MIN JAEYOUNG。

"jaeyoung-ah," i looked up from the cup i was staring at and met eyes with mrs. kang. "have you finished your lunch?" she asks me, eyeing the plate in front of me, the food was completely untouched.

i sigh and press my lips into a thin line, "i'm sorry, i don't feel like eating." i shake my head and hung my head low.

mrs. kang slowly approached me, her hand patting my back gently, "is there something wrong, dear?"

"just... deep thoughts... as usual," i murmur and gave her a small smile, to assure her that i'm fine.

she chuckles a bit and takes the seat across me, "what's going on your mind, hm?"

"your regular customers, actually," i admit, really curious to know who they are.

"ah," mrs. kang's eyes brighten up, "they are just regular people here, they really enjoy our bread, i'm glad they still do."

"but, how come i never saw them before?" i furrow my brows.

mrs. kang snorts, "you never pay attention to anything, jaeyoung."

i frown at what she said, "auntie! that's just false." i scrunch my nose and cross my arms.

"eat your lunch and go back to work, okay?" she pats my head and stands up, "i need to get back to work as well."

i nod at her words, "yes, auntie." i watch as she walks back to the counter while i sat there, in silence again.

i sigh and look around the bakery, many people came here to have mrs. kang famous dishes during lunch, some come to buy bread for snacks, and i'd see college students stop by to talk about their projects or do their studies. nothing changed at all.

i slowly ate my food and enjoyed my time alone as thoughts continued to flow in my mind. once i was finished, i made my way back behind the counter to start working again.

a couple of hours passed and it was around three pm in the afternoon. i squint my eyes at the clock and hum in confusion, "what is taking hyori so long?" i utter and tap my finger onto the marble counter.

suddenly, a loud honk coming from outside destroys my thoughts and i look outside and saw a familiar car. "them again?" my forehead creases as i stare at the black car outside.

soon, mrs. kang steps out the kitchen, dusting her hands on her apron a bit before grabbing the basket that she packed awhile ago. i raised both of my brows, "oh, is that for them?" i tilt my head.

she stops and looks back at me, nodding as she say, "yes, why?"

"i'll hand it to them instead." i mumble a bit lowly, unsure of my actions. i honestly didn't know why i decided to do or say that, it just randomly came out of me.

"are you sure?" she asks.

i nodded and grabbed the basket from her before stepping out of the bakery. "bread!" a loud shout surprises me, which almost made me stumble and fall, gladly i didn't.

i lifted my head and saw a tall young man, standing in front of me, a wide grin plastered on his face. "hi! i'm lucas!" he smiles and judging his facial features, he looked foreign.

"u-uh, h-hi?" i awkwardly stammer and look away from his gaze. my eyes landed onto the basket in my grasp and instantly i reach out my hand. "your order." i mumble, sounding a bit disappointed.

i actually thought that it would be jaemin and doyoung again, unfortunately it wasn't. "i'm taking that." the basket was snatched from my hand by another person who now stood beside lucas. he, too, was quite tall, although he looked nice. "sicheng! you didn't have to snatch it from her." lucas lightly scolds.

the so-called sicheng hissed at the boy's words, "and you didn't have to introduce yourself to her. remember what the hyung's said? don't talk to girls, especially outsiders."

i furrow my brows, for a guy who looked nice, he's a bit rude. that really surprises me. "excuse me?" i raise a brow.

sicheng threw me a fake smile, "thank you for the bread, but i would've liked it if mrs. kang handed it out to us herself."

my mouth parted a bit at his words, "o-okay, i didn't know."

sicheng sighs and looks away, "let's go, xuxi."

but i thought he was lucas?

"already?" lucas, or as sicheng calls him, xuxi, frowns and slumps his shoulders a bit.

sicheng nods, "it's getting late and we still need to say goodbye to our brothers before they leave."

lucas shrugs, "okay, it was nice meeting you!" lucas waves at me before hopping into the car. i smiled back, however, sicheng shot me a glare before following lucas.

i pursed my lips as i walked back into the bakery, "what was that about."

. . .

        3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"behave well, jisung." taeyong gives the youngest a look while jisung shot him a nervous smile.

after the incident in the dining hall, the older ones have been keeping an eye on him. "don't worry, hyung!" jaemin buts in and slings an arm around jisung who squirmed in discomfort, "he'll behave well." jaemin chuckles and gives jisung's cheeks a pinch, in which jisung immediately reacted by pushing him away.

jaemin scoffs and walked towards donghyuck instead. "what's taking them so long." yuta frowns and looks at his wristwatch.

