg crossed over another, munching on the crispy chicken the chief police officer ordered not so long ago.

Changmin grabs for a chicken leg just when Yoongi does too.

Both of their eyes drag themselves up and then stop, looking at one another with determination evident on their face.

Eyebrows downward, lips snarled into a twisted grin, and then reach for the delicious chicken.

Yoongi chuckles. He retreats his hand away.

"You can have the chicken. I'm not that hungry."

He sighs, pushing himself back against the chair, watching the young boy grin, take the chicken, and start eating.

His cheeks stuffed and round. He clears his throat, sitting up straight "Why'd you say that to Youngjae, by the way? You do know that was pretty stupid of you, right?" Yoongi asks, waiting and hoping for Changmin to answer honestly.

"It's not stupid!" Changmin retorts, speaking through a full mouth, earning him a glare from Yoongi, so he swallows the food, then continues, "For one, forcing a relationship can create a short-term harmony, two, being Hyunjae's royal assistant can help me prevent Youngjae from approaching the prince. Three, I'll know what direction Hyunjae is going, thus, it makes it easier to get the main characters together."

"Which practically means the mission failed," Yoongi says in a flat tone.

"Sir, have you lost your brain cells? Because maybe you allowing me to borrow some wasn't quite ideal then. My current goal is to love my characters and guide them onto a flowery, harmonious path."

He stands and begins twirling around with the chicken in his hand, grinning from ear to ear.

Yoongi just raises a brow, concerned, but finds himself laughing anyway.

Changmin is the author. He should know what he is doing.

. . .

AFTER THE WHOLE discussion with the chief police officer, Changmin leaves the police station with a full stomach.

He stands in front of the white large castle's gates that are opened, a proud smile slipping onto his face.

His creation has come alive. The feeling is just so ecstatic and thrilling and glorious.

Changmin feels like he is in a fairytale-wait he is in one.

Silly, idiot, dummy.

The insults come rather easily.

"Are you Ji Changmin?" A royal maid asks, smiling at the young boy who nods.

She shows him the way into the castle where the Sun prince is sitting on the blue and golden sofa designed, one leg crossed over another, reading a newspaper over today's events.

"Hey, Lee Hyunjae!" Changmin greets the Hyunjae, dropping the formalities.

His smile drops the moment the crown prince puts the newspaper down and stares at him from toe to head.

"To be my person you must not dress so casually."

What's so wrong with wearing a maroon checkered shirt and a pant?

"Wait, what do you mean your person?" Changmin asks softly, mouth forming an 'o' when he finally realizes what the other meant. And so he is dragged into the dressing room, shoulders tense.

When Changmin is finished dressing and his hair is styled, he comes out of the dressing room like a prince with a straight face, warm brown eyes, lips tugging into a small smile, asking Hyunjae if he looks okay.

He wears the royal colors of the Sun family. Red, maroon, and a hint of orange that seem to compliment the tone of his skin and honey-caramel eyes.

"Wow," is the first word that leaves Hyunjae's mouth.

Changmin feels his cheeks flush at the comment, having no idea why.

Obvious to his reaction, Hyunjae clears his throat, pulls himself to his feet.

Now he answers appropriately, "You almost look like me."

Okay, that was not appropriate.

Changmin wants to laugh he wants to punch Hyunjae.

I look like you? What the actual heck?

Who said I wanted to look like you?

He is thinking of insults but it all vanishes as he realizes who he's insulting, remembering his current goal.

To love his characters.

Hyunjae walks towards Changmin and looks at him like he's giving his exam papers a grade.

"I'm sorry about that. What I meant to say was, the stylists did you wonders. That sounded more wrong, forgive me. I'm pleased with you looking like this."

Hyunjae chuckles under his breath, eyes traveling up, meeting the brunettes.

Changmin's cheeks are rosy and turn a darker color once their eyes meet. He smiles at Hyunjae ripping his gaze away, laughing.

He looks down, playing with his hands but stops right away.

Why was he blushing and so obvious? Why was he playing with his hands? He doesn't like Hyunjae, does he? No. It can't be. He can't like the prince.

Younghoon and Hyunjae are supposed to like each other. Changmin reminds himself and releases a sigh of relief.

Blushing was intentional. He does not like Hyunjae.

His cheeks flushed because it happened so often when he was near a gorgeous person like Lee Hyunjae. Heck, his heart did not even race.

"Ji Changmin, now you're Lee Hyunjae's royal assistant, you'll be living here at this castle no matter the time, weather, reason, or occasion. Lee Hyunjae wakes up at seven in the morning, has breakfast, after thirty minutes, he exercises. He talks with his parents at seven-forty. He starts his day at eight am, attending royal bussiness in the royal courtroom and goes to college at eight-thirty."

Hyunjoon finishes telling Changmin and pats his shoulder to which the brunette nods.

He then raises a brow, images flashing in his head. That's strange. Hyunjae's royal knight looks familiar.

Oh. Changmin had designed Hyunjae's royal knight according to how his friend looked like.

Heo Hyunjoon.

It is late nine in the morning. The sky is clear, quiet, simple, while Hyunjae attends his royal business.

He's signing important documents as he overhears Hyunjoon and Changmin conversing.

Hyunroon reminds Changmin to tell Hyunjae his schedule, so he does, and the prince lets him know his parents will be managing most of the plans.

By the time the Sun prince had finished his work, both of the boys made their way to the royal meeting that is boring to the point Changmin was dozing off. Hyunjoon was also dozing off.

"Your royal highness, Lee Jaehyun. Since magic is forbidden, I was thinking, instead of sentencing to death like your parents require, shouldn't we just make good use of those who practice magic?" one of the knights' reasons.

"Both of you, royal knight, Heo Hyunjoon, and assistant, Ji Changmin are at my sides. Can't you both discuss what one of our knights are inquiring?" Hyunjae says in an irritated tone going back to typing on his laptop.

"Hyunjae, how much longer do we have to stay here?"

Changmin had managed to wake up, walked over to his side, observing silence swimming in the courtroom, how everyone is focused.

"I still have to stay here for some time."

"Hyunjae, within the next minutes, don't speak a single word, give a response, or a reaction. One thing you can do, pretend you have shortness of breath."

"What are you going to do?" Hyunjae replies, concerned. Turning around the wheelchair, so Hyunjae could face him, Changmin plants his palm over the prince's eyes.

"Don't open your eyes. Just trust me." Changmin looks around the courtroom again before proceeding his silly plan of escaping the meeting.

He takes a deep breath, mentally encourages himself, and then screams so loud that the whole room shakes. Everyone whips their head towards the direction of the voice where the Sun prince is, "Lee Jaehyun has a heart attack!"

Everyone stops what they are doing and put their attention onto the Sun prince, panicking. The other royal knights quickly arrive at the prince's side.

Changmin insists not to come closer because he has experience in grave emergencies like these, as well as nursing.

In a whoosh, he pushes the wheelchair out of the room that the prince is sitting on, breathes coming out short like intended. Hyunjae laughs when they've escaped.

LEE JAEHYUN LAUGHS, lips tugged into a bright smile, eyes shining at Changmin screaming randomly as if it's some talent he has, or he's pretty much stressed-he wishes he was a kid again.

Maybe he still is one, a kid at heart.

Jaehyun missed the feeling of being free, young, and wild.

The prince screams too, except it's low pitched. He's surprised he didn't close his ears when the author screamed because it was high pitched. It could be heard down the street.

They sit on a swing, screaming out words that have been stuck between their throat, roaming through their minds, and playing with their emotions. Changmin pushes himself forward and then back, continuing like this for some time until he's flying with the wind, giggling.

Hyunjae does the same, finding it fun.

When was the last time he had this much fun? Hyunjae thinks. He challenges his royal assistant to a swing race of soaring the highest.

Not so high though, safety comes first. Hyunjae always followed a simple rule when merrymaking, stay safe.

"Are you crazy? Do you want to die?" Hyunjae asks this all the while smiling, watching Changmin swing, unable to control his laughter.

Everything felt tranquil.

Right now, swinging, laughing, screaming at the top of their lungs.

The way Changmin's brown locks fall just above his eyes twinkling, the cool winter breeze slapping against his face gingerly, giggles sounding like a child's. The right word is halcyon, where the boys were once free without worry, living in those moments.

And right now the tension in Hyunajae's shoulders disappears, the color of his eyes glow, and he's genuinely beaming.

"I'm perfectly capable of landing without getting hurt," the author singsong, slowing his pace, feet touching the grass, and the swing halts. "Don't you think the meetings are boring? You can't just live so strictly and sink yourself into boredom."

Hyunjae laughs, his gaze meeting Changmin's, "They are so boring! Sometimes I wonder how I'm able to stay there, looking admirable, and part responsible for the kingdom."

"Why don't you proclaim it? Just because you are the king's son, doesn't mean you can't have your share of enjoyment and relax for a while." Changmin replies, turning around, catching the hint of happiness glimmering in his dark brown eyes dissolve.

"Life can't be cold and stable. It's filled with accidents and surprises! That way it is exciting and fun." The author speaks with his hands moving for emphasis.

"You've only been with me for two days. How do you know I force myself?"

"Lee Hyunjae, because on the outside you seem like one of those one percent perfectionists that are intimidating yet warm-hearted and magical. I know deep inside it's different, the rest shows on your face."

"So what do I do, royal assistant, Changmin?"

Changmin smiles at the question, cocking his head to the side.

"In the future, the way you think, leave that to me. I'll help you with your life choices unless you're confident about your decisions."

"Alright!"

When Ji Changmin came into this world, he wanted to solve the issue and leave.

But when he came into the situation that's been pulling strings on both sides, he realized his arrangements and character design were related to one another, bringing problems for each.

One of the lessons he learned was that he came into this world because he needed to bring them happiness and live life without wanting to end their own.

His characters should become their true selves and be true to themselves.

. . .

IT'S WHEN THE next day arrives and the author had fully decided he is not leaving this world without showing his character the light of life and they become their true selves.

Changmin walks down the hallway with Hyunjae, explaining his role as a prince as he had noted.

Besides being a prince he is a person.

Both of them enter the culinary arts classroom, giggling as the smell of freshly baked chocolate cookies reaches their nose.

Hyunjae should be aware of his emotions before they control him.

The author guides him to his chair, and his eyes become round from the perfect swift movement of the knife slicing the chicken into pieces.

Of course, Lee Jaehyun can cook. How could he forget?

"Only when the most suitable person arrives, then you give yourself. For example, someone with raven hair, mocha-colored eyes that hold curiosity and gentleness, fair skin, well mannered, kind, soft-hearted, and smart. Have you met him?"

"No, I have not," the prince says, trying not to smile. What was his assistant getting at? Hyunjae stayed silent and listened to the latter, understanding most of what he was saying but it didn't quite exactly make sense because he did not know if there was ever such a person.

"It's okay, you'll meet him soon. And there he is!"

Turning around, Hyunjae's stunned. He feels his assistant pat his shoulder, whispering to concentrate. Changmin scurries away, hiding behind the fridge.

Younghoon hesitantly walks forwards, hands embraced in each, eyes glued to the floor, traveling up, and starts, "At the elevator . . . " but before he could continue he finds his words have silenced the moment he met eyes with the other prince.

"It's okay, don't worry. It was what I had to do," Hyunjae says softly, giving the raven-haired a smile. Younghoon nods, understanding, and smiles back, content.

Changmin smiles in victory, proud of getting the two princes closer but frowns, turning around. Youngjae had stepped into the classroom.

He hurries to his side, grabs him by the arm, pulls him, and pins the boy against the wall, his eyes trained on Youngjae's.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm just getting my stuff."

"Don't do this anymore, okay? Don't meet with other boys," Changmin warns softly, his arm reaches out, hand tangling in Youngjae's ginger locks, messing his hair just a little, and pats his head. Youngjae finds it hard to hold his gaze any longer with the older boy this close to him.

His eyes staring at his lips.

He feels his heart race all of a sudden. As soon as the distance starts closing, Youngjae pulls himself together, grabs the other's arm and turns around without difficulty, pinning Changmin against the wall.

Both hands either side of the brunette's shoulder.

"I can have you arrested for trying to steal my heart," he whispers in his ear. Youngjae does not know where the confidence came from. When he moves back, their eyes meet again, lost in each other's brown ones. Changmin's cheeks are flushed but this time it wasn't because of a gorgeous guy near him or complimenting him.

He could feel his heart race, face red, knees tremble the moment Youngjae brings a palm to his cheek, the pad of his thumb brushing against the skin there.

"If you don't want to get arrested, stop trying so hard, Ji Changmin," the said boy whispered lowly this time in his ear. He pats his head, and then walks off with a cunning grin.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A U T H O R ' S N O T E

dedicated to moonflecked thank you for being my second fellow deboi friend here on wattpadd, sharing your stories of this fandom, and loving the moon boy, Kevin Moon. You bring stars to my night and I'm so thankful we're friends.

I hope when you are gone in August, if I remember, you will continue to take care of yourself like you do. I'm always here if you ever want to talk. I'm happy conversing with you as long as you are

thank you for 700+ reads, 90+ votes, and 500+ comments! 💖💖💖💖 they all mean so much to me as it lets me know if you guys are enjoying, and where I can improve.

Oh, yeah, did I mention? Juyeon is in the Sun family and he's Hyunjae's brother. You might see him in the next chapter. Oh yes, I left you guys on a cliff hanger too 😏