"don't worry, lucas said they are on their way back." jungwoo assures him, somehow his calm voice calmed yuta down a bit.

yuta sighs, "they better be." he mutters under his breath.

not long after, the guards open the main door and the two boys walk inside, a basket in sicheng's grasp. "how'd it go?" doyoung asks.

"fine? shouldn't it be fine?" taeil answers doyoung and furrows his brows at the boy's sudden question, "why bother asking?"

doyoung shakes his head, "no reason."

sicheng hesitated whether to tell his brothers about their encounter with a girl, he knew they'd flip upon hearing it, so he decided not to tell them instead. "well, we actually m—" sicheng slapped his hand over lucas' mouth, preventing him from continuing.

lucas perplexed and swatted sicheng's hand away, "what was that for?"

sicheng shakes his head and eyes him, trying to tell him that he shouldn't tell them about it. fortunately, lucas got his signal and nods back, not daring to speak anymore.

"so? what were you saying? you guys actually what?" youngho tilts his head, wanting to hear lucas complete his sentence.

lucas fiddled with his fingers, trying to come up with something to tell them. "i said... we actually missed the shop, that's why we took long to get back." he chuckles awkwardly.

taeyong knits his brows in confusion, "missed? how come the driver would miss?"

"well, lucas was busy talking to him and he got distracted, so we passed the bakery a bit far before noticing." sicheng responded.

taeyoung nods his head, understanding, "ahh, i see, you shouldn't do that, lucas-ah." he gives the younger one a look while lucas nods.

on the other hand, sicheng releases a relieved sigh, glad that he had come up with something. "anyways, we'll be going now." kun blurts out, walking towards the two boys that had just arrived, engulfing them in a hug.

"yeah, we wouldn't want to be late." jaehyun tells them, also bidding them goodbye.

"take care of jisung." taeil utters while some of them laughed at his statement, making jisung get flustered in embarrassment.

"y-yah! i can take care of my own." jisung pouts and looks away.

"we just want you safe, jisung-ah." donghyuck teases, chuckling afterwards.

jisung whines, "i'm not a little kid anymore."

"still," renjun shrugs, "you're the youngest."

"prince yuta, prince kun, prince jaehyun, prince jisung," mr. choi calls out making all of them avert their attention towards the man by the door. "your ride is ready."

"i guess we have to go now," yuta says.

"kun,"

"yes, hyung?" kun looks at taeil.

taeil points at jisung, "keep an eye on him."

jisung frowns, "i can hear you, you know."

taeil ruffles jisung's hair, "don't cause trouble."

"i won't, hyung." jisung chuckles, "i'll see you guys when we get back!" he bids before following the others out.

"where's jaemin?" jeno suddenly asked them once the doors closed.

"wasn't he beside dong— okay, now where is donghyuck?" mark points out.

"they must've went to get a drink or something," sicheng shrugs it off and walks away to go to his own room. he was still busy thinking whether he should tell taeyong and the other's or not.

taeyong looked at youngho and taeil, who just gave him a plain look. "they are probably just around here, roaming around again," jungwoo speaks up while doyoung shot him a loom. "you know those two, they always play around."

mark sighs and walks up the stairs, "i'm going to my room!" he says.

chenle stood there, eyeing his older brothers before tugging onto renjun's sleeve, "we should probably go, too." he whispers softly.

renjun nods and grabs jeno's hand, making the boy look at him. "let's go," renjun mutters and pulls jeno with him and chenle.

jungwoo watched as the slowly his siblings started to go their own way. he sighs and taps doyoung's shoulder, "let's go visit mother."

"what?" doyoung raises a brow, not hearing clearly what jungwoo had just said.

"jaehyun and jisung visited mother awhile ago, we should, too." jungwoo nudges doyoung's side a bit.

doyoung nods, "let's go then."

the two walked away leaving lucas, youngho, taeil, ten and taeyong there. lucas whistled and stretched, "i'm gonna go take some language classes again, see you at dinner!" he bids before running off to see minseok.

"shouldn't we look for donghyuck and jaemin?" ten questions the three.

youngho pursed his lips, "i don't think that's necessary, they are just around the palace anyways." he shakes his head, disagreeing to what ten said.

ten frowns, "but what if they are really missing, though?"

"they aren't, besides, they can't escape the palace, nor can anyone intrude, there aren't any in's and out's here, every entrance and exit is guarded by knights." taeil assures him.

ten slumps his shoulders while taeyong patted his back, "they'll be here for dinner, if not, we'll go ask the guards to search for them."

"hopefully, they are just around."

